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Distro suggestions for grandparents? (aussie.zone)

submitted 4 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hello there. Was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a Linux distro for grandparents? They are over 70 years old, with an old HP desktop and laptop running Windows 10. All they need is a Web browser, so no need for special software or wine to run Windows programs. Would preferably like something that is low maintenance so I don't have to be constant tech support for them (apart from the initial install and setup). Thanks for any suggestions.

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[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 weeks ago (19 children)

NixOS is an immutable file system if they are disaster prone. You will have to load everything for them ahead of time, browser, email client, Only/Libre Office, etc.

I had to switch a friend's mom to this because after switching her to Linux Mint previously, she somehow deleted the UI entirely.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 weeks ago (16 children)

Good lord. If you're not already familiar with NixOS, there are far, far easier ways to go immutable.

Configuring Nix makes Arch seem like a walk in the park.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

What are the other alternatives?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 weeks ago (1 children)

Aurora/Bluefin or Silverblue/Kinoite.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) (1 children)

Silverblue/Kinoite

Those are not immutable, especially on the file system. I'm glad the fedora team switched the term to "atomic", because "immutable" set all the wrong expectations.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

So you're saying that most directories in /usr and (also) some other directories in / are not read-only during runtime (under regular system maintenance/management) on Fedora Atomic?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

No, that's not what I wrote.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Thank you for clarifying what you didn't write nor mean. Could you be so kind to explain what you did mean with what's quoted below?

Those are not immutable, especially on the file system.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Sure. Not all directories are protected and the ones that are, are just protected from immediate write access. A malicious app or a user who copies the wrong snippets can create overlays and apply them immediately without a reboot. Having atomic distros is awesome but it has nothing to do with immutability and it someone needed that for example for PCs that are in random control at least some of the time, then they need a different solution on top, that gives actual immutability.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

So, you referred to immutable in the absolute sense? If not, would you be so kind to mention distros/systems that you actually refer to as immutable?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I never needed it. I know from my school days that windows supports that use case. You get a full system and can do with it as you please but on reboot you get a completely fresh file system. The only thing that persisted were the user profiles that roamed through active directory. Seemingly there was no way of tampering with the file system, that would persist a reboot. And as school kids we tried hard 😅

I would be surprised if Linux didn't have utilities for that, that were better designed and safer - but again, not my expertise.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm so confused now as I'm trying to understand why you answered that way 😅.

But, if I understood you correctly, you didn't refer to Silverblue and Kinoite as immutable, because it is possible to apply changes to them and these changes will even stick through reboots etc. Hence, you don't deny that some parts are (in fact) deniable, but find that Atomic simply better describes what these distros actually do. And thus are better suited to set up the right expectations.

But, allow me to ask the following question then; do you think NixOS is immutable?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Sorry for the confusion 😅 I don't have any experience with NixOS apart from memes here in Lemmy. So... maybe?