Very cool story. And I want to turn our Gateway laptop (Vista) into Ubuntu every day. My only reservation is that there are still too many [wimp] websites that are built for IE only (my bank, insurance company, health-care provider, etc) - exactly those you need the most. In order to make electronic deposits at my bank I have to switch from my Macbook to an XP VM (with a big screen, since the graphic is rigid). Yikes.<br>
<br>So, Linux gurus, is there a solution (or a workaround) for such sites?<br><br clear="all">-- Asher <br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 1:03 AM, aaron <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:aaron@pd.org">aaron@pd.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Ubuntu Linux ROCKS!<br>
Period. End of story.<br>
<br>
:-)<br>
... well ... OK ... actually "Ubuntu Rocks" is the<br>
_moral_ of this particular story -- one about<br>
helping a little old lady escape the Mafia$oft thugs<br>
that were trying to snatch her purse by guiding her<br>
across the information highway to the sunny safety<br>
of Free Software park.<br>
:-)<br>
<br>
Absurdly overboard analogies aside, the gist of<br>
this saga is that today I delivered the gift of a<br>
"new" computer to a senior citizen on a fixed income<br>
who can't otherwise afford to buy one. She serves<br>
with me on an important political campaign committee<br>
and she was in need of the system so she could be<br>
more productive in that effort. (She did have a<br>
working computer until a couple months back when<br>
she gave it to her daughter in support of her<br>
return to college studies.)<br>
<br>
The generosity on my part wasn't as large as might<br>
be implied above, since the donation was just a<br>
fairly old computer that I salvaged with the help<br>
of Ubuntu Linux, but everything about the gift was<br>
very new to the recipient.<br>
<br>
The machine was one of the discarded PC systems<br>
that I have in my basement to keep all my stacks<br>
of antique Amiga computers company. The hardware<br>
is about 10 years old, a generic 600mhz P3 with<br>
256 meg of ram, 10gig HD, CD burner and a floppy<br>
drive. The only hardware adjustment I made was to<br>
plug in a slightly less outdated graphics card.<br>
<br>
I had put Ubuntu 8.04 on the system previously,<br>
but to keep this simple and deliver the latest and<br>
greatest I decided to just do a full install of<br>
Ubuntu 9.04. The full install from CD took all<br>
the effort of about 6 mouse click selections<br>
(English. Next. Eastern Time. Next. Use the whole<br>
hard disk. Next.), plus entering a new user name<br>
and password.<br>
<br>
Everything on the system came up working on<br>
first boot into the fresh installation, so I<br>
then ran the "add software" utility to install<br>
the "restricted" add ons, the proprietary closed<br>
source bits needed for Flash support and such.<br>
For those keeping score, that was 2 menu selections,<br>
a search on the word "FLASH", 2 mouse clicks and<br>
a password entry.<br>
<br>
After the add on bits were automatically downloaded<br>
and installed from the internet, I did a cautionary<br>
reboot. When the Ubuntu Desktop returned, the<br>
software update utility appeared with a list of<br>
recommended updates. I let the utility automatically<br>
download and install all the software and security<br>
updates that had come along since April (09.04 being<br>
the month the version was released and the install<br>
was made) -- just 2 more of those (strenuous) mouse<br>
clicks and another (grueling) password entry and the<br>
installation and updates of the full Linux OS and<br>
all of the commonly used office, internet and media<br>
software was done. With a standard, high speed<br>
internet connection the whole process took less<br>
than 90 minutes.<br>
<br>
(-: Fortunately, my fingers get daily exercise,<br>
so they got through the Ubuntu install ordeal of<br>
16 mouse clicks, 4 typed words, and 22 "beverage<br>
lifts while waiting for downloads" without injury.<br>
Just to be safe, though, I recommend that amateurs<br>
should be sure to scratch all itches BEFORE going<br>
solo on an Ubuntu install! :-)<br>
<br>
There is no doubt that my (seriously) techno-phobic<br>
senior friend could have done this installation<br>
herself with just two minutes of phone support for<br>
the "Add Software" part, but all my work in restoring<br>
the box, testing the hardware and installing Ubuntu<br>
Linux on the machine only took about a half hour of<br>
actual hands-on activity on my part anyway.<br>
<br>
I delivered the computer to Miss W's apartment today<br>
and only had to spend another 10 minutes plugging it<br>
into it's home. She had already had DSL provisioned<br>
on her phone line, so she tried to hand me their "DSL<br>
software" install disk, which she was shocked to see<br>
me decline. I just plugged the phone and ethernet<br>
cables into the provided DSL modem / gateway / wireless<br>
box (which is about 95% likely to be running a version<br>
Linux as well) and we were all go and green lights<br>
for her internet connection.<br>
<br>
I then braced myself for a challenge and plugged<br>
in the USB cable of her inkjet printer. The printer<br>
went "click click", the hard drive chattered for<br>
a moment, and then, lo and behold, the Ubuntu<br>
printer configuration utility popped a window onto<br>
the desktop showing that it had collected all the<br>
printer model info, installed the CUPS driver and<br>
was now inviting me to print a test page (which<br>
printed perfectly, BTW). It was a one mouse click<br>
printer install! My friend was amazed, especially<br>
after fretting all morning that she couldn't find<br>
the printer's driver install disk (which clearly<br>
isn't needed with Linux anyway). I was amazed too,<br>
because based on many previous experiences with<br>
many different kinds of computer systems, installing<br>
printers is SUPPOSED to be DIFFICULT! (My geek ego<br>
is feeling a little threatened right now...)<br>
<br>
I then spent about an hour with my friend showing her<br>
the basics of the familiar and ubiquitous point and<br>
click icons and menus of the Desktop, running Open<br>
Office, editing and saving documents, and using the<br>
Firefox web browser. She had only ever been exposed<br>
to Windows and Word and IE before, but she was quickly<br>
feeling comfortable with her new Linux computer<br>
environment. At one point she noted how familiar<br>
the Open Office Writer program seemed, and how<br>
frustrated she has been by the Vista/7 version of<br>
Word because of the way they changed everything in<br>
the user interface [for no reason]. She complained<br>
that Vista/7 made it nearly impossible for her to<br>
accomplish any work within the limited time slots<br>
users are allowed on the computers at the library.<br>
<br>
She clearly felt even more comfortable as we side<br>
tracked into some of the background stories of how<br>
the Open Source communities came about and how well<br>
supported her Ubuntu Software was and how she had<br>
unlimited freedom to freely share all of it with<br>
her friends. She was more amazed and excited and<br>
enthralled with the whole idea of her new Linux<br>
computer with each passing minute. You could literally<br>
see the techno-phobia of this sweet 70 year old lady<br>
drain away as she saved her fist Open Office document<br>
and logged into her familiar AOL webmail account on<br>
Firefox and learned that she didn't need to live in<br>
fear of computer technology problems or software<br>
viruses or purse snatching computer thugs any more.<br>
<br>
It was truly inspiring to see! So a huge thanks to<br>
the Linux and Free Software communities, with a<br>
special nod to Ubuntu for packaging and supporting<br>
these gifts in such a user empowering way!<br>
<br>
Which is why the moral of this very true story<br>
is simply that "Ubuntu Linux ROCKS!".<br>
<br>
However, the more important epilog of the saga is<br>
that, as I was leaving the home of my (formerly)<br>
techno-phobic 70 year old friend this afternoon,<br>
she was busy navigating to the Ubuntu.com site so<br>
she could order free Ubuntu Live/Install CD copies<br>
for all of her friends. Seems that Miss W is feeling<br>
very well armed by the freedoms of GNU Linux and the<br>
support of the Ubuntu community now, so all those<br>
Mafia$oft thugs best think twice about vandalizing<br>
her internet neighborhood or grabbing at her<br>
purse anymore!<br>
<br>
:-)<br>
<br>
peace<br>
aaron<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br>