Unleashing LM11 on a linux 'newb'

[curmudgeon]

I have a friend who's computer suffered a horrible fate by the hands of windows' insecurity. Anyways, I have been so indulged in linux for the past few years, remembering what it is like to be a linux newb is hard for me. Personally, I've moved on to distros that require a little more work.. but I like to tinker, and doing some work to get things working is in a way fun for me. I'm sure many of you can relate... However, aside from my own personal 'sickness' (:P) i'd like some input about unleashing LM11 on somebody who's never used a linux distro before. For the most part this person checks their e-mail and plays web games.. nothing extraordinary or anything, but since I haven't fired up mint in a while, i'd like to get some feedback from the user base before doing this.

If there is anyone new to linux, and decided to try Mint (standard release, nothing special).. do you think this is a good distro for non-techy people to start with? I ask mainly because I don't want to land up being permanent tech support for them, but as it stands.. they don't want to pay for Win7 (on a dated machine) and my only suggestion to them is linux.. This person does not want to get 'down and dirty' with the CLI, or have to edit any config files. THIS PERSON DOES NOT WANT TO TINKER. so, as a new (or relatively new) Mint user, I'd like to know if LM11 was a good solution for you and would you recommend it to anyone else?

[odo5435]

As someone whose forgotten most DOS stuff (I used to be pretty good with it) I'm also CLI-challenged. I looked at several distros (but not Mint) before eventually trying Ubuntu 9.10 and then curiosity prompted me into Mint 10. I wish I'd found Mint first. I've found it to be very easy to use with most everything I want to do being possible with GUI. That's not to say everything went smoothly. There were "teething" problems with monitors and HDD arrangements that took some figuring but with the excellent help provide within these forums they were fairly quickly sorted out.

Your friend has the advantage of having you to assist with the initial set-up of their system. Once that's done, provided they are reasonably savvy, you should never hear from them (about the computer at least ). I'd certainly suggest that LM10/11 Gnome is probably the best and easiest way to ease your friend into the Linux world. Bear in mind though that the biggest hurdle your friend will have to overcome is realising that things are done differently in Linux.

Some time ago I set up LM10 Gnome for my parents (in their 80's) so that they could play Solitaire, Freecell, etc. knowing that's ALL they'd be doing . They have absolutely zero computer smarts and are not on the 'net so i figured they'd be safe enough. I underestimated the drawcard of tinkering. Mum can't resist playing with buttons she has no idea about. Joy of joys . I hope for your sake your friend is not that way inclined but the 'completeness' of Mint, that provides far more applications than most casual users need, is often irresistible.

To summarise, you can't go past LinuxMint. Just show them the possibilities using LiveCD and they'll be hooked.

[craig10x]

Yes...Mint is PERFECT for a newbie...no tinkering needed at all and ready to use "out of the box" (all codecs pre-installed on dvd version)....
plus just one panel on bottom as he is familiar with and the super easy to use mint menu...One of the best linux distros for newbies and old timers alike

No command line stuff really needed at all...and he can add any new software he is interested in through either package manager or easy to use software center...

My friend who works on client's windows systems (after they get all messed up) has often put mint on for them to replace windows when they get fed up with it...which is frequent

[Aging Technogeek]

The only possible drawback I can foresee is your friend's web game addiction. If he plays browser based games that run in Firefox, he should be okay.

More complex games like World of Warcraft and other big roll playing or strategy games that run on websites accessed from Windows may not be available in Linux as they require Wine and not all Windows games are supported adequately in Wine. It is getting better all the time, but progress can be slow.