Linux Mint Forums

curtvaughan wrote:Well, as a dithery old 64-year old who got my first data processing/computer job at age 22 mucking around on a CDC 64/6600 after getting out of the navy (communications rate) in 1974, I was hired by some rather computationally astute people in their late 30s or early 40s at the time. If folks like them are still dithering around at all, I'd guess them to be in their mid-80s by now. People in their 80s were in their 30s in the sixties, at which time mainframe computing was in full force. Assembly language, Fortran, and Cobol were the lingua-computerie of the day, and some guy named Ritchie, who'd be 75 if alive, was getting the itch to invent a language called C. My point, I guess, is that you should perhaps avoid generalizing 80-somethings as computer illiterate, though as with younger folks, illiteracy can be found.

Hobbling and dithering, half mast be d&*ned! - Curt

My dad IS NOT a computer geek, he wants to turn it on, click and icon, and have it work. He does not want to configure things, hassle with updates, deal with wifi issues, etc

curtvaughan wrote:Well, as a dithery old 64-year old who got my first data processing/computer job at age 22 mucking around on a CDC 64/6600 after getting out of the navy (communications rate) in 1974, I was hired by some rather computationally astute people in their late 30s or early 40s at the time. If folks like them are still dithering around at all, I'd guess them to be in their mid-80s by now. People in their 80s were in their 30s in the sixties, at which time mainframe computing was in full force. Assembly language, Fortran, and Cobol were the lingua-computerie of the day, and some guy named Ritchie, who'd be 75 if alive, was getting the itch to invent a language called C. My point, I guess, is that you should perhaps avoid generalizing 80-somethings as computer illiterate, though as with younger folks, illiteracy can be found.

Hobbling and dithering, half mast be d&*ned! - Curt

Petermint wrote:Back when IBM PCs first arrived, the doddery old retired people were online researching genealogy using Fidonet and it's predecessors. The ancient ones used discarded Z80s and modems larger than the computer. Fidonet worked overnight because it took 3 hours to send "Hello".

MurphCID wrote:I completely agree, I learned to program in the 1970's using punch cards. However, my father hates any operating system later than Windows XP, which to him, is the best thing ever made. He loathes windows 10. That is why I think Mint 18 with Cinnimon where I put his icons on the desktop to click will be the ideal thing. I work with a bunch of techno illiterates so I know the pain of which you speak. I am going to load up a folder for his desktop with all the pictures of his grandkids, and such.

curtvaughan wrote:Well, as a dithery old 64-year old who got my first data processing/computer job at age 22 mucking around on a CDC 64/6600 after getting out of the navy (communications rate) in 1974, I was hired by some rather computationally astute people in their late 30s or early 40s at the time. If folks like them are still dithering around at all, I'd guess them to be in their mid-80s by now. People in their 80s were in their 30s in the sixties, at which time mainframe computing was in full force. Assembly language, Fortran, and Cobol were the lingua-computerie of the day, and some guy named Ritchie, who'd be 75 if alive, was getting the itch to invent a language called C. My point, I guess, is that you should perhaps avoid generalizing 80-somethings as computer illiterate, though as with younger folks, illiteracy can be found.

Hobbling and dithering, half mast be d&*ned! - Curt

hates any operating system later than Windows XP

bunch of techno illiterates

Once was, a slider I could move to select how much room for Windows and Mint.

Moem wrote:Sounds like you did a fine job there! Congratulations!

thumbsup.jpg

Petermint wrote:SSD removes the problem of a hard disk breaking when the computer slips off the table. For further protection for the computer, you could cover the floor with rubber mats or puppies or kittens.

MurphCID wrote:Dad broke his laptop when it fell off the table, so I need to get him a new one. I thought about the same HP, but I am intrigued by a Chromebook repurposed for Mint. Any suggestions or ideas? Also if I get him a new, I am thinking about adding an SSD to replace the hard drive so it is faster.

InkKnife wrote:

MurphCID wrote:Dad broke his laptop when it fell off the table, so I need to get him a new one. I thought about the same HP, but I am intrigued by a Chromebook repurposed for Mint. Any suggestions or ideas? Also if I get him a new, I am thinking about adding an SSD to replace the hard drive so it is faster.

Most Chromebooks have just a tiny bit of on onboard flash data storage usually just 32GB. I have no idea if that can be upgraded. I have a 64GB SSD on my Mint system for the boot "disk" but that only works because I also have a 750GB HDD to put data on.
I can see how the chromebook hardware is tempting. Aside from the lack of local storage they are decent little machines but those tiny flash drives are a real issue.

MurphCID wrote:That is a very good point, and I suspect even for my father that 32-64 gb will not be enough.