[plug] Grannies Computer

[Cameron Patrick]

Hi Tim,

On Sun, 03 Nov 2002 18:15:16 +0800, I am the LinuxAlien wrote:

| The proposed solution is Linux
| She has a low end machine (p200, 32mb ram - EDO, 500mb hd, CD-ROM, ISA 
| Sound Blaster) and needs Linux that will fit her needs

At risk of spouting heresy, I think you'll have trouble finding a
user-friendly Linux system which runs on such a machine at a vaguely decent
speed.  I wouldn't bother with RedHat|Mandrake >= 6.x, or even the latest
Debian.  Instead, try to use software which was written a few years ago, as
it will have slightly less nasty system requirements.

A system which runs KDE 1.x would provide a reasonable desktop, Sylpheed is
brilliant mail client which shouldn't run too badly on any machine, and the
Epson Stylus range of printers are pretty well supported by most Linux
distros.  Setting up a printer is pretty easy on old distributions if
you've done it before, but likely to be time-consuming if you haven't. 
Just ask the list when you get to that stage (-;

Mozilla will probably run, albeit slowly. Opera might be a better choice
(?) if you can put up with adverts. You could certainly /try/ to run
OpenOffice 1.0.1 on it, but I doubt it would be pleasant.  KPPP will work
as an easy-to-use internet dialer.

Modern KDM (>= 2.x) will eliminate the need for those pesky login
passwords, but older versions might not. Maybe you could use GDM or summat?

The hard drive might be a bit of a show-stopper, especially if you attempt
to install OpenOffice - it takes ~200mb in itself.  It *might* be worth
seeing if you can get a slightly bigger one somewhere.  You could
alternatively use it as an excuse to upgrade the drive on one of your
machines.

Which distribution?  Certainly not a modern one.  Personally, I'd say
Slackware 7.0 or Mandrake 5.2.  Slackware, despite its reputation, is
actually very easy to install, so long as you follow the instructions.  It
doesn't install any superfluous rubbish, but on the other hand it doesn't
come with much software, either.  You'd have to compile Sylpheed yourself,
for instance.  (You'd be in a similar situation if you wanted to run /any/
modern software on an antique Linux distro.)

If you want to use either distribution and you live somewhere Duncraig-ish,
give me a shout and I'll burn you a copy.

Re. firewalls: don't bother with a firewall. Just don't run any unnecessary
services, and you'll have no problems.  Oh, and remember to set up X with
-nolisten tcp - this is the default in modern distributions (XFree >= 4)
but probably won't be for one that you'd install on an older machine.

Another thought: you may want to set her up with a locked-down SSH server +
dynamic DNS so you could remotely fix up any weirdness with her machine.

Good luck!

CP