[PLUG] Guiding a geographically remote friend from Windows to Linux

[Tim Wescott]

Check Xubuntu for usability. Most of Ubuntu's Microsoft like qualities are in the desktop, and Xubuntu puts Xfce on top of Ubuntu. Lubuntu is a possibility, too. (I use Xubuntu, for much the reasons you quote).

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

-------- Original message --------
From: Richard Owlett <rowlett at cloud85.net> 
Date: 03/27/2016  7:05 AM  (GMT-08:00) 
To: plug at lists.pdxlinux.org 
Subject: [PLUG] Guiding a geographically remote friend from Windows to Linux 

I live in SW Missouri (or as one wag in the group has put it) "He 
lives out past Estacada, even." My friend lives in Upstate NY. 
Yes I realize that long distance support will create problems. 
Not doing it is not an option.

What I suggest will be either Debian or Debian based because that 
is what I will be using. It will NOT be Ubuntu as Canonical is 
aiming at the same market as Microsoft and comes up with similar 
solutions on the operator interface. That is where His primary 
problem apparently is. [Based on having known him and is wife for 
~50 years.] For the same reason Gnome3 is out. I'm leaning 
towards Mate as DE.

I'll take a two pronged approach. I have an old laptop on which 
I'll install what I think is a reasonable approximation of what 
he needs and he would find comfortable using.

The second prong requires more homework on my part and is what 
motivates this post.

I'm looking for suggestions for tools to look at an unknown 
system and report on the installed hardware -especially CPU, 
clock speed, RAM, and networking hardware.

Windows software [suitable for WinXP or later] would be nice. I 
would put it on a flash drive with an appropriate bat file. He 
would run it on each of his machines and return the drive to me 
via snail mail. [Did you note the lack of user input required ;]

The second option is for me to create a LiveCD [don't know if all 
his machines can boot from a flash drive]. There would be a 
script which would write the information to a flash drive I 
supplied. That drive would have an appropriate UUID.

Comments, other than I'm ... ?
TIA




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