the most basic OS

[Callan Jefferson Davies]

>  My dad is a stubborn old farmer who holds only contempt for technology
> and computers. I would like to know if there is an absolutely basic
> reliable low interactivity OS  that I could put on an old computer so I
> can lure him into the world of internet etc through things like weather
> sites live cattle sales or other things that might interest him.



Hi David,

I've got Ubuntu set up on a number of 'senior persons' computers. All I
do is disable automatic backups, set a nice colour scheme, and then put
their most commonly used programs as icons on the top panel. This seems
to work just fine.

I've also got one machine running Xubuntu - the same basic system, but
the 'desktop' is more basic.

You can install Xubuntu packages into your existing system by adding the
'xubuntu-desktop' package through Synaptic. Then you can use the
'session' function on the login screen to choose which desktop you want
to use.

You might also want to look at http://www.linux.org/dist/ and you can
see a list of different linux options, including minimalist.

Good luck and let us know what you decide!

Cheers
Callan