Web Browser and Mail Client for my grandparents

nukem996 · l33t Joined: 13 Nov 2003 Posts: 776

Im putting on gentoo on my grandparents computer since windows kept breaking. Ive though of everything but the one area, the most important is what web browser and mail client I should have them use. There used to Win XP with IE and Outlook. I personally use firefox and I like it. Here is what I was thinking

1. firefox/thunderbird
2. mozilla suite
3. kmail(my dad has kde installed just for kmail he loves it)/firefox(konqueror really sux)

What do you guys think?

Thanks

nuke

Plastic · l33t Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 649

Ximian Evolution manages to look almost exactly like outlook, while having much better features and less bugs. Firefox seems to best the best browser out there in linux (using it right now

). I think thunderbird would be a good choice too, if they have any experience with Netscape Messenger (mail program in NN4).

PowerFactor · Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2004 4:55 pm Post subject:

I personaly like firefox/haven't tired thunderbird. But I think for your grandparents the mozilla suit might be a better choice. It's still a bit more stable IMO. For me it's a tossup between mozilla mail and kmail. I like the way mm handles folders and attachments better but I like the way kmail handles multiple identities. I basicaly end up using both depending on what I'm doing at the time. But if I didn't use multiple accounts then mm would be all I would need. And if you want something outlook like without having to install a boatload of gnome libs on your kde system for evolution then give kontact a try.

b060 · Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2004 5:38 pm Post subject: Ximian

I must agree that Ximian works just fine for Outlook users (specially) for the inexperienced.
BTW:
Cool you got linux for your old folks!!!!
_________________
It's OK to be ignorant; it's not OK to play stupid but its your choice anyway

khiloa · Guru Joined: 27 Jan 2004 Posts: 333 Location: Florence, SC

Congrats on getting your grandparents on linux and I think lynx / mutt should work fine for them. :wink:

FireFox and Thunderbird should work okay.
_________________
Registered Linux user #398059!

anthonyevans8475 · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2004 Posts: 12

I very recently moved my grandmother over from Windows XP Home to gentoo. Shes not exactly a technophobe so YMMV.

Here is what I did:

I installed a bare stage 1 gentoo system with a 2.4 kernel (vanilla) and some sane USE settings and CFLAGS.

I then installed and configured X and emerged gnome-lite.
I also installed epiphany and configured it as the default browser, and installed ximian evolution, and configured everything to work with cups for easy printing.

My grandmother loves it, and epiphany is great, and look/works a lot like IE (except it renders using mozilla, and supports tabs and a lot of nifty, but invisible extras like pop-up blocking and privacy enhancements).

Evolution is a no-brainer migration from outlook, and my grandmother took to it very well. All her mail and her contacts are there, and POPfile is getting rid of all spam happily - she hasnt seen any since I set it up.

The only thing that didn't work quite as well as I would have liked was my grandma's camera which needed some patches to the kernel usb mass storage controller drivers and a cvs snapshot of gphoto2. This was a very unknown brand and I imagine the patches in question are already part of the upstream sources.

Other than that, I installed ssh (with pam auth to only allow my username to ssh in and to log everything) and enabled X forwarding and installed VNC so I can monitor and fix the system if and when I need to. I also closed all ports other than ssh from listening on the public interface.

She has been using the system for about 3 weeks now, and there have been no problems, and a lot of praise for the system around her neighbourhood

Simple to use and virus proof, easy to backup to my machine ( simply cron tar -cjf - /home | ssh ).

The only complaint I have heard so far is that she found it hard to read the screen sometimes and simply dropping her to 1024x768 resolution fixed that (along with telling her to use her glasses

).

If you need more details, let me know.

Tony

EDIT: Oh, I also installed privoxy on her machine and configured epiphany to proxy through it, so no graphical ads or other annoying stuff anymore.

aethyr · Veteran Joined: 06 Apr 2003 Posts: 1085 Location: NYC

For the grandparents, I think they'd be happy with a combo of either:

browser: epiphany or firebird
mail: thunderbird (still beta-ish)

It would also probably be best if all the programs were stripped of unnecessary toolbars and unnecessary icons on the toolbars.

stormcrowley · Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2004 10:37 am Post subject:

One thing holding my grandfather back is a good money management application, a la Quicken. He said he hates Quicken's interface, since it doesn't make much sense. Anyone have any recommendations?

anthonyevans8475 · n00b Joined: 24 Apr 2004 Posts: 12

ronmon · Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2004 6:41 pm Post subject:

Anthony, you're such a nice guy to take care of your grandma like that

Plus, I'll bet it saves a lot of trips to her house to fix stuff.

But on the readability issue, you shouldn't have to degrade screen resolution to do what she needs. I'm not familiar with 'gnome-lite', but unless it cripples a big feature of gnome-2.x, there are settings for magnification, etc, under Applications > Desktop Preferences > Accessibility > Assistive Technology Support in the main gnome menu. It isn't something that I have used (my day may come), but it was one of the most touted features of the transition from 1.4 to 2.0.
_________________
Ask Questions the Smart Way - by ESR

Nate_S · Guru Joined: 18 Mar 2004 Posts: 414

the two that I know of are guncash, as mentioned, and kmymoney2, but I haven't tried them personally.