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Comment by brap | Hacker News Reader

I recently tried helping out my parents setup the latest Windows. I don’t wish that on my worst enemies. What a pile of garbage that OS has become. Xbox? Copilot? OneDrive? Why am I seeing ads? Bro leave me the fuck alone I just want a browser.

It’s so bad that at one point I considered having them try another OS, even though all they know is Windows.

Unfortunately everything is crap now. Chrome OS would have been a great option because they only need a browser, but just navigating the site is a mess. What the fuck Google, why do you always have to work against your potential customers.

And don’t get me started on Linux distros, I don’t see my parents fixing the inevitable issues in the terminal.

Can we just go back to Windows 98 or something?

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> I don’t see my parents fixing the inevitable issues in the terminal.

Really good chance now a days that they won't ever run into issues, as long as the hardware is well supported. Slap something like Mint or Debian on there with XFCE and it'll happily run forever.

I set my mom up with Linux Mint a little over a decade ago, she used it without issue for a few years before changing computers. I don’t think that distro is a thing anymore, but it was Ubuntu based. You might be surprised, there is lots of very user friendly Linux out there.

Mint is still very much around.

Excellent news thank you :)

I had to replace my mother's laptop (Win 7) one year ago. I installed mint for her and she has not realized it's a different OS.

For my father I have installed win 11 ltsc which is way cleaner.

Why not Linux with SSH open, ready for you to login in case some troubleshooting is needed?

OK, I have SSH open on a non-standard port on my homemade NAS, and I notice the many many visitors from all over the world trying to bust through my SSH door... (I've implemented a web page to open the port when I enter a password there)

I set up tailscale for my older family members. I can always login and fix stuff. In a pinch - AnyDesk.

> Chrome OS would have been a great option because they only need a browser, but just navigating the site is a mess. What the fuck Google, why do you always have to work against your potential customers.

Navigating the google sales site? You don't need to do that, just go to a computer store and pick out a chromebook from there. Try to get one with a nice processor (ryzen or intel core), and a good amount of ram, and check the expiration date. Most major computer makers have some chromebooks, so you can stick with a brand you like.

Of course, Google is cancelling Chrome OS, so it might not be worth training your parents on it, because you'll need to do something else next time.

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