Help with Linux for senior citizens

[River Valley Computer]

Last week we had the manager of a senior resident center come in and ask us to provide 6-8 computers for use by senior residents to access the Internet, Email, music, pictures, etc.

We thought we would donate the computers to them and maybe in the future get referrals from the seniors families and employees. We have a bunch of older Optiplex Duo Core systems with 2GB/160GB HDD. We were thinking of installing Linus version on them to lessen virus infections.

We have done quick a bit of research and have come up with some computers designed specifically for seniors. Most of them are from England. Attached is a picture of the interface similar to what we were thinking of using to make it easy to see and not intimidating to them. We found a program called ELDY but can't quite figure how to use it - we are kinda' noobies with Linux front-ends.

Any of you Linux brainiacs have any suggestions for either a front end for Linux or a program that allows one to design a desktop like what we want to use?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Altster]

Thanks for this posting. I'd never heard of this front-end before and now I have something I can install into a Linux Mint box. I should know more later today when I get into the shop. If it works easily for me I'll be sure to follow up on this posting.

 

[smashedbotatos]

I can help you out!

Firstly, I am reading you need a Debian based distribution. Mint, Ubuntu, Elementary, Debian

Second, you need the non-free JRE installed. Doesn't actually cost anything, but is Sun java not OpenJRE.

Lastly, there doesn't seem to be a lot of documentation, but I assume you install it and have it run on start up.

It seems to look like a decent solution. However, if you install any distribution you can completely configure how it looks from the ground up. You just start with a specific desktop environment. Gnome, KDE, XFCE, or any variation there of. Then customize it.

 

[River Valley Computer]

Thanks for the responses so far.

I meant to include the site for ELDY - it is http://www.eldy.eu/software/download/

I don't mean that ELDY is THE answer but it is a good start. Maybe there is a front end to a Linux dev. to develop desktops similar to ELDY.

 

[Altster]

I can help you out!

Firstly, I am reading you need a Debian based distribution. Mint, Ubuntu, Elementary, Debian

Second, you need the non-free JRE installed. Doesn't actually cost anything, but is Sun java not OpenJRE.

for #2 above I used info from the Repository section of this website:

http://www.duinsoft.nl/packages.php?t=en. I did all of the work from the terminal (command prompt for those of you who are not familiar with Linux Mint.)

More later

The above does not seem to install - even though it appears to do so. So at the moment I'm stuck.

 

[smashedbotatos]

for #2 above I used info from the Repository section of this website:

http://www.duinsoft.nl/packages.php?t=en. I did all of the work from the terminal (command prompt for those of you who are not familiar with Linux Mint.)

More later

The above does not seem to install - even though it appears to do so. So at the moment I'm stuck.

Try this http://www.webupd8.org/2012/06/how-to-install-oracle-java-7-in-debian.html

 

[Vicenarian]

Or, just install Zorin OS...?

Or, something like this:

http://getchrome.eu/

And just put a huge "INTERNET" icon in the middle of the desktop which launches Google Chrome, set the home page as "chrome://apps/" and have a bunch of shortcuts (Google Chrome 'apps') to popular sites (Google, news, etc.) and have all the users access their email via webmail.

 

[River Valley Computer]

This is really going to blow everyone's minds but we were 'brain'storming this afternoon and thought about using Metro Tiles like Windows 8 but for Linux or Ubuntu, or something that that. We found Metro Puppy for Puppy Linux but boy do the Linuxers talk in a foreign language. Now we are wondering if we should have tackled this project.

Zorin OS is a little to Linuxish - can't find where if you can change desktop icons.

Thanks for the ideas thus far everyone.

 

[Megaarch]

What about Android x86

 

[kpk1]

Linux lite 2.0.... Light distro, Ubuntu based, very pliable.... I've got it looking like 7 on an old dinosaur laptop, lots you can do with it....

 

[kpk1]

Just put eldy on my nexus 7 tablet, looks good except for some reason the english version is all in Italian.... Also you can install eldy on top of windows, if that's any use.

 

[Megaarch]

check it out, it can be run as a live distro, for testing, and will suit your needs. It's basically android on your phone/tab on your computer.
I've used android x86 with many older people and its worked great.

 

[Altster]

This is really going to blow everyone's minds but we were 'brain'storming this afternoon and thought about using Metro Tiles like Windows 8 but for Linux or Ubuntu, or something that that. We found Metro Puppy for Puppy Linux but boy do the Linuxers talk in a foreign language. Now we are wondering if we should have tackled this project.

Zorin OS is a little to Linuxish - can't find where if you can change desktop icons.

Thanks for the ideas thus far everyone.

Irregardless of what YOU end up doing, I'd suggest that you download Linux Mint, install it and start playing with the software. I'm still in the learning stage and I have learned quite a bit about it. As with "anything new" it takes time to learn. The best thing about Linux is that it is free and you play with as many different distributions until you find one to your liking.

A really good place to visit for info regarding various "distro's" is http://http://distrowatch.com/.
.

 

[River Valley Computer]

We are still intrigued by the ELDY interface. Our problem is that we aren't experts on Linux stuff. Just the instructions to install ELDY is confusing - maybe someone could shed some light on it.

Here are the instructions:

three steps:

1) install JAVA JRE 6

if Debian/Ubuntu, or other Debian derivated distro:

- install java6 jre ( ” apt-get install sun-java6-jre ” )
(careful: java is nonfree, you might need to change your source.list to look for nonfree)

are you sure you have java?

to test:
# java -v
and see if you get java version or error.

2) install ELDY downloading tar gz (my personal suggestion)

get latest eldy from http://download.eldy.com
# cd /usr/local
# tar xzvfp eldy*.tgz

2bis) install ELDY as Debian package: (might not be the lates)

- add deb.vegans.it to your source list editing “/etc/apt/sources.list” and adding at the bottom: the following line:
deb http://deb.vegans.it binary/
# apt-get update

# apt-get install eldy

3) Launch Eldy and enjoy
- enjoy eldy running:
” java -jar /usr/local/eldy/eldy.jar”

of course if you called directory in a different way, or placed into other , go where eldy.jar is and launch:
# java -jar eldy.jar

THANKS TO ANYONE WHO CAN SHED SOME LITE ON US DYED IN THE WOOL WONDOWITES.

 

[The Silent Hobo]

Ok, here's what I did to get eldy working on linux mint 17.

Terminal:

sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jre

then

I downloaded

http://download.eldy.net/eldy23.tar.gz

right click it after you download it and extract the folder to the desktop

open the folder, then right click and and click open here in terminal

then sudo chmod +x eldy.jar,

then after that, go back to the open folder and double click the jar, should let you run the jar file and you should be good to go from there.