# Ubuntu on your parents computer..
**URL:** https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046
**Category:** NYSpeed Off Topic
**Created:** [April 8, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046 "2010-04-08T14:36:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JustinH](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/JustinH)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/1 "2010-04-08T14:36:27Z")
I bought my father an older Toshiba laptop about 4-5 years back.
It was running Windows XP, Celeron M processor, 256meg of ram.
About every six months the computer would be totally demolished with virus and spyware problems, no matter what I told my father. I had all updates in place, and anti-virus programs.
I re-imaged the drive for about the 4th time this year, and the hard drive finally quit. I put a new WD 80GIG IDE HDD in there, and threw another 512meg RAM stick at it.
I installed a copy of Ubuntu Linux on it, with most of their software suite.
My dad loves it, it is a much more modern OS than Windows Xp, and we don’t have to deal with the bullshit of viruses at all.
If you have some parents that are 50+ years old that don’t really do much on a computer but internet and word, then this is totally the no brainer thing to do.
I haven’t used linux in a few years, and I was surprised that I installed it and did not have one driver problem. I even plugged in a brother laser printer, and it worked right away.
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### Author:  [@Joe](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Joe)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/2 "2010-04-08T14:50:17Z")
my parents arent gay though 😛
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### Author:  [@travisn](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/travisn)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/3 "2010-04-08T15:19:45Z")
porn
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### Author:  [@evane](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/evane)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2010, 8:58am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/4 "2010-04-13T08:58:57Z")
Wait until you see Lucid Lynx, they really outdid themselves, they redid the theme and artwork.
Most daily web/email type users would be fine on ubuntu with [OO.org](http://OO.org) and Chrome or Firefox.
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### Author:  [@itsJim](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/itsJim)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2010, 9:56am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/5 "2010-04-13T09:56:46Z")
I’ve had my mom on Ubuntu for about 2 years now… Haven’t gotten a call about her computer since…
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### Author:  [@Gl1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Gl1)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2010, 10:20am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/6 "2010-04-13T10:20:05Z")
i just had a lady come in and ask me to take ubuntu off and install XP, because she thought having it made her a nerd… and she was positive that she WASN’T a nerd and so it had to go. lol
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### Author:  [@itsJim](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/itsJim)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2010, 11:27am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/7 "2010-04-13T11:27:33Z")
Was she hot?
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### Author:  [@Gl1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Gl1)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2010, 12:50pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/8 "2010-04-13T12:50:39Z")
not even a little bit
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### Author:  [@DokiZen6x](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/DokiZen6x)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/9 "2010-04-13T16:36:26Z")
Ive been playing with KDE 4 (Kubuntu’s newest) and I dig it. Deff came a long way…
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### Author:  [@Jam](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Jam)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/10 "2010-08-26T00:01:48Z")
i just installed ubuntu in order to try and save pics from my hd before i re-install xp (virus destroyed my drivers, had no internet connection, tons of reg errors, ect. it was bad, wouldnt ever rcognize a flash drive / extrenal hd)
but now im really liking it, i think im going to keep it. i was using firefox with windows for years before. for people running ubuntu, how do you torrent? run utorrent through wine? or is there a better linux based torrent program?
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### Author:  [@Mankthetank19](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Mankthetank19)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/11 "2010-08-26T02:35:52Z")
> [@Jam](#):
>
> i just installed ubuntu in order to try and save pics from my hd before i re-install xp (virus destroyed my drivers, had no internet connection, tons of reg errors, ect. it was bad, wouldnt ever rcognize a flash drive / extrenal hd)
>
> but now im really liking it, i think im going to keep it. i was using firefox with windows for years before. for people running ubuntu, how do you torrent? run utorrent through wine? or is there a better linux based torrent program?
You should of tried Knoppix
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### Author:  [@evane](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/evane)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2010, 6:42am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/12 "2010-08-26T06:42:40Z")
> [@Jam](#):
>
> i just installed ubuntu in order to try and save pics from my hd before i re-install xp (virus destroyed my drivers, had no internet connection, tons of reg errors, ect. it was bad, wouldnt ever rcognize a flash drive / extrenal hd)
>
> but now im really liking it, i think im going to keep it. i was using firefox with windows for years before. for people running ubuntu, how do you torrent? run utorrent through wine? or is there a better linux based torrent program?
uTorrent in wine works well
Transmission is the other good client.
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### Author:  [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2010, 6:50am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/13 "2010-08-26T06:50:11Z")
If it weren’t for microsoft office, I would be running Ubuntu 100% at my home and recommending it to everyone i know.
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### Author:  [@evane](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/evane)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2010, 7:04am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/14 "2010-08-26T07:04:48Z")
> [@boardjnky4](#):
>
> If it weren’t for microsoft office, I would be running Ubuntu 100% at my home and recommending it to everyone i know.
What do you really use in Office that [OO.org](http://OO.org) can’t do?
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### Author:  [@boxxa](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boxxa)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2010, 7:19am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/15 "2010-08-26T07:19:51Z")
Def awesome for parents. Most people can’t understand it because of their comfortableness to Windows but if you only have a small knowledge and people are an open slate, its easier to get people used to. For systems management, just SSH in and change stuff for them.
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### Author:  [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2010, 7:28am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/16 "2010-08-26T07:28:10Z")
> [@evane](#):
>
> What do you really use in Office that [OO.org](http://OO.org) can’t do?
resume writing
I cannot trust [OO.org](http://OO.org) to send it out formatted properly for a prospective employer to open in MS Word
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### Author:  [@JayS](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/JayS)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2010, 10:32am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/17 "2010-08-26T10:32:40Z")
I was about to make the switch on my laptop but I keep adding stuff to my “list of apps I need that Ubuntu doesn’t support”.
iTunes. I do way too much jailbreak stuff with my iphone to not have good backups and restores. Plus my wife uses itunes to sync her ipod touch.
Photoshop CS5. I don’t care what knockoffs you’re going to recommend, Photoshop is the standard and it’s what I use. Yeah, I can run CS5 portable through Wine but that’s crap.
VPN to work. We have a shitty Sonicwall firewall. I found a site about setting it up in Ubuntu and it looks like a PITA compared to installing the client and being done with it like I can in Windows.
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### Author:  [@LZ1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/LZ1)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2010, 11:10am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/18 "2010-08-26T11:10:43Z")
> [@JayS](#):
>
> VPN to work. We have a shitty Sonicwall firewall. I found a site about setting it up in Ubuntu and it looks like a PITA compared to installing the client and being done with it like I can in Windows.
If its IPSEC it works right out of the box in Ubuntu its stupid easy
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### Author:  [@boardjnky4](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/boardjnky4)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2010, 11:18am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/19 "2010-08-26T11:18:36Z")
> [@LZ](#):
>
> If its IPSEC it works right out of the box in Ubuntu its stupid easy
Don’t be so quick to assume that. They messed something up in 10.04. I wasn’t able to get one of my IPSEC VPNs to connect.
Works perfect from command line, but fails to connect from network manager.
It’s always 2 steps forward and 1 step back with ubuntu.
edit: I should elaborate. I was able to get it to connect, but was unable to return any valid DNS requests. resolv.conf was getting the correct DNS servers, but they were unreachable.
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### Author:  [@LZ1](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/LZ1)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2010, 11:19am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/ubuntu-on-your-parents-computer/153046/20 "2010-08-26T11:19:48Z")
We installed the latest Ubuntu hooked it to our Cisco IPSEC VPN no issues…
The only thing that slowed us down was someone forgot to check a box for some random option…
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