Good News Travels Fast

Roberto Dohnert writes
Hello I want to tell you thanks, I was inspired by your story on Mr. Staats dads transition to linux that I tried it.

My mom and dad have a g3 blue and white tower. They seem to have misplaced the system software. Well Im the computer geek in the family that here I come to the rescue. So I thought well time for mac OS X for mom and dad. Seem logical ? It does but Bad Idea. That machine was so slow I wanted to take it out to the woods and shoot it and bury it in cement. So here I am just lost no more ideas.

I had heard of Yellowdog Linux but had never installed it. I do like Linux but I use Red Hat on a P3 and Mac OS X on the titanium Powerbook. So I was talking to a friend of mine about my problem as I was contemplating buying them a new Mac he is a mac head himself and he agreed to give me the system software HOOOOORAH I was saved. Wrong idea again. I didnąt have the disks for MS Office or Photoshop. ( My mother is a volunteer for the local church and uses photoshop my dad is a retired marine who works as a dispatcher for a trucking company so I needed those programs ). He mentioned the Gimp and Open office and I was certain they were available for the Mac. Well they are. For mac OS X so I wasnąt going thru that again.

I then thought about Yellowdog and I decided Im not going to try Linux on my parents. But I was checking out the site and found the story and read it. So I figured if Mr. Staats can do it, so can I. So I grabbed the disks and treaded to their house. Oh they complained oh they moaned. But I got them to agree to a thirty day trial period.

I installed it without a hitch. Configured it and taught them about the Gimp and open office and they like it. One battle was over the desktop. My dad liked Gnome he said it looked macho and manly unlike KDE which was girlish. My mom liked KDE and thought Gnome was dull looking. So I set up user accounts and they each have their own settings. That was 2 days ago and I have spent more time with them then I ever have before teaching them about the computer. They seem to like it more than the Mac OS so much in fact that this afternoon I got copies of MS Office 98 and photoshop 5 and called them to tell them that I would go ahead and revert their machine back and my father told me and I quote "you touch it, I will break your fingers" so I guess they like it.

Only problem I have had is my mom wandered into the CLI and thought she messed something up. So I have thought up a new slogan for you guys, ahem "Yellowdog Linux, The operating system that brings families together" catchy aint it ? But I have taken up enough of your time. Thank you so much, because if it wasnąt for Mr. Staats story I wouldnąt have worked up the courage to even attempt it ... I was so enthralled by the easy install that Im going to put it on my system as well to try it out." --Roberto

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