Hello there. Was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a Linux distro for grandparents? They are over 70 years old, with an old HP desktop and laptop running Windows 10. All they need is a Web browser, so no need for special software or wine to run Windows programs. Would preferably like something that is low maintenance so I don’t have to be constant tech support for them (apart from the initial install and setup). Thanks for any suggestions.

  • alephEnglish
    61·
    25 days ago

    Good lord. If you’re not already familiar with NixOS, there are far, far easier ways to go immutable.

    Configuring Nix makes Arch seem like a walk in the park.

      • alephEnglish
        5·
        25 days ago

        Aurora/Bluefin or Silverblue/Kinoite.

        • Lichtblitz@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
          11·
          25 days ago

          Silverblue/Kinoite

          Those are not immutable, especially on the file system. I’m glad the fedora team switched the term to “atomic”, because “immutable” set all the wrong expectations.

          • yala@discuss.onlineEnglish
            11·
            24 days ago

            So you’re saying that most directories in /usr and (also) some other directories in / are not read-only during runtime (under regular system maintenance/management) on Fedora Atomic?

              • yala@discuss.onlineEnglish
                1·
                24 days ago

                Thank you for clarifying what you didn’t write nor mean. Could you be so kind to explain what you did mean with what’s quoted below?

                Those are not immutable, especially on the file system.

                • Lichtblitz@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
                  1·
                  24 days ago

                  Sure. Not all directories are protected and the ones that are, are just protected from immediate write access. A malicious app or a user who copies the wrong snippets can create overlays and apply them immediately without a reboot. Having atomic distros is awesome but it has nothing to do with immutability and it someone needed that for example for PCs that are in random control at least some of the time, then they need a different solution on top, that gives actual immutability.

                  • yala@discuss.onlineEnglish
                    1·
                    24 days ago

                    So, you referred to immutable in the absolute sense? If not, would you be so kind to mention distros/systems that you actually refer to as immutable?

    • Vertelleus@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      25 days ago

      I’m not sure why it’s harder than Arch. It basically has it’s own app store and you select the stuff from their website to install through the terminal.
      Could you expand in your reasoning?

      • alephEnglish
        1·
        25 days ago

        They have a GUI package manager? That’s news to me. When I tried it out last year, package management was handled by nix-env or configuration.nix.

        Anyway, I found it much harder than Arch because it requires learning a completely new paradigm of system management. There is a very high upfront investment in learning multiple new concepts in order to change even the most basic aspects of your system - What are flakes? What are channels? What is home-manager?

        Also, the documentation and online support is far more sparse. If you encounter an issue, it’s much more likely that you can find the solution for Arch through the wiki or a forum than it is with NixOS. There also tends to be no single way to resolve a problem, and so a lot of the information you find online may appear contradictory and confusing.

        • Vertelleus@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          25 days ago

          I never said it had a GUI store, but if your installing things for grand parents it’s pretty easy through the root account, that the grand parents dont have access to. Go to https://search.nixos.org/packages search for one like Firefox and copy the command.

          How is this harder than Arch?

          • alephEnglish
            1·
            25 days ago

            And I never said installing packages is harder than Arch. I said setting up, configuring, and troubleshooting the system is harder than Arch.

            In any case, the original point was that NixOS is a weird choice for an atomic/immutable system for grandparents when compared to something like Silverblue.