[Gllug] Little machines

[Rich Walker]

Xander D Harkness <xander at harkness.co.uk> writes:

> Richard Cottrill wrote:
> 

[snip]

> Are you going to support the laptop and user.  As you provided the laptop I have a funny feeling you
> will be the first call when she cannot print.  In windows you are going to tell them to reboot.  In
> linux I just stuck a menu item to restart the cups that was setuid
> 
> I found Open Office much more stable than Office 2000.  It does take longer to load; however the
> benefit is that it is much less likely to lose their work.

You may find that 1.0.3 won't handle stuff you need to handle, and you
have to install the 1.1 beta...

> I set up a directory that was publicly shared using samba with clear instructions that everything in
> there was public.
> 
> I also set up rsync with a server of mine for backups

I'd suggest also spending a little time configuring autofs for the "usb
device on /dev/sdaX" and making sure there's a "mount floppy ... unmount
floppy" thing somewhere.

> I also ensured that items such as divx and mp3 players were installedto take account of email
> attachments etc.

You mean MPlayer.

(The only things mplayer won't play on my underpowered laptop are .wmv
files - small loss. I need the power to watch proper video - random
cartoon episodes work well from battery).


> I used kde as others have recommended and all goes well.  My gf has had a lot fewer problems and
> than her peers who were bought computers for University.  Some have lots considerable amounts of
> data.  Please also suggest that she keeps nothing of value on floppies.

It *might* be worth investing in a USB cdwriter or external USB drive to
use as the "this is where the data goes" place...

cheers, Rich.

-- 
rich walker         |  Shadow Robot Company | rw at shadow.org.uk
technical director     251 Liverpool Road   |
need a Hand?           London  N1 1LX       | +UK 20 7700 2487
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