Howdy there! I posted here a while ago sharing a script to a video guide on how and why someone might want to switch to Linux and I wanted to share the finished product now that it is complete. My goal with this script was to create something explaining why an average person might want to stop using Windows and what Linux can do for them in its place. It is able to be watched on Peertube and YouTube as well as read in its entirety on my website. If you give it a watch or a read please let me know what you think. Thank you for your time :)
A heads up that, in 2026, a 70 year old grandmother could just as well have had a 30-40-50 year career in computing. Don’t use grandmothers as the go to trope for tech illiterate users :)
Grace hopper died in 1992 well into her 80s.
Edit: Ada Lovelace (maiden name Augusta Ada Byron. Yeah that was her dad, no they never met, but that’s the time period) wrote the first computer code with a quill pen. Computers were largely considered ‘women’s work’ until I think like the late 50s; most of turing’s team at bletchley park were women. Up until the 1980s it was probably wise, if you wanted the deep lore on computers, to ask somebody’s grandma.
In fact, “computers” were women whose job was to do calculations in the era before electronic computers.
Is there a good linux with tech support for less technically inclined individuals? Like ppl just call windows support when they have issues or know they can contact hp, dell, etc. Would they even get help using linux?
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Wasnt asking for myself, was just asking since ppl brought up swapping from windows to linux and thats why the average person wont
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I’ve been thinking about doing exactly this but for the free and open source applications that I know well. Having a hotline/helpdesk would be way faster and easier for newcomers to make use of than reading forum posts scattered all over the internet that usually assume higher technical skill levels, or starting their own posts. I for one would learned way better this way and in many cases would have been happy to pay (reasonably) for it.
If anyone would like to get involved in setting something up let me know.
Just a heads up, you have apparently never helped any stranger.
Once they know you can help for free, they will expect this of you all the time, for free.
And the questions will be infuriating as ever. If you want to try it, just go to a beginners forum like gutefrage or your equivalent shitposting site and just answer every question on linux. No skipping.
Trust me, or if you dont at least just get a second phone number for it so you dont have to migrate to a second one once you decided that it takes a way too big toll on your mental health
Yeah I don’t mean for free. I think that’s implied by the “happy to pay (reasonably) for it” part of the comment.
The problem with tech support in general is that people want to have a trusted source. If you are successful in your endeavour, then you are that source. Therefore you will be called for everything. Absolutely everything.
Suddenly all people forget how to search online themselves or to actually look at the problem before reaching out. Not even a turn it off and on again mentality. You are now their source and will do everything for them.
Then it degrades from there. Problems become vague descriptions of “acting funny” and you spend far too much time trying to get accurate descriptions and scenarios to understand the problem before even being able to try to troubleshoot it.
All this jaded negativity is just me making a point that reasonable charges won’t get you very far. You will need to charge more to cover the time (yours or help) and then you will be deemed too expensive and people won’t call.
When I do free tech support for someone who I think could have solved it themselves I just make them solve it themselves by asking questions. “What information do you have?” “What have you tried?” “What does the error say?” “What do you think the error means? Is it giving a hint?” “When did you start having the problem?” “What can we eliminate?” “What did a search search suggest?” “What does the documentation say?”
“Did you try rebooting, reconnecting?”
This is an excellent idea and very valuable - thanks for doing it 👍
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Secondary comment. Linux aside, I appreciate your Thing video. Yes, that’s exactly the difference with the original vs the prequel. I enjoyed the prequel much more than most (and you give it a nod at the end) but it’s far from the original.
Disclaimer, I did not watch the video other than the intro.
I intend to scrub through it, but its very long for an basics video. Maybe this should be broken up into a series.
Looking at the topics, it seems odd to including gaming for Grandma. Again, if it was a series you could do an offshoot gaming focused video for non grandma.
Though to be constructive and positive, I love your intent here. When you know nothing about Linux there’s a lot of information to process and understand (even for non grandmas). You cover a lot of important topics and how to get going.
it seems odd to including gaming for Grandma
Why? Back in the 90s, my great-grandmother learned how to use the family computer (it ran DOS) because she wanted to play the Wheel of Fortune video game.
What is the alternative to Ubuntu (lets pretend snap doesn’t exist) if recommending someone a distro where you don’t need to use the CLI to install apps?
Unfortunately there are many apps that can’t be found on flathub/discover.
Linux Mint is always the better Ubuntu.
Out of curiosity, what apps were you unable to get from the repository that can’t be found in discover/software/whatever?
Those apps are front-ends for the OS’s package manager so as long as it’s in the repository, it should be in there.
