My grandpa is old and til now has always done things with paper copies including legal paperwork, taxes, and all that. Recently he's said the tax people don't want him using paper to file them and has sent him online resources to do so. Problem is his most recent computer runs Windows 7, and most web pages refuse to load. The only problem I have been able to determine is that the computer is wildly out-of-date, no longer receives security updates, and the internet doesn't like that.
Solutions I can think of are trying to prolong the life of the computer with Linux, getting a newer computer that has the hardware to run Windows 10/11, or taking him to the library to fill out info there. I am always glad to convert people to Linux, but for him it would have to run very similarly to the Windows 7 he's used to. He would have to be able to run EXEs easily and not have to configure anything. I know of low-to-no configuration distros, but I don't know if they can run his applications as easily. A new computer would be a pretty easy fix, but not exactly cheap either. The library, I'm not 100% sure they would allow you to do that paperwork there for security reasons, especially if the patron doesn't know how to log out and secure themselves. Even then, my grandparents have been reluctant to use our local library since they moved here from out of town, probably because they're old and don't like change.
So this is my predicament; if anyone has any suggestions regarding these or with different options, I'd appreciate them. If there is a way to use his current computer, that'd probably be ideal for him, but I do understand that's nowhere near ideal generally.
If it was me I'd pick the Linux route after confirming i can run all the applications they need its then just a matter of setting it up for them and putting the icons on the desktop. However if they want to be able to install new windows applications themselves linux is probably a really bad option cos wine is just not click and go and probably never will be. In that case I'd just try and locate a cheap PC that can run win 11 or repurpose whatever unused machine parts i have lying around.
Windows 11 is so fucking annoying cos if it wasn't for the stupid tpm requirement locating a second hand PC for next to no cost that can run win 10/11 is actually quite easy. Gorillions of ewaste office PCs all over the place for the taking. Technically you can install win 11 and circumvent the requirement but I wouldn't trust Microsoft to not brick PCs later down the line.
That means I'll have to re-learn how to write .desktop files, then? I learned it once, but it was a while ago.
It's not tooo bad if you have to edit them manually for some reason:
but using a gui tool like alacarte or menulibre might be easier
Should be built in to the gui if you go with mint. Its the most windows looking Linux OS there is and easiest for people to understand. I wouldn't recommend anything else tbh gnome would be too alien and kde is flashy but click the wrong button and for grandparents it'll be like trying to exit vim except is the desktop edit mode
Heh. Yeah, I figured I'd go with mint. I helped my sibling with it, and they're satisfied. They were willing to do Linux, but they were only familiar with Windows and wanted to ease into it.
Zorin is designed to look very similar to Windows, but I'm also a big fan of Mint.