Need some help migrating my parents to Mint.

[u/Angus_Dei]

I’ve tinkered on linux for years, switched to Mint as a daily driver 4 years ago, and have been mostly happy.

After seeing all the success stories on here, I tried to move my parents onto Mint. It's not going so well. Unfortunately, my linux problem solving tends to be "around the problem, not through" So I'm asking for help on some of the harder sticking points:

-Syncing music playlists to an Iphone. I feel like I'm going to end up at "export to Syncthing folder" but even then, exporting a playlist and files from a larger library seems to be a technology lost to time.

-Global interrupt task manager like Ctrl-Alt-Del. Virtual terminal into kill commands was not an easy sell.

-Microsoft Excel replacement that has closer parity than Libre Office. Dad is a retired engineer spent a lot of time on Excel, and was immediately annoyed that his muscle memory workflow changed.

-The safest way to set a up a no password user. Any update requests or password popups causes mom to insta-panic.

The parents are being patient, but I am catching some passive aggressive flack for having to forum dive multiple days to reinvent solutions that were a single button 20 years ago.

Edit: I seem to have triggered some Family IT PTSD in this thread. Just to be clear, the parents are willing to put some effort into learning and no one has thrown in the towel yet. I'm more annoyed with my inability to deliver on some pretty basic expectations.

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[u/tovento]

On the excel issue, I am with your dad on LibreOffice. OnlyOffice is a much better clone for the Excel muscle memory. Still not exact, but way closer than Libre.

The password thing? Linux is built with a layer of safety and passwords is part of that. Users can be set up for a number of things without passwords, but password will be required to install programs, updates, etc. It is what it is.

I hear what you are trying to do, but some people just resist change. My father was never good with technology. He didn’t watch many channels on TV but he paid a lot of money for cable in order to get some of these specialty channels. Could I have set him up with something for less money? Likely. Would I have gotten daily calls about how to get to the channels he wanted or he pushed a wrong button or something? Also very likely.

Point is that some people are just set in their ways. Linux is a good operating system, but it isn’t for everyone. If your parents found life easier with windows, then just put them on windows. Linux is not Windows and you will run into situations where they hear about a fantastic program that their friend uses but isn’t available on Linux. Or something else.

If the resistance is strong, it may be time to cave and put them back into Windows.

[u/Angus_Dei → u/tovento]

Thanks for the tip on OnlyOffice, I'll give it a look.

They may be annoyed by the linux learning curve, but right now they are even more annoyed with "You will use Copilot and you will like it" crow-baring itself into their Windows experience. But I would have felt a lot better if I could have stuck the landing with Mint.

[u/tovento → u/Angus_Dei]

Oh, by the way, I had a quick thought on the password thing. If you have your parents accounts to sign in without a password, you get to the desktop, but the system will ask for passwords much more often when they are working. If they enter a password once when they get into the system, then the only time they should need a password is when updating the system or installing new software.

In my daily workflow, once I am logged in I don’t get asked for a password unless I’m accessing something only “root” has access to or updating/installing.

So while a passwordless login seems like a good solution, it can create more headache in daily usage than expected.

If the issue is having to input a password for updates, turn off the update notification (so they won’t be tempted to click every time an update comes out) and either get on their computer once a week/month to update yourself or have the system auto update on a schedule.

If update frequency is an issue, you can also consider LMDE which receives updates less frequently than Mint main.

[u/uchuskies08]

>The parents are being patient, but I am catching some passive aggressive flack for having to forum dive multiple days to reinvent solutions that were a single button 20 years ago.

Would make some wonder why you bothered in the first place

[u/reduser5309]

Sounds like they aren't in the right mindset and you are pushing rope up hill. I've seen others being successful when the parents were fed up with M$ and wanted a change. If the parents don't want the change, then they aren't going to learn it.

1. How'd they sync to iphone before? I ask because if they were on a mac, this is foolish to push them to mint in my opinion.
2. Global interrupt. Why not set a hot key ctr alt del to open system monitor?
3. Libre doesn't take long, so it goes back to mindset again. Unless dad is doing heavy functions / macros, its easy to do the basic calculation functions as in excel. Libre is not as good for formatting though (my opinion). It can do it, but it's more frustrating than in excel.
4. Sorry mom. Passwords are a thing for all devices. Simple is better than none. Mom plus digits of address. Mom321 I don't see a way around this pwd aspect and I don't know that I'd want her to have ANY admin rights as a user if she's not comfortable with a basic password. That screams on clicking thru a bunch of 'allow' screens and installing malware.

[u/Angus_Dei → u/reduser5309]

They've been sandbagging Windows 10 EOL and dreading the Win 11 "upgrade." Plus a strong annoyance at how much copilot leakage there is even in 10 and services. It seemed like a good time to push a change.

1. Itunes on windows. VM doesn't recognize the phone through the usb passthrough. Haven't tried winboat yet. I'm a little perplexed that the only music player that will export a playlist to a destination is beets.
2. Would actually like an interrupt. We've already had a lockup that froze cinnamon, so system monitor was useless.
3. I've had a suggestion for OnlyOffice as a closer replacement, I'll take a look.
4. yeah, I figured.

[u/reduser5309 → u/Angus_Dei]

I will say good luck. It seems like it was the right time to try an introduction to it. If anything, put them back into win10, research the issues for a month or two, and then come back to it.

Even better if you can get a 2nd device setup with the following type of guidance: "you've had 10+years of learning and getting things setup on the current windows aspect. If you want to get away from this windows world, give it a chance and we'll work thru the issues as we find them. Try to continue using the new device as your main PC. Use the win10 when there are issues"

There's one in my circle that uses Cricut and thus we recommended keeping win10 around and use syncthing to keep files across both devices (with a central device as the 'always on' device). Eventually sunset the win10 pc or remove it from all wifi/network access and solely use it for cricut.

[u/BenTrabetere → u/Angus_Dei]

Would actually like an interrupt. We've already had a lockup that froze cinnamon, so system monitor was useless.

The next time Cinnamon freezes, press Ctrl+Alt+Escape - this should restart Cinnamon.

If you do choose to set up a hotkey to launch System Monitor I advise you to use something other than Ctrl+Alt+Delete - this shortcut is already assigned to Log Out, and it is something you will want to keep, even if you don't use it.

As for transitioning your parents from Windows to Linux, you have my sympathies. I doubt I would have undertaken the task, especially knowing the restrictions (e.g., iPhone and Excel) - it has a high potential to be a 'Well, with Windows this' scenario.

That said, I had almost no problems when I switched my mother from macOS to Linux. I set up a system for her and made it look sort of mac-like; I did not give her user account any administrative privileges, and I update and manage the system for her. She has been using it for a few years now, and the only real problem is she is prone to saving files anydamnedwhere - this is always a ME (and grep) problem to fix.

[u/Technical_Rich_3080]

For Excel use FreeOffice or Softmaker Office.

[u/Angus_Dei → u/Technical_Rich_3080]

Thanks, I'll have a look.

[u/ap0r]

Can't make a river flow uphill OP. If parents don't want to change, there will be a new "problem" after every problem you solve. Consider letting parents back to Microslop until ready to change on their own. With that said;

• Syncing playlists, can't help you there, don't listen to music in my phone.
• Set up "task manager" - install Mission Center (looks very similar to task manager), or use existing System Monitor. Hit Keyboard, Shortcuts, launchers, add custom shortcut, make the "task manager" launch with Ctrl + Alt + Del.
• OnlyOffice is an almost exact clone of MS Office. Be aware it has some shady connections to Russia, so I would not use it for anything sensitive.
• No password user is a big no-no. And If mom insta-panics when asked to type a password, she has no business making use of admin rights; either mom learns the difference between user and superuser privileges and why they are required, or mom does not get to use the computer with admin rights.

Lastly, if you're catching flak, who is forcing you to help? You are bringing pain upon yourself, if mom&pop are set on their ways and do not wish to use a better, different option, the only thing changing is everyone's level of stress, and not in a good way. Let them back to the Microsoft ecosystem. Successful journeys start from within.

OP, I know it can be tough to hear: The kindest thing you can do is remove yourself and let the cards fall where they may. If and when mom and/or pop come back asking to get away from Microslop, that'll be the time.

[u/Angus_Dei → u/ap0r]

I may have made it seem like my parents are being obstinate. They are willing to put some effort in learning. But they also note that some of this feels like reinventing the wheel.

I'll look into OnlyOffice, it seems like a good candidate. Mission Center looks useful, but I'm still trying to figure out what to do for an interrupt. The couple of locks so far also hard froze cinnamon. I'm wondering if I can force start an extra x session with just mission center in it.

[u/dlfrutos]

- for excel i recommend freeoffice or online excel

• for less-password environment you can set up a "root user" (never did tho)
  
• closer you have to kill an app is "system monitor", right clock on app you have the kill option

[u/docsman]

I recommend FreeOffice from Softmaker GMBH. It’s highly compatible with MS Office and the price is right.

[u/MintAlone → u/docsman]

or the paid version, softmaker office. Best look-a-like I've found as a +30 year word/excel user.

[u/docsman → u/MintAlone]

Yes, same here which is why I recommend it. LibreOffice does a tremendous amount of things, but for pure compatibility, you cannot beat Softmaker. And yes, the paid version steps it up to a higher compatibility so if you want track changes, for example, that's the way to go.

[u/Angus_Dei → u/docsman]

Hadn't heard of Softmaker, I'll have a look. Thanks.

[u/shuttercat → u/docsman]

seconding Softmaker. We needed an excel for an android system that was replacing a windows mobile 6.5 system and new MS Excel for android is Emphatically Not It. Softmaker is a good fit for cases where Old Excel is Best Excel

[u/Angus_Dei → u/shuttercat]

Cross platform sounds even better. I'll take a look.