OpenBSD Journal

User story - OpenBSD for seniors

Contributed by merdely on from the make-depends dept.

Rob writes:

My parents use the Internet for email and very light browsing, including Internet banking. Until recently, they had a Windows 98 box and a dial-up Internet connection. After much cajoling from me, they got a broadband connection and the associated host of problems that a broadband and Windows combo brings.

Thanks to an annoying and not very competent script-kiddie, their PC was hijacked and made unusable. Being retired and not very confident with computers, they simply shut the thing down and called for help.

Rob goes on to describe how he set his parents up with a security computing environment using OpenBSD...

I have used OpenBSD for my home network and laptop development PC (4.0, Gnome desktop, etc) for years. So I seized the opportunity to install OpenBSD on their PC too.

I installed OpenBSD 4.1, Gnome, Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice for them this past weekend with very few issues to resolve (Wireless networking and even CUPS worked a treat). Then came, what I expected to be, the tricky task of training.

Training went with ease, as their three applications are on the desktop. It was easy for them to start browsing and emailing like professionals.

I'd like to thank the OpenBSD team and community for the ease with which the beautiful OS can be installed and configured, and the "out of the box" security it affords. The simplicity of the package system (and the ports system too) can not be beaten.

At 65 and 63, I wonder if my parents are the oldest OpenBSD users around.

So who knows of older OpenBSD users?

(Comments are closed)

Comments

  1. By CabbageMoth (2001:388:f000::8bb) on

    >"At 65 and 63, I wonder if my parents are the oldest OpenBSD users around.

    >"So who knows of older OpenBSD users?"

    I do.
    He is 70 next year. Still working, uses OpenBSD every day.
    Not too bad at the command line either.

  2. By Wu (213.60.82.227) wu@e-shell.org on http://www.e-shell.org

    A problem I've found trying to get people using other operating systems than the one from M$ is that people usually try to install applications other people give to them, and they do not keep using the applications you installed at first.

    I tried recently with my parents' computer (some oldie dell optiplex) and I left the box with KDE3 + firefox + thunderbird + openoffice and some other useful applications. After some days running almost fine, my father called me, because he received from his bank a promotional CD with some software to check his account. Obviously the software was windows only, and I had to explain him why the CD didn't work in his computer. That wasn't a big problem, because he could use a web interface for the same operations, but later on he called me again, seems like some friend let him another CD with more software useful for his job. Once again, it was only for windows.

    My parents are not that old (near 50), but they lack of technical knowledge, so sometimes it is painful to explain the benefits of an Operating System like OpenBSD to them, when they can't use the computer for certain things their friends do.

    Comments

    1. By Merlyn (195.113.164.178) on

      > A problem I've found trying to get people using other operating systems than the one from M$ is that people usually try to install applications other people give to them, and they do not keep using the applications you installed at first.
      >
      > I tried recently with my parents' computer (some oldie dell optiplex) and I left the box with KDE3 + firefox + thunderbird + openoffice and some other useful applications. After some days running almost fine, my father called me, because he received from his bank a promotional CD with some software to check his account. Obviously the software was windows only, and I had to explain him why the CD didn't work in his computer. That wasn't a big problem, because he could use a web interface for the same operations, but later on he called me again, seems like some friend let him another CD with more software useful for his job. Once again, it was only for windows.
      >
      > My parents are not that old (near 50), but they lack of technical knowledge, so sometimes it is painful to explain the benefits of an Operating System like OpenBSD to them, when they can't use the computer for certain things their friends do.
      >
      >

      It is important explain OpenBSD ports and packages philosophy before installing it.

    2. By Anonymous Coward (69.3.44.234) on

      This is why I desperately wish we could use VMWare (or some other VM) with OpenBSD as the host system, to run Windows or any other OS's we need to. That would allow many people who need to run windows apps to do it easily.

      Comments

      1. By Gerardo Santana (201.147.183.57) on

        > This is why I desperately wish we could use VMWare (or some other VM) with OpenBSD as the host system, to run Windows or any other OS's we need to. That would allow many people who need to run windows apps to do it easily.

        Wine would be a better approach in this case, since it doesn't make much sense to run a full OS on top of another for running some applications.

      2. By Anonymous Coward (24.22.214.92) on

        > This is why I desperately wish we could use VMWare (or some other VM) with OpenBSD as the host system, to run Windows or any other OS's we need to. That would allow many people who need to run windows apps to do it easily.

        If someone were to write a KQEMU port, you could at least be safe in knowing that the virtualizer isn't a blob doing things you might not ever know about :) at least any blobs *inside* the VM can't affect the host system.

        Comments

        1. By Anonymous Coward (128.171.90.200) on

          > If someone were to write a KQEMU port, you could at least be safe in knowing that the virtualizer isn't a blob doing things you might not ever know about :) at least any blobs *inside* the VM can't affect the host system.

          Just use QEMU ( which is in ports )

          Comments

          1. By Brad (2001:4830:122b:3:216:41ff:fe17:6933) brad at comstyle dot com on

            > > If someone were to write a KQEMU port, you could at least be safe in knowing that the virtualizer isn't a blob doing things you might not ever know about :) at least any blobs *inside* the VM can't affect the host system.
            >
            > Just use QEMU ( which is in ports )

            KQEMU is an interface for QEMU to provide access to the underlying hw through the kernel to allow QEMU to go from emulating the OS to it running in virtualization mode. Much faster. QEMU is faster than other emulators for x86 CPUs but emulation is still way slower than virtualization. Windows is still painfully slow under QEMU without KQEMU.

  3. By Merlyn (195.113.164.178) on

    Good work!
    My grandmother use only SuSE. I wanted OpenBSD, but there is one problem with localizing GKT applications. I need Czech, but there are no locales (like in FreeBSD) in OpenBSD.

    btw. my grandmother is over 60 years old

    Comments

    1. By Anonymous Coward (151.188.247.104) on

      > Good work!
      > My grandmother use only SuSE. I wanted OpenBSD, but there is one problem with localizing GKT applications. I need Czech, but there are no locales (like in FreeBSD) in OpenBSD.
      >
      > btw. my grandmother is over 60 years old

      I agree, good work!

      Another alternative, for those who don't like the Novell-Microsoft deal (I'm one of those), is *ubuntu. The i18n and l10n work really well. I run Kubuntu Dapper Drake on a PowerBook G3. It was originally set up in English, but making it speak Spanish was really easy. I'd imagine the same would be true for Czech.

  4. By Anonymous Coward (151.136.100.2) on

    what? not changing the hard drive even?

    Comments

    1. By Anonymous Coward (195.158.180.249) on

      Give him a break! He only is trying to help his granny!

  5. By tinou (192.249.36.3) on

    My parents are 68, and use as well an old x86 that was bought in 1999. Once they had too much problems with Windows 98, I installed them a Unix-like environment with KDE, OpenOffice.org and Mozilla on the top. The base is a Linux by now, but it wouldn't change much their experience to be a BSD, as they leave me the administrations tasks.

    Yeah, when my laziness gives me up, I'll make the step.

  6. By Anonymous Coward (66.25.247.29) on

    At 66 I've been retired from salaried systems-analyst work for 11 years. I consult (for free) with several NGOs re their servers. I've installed OpenBSD web servers and email servers with minimal problems, all solved by OpenBSD's good documentation. Weekly examination of their server logs has revealed a huge amount of probing (mostly looking for Windows zombie-candidates), but not a single successful penetration. Need I say more?

    My own home system dual-boots a fully-patched 32-bit WinXP (by default) and a fully-patched 64-bit Ubuntu. My only use of Ubuntu is for compiling and testing 64-bit applications that I've written in C because WinXP is not ready for prime time in the 64-bit world.

    Age is irrelevant; what matters is systems experience (if any) regardless of age.

    Geezers rule!

    Comments

    1. By Anonymous Coward (63.119.50.11) on

      > At 66 I've been retired from salaried systems-analyst work for 11 years. ...
      >
      > Geezers rule!
      >


      At 55, I feel like the youngster here. :)

      Comments

      1. By Motley Fool (MotleyFool) on

        > > At 66 I've been retired from salaried systems-analyst work for 11 years. ...
        > >
        > > Geezers rule!
        >
        > At 55, I feel like the youngster here. :)

        don't worry, at 49 I still think you are old ;-)

        Comments

        1. By Terrell Prude' Jr. (151.188.247.104) tprude@cmosnetworks.com (this is a spamtrap address) on http://www.cmosnetworks.com/

          > At 66 I've been retired from salaried systems-analyst work for 11 years. ...
          >
          > Geezers rule!
          >
          > At 55, I feel like the youngster here. :)
          >
          > don't worry, at 49 I still think you are old ;-)
          >

          Both of you got me beat, 'cause I'm only 38! :-) And yep, geezers are very often pretty damn cool. They usually know a hell of a lot, too.

          --TP (serious OpenBSD user now for about a year)

          Comments

          1. By Alex Hafey (82.69.184.245) on

            > Both of you got me beat, 'cause I'm only 38! :-) And yep, geezers are very often pretty damn cool. They usually know a hell of a lot, too.
            >
            > --TP (serious OpenBSD user now for about a year)

            Get off my lawn, dang kids!

            I'm 38 also, just getting practice :-)

            Cheers,
            Alex, serious OpenBSD user for about 10 years now

            Comments

            1. By Pau (129.105.65.155) on

              hawhawhaw... you are walking mummies... 33 here

              no offense

              > > Both of you got me beat, 'cause I'm only 38! :-) And yep, geezers are very often pretty damn cool. They usually know a hell of a lot, too.
              > >
              > > --TP (serious OpenBSD user now for about a year)
              >
              > Get off my lawn, dang kids!
              >
              > I'm 38 also, just getting practice :-)
              >
              > Cheers,
              > Alex, serious OpenBSD user for about 10 years now
              >
              >

              Comments

              1. By baeyogin (24.173.199.237) on

                You've all passed expiry, 26 here .

                > hawhawhaw... you are walking mummies... 33 here
                >
                > no offense
                >
                > > > Both of you got me beat, 'cause I'm only 38! :-) And yep, geezers are very often pretty damn cool. They usually know a hell of a lot, too.
                > > >
                > > > --TP (serious OpenBSD user now for about a year)
                > >
                > > Get off my lawn, dang kids!
                > >
                > > I'm 38 also, just getting practice :-)
                > >
                > > Cheers,
                > > Alex, serious OpenBSD user for about 10 years now
                > >
                > >
                >
                >

  7. By Anonymous Coward (69.207.171.114) on

    I don't know why it should be any surprise that folks in their 60s can use an OS like OpenBSD. After all, Ken Thompson is 64, Brian Kernighan is 65, and Dennis Ritchie is 66. :-)

  8. By Anonymous Coward (82.113.113.81) on

    i can't come up with old bsd users but i just wanted to tell you that *bsd is not the best joice for everyone.

    sad to see that my family (sister 20/dad 56/mom 55) use to work with windows only...
    after a painfull mistake my sister did (pain to me, i had to fix it), they learned not to install every crap they can find on the internet. since this day everything runs quite well.
    the right os for the right job and if it's for sake of a happy family member who "is able" to do what he want to do i thing they should stay with windows.

    my grandfather bought a pc in 2003 with windows installed. he died this year at the age of 86. if you realy want to instruct someone at this age to use a bsd/linux if he never saw one before, you might be able to cause a heart attack:) so the windows way was much better for him.

    Comments

    1. By Lars Hansson (bysen) on

      > i can't come up with old bsd users but i just wanted to tell you that *bsd is not the best joice for everyone.

      Thanks Professor Obvious.

    2. By Anonymous Coward (81.83.80.223) on

      > my grandfather bought a pc in 2003 with windows installed. he died this year at the age of 86. if you realy want to instruct someone at this age to use a bsd/linux if he never saw one before, you might be able to cause a heart attack:) so the windows way was much better for him.

      That's just a load of crap. In fact, it's MUCH easier to teach someone who's never used a computer before -- say an 86 year old -- how to use BSD than it is to teach some 13 year old myspace whore who thinks Windows Vista looks pretty...

      Comments

      1. By Anonymous Coward (129.105.65.155) on

        hawhawhaw... you are walking mummies... 33 here

        no offense

        (just bumped)

        > > Both of you got me beat, 'cause I'm only 38! :-) And yep, geezers are very often pretty damn cool. They usually know a hell of a lot, too.
        > >
        > > --TP (serious OpenBSD user now for about a year)
        >
        > Get off my lawn, dang kids!
        >
        > I'm 38 also, just getting practice :-)
        >
        > Cheers,
        > Alex, serious OpenBSD user for about 10 years now
        >
        >


      2. By Anonymous Coward (151.188.247.104) on

        > That's just a load of crap. In fact, it's MUCH easier to teach someone who's never used a computer before -- say an 86 year old -- how to use BSD than it is to teach some 13 year old myspace whore who thinks Windows Vista looks pretty...
        >

        And don't forget the legion of MCSE's (usu. fearful for their job security) who will say, "Windows is the standard, you gotta use the standard." Well, they're half-right. Windows is about as non-standard as Microsoft thinks it can get away with making it. However, they are right about using "the standard." Free UNIX-like platforms, unlike Windows or most other things from Microsoft, are very standard indeed. So if "you gotta use the standard," then do so--use a UNIX-like OS. :-)

        For the grandparents, I'd put them on something like Kubuntu Dapper Drake due to its Long-Term Support nature, and the fact that I live on the other side of the country from them. For myself, I prefer either Slackware or OpenBSD, either of them with the KDE desktop (OK, I like KDE--sue me).

        And if you're too stupid to figure out how to use either KDE or GNOME, then there's no *way* you'll ever figure out Windows Vista. Vista is the most cryptic UI I've seen in a long time, and I've seen plenty. Ugh....

  9. By Denny White (24.119.129.3) denny.white@gmail.com on http://polarwave.blogspot.com

    Another old geezer. I'm 60 now and have used OpenBSD full time for about
    the last 3 years including as my primary desktop operating system. Before
    that, it was FreeBSD and, before that, I used Slackware. I've tried to
    keep a journal of sorts on my blog at:
    http://polarwave.blogspot.com
    Old geeks never die, they just hack away! ;)

Latest Articles

Credits

Copyright © - Daniel Hartmeier. All rights reserved. Articles and comments are copyright their respective authors, submission implies license to publish on this web site. Contents of the archive prior to as well as images and HTML templates were copied from the fabulous original deadly.org with Jose's and Jim's kind permission. This journal runs as CGI with httpd(8) on OpenBSD, the source code is BSD licensed. undeadly \Un*dead"ly\, a. Not subject to death; immortal. [Obs.]