Stefan Cursano
These days I have many customers requesting a new a laptop because theirs will soon "die". They don't understand that Windows is NOT the computer and the Win10 EOL worries them a lot. I would like to work on an alternative.
I'm planning on making a custom install of #debian for my customers. Not another distro. Just a fresh #linux install with some added software.
My customers are not tech savvy. Any software recommendations ? In the repos or not !
for ex : Libreoffice or Onlyoffice ?🤔
Feb 22, 2025 at 9:41amWeb
Show threadAkka de Kebnekaise 🇨🇭Feb 22, 2025

@Tinkering_Gator I would LibreOffice !

But what about the upgrade? Since Debian does not have a graphical tool to upgrade to a newer version (for instance from 11 to 12) like Ubuntu. This is the only reason why I do not install Debian for the people I've helped to switch to Linux: modifying sources.list is not an easy thing for them.

Show threadStefan CursanoFeb 22, 2025
@akka the LTS way of things Debian has is why I decided to with that distro instead of an other. I know that the upgrade from one version to another isn't easy for non tech savvy people but I'll do the upgrade for them when the time comes. I helped them with their windows problems, I'll help them with their linux problems 😁
Show threadRamin HonaryFeb 22, 2025
@Tinkering_Gator

Make sure they have some kind of app store. I recommend FlatHub over some Dpkg-based package manager.
Show threadStefan CursanoFeb 22, 2025
@ramin_hal9001 yeah flathub is a huge yes for me. It makes things waaaay easier for installing software. I'll add in flatseal also
Show threadtootbruteFeb 22, 2025
@Tinkering_Gator are you nixos curious? Immutability interest you?

https://github.com/mkellyxp/nixbook
Run this, show them how to use Flatpaks

Or

Ublue bluefin/bazzite
https://projectbluefin.io/
bazzite.gg/

I think the rollback features are worth it... Cruft builds up after install and uninstall of apps.
GitHub - mkellyxp/nixbook: A set-and-forget modern operating system designed for simplicity, speed, and peace of mind.

A set-and-forget modern operating system designed for simplicity, speed, and peace of mind. - mkellyxp/nixbook

GitHub
Show threadStefan CursanoFeb 22, 2025
@tootbrute mhh...Now that's some food for thought. Thank you !
Show thread-dsr- (hypoparenthetically)Feb 22, 2025

@Tinkering_Gator

I did this for my father years ago; it's worked out pretty well.

  • Debian stable.
  • Firefox from the Mozilla .deb repo. Install uBlock Origin for them.
  • Thunderbird-ESR.
  • VLC.
  • audacious
  • XFCE4 as the desktop. Do NOT attempt to replicate Windows; having a big visual difference aids learning, and humans are good at learning when they are motivated.
  • LibreOffice is faster and less buggy than OpenOffice; OnlyOffice is crap.
  • Install sgt-puzzles.
  • Configure the first user. Set up XScreenSaver, not one of the wrappers or alternatives; XSS has the fewest bugs by far.

Pro-tip: nobody will ever complain "that doesn't look like the other programs" until they are fully invested in using the system.

Show threadStefan CursanoFeb 22, 2025
@dashdsrdash XFCE use to be my go to option for lower end laptops before I switched to RiverWM.
XFCE is super customizable ! And would be a great choice for this project ! Firefox is the best browser imo. And the choice of the adblocker is an obvious one for me haha and thanks for the screen saver info, I didn't know about that.
Right now I'm wondering if I should stick to the Debian project or try the immutable distro route like an other user suggested 🤔 !
Show thread-dsr- (hypoparenthetically)Feb 22, 2025

@Tinkering_Gator

Think about the support burden and cognitive load of talking a user through installing Inkscape or Blender or SuperTuxRacer on Debian versus the immutable.

One way is going to be a couple of minutes...

Consider putting a partition with a rescue image on each machine. A small live image could be under a gig and provide a lot of emergency usefulness.

Show threadStefan CursanoFeb 22, 2025
@dashdsrdash
Also thanks for the detailed post 😁 !
Show thread-dsr- (hypoparenthetically)Feb 22, 2025

@Tinkering_Gator

It's drinking coffee time here, what else am I going to do?

Subscribe to the debian-users mailing list. It's extremely helpful and also will showcase what kind of questions you should expect.

Show threadStefan CursanoFeb 22, 2025
@dashdsrdash i just did ! Thanks for the tip
Show threadtrichoFeb 24, 2025

@Tinkering_Gator
i think first impressions are very important for users venturing away from the familiar. choosing a ui and gorgeous wallpapers will be as impactful as what real work it can do.

i've had a customer complain that their computer no longer played the windows string swell sound at boot up.

Show threadStefan CursanoFeb 25, 2025
@trichoceratops mhh yeah I agree with that ! I'll look for a pretty close icon theme too, I think 😁 !