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ISO: A good stand-alone email solution for technology-fearing grandparents...
    #5033378 -

My grandmother is almost literally afraid of technology. If she calls and gets the answering machine, the first thing on the message is always, "...Hello? ...{insert name}?"

So yeah... my mother has asked me to try to find a decent solution to allow someone to use email for communication without having to deal with "a whole computer".

I know there's been a few releases over the years of various "stand alone boxes" designed to be used just for email and web browsing, but I also know that every damn one of them has sunk like a rock.

So I was wondering if anyone in here might have some suggestions.

Literally, we want to be able to set something up where she pushes a button to turn the machine on, and the next thing she has to do is put in her email password.

My mother wanted to go a route that involves using the TV, but I explained to her that reading text on a TV through scanlines is difficult even for my eyes, nevermind my grandmother's. (She's had catarax and a somewhat botched laser eye surgery.)

So ideally, we're looking for a "all in one unit" with a built in screen, with as little setup and configuration as possible.

If we can't find something along those lines, I'll probably go an alternative route where I set up a small and simple system for them,  (maybe an eMac.) and have nothing on it but a web browser and an email client.

But yeah.. I know there's been a number of attempts at the stand-alone email/web browser thing, so I thought maybe someone in here might have some suggestions of a good one.

Thanks in advance. :smile:

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Re: ISO: A good stand-alone email solution for technology-fearing grandparents... [Re: JacquesCousteau]
    #5034129 -

just install an easy to use email client. put a big ass icon on the desktop - all she'd have to do is click on it and click on "get mail" or whatever. Then show her how to respond by clicking "reply"

do the same with a browser.

I also recommend installing a simple linux distro for her - maybe doing a server install and only installing things she'd need - email client, browser, instant messaging, word processing (openoffice.org), folders to hold pictures and documents, etc. Make things simple. linux would keep running and not allow her to accidently install some trojan or erase important system files like what commonly happens on windows machines. Might be a little work at first, but in the long run, you wont need to maintain the computer like you would with windows.

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Re: ISO: A good stand-alone email solution for technology-fearing grandparents... [Re: Vvellum]
    #5034279 -

i definitely agree with bi0 here. install whatever linux system (debian and ubuntu come to mind, because of the ease of their package managing systems - a simple applet can run apt-get upgrade every day and keep her computer maintained), use gnome - and put a big ass icon to the email program & firefox on the desktop. the simple desktop should ease her confusion, and if she ever wanted to, she could always learn to use the gnome menu to find other programs


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Re: ISO: A good stand-alone email solution for technology-fearing grandparents... [Re: JacquesCousteau]
    #5035544 -

we got my grandmother a mailstation a few years ago... they cost more than the cheapest dell computer, hard to read, and are very confusing.


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Use the Fucking Reply To Feature You Lazy Pieces of Shit!

afoaf said:
Jim, if you were in my city, I would let you fuck my wife.

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Re: ISO: A good stand-alone email solution for technology-fearing grandparents... [Re: JacquesCousteau]
    #5035874 -

Or just write a batch script to run when the computer starts that brings up her email client.


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Re: ISO: A good stand-alone email solution for technology-fearing grandparents... [Re: HELLA_TIGHT]
    #5036773 -

my my, hella, how quickly you learn the ways of *nix!

:wink:


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Re: ISO: A good stand-alone email solution for technology-fearing grandparents... [Re: Jim]
    #5037915 -

GratefulJim said:
we got my grandmother a mailstation a few years ago... they cost more than the cheapest dell computer, hard to read, and are very confusing.


Okay, yeah... this is what I was afraid of. I guess I will probably just go the simplified-PC route... I had the feeling that was going to be the best way to go about it.

Thanks for the input folks. :smile:

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Re: ISO: A good stand-alone email solution for technology-fearing grandparents... [Re: JacquesCousteau]
    #5038374 -

seriously, though, if you can do it, i'd really recommend setting up a linux box. for example, ubuntu has a very easy feature that basically checks apt-get update & apt-get upgrade every so often, making keeping your computer upgraded and bug-free as easy as clicking 'install these updates' (like the windows updater, but without all the crashing and viruses). also, as hella said, a simple script would make opening the email client on startup a cinch. plus the gnome desktop can be made simple enough to not confuse even the least tech-savvy of them.


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Re: ISO: A good stand-alone email solution for technology-fearing grandparents... [Re: Jim]
    #5060106 -

GratefulJim said:
we got my grandmother a mailstation a few years ago... they cost more than the cheapest dell computer, hard to read, and are very confusing.


it was very confusing for her, but i would imagine that a computer would introduce even more confusion.

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Re: ISO: A good stand-alone email solution for technology-fearing grandparents... [Re: bit_slice]
    #5060732 -

I think a computer would have been better. The mail station had a screen that was the size of a pick of cigarettes. Pictures looked like shit on it.


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Use the Fucking Reply To Feature You Lazy Pieces of Shit!

afoaf said:
Jim, if you were in my city, I would let you fuck my wife.

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