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Blue95: a desktop for your childhood home's computer room

(github.com)
567 points elvis70 | 2 comments | 30 Mar 25 15:30 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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haswell ◴[30 Mar 25 20:18 UTC] No.43527258[source]▶
Lately I've been strongly considering helping migrate my parents to Linux. Their needs are primarily web-based with some basic productivity tools mixed in, and Windows has just been getting more and more hostile. On top of this, they're at an age where they're now more susceptible than ever to various scams/attacks, and shutting down an entire category of problems by removing Windows from the picture is increasingly attractive.

I had forgotten that Chicago95 exists, but this might be exactly the right thing. They'd immediately find it familiar, and while the theme isn't the whole story, this would go a long way in easing the transition I think.

I miss this era of computing.

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1. cryptoegorophy ◴[31 Mar 25 00:49 UTC] No.43529433[source]▶
Why not just iPad?
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2. haswell ◴[31 Mar 25 00:59 UTC] No.43529516[source]▶
I may have understated their needs somewhat. Most of what they do is browsing and document editing, but a few key use cases make a real computer necessary (or at least highly desirable):

- Document scanning

- Label printing (my mom buys/sells stuff on eBay)

- My dad still works and writes proposals/manages invoices/does complex taxes

At a minimum, they need a full desktop environment. Most of these things have decent 1:1 Linux alternatives, but one or two might necessitate a single-purpose Windows VM when all else fails.

Two pretty decent used micro PCs will also cost less than a single iPad.