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Choosing a distro for a technophobe's computer
(aussie.zone)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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98% of the time when they've had a problem with Windows, they just needed to restart the computer. (It has been impossible to convince them that computers need a full shutdown periodically, and Windows doesn't cope with 'always on'.)
When it's something more than that, they either have to find someone closer to help or wait until we visit. Doing tech support long-distance for people who can't adequately describe the problem is a losing game.
Whatever you setup, also do a reverse ssh connection back to a PC of yours and forward ports for SSH and VNC-or-similar to local ports on your PC.
That way if it still boots you've got a way to fix it remotely and with reverse ssh they don't have to do anything with port forwarding on their end.
I put LMDE on my mother’s machine about 8 months ago. I think it has only been restarted twice and once was a power outage. She uses it daily.