Today was the first day we didn’t begin our lessons with a preliminary phone call to give her instructions on how to call me on Skype. Mom and I had made a date; she would call via Skype at a specified time. I opened the program prior to that and left it open. On the Media Hub, I left the buttons in the “up” position so that I could hear the computer ring when she called. OK, I’m something of a newbie too, but it was very cool to hear my computer ringing. She had turned on and booted up her computer, brought up the Start menu, navigated to Skype and opened it, clicked on my name which brought up a “call” window and she phoned me. I pressed down the buttons on the Media Hub to transfer the sound to my headset and answered the call.

We said hi, what have you been up to and all that and-then got to work. First things first; email of course. I had her open Thunderbird, which Brad had installed but there was nothing in the window that should have shown her identity. So it was installed but not configured. We talked her through it and got her GMail account set up on Thunderbird. It was so easy and they work together beautifully. She opened an email I had sent and we practised replying to emails, back and forth a few times. I asked if she had any email addresses for friends. She replied that she did but didn’t want to start trading email until she felt more comfortable with it. Onward.

Then she had questions about games. Ah ha! The PCLinuxOS repository has thousands of games, just waiting for you to go and pick them up for free. I directed her to her Package Manager icon in the taskbar and a window came up asking for the ‘root’ password.

That’s the beauty and the inherant security of Linux systems. No one can significantly change important settings or download programs without ‘root’ priveleges, meaning you are the administrator, with complete control of the system. As administrator, you can even protect files on your system from other users by controlling the permissions on the file/folders. It’s an inherantly secure system, which helps protect against viruses and other bad stuff. So far there are no viruses that attack Linux desktop systems. There are anti-virus programs available for Linux, but but most users simply don’t bother.

She typed in her password and went to Synaptic, the Package Manager and navigated to Games. I suggested that since she had just started playing Sudoku, she might like KSudoko, so we went through the process of downloading it, then finding it on her Start menu and firing it up. What a thrill! A game she really liked, free and totally compatible with her computer. We went on to get her Frozen Bubble, a horribly addictive game, and a package of Solitaire games.

We were both yawning like crazy and beat after our three-hour lesson, time to make another date and say goodnight.

Goodnight…

The computer tech, a nice (and handsome, by all accounts) young man named Brad went to my mother’s house, whereupon she called to have Don confer with him. The reason the computer wouldn’t turn on was because the plug had been slightly dislodged from the socket. When that was corrected, the tech found that the fan in the power supply wasn’t running. Don had him replace the power supply and it fixed the computer.

Brad commented that he was currently using Fedora and taking a Linux class so, knowing he was familiar with Linux we had him install Thunderbird (via Synaptic) before he left. Synaptic, in case you weren’t aware, is an incredible Package Manager which makes it extremely easy to find, install and/or remove software, all of which is free. Synaptic is a wonderful tool for a newbie, it will not allow you to install software that won’t work or is incompatible with your OS.

Some of the major stumbling blocks to becoming comfortable with computers is the fear that you will break this extremely expensive piece of equipment. By using older, slower, refurbished equipment you haven’t invested a lot. Today there are many more people who are able to service computers, either from a shop or in your home; that wasn’t true just a few short years ago. There’s a good bit of competition so the rates are reasonable and service is getting much better. Nearly everyone has a family geek and hopefully can be lured into visiting and tutoring. Generally, people love to share their knowledge with an appreciative audience. I’ve found home-cooked meals and cookies work well, too.

So, the computer was fixed. Then she got busy, (or timid, but that’s OK) and didn’t turn the computer on for a day-and-a-half.

The oddest thing happened. She sat down, turned on the computer and my Skype program-that I had turned on just on a whim-informed me she was online. I had just sat down at the computer myself! I gave her a call on Skype and she answered. We spent the next couple of hours talking, surfing, learning and generally having a great time. She visited Don’s and my website, the site that I made for the local Master Gardener Association, and did some Googling. Now she’s beginning to ask questions about specific things that she wonders about, she’s getting a good foundation of knowledge to build upon. We made a date for the next lesson and said goodbye.

The most valuable part of the problem with the power supply was the fact that she learned anything is fixable, it’s just a machine. Early on in her computer adventure, she found out how to do some rudimentary troubleshooting, poking around, checking to see if everything’s plugged in, finding out the name of various parts of the computer so she can describe things over the phone. When there’s a problem, whether it’s hardware or software, there’s a solution. With a tutor or a computer-savvy person to help, it’s usually not a big deal.

Stay tuned…

Yesterday my mom’s tutoring session involved mostly fun stuff. She had just been on a short trip to Crystal River in Florida and was impressed once again with how beautiful the area is. I had her tell me about it, then said, “Wanna have some fun?” What was I thinking? Of course she was up for some fun.

I had her go to Google Maps and type in the location of the place she had been and she was thrilled. Remember seeing MapQuest or Google Maps for the first time? How about getting driving directions from your house to anywhere? Of course, everything she does makes her look in the right places for clues as to what she can do with that site. Describing how to use the scrollbar was exasperating on both ends. But that little hand that clenches and releases on the map was a perfect example of “drag and drop” and also taught her what I meant by “hold the left mouse button down and drag it around, then release”. When you’re dragging a map around to see what’s above and below, it’s downright fun.

We checked her email via GMail online, I showed her how to open, reply and close the program. The GMail interface is crowded and confusing, though. I’m going to have to get her set up with Thunderbird, it’s so easy to configure with a GMail account, perhaps she can do it. It has a simple, pleasing look, too, much better for a beginner.

OK, so we do have a real problem, her computer crashed after being on for 1 1/2 hours, the last time it was 2 1/2 hours. Time for her to call her computer guy. Don has a good idea what the problem is by its behavior; it’s probably the power supply. Mom says when it crashes, the back of the computer is very hot. She made the appointment, we called him and Don told him what kind of power supply to bring along, it would probably save him a trip.

The adventure continues…