My father asked me to set up a Raspberry Pi with the essentials to try out Linux and potentially ditch Windows if he likes it enough. He specifically requested YouTube, Amazon Kindle, GIMP, Audacity, KeePass, and a text editor like Notepad. I've installed Armbian Debian with the Cinnamon desktop environment. What would you have chosen?

As for the essentials, I'm not sure where to find a list of the most commonly used programs to install. I've just installed what I think he would appreciate, for example, Firefox with uBlock Origin, SponsorBlock, KeePassXC-Browser, and G App Launcher extensions. Now I'm going to see if I can install Amazon Kindle and Notepad using Wine, along with a couple of alternatives like Calibre and gedit. Then I'll set up a Google Drive folder so he can share his files with his main computer until he decides to switch. Finally, I'll use Timeshift to create a snapshot after I've finished setting everything up.

What essentials am I missing? Do you have any suggestions?

edit: I've realized that this is a bad idea. I'll just install Linux on one of his spare x86 computers and explain that many programs aren't available for ARM. Then, after he gets used to Linux, I can install it on his current laptop and maybe move his Windows installation to the spare computer, if I can figure out how to do that.

  • bloodfart@lemmy.ml
    ·
    1 month ago

    Someone already explained why this is a bad idea.

    Now if he’s interested in the microcontroller adjacent functions of the pi or the one built into a keyboard like the old amiga and trs home computers then set him up with a kvm switch or second monitor +barrier and a normal x86 computer running Linux.

  • neo [he/him]
    ·
    1 month ago

    Notepad in wine is pointless compared to something like gedit, which you have, or similar editors like geany or kwrite. Cinnamon might even have their own basic text editor. And then there are further options like mousepad from the xfce project or featherpad from the lxqt project.

    Notepad in wine will just lead to frustration because of poorer integration.

    Finally, I just saw your edit and I think you’re spot on. Not because of ARM, which is actually decently supported, but because running an OS off of a microSD card is slow and tedious. It just isn’t made for that quick, small random access.