My mother sent me these links wanting to know if I thought it would be suitable for my grandmother:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...ly-online.html

http://www.discount-age.co.uk/simplicity_computers/

the idea being to have a six button interface which easily shows everything that a light internet/computer user may want. The computers run a linux distro with custom UI which all seems well and good.

The pros being that it requires no computer knowledge and wont suffer from virus attacks. Hopefully it all just works. My reservation though is that the price seems high for something so basic.

My question for the community is do you think the pricing is reasonable and could something similar could be achieved using any ordinary linux box?

why is this offtopic?

this is a market which is being left behind by computers and is something the nokia tablets do extremely well, almost by accident.

if you take the very small ui on the tablet and use it on a larger display, you get a completely functional simple UI which elderly or those with vision problems may be able to use with ease.
I noticed this first when I put liqbase on a big pc and am trying to follow up with this for some other ubiquitous computing apps for around the home.

http://liqbase.net/liqbase_big.JPG

I put it in Off Topic to stop people asking why it was in any of the other sections, oh well.

So you think liqbase could be a good idea? I hadnt thought of it but I think you may be right, everything is right there and you can get to anywhere else from any of the screens. Hmm what sort of system does it need to run on top of? Can it boot directly to the playground? Is there provision for open other apps within it such as a web browser and Open Office?

Thanks for the reply

Hmm, the buttons are rather big. For touchscreen would make sense. I think GNOME-Shell and GNOME-Do is improvement to get 'things started', but for this purpose you probably get something like a netbook because its a mobile device targeted both software and hardware wise for this purpose. So I'd compare this to for example Ubuntu Netbook Remix.

What is target usage? Does user have previous experience? Is compatibility with Windows important? Who gives technical support? At what price?

Where is this computer going to be used? I have seen a WM as IceWM or Fluxbox used in hospitals. It only ran Mozilla Firefox 1.5.x which spoofed as Internet Explorer, and it showed a clock. The thing was basically a netbook attached on an 'arm' which could be placed before the user. It also had TV and a remote. It worked OK for web browsing, but obviously was a bit out of date which is in this case a bad thing because Mozilla Firefox 1.5.x is not supported anymore and some Youtube videos refused to work (probably Flash related). However, it _worked_. For me. Not for my blind father...

What is very important for elder people is accessibility. Compiz has some good support for accessibility features but the user must be made aware of them. Is this pre-configured? Are there profiles? Is it easy to set up? IMO important. Personally, I'm very much interested in Text-To-Speech because of my blind father. But on Linux this is not very good. The voices on Mac OS X are more crisp. The other problem is that he should not be able to break the device easily, and the buttons must be both not too many as well as big because ability to control hand is bad (tremors, bad precision, cannot see) and dementia (keep it simple).

YMMV, I realize my example is very out of sync with common usage but its a good example for exception and why it matters to take situation in account). Hence I highly recommend to take a personal approach. 'The elder' is a rather broad group, and in this group there are many, many different symptoms and disabilities due to age and/or (chronic) disease. You may also want to take the near future into account; that is the progression of age and related disabilities in 0-2 years (or otherwise goal of age of hardware).

BTW depending on where you're from (UK case of TS) you may be able to get the cost of the device (partly) funded by e.g. insurance.

Wow. Now that's interesting.

What I always find annoying is that computer solutions for seniors tend to be over-simplified, as if elderly people were all idiots. They are not. My father is 81 and easily learns new concepts about his computer. He started using IBM PCs when they became available in Austria and probably would have been a great hacker had computers been available in his youth.

The only problem now is that his eyesight rapidly declines. He cannot read books any more, not even with strong magnifying lenses. Typing on a keyboard is a PITA for him. You'll see him with his head 4" above the keyboard, trying to guess, feel and maybe even faintly see the key to press. As for the screen, he needs a very large one and a Windows' screen magnifier to at least see the buttons and icons. He needs a screen reader for texts, like incoming mails.

Now think of a non-mass-market, 17" touch tablet running Maemo 5:

No more mouse or keyboard (as long as you don't need to type text). Parts of existing accessibility frameworks (like Gnome's dasher for text input, Orca for text2speech) could be used to further enhance the experience. (OTOH, a manufacturer building such a device might even have inhouse technologies to do just that.... screen reading and alternative text input.)

The only thing that probably I would change: I'd allow icons on menu entries and buttons, so you can tell apart "Open..." from "Save..." by the colors of the icons without actually having to read the text.

I taught my mother to use a standard pc when she was over seventy. It had to be chosen for the size of screen, and the mouse selected to work with her arthritis, but other than that and a bit of patience, she was fine. She could make it do anything she wanted to, and was very proud of he fact.

Oh, and my Grandfather when over 80 taught himself cobol, and later basic in order to do his research into prime numbers.

The 'elderly' have the same needs as the rest of us, and the same mental capacity (allowing that learning pathways are a little slower to be laid down). It's not the computer that needs to be different - it's just a slower, more patient teacher.

He was 80+ when he started learning his first programming language? or did he have prior knowledge with languages other than cobol and basic, like fortran?

i really wish i'll be like that when i'm 80. there are people who don't even start learning new things once they're over 40.

My grandmother has specified that she doesnt want to keep asking us for help. The problem is that while we would be more than happy to help she is very stubborn and would rather not do it at all than keep asking us.

So the main goal is for a computer which requires no prior knowledge and is very intuitive to use. For instance I realised that I know what the maximise and minimise buttons are but nowhere is this explicitly stated.

He was indeed over 80 when he started his first computing language - and then he got a different piece of kit it so he had to learn another.

He was an amazing man, who despite failing physical health went on learning to the end. I recall an occasion when he developed a rash on his legs, and would only allow the doctor to put cream on one, keeping the other as a control! Mind, that was my family atitide: Dad got his degree from Open Uni in his seventies.

Personally, I take a line that when I stop learning you may screw down the lid, cos I'm done.

If that is the only issue while there are no disabilities (other than stubborn ) then a computer like this may be a good solution. Have you found any reviews of this product? Have you considered Internet access?

"People don't grow old, they become old when they stop learning."

Many elder are puzzled by all kind of new terms we take for granted.

Learning new habits is difficult because of deep-ingrained old habits. It is easy for a baby or young child to learn or change habits, but the older we become the harder this becomes.

Elder people may also very likely use the computer as a tool to learn, but not to learn something related to computers. Learn about the news, for example. Or gardening, for example. Since most elder won't need a compiler on their computer why include such? It makes no sense.

OTOH, every elder person has their own elder-related disability or disabilities. I'd assume that a corporation targeting elder market segment takes common disabilities into account. It'd be another prime selling point.