Help customising Fedora for my grandfather.

[Jon Atkinson]

Robert L Cochran wrote:
> My mother-in-law might benefit from some of the answers this thread 
> generates if I set her up for Fedora at some time in the future. This 
> would also help some handicapped folks with missing arms and/or bad 
> coordination like several I know at my office.
> 
> For 1) it sounds like you want to remove the Lock Screen icon to make it 
> easier for your grandfather to log off. I don't have an answer to the 
> actual question, just another question to pose:
> 
> Is there a way for him to be automatically logged out after a certain 
> period of inactivity, like 15 minutes? This way he can simply walk away 
> from the machine and won't need to log out. I mean, why force someone to 
> log out in the first place? There are situations when you don't want to 
> bother with that stuff, and this seems like one of them.
> 
> Similarly, is there a way to automatically log him in if he presses a 
> keyboard key or moves the mouse?
> 
> Also, you ARE using an optical mouse, right? I believe optical mice are 
> much easier to control. Who wants the frustration of a regular mouse.

He's being automatically logged in already (I figures users and groups 
would just add another layer of complexity he doesn't need to be 
concerned with). And the reason he needs to log out is that the Shutdown 
command is in the log-out dialogue (though I was considering puttin a 
launcher on the desktop 'sudo init 0' or suchlike).

Actually, he's using a traditional ball mouse which came with the 
computer. Which actually raises an interesting question. He has trouble 
with keeping his hands steady while they are in the air, so maybe a 
trackball or touchpad would be more appropriate (because his hands will 
be in constant contact, and he can lay his hand on it to take some of 
the pressure off his muscles)? Has anyone had any experience of this?

--Jon

> Bob
> 
> 
> Jon Atkinson wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>>
>> For Christmas this year, I bought my grandfather (85 years young) a 
>> second hand computer. It's a 1gHz/128mb/20G/Nvidia Geforce2 system, 
>> and I decided to put Fedora on it.
>>
>> My reasons for this are that I can lock down this box better than I 
>> can a Windows box, no threat from email viruses, pop up blocking in 
>> Mozilla and the fact that I can log in from university and fix his 
>> computer if anything goes wrong.
>>
>> However, I would like to pick everyone's brain about a few things:
>>
>> 1) Is there any way to remove the "Lock Screen" menu item. I've taught 
>> him to log off, but the menu items are just a little too close for 
>> comfort, and his hands shake quite badly, so removing this would be a 
>> huge plus. In addition, is it possible to put blank space (separators, 
>> I guess) in the main menu so that it's easier for him to click the items?
>>
>> 2) Is there any way to switch item selection in nautilus to 
>> single-click? I've tried to put everything he might use on the desktop 
>> (evolution, mozilla, home folder), but like I said he has some quite 
>> bad motor problems in his hands so being able to single click on 
>> desktop items would be really great for him.
>>
>> 3) He's accessing the internet with a 56K modem, which is ideal for 
>> his needs. Can anyone suggest a dialer application which is nice and 
>> simple for him to use. Currently he's using the 'Network Device 
>> Control' menu option, but basically there's just too much complexity 
>> and too many points of possible failure for me to be comfortable with 
>> him using it. I've used wvdial in the past, and it was nice and 
>> simple, and a quick google doesn't turn up and GTK frontends. The 
>> ability to remind him that he's still connected if the connection is 
>> idle for a certain amount of time would be a bonus also.
>>
>> Thanks (I ramble a little), and if anyone has any other ideas/advice 
>> in this area it would be much appreciated.
>>
>> --Jon Atkinson
>>
>>
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> 
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