Help customising Fedora for my grandfather.

[Robert L Cochran]

I don't like trackballs or touchpads. It is very hard to manipulate your 
fingers just right on the surface to move the mouse arrow and then you 
have to move a finger into an odd position to perform a click or 
double-click.

Also, the feel of a touchpad on my fingertips as I move my fingers is 
very annoying. I dislike the feeling. It must have something to do with 
the touchpad material.

Maybe I'm just used to a mouse. Several people in my office use 
trackballs or touchpads. But these are folks with great coordination.

Now imagine the problems that can happen if your fingers tremble, trying 
to use a device that calls for precision.

Bob


Jon Atkinson wrote:

> 
> 
> 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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>>> fedora-list at redhat.com
>>> To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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-- 
Bob Cochran
Greenbelt, Maryland, USA
http://greenbeltcomputer.biz/