Filed under: Switchers, Cult of Mac
Switching Mom to Mac
Robert Movin over at TidBITS has a nice little article that I expect many of us can identify with. After years of being tech support for his mother (and other family members), he got fed up trying to remotely support her aging PC and decided to take the plunge and get her a Mac. He describes the how he set it up for her, including using VNC to allow him to remotely control it (I'm not sure why he installed OSXvnc when OS X has a built in VNC server, however). He also discusses some security issues like using VNC over SSH, and how to deal with her dynamic IP address.So what are your experiences with setting up Macs for less tech savvy family members? Have you found any particularly good tools or techniques?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mark said 5:55PM on 3-29-2007
I helped my mother switch around Christmas. It went well, though I did toss on a copy of XP so she could enjoy her games shed bought for her previous desktop. The Mac Mini is perfect for her, nice and small and still a big improvement. the only issues were the usual getting used to button relocation and how to install/uninstall programs.
The most important thing to transitioning her was having her try out an old G3 I had (400Mhz/512mb runs about par/better than a 732Mhz/256mb eMachine.) She had issues with a site so I recommended just trying out a different system. Using the G3 I was able to gauge if she'd adapt well, see that all her peripherals would work, and make sure it wouldn't be something she disliked. Since she used Firefox and Thunderbird the transition for her programs was easy, so it turned out well in the end.
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Eric said 6:11PM on 3-29-2007
sorry,but Mac OS X is still too complicated for mums.
Ideal operating system for mums only have 5 giant buttons on screen.
Web (Internet Browser), E-mail, Chat (IM or Skype), Photo and MultiMedia (Music and movies).
I'm going to customize a Linux to look like this and distribute it. This is my business plan lol.
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archipenkoblackmilk said 6:24PM on 3-29-2007
So strange... i just set up the exact same thing with my mom's computer :)
OSXvnc has ability to specify what port and also, importantly, to only accept SSH connections, "and accept connections only from the local computer" :) in that way i think the bees knees :) *
*what am i? 80?
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That Boy said 6:37PM on 3-29-2007
Yeah, I hooked up Grandma with an ole skool G3 iMac about 8 months ago. I VNC into her machine if she calls me with a problem using OSX's built in vnc thing...I guess I got a break since she has cable internet at her house and the cable modem is plugged directly into the iMac so the IP address doesn't change much. I set her up with the iStat nano widget and told her how to call me and tell me her "ip number" as she refers to it, when she has issues. She reads, "69-period-128-period....17-period-- " and I just chuckle... I set up her mail, safari, and even got her an iSight (back when they could still be found) to use with iChat and used the iChatUSBcam plugin to unlock and enable the video chats for old G3's. I had to show her how to use it a few times, and she still calls me from time to time with easy issues, but its 200 times better than her older windows 98 box she had. Keep the resolution low so she can see everything, take all the stuff off the dock she doesnt need. Show her how take it in and out of sleep mode, and she couldnt be happier.
She's like 87 or something like that and can initiate video chats, send e-mails, surf, and write word docs.. so i think thats pretty good.
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id said 6:51PM on 3-29-2007
"using VNC to allow him to remotely control it (I'm not sure why he installed OSXvnc when OS X has a built in VNC server, however"
What is this built-in VNC Server called? I never knew it existed!
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Ed said 7:05PM on 3-29-2007
That Boy: Why not use a dynamic dns service like dyndns.net - that'll give you a hostname that will always point to your grandma's IP address...
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Brad said 7:05PM on 3-29-2007
I have been using Chicken of the VNC for about a year now, but I haven't been able to get it to work for computers that aren't on my network.
How do I do this?
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WillGonz said 7:07PM on 3-29-2007
VNC on the Mac is part of Apple Remote Desktop. I don't like it as much as the full blown VNC server. Also, best way to get around all the remoting in is to use Hamachi from HTTP://hamachi.cc This is a personal VPN system. Basically it allows you to remote into machines using VNC or anything else. You do this without opening any ports on your firewall. It is secure and free. Check out the website for more info.
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lmo said 7:25PM on 3-29-2007
"What is this built-in VNC Server called? I never knew it existed!"
System Preferences. Sharing. Apple Remote Desktop.
"using VNC to allow him to remotely control it (I'm not sure why he installed OSXvnc when OS X has a built in VNC server, however"
Speed. The built-in one may work fast when you use Apple's server software to connect, but if you are using any other VNC client, OSXvnc is speedier. P.S. It isn't called OSXvnc any more, it's called Vine Server.
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Aron Trimble said 7:51PM on 3-29-2007
Brad
You must forward port 5900 on your router to your vnc server. For Chicken of the VNC your Host would then be your external IP address. Go to whatismyip.com to find that out.
For better security you can tunnel it through SSH (which you really should do). For the VNC server go to System Prefs > Sharing > check the box enable remote login. Specify what user you want to be able to login as.
You'll need to forward port 22 on your router to the vnc server
To test, go to terminal from your client and type ssh username@your.own.ip.address If that worked, your ssh server is now running and you're almost there.
If you're using osxvnc server (which you should be) under the sharing tab check "only allow local connections"
Now on your client go to terminal and type "ssh -L 5900:127.0.0.1:5900 -p 22000 your.own.ip.address" (be sure to replace with your own ip address). This should give you a login to the server you are connecting.
From here, on your client, open chicken of the vnc and connect to host "localhost" and Bob should then be your uncle!
Wow, that was really long... If you (or anyone, I guess) has questions about that let me know.
Hey, TUAW, if you want to let me on board (*wink*) i'd be more than happy to do a very thorough write-up on this!
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Sameer said 7:53PM on 3-29-2007
oh, my mom loves OS X! Its the one computer that has made her fearless enough to switch on the machine and start sending an email or calling me on skype (saves me some bucks as she's half way across the planet). Heck, she even has a homepage (needed some hand-holding, of course, but hey its amazing progress!). I even blogged about it (which I rarely do, the poor excuse for a blogger that I am).
http://www.ssaidoor.com/blog/2006/09/17/my-mom-the-sysadmin/
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anon said 8:07PM on 3-29-2007
I have this planned for my parents but I'm waiting for Leoaprd to come out so I can use the iChat's built in option to take temporary control of the computer.
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Joshua Ochs said 8:45PM on 3-29-2007
OSXvnc (now VineServer - don't ask me why) is much more full-featured than the built-in Apple VNC server, supporting Tight encoding, server-side scaling, etc. It also seems more compatible and tolerant of clients (it works with MicroVNC on my Treo, for example, whereas the Apple one does not).
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racco said 8:58PM on 3-29-2007
three months back I got my parents to "switch".
their old PC was at deaths door and I kept telling them that if the bought anything other than a Mac then they were just fools.
Dad tried to resist, "everyone has windows, so obviously thats what I need"
long story short, I got them to get a Mac.
After only a week or two on the OS X side of the fence, they have seen the light.
like my mother confessed to me only last Tuesday, "You were right, i'ts true. once you go Mac, You never go back"
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Bryan Walls said 9:13PM on 3-29-2007
The OSXvnc server is quite a bit quicker with CotVNC and other clients than the built-in Apple Remote Desktop client, besides some better security features.
About a year ago, I got my mother a 17" Intel iMac to replace her aging Bondi Blue iMac. I had good intentions for VNC, but I can't pry her off of dialup. Hard to beat $10 month, at least in her mind. Of course, reasonable speed browsing of modern sites is just impossible at modem speeds...
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Snaggy said 9:39PM on 3-29-2007
Nice graphic! :-)
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dimmer said 9:41PM on 3-29-2007
Doesn't the access control "stuff" in OS X let you do most of what Eric suggested? If not, it seems like 10.5 has that covered. Now, if only I could keep my grammy away from "Big boys.com" and "Even Bigger Boys.com". The horny old moo.
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Jonas Wisser said 9:51PM on 3-29-2007
I switched my parents to a G4 Titanium Powerbook at Christmas. My father was so enamored with the idea of Garageband that he finally learned to use a computer.
The only thing they seem to have problems with is control-clicking... I must remember to get them a USB mouse.
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kevin said 9:57PM on 3-29-2007
If my Dad's IP changes - so far it's been steady for 4+ months - and he's not at the computer I send him an email with ARD in the subject. His machine has a rule that replies if it's from me and has that subj line.
Once I get the reply I can look in the extended headers for his IP. Much easier than trying to talk him through going into system prefs.
Or if he's at the machine, he can send me a blank email and get the same effect
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walkerjs said 10:08PM on 3-29-2007
This guy's article(s) both about his own switching experience and getting a relative to switch is almost parallel with mine, minus the VNC ssh tunnel and substitute "Mom" with "brother in law" plus wife.
Two years ago I was a Linux/Windows user knowing peripherally that Mac OS X was UNIX based, but not having the funds to get a Mac. The Mini comes out so I shell out the $$$'s to get one to see what using one is all about. Six months later it's my primary home computer, and I shell out the $$$'s to get my wife a Mac Mini. I don't need the VNC to administer her Mac, but I don't need to administer her Mac. A year and some months later the Intel switch happens, and I get a Macbook. A week later my wife has a black Macbook. Now we're video iChatting when I'm at the office and she's at home.
We go visit the brother in law and show him our Macbooks. Three days later his new Macbook arrives, and within 24 hours he's referring to his old HP Windows XP desktop as "that piece of junk." It might have been that his PC froze while trying to get to lottery numbers on some website so we used his sister's Macbook (on a neighbor's open wireless, at that) to get them, I'm not sure, but he's pretty impressed. A few days later one of his co-workers sees his Macbook and next thing Apple makes another sale.
Now we're all multi-way video iChatting, my wife is happily enjoying her Macbook wherever she might want to be, her brother is thrilled with all of the cool things he can now do (he's a hobbiest musician) with multi-media. I'm living the good life with all of that and still can do the corporate thing with Parallels Desktop to run all those pesky employer Windows apps. Brother-in-law bought Parallels Desktop to do some Windows things he thought he might need, but hasn't gotten around to installing/configuring it and might sell his copy of Parallels to his co-worker.
My old PPC Mac Mini was shipped to my parents pre-configured by me with accounts for them, and Mom is finding that a Mac is a damned good machine with a very intuitive OS. When visiting us we showed them our Macbooks, and now they are seriously considering upgrading after seeing first hand what they can do. An iPod I got as a gift prior to my Mac Mini purchase is somewhere at the beginning of the story somewhere, but really it's the UNIX aspect that got me into Macs; it's the usability factor that got everyone else into them. Especially in the Mac Laptop form.
Yes, switching can be a bit daunting, but if one opens the mind to possibilities they start multiplying like rabbits.
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