Re: debian for elderly
On 30/11/13 18:32, Thomas Koch wrote:
> I'm just sitting with a friend of mine, a 70+ years old woman showing her a
> linux Desktop. I've already manually hacked /usr/bin/startx to add "-dpi
> 120"...
>
> Is there any project inside debian specialized for the needs of elderly
> people?
>
> Such needs might be:
>
> - big fonts and icons
> - reduced complexity, minimal number of options
> - consistency in the UI
>
I gave my old workstation to an elderly relative.
I pulled out the HDD and provided a Debian Live bootable DVD instead.
I've taken a similar approach to setting up various other users.
It is based on squeeze, it has been relatively easy to establish video
calls with Empathy and it is used for web browsing as well. Empathy and
Iceweasel have desktop icons and they automatically open on boot.
With Wheezy, I've had various troubles with Empathy (see bugs.d.o) and
haven't tried to update the DVD images yet.
The users have all been in somewhat distant locations too, some have
simply been able to put the Live DVD into an existing system and use it
without me ever visiting them in person.
I also attended a presentation some years ago from a graduate student
who had studied the needs of elderly users. I don't remember all the
details but one of the more high level outcomes was a conclusion that
font sizes and other tweaks are not automatically required just because
somebody is elderly: there are elderly people with eyesight issues but a
lot of them get by just fine if sensible font sizes are chosen in the
first place.
Regards,
Daniel
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