Echo toxin said:
Do you reckon Ubuntu is good for a semi-n00b? My sister currently uses Windows XP but somehow or other she always mucks it up within a few months of my installing it for her.
I was thinking of sticking Ubuntu on her P4 1.7GHz PC as she really only uses the web browser and email. Do USB drives work OK?
Have you used linux your self? I'm not sure exactly what you hope to gain by letting your sister use linux rather than windows, I'd say that someone would be perfectly capable of messing up an install of any OS, the only problem is now you have to be reasonable at linux if she does something properly wrong.
Why not partition her hard drive, install windows into the main partition, set up the basics, patches etc. Once the install is in a basic state ghost the partition into the other partition. That way the next time you have to format for her its just a simple case of moving the ghosted partition into the main partition. Furthermore make a small partition of a few gigs of "backup" space. That means when you nuke the windows partition you save her documents etc into the backup partition which will remain un-affected then move the files back across.
(Sorry if giving this advice is hijacking the thread off its original topic)