I used to use VNC over dialup and ADSL. Needs a bit of patience and works better if you switch to poor graphics quality and 8 bit colors. Shouldn’t be a problem since you just need it good enough to find buttons to click on and not watch a movie with.
Teamviewer should be viable too.
In both cases, you can set it up so he needs to click/start the service to allow you to connect and a way to stop/kill the remote access service for safety.
Or if money is not too big a problem, replace his mainboard with something that has allows IPMI/OOB access?
I’ve been installing CloudReady by Neverware on computers, mainly used by older people and they seem to get by with it just fine. It is based on Chromium OS and only has driver modifications so it runs on non-Chromebook hardware. Receives regular updates, doesn’t have bloat, updates instantly and runs extremely well on even decade-old computers. CloudReady + Chrome Remote Desktop would work just fine. If the hardware supports Virtualization, then you can enable the included Debian VM named “Crostini”, but it’s a bit buggy as of now 'cause it’s in beta. I wish you luck!
I’ll check it out thanks! I need to learn more about ChromeOS as I’ve never messed with it before. I locked his laptop down as hard as I could to prevent installation of anything without the admin account but I think it ended up biting me in the ass in the end. He does have full control over files so if I got hit by a bus, he could always back it up and buy a new PC or at least get someone to reinstall Linux for him
Maintenance is a real problem with his situation. That’s why I was maybe thinking of an OS that allows apps from a secure…uh…somewhat secure-ish app store and has a stable…stabler…ish updates.
Chrome OS is the answer, if you can get by with web apps (there are so many excellent ones out there), plus Linux apps. Bricking it is almost impossible for non-techies. CloudReady offers all that with the lack of Android support and limited technical support for home users. I forgot to mention that most settings, passwords and all installed web apps, extensions, bookmarks are always backed up to the cloud.
IMHO - iPadOS. Fix the remote troubleshooting issue at the source, by eliminating the trouble in the first place.
Current base model iPad will likely do everything he wants to do which likely entails:
chat with kids
internet browsing
mail
internet banking
browsing photos/videos/media consumption
iPad will be pretty difficult for him to fuck up and if he does he can walk into any apple store and get it sorted.
Unless he has some unusual requirements that won’t be covered by a tablet, you’re probably wasting both your and his time shoe-horning a general purpose PC or Mac OS into this where it is more than likely simply not required.
Yeah its some initial cash outlay, but the iPad will last 5+ years (a friend of mine has his kids still using one from 2011) likely without any unusual power user troubleshooting.
edit:
If you’re an android person, consider that. but IMHO apple’s long term software support of iOS devices, their in-person apple store training and support availability and their locked down nature is superior for this user base niche.
They just work. I actually accidentally wiped my iPad during a meeting as our corp policy mandated 5 password failures to wipe (and I forgot it wasn’t iOS default of 10), I’d just changed my password and couldn’t be bothered getting out of my password manager and figured I’d try remember it.
Within like 15-30 minutes I was back up like nothing happened after a device secure wipe.
Same thing if I lost or broke my device.
I know it’s cliche but if your usage fits within an iPad then this shit “just works” and I’d assume that “just works” is more important to him than free software or fringe nerd OS concerns.
It is a good point. Believe me when iPad was the first thing I suggested after the guy got taken to the cleaners. But at that time, the laptop he bought was about 6 months old so it was a bit more difficult. But it has now been almost 4 years since that time… I think there could be a more compelling case to be made now.
After some thought, I’m not entirely keen on trying to setup a remote connection to maintain his PC anymore… Chrome possibly being outdated because a cron job updated something that borked something else with Chrome’s ability to update and now things are breaking, I have no idea what state that laptop is in. I’m not an expert in the subject matter and it isn’t fair to him that his only PC would essentially be a remote admin learning tool for me.
I can make the suggestion again. He would have to also buy bluetooth mouse & keyboard and a printer compatible with airprint since he does still print stuff… though it would be nice for him to scan right on the device he could get rid of the bulky 3in one he has now.
If ypu’re looking for a bluetooth keyboard, the logitech keyboard case things are pretty good.
Keyboard is on par with the surface keyboard but plastic not Alcantara so it doesn’t wear out.
Mouse you can maybe get away without due to the touch screen - pencil does make things useful though if you like to sketch or draw on stuff to take notes.
I love pencil on the ipad, its like a notebook that i can sketch stuff on and both never lose and actually search via handwriting recognition.
It’s almost like having grep for a physical pencil + notepad.
I’d second the recommendation for an IPad. We gave our old first gen one to my Grandma that has been deaf since birth (90% ish deaf at least) and has serious issues with arthritis and she handled it really fine.
We set up some apps for her (video calling, a browser with bookmarks and some of the games she likes) and never had an issue once. Even when she can’t controll her hands well, you can’t mess iOS up. Worst case, you press the big round button and you’re back to square one.
Doesn’t have to be expensive either. A used 3rd or 4th gen non-pro will be 100% fine and are pretty affordable now.
