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    Dial-up Convenience Help

    I'm going to try to put Kubuntu on my grandma's computer.
    She only uses it to check email, so I'd like to make it convenient for her.
    She doesn't know computers at all (she has a hard time with the mouse!) and as a result, my mom has to check her email whenever she visits.

    1. I would like to get her set up so that, with one click, she can connect her dial-up modem and open Firefox (I can already get her email to log her in automatically).

    2. She can't see very well so I want the computer to read her email to her

    3. When my cousins come over, they stay online for hours (they are, apparently, used to a broadband connection and don't know/care that they are tying up her phone line). How can I automatically hang-up her modem after X minutes of inactivity (with a prompt to warn her, of course) and have a prompt come up after Y minutes, no matter what, to remind anyone still online that they are tying up the phone?

    I am grateful for any help on any of these steps.
    (maybe this could eventually be a How-To, as old computers seem to go to grandparents and Linux runs great on old computers.)

    Afterthought!
    Could there be a way to set up an email client to download her mail automatically at, say midnight? Really, I'll take any suggestions for a good Linux Grandma computer.

    #2
    Re: Dial-up Convenience Help

    You might be able to set something up in Kcron.

    K>>System>>Kcron
    ~$sudo make me a sandwich

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      #3
      Re: Dial-up Convenience Help

      I don't have access to the computer I'll be setting up just yet, so I'm trying stuff out on my current Kubuntu Box (they're practically the same machine)

      I just checked out Kcron, and I'm a bit befuddled by the "choose program" option. Assuming I'll have to tell Kcron to open Kppp and connect, then open Korn (does anybody know of any better/easier mail clients?), then tell Korn to download new mail; how do I point it to the program?
      Do I just type Kppp? When I click "browse..." I don't get a list of programs, just my home folder.

      Other than that, Kcron seems easy enough

      thanks eriefisher, keep 'em coming

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        #4
        Re: Dial-up Convenience Help

        I have never tried to set it up myself but if you open Kcron and click on help ther is a nice how to.

        As for mail I use Kontact/Kmail.
        ~$sudo make me a sandwich

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          #5
          Re: Dial-up Convenience Help

          Ahh

          Looking around I also found out about "whereis" as in "whereis kmail" to find it in that "browse..." dialogue.

          Of course, all this is dependent on her leaving the computer on all night...

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