Linux

Mint, it just works.

You can set up automatic updates too, so they won't end up with out of date software and possible security holes. The only downside is Firefox. If an update runs while your grandparents are using Firefox, it will stop working and show them a page that says it needs to be restarted.

It's not a major issue in itself, but if you have any sort of memory issues, like I do and lots of older people do, it can derail your train of thought and cause you problems.

As a 50-something non-geek that searched for a zero issue distro himself, I can tell you I settled on... Debian (and I love it!) on my desktop and, on my laptop, it's Mint (which I like a lot too).

I tried and kept Mint because, unlike Debian and a few other Distros I tested, Mint was able to connect to my Airpods out of the box. Like I told you, I'm not really the most extreme geek ;)

The funny thing is that, as much as I was happy with Debian/Xfce, I also quickly learned to appreciate almost everything else with Mint/cinnamon and how it... just works (coming from a 35+ years Mac user). It's like they made it for 'mere' users like me.

Debian and Mint share many things, but the two I appreciate the most on a day to day base (beside the utmost stability and snappiness, even more obvious on Debian as far as I'm concerned) is

• the lack of too frequent updates. There a bit more on Mint, but even there, it's not a bother.
• The easiness to make everything larger, texts, menus, and cursor. I'm getting old and I don't have a good eyesight like I had in my 20s ;)

Hope this can help.

My father switched to linux (Mint, I think) in his 70s. I was in another state so he did it solo. He had a few questions but otherwise it was smooth sailing.

This might be a good opportunity to try one of universal blue's distros

They are kinda a "just set and forget" atomic distros, improving on Fedora Silverblue/Kinoite with usability improvements

When mom tried Linux Mint she said: there is no wait time at shutdown, I am use to wait on Windows Update.

For Windows user who don't want to bother learning a new OS? Mint, no question. The latest releases are easy to install and configure, Cinnamon will feel familiar, and it works flawlessly on most hardware.

Yeah. I think you can't go wrong with either Debian or Fedora with Gnome. I would pick whichever I'm most comfortable with. The grandparents will probably never notice.

I love to give Gnome crap for being a large install, but I've lost count of the number of machines that I've put Gnome on and had it just work. And I've lost count of the number of times that I've searched for a fancy command line way to fix an annoyance in Gnome, and discovered there's just a simple toggle in settings for what I want.

For Windows users, Linux Mint is the best option.

I've installed Kinoite on a few Linux newbie computers and they have worked near flawlessly. I would think Silverblue would be the same

Had basically the same exact scenario with my parents earlier this year.

Installed Linux Mint with the default Cinnamon desktop, installed a "Windows" theme. Put icons on the desktop exactly where there old ones were, and never looked back.

It's been great for them, does everything they need and took minimal effort from me to set up.

I guess I'm gonna say Linux Mint here too, even better LMDE.

I use Fedora with GNOME for my parents and other family members. Some have used Windows prior, some have not used computers at all really, only iPads. They all get along very well on GNOME!

I have started using Silverblue the last year, which simplify things even further. Combined with the excellent remote controll functionality, it has been a really pleasant experience both for me and them.

I have been using Universal Blue's Bluefin variant and it has been rock solid. It is atomic desktop and all updates, both Flatpak and Image update, are handled automatically.

My grandparents (now 90+) didn't care much when I would change their distro, they are currently on Tumbleweed (just bcs thats what I decided to run on everyones computer I'm asked to maintain).

I would keep their general experience about the same for their use case (same desktop/desktop dock shortcuts, same browser ofc).

But yeah, Fedora (def Silverblue) or wherever you are familiar with.
(Lol, I never actually tried Mint myself, but that too - like a modern Ubuntu alternative)

I have 3 elderly people for whom I installed Linux Mint, they have been using it for 5 years now. Without any problems.

If you think your grandparents would prefer the Windows 8 or macOS type UI, then GNOME is the way.

I think Xfce or MATE is vastly better tho.

Fedora Silverblue has some issues: They use their own flatpak repo, which only includes packages that satisfy Fedora's free software guidelines.
In practice this means that the Firefox it comes with doesn't have the necessary codecs to stream ~~porn~~ video on all streaming sites smoothly.
When you add the flathub repo, you now have a selector for all packages available in both where you have to choose if you want the Fedora or the Flathub version. This would be confusing for your grandparents. Also, when I tried it, it was buggier than I'm used to. Sometimes the software center locked up, or failed to install things on the first try, or update.
Even the entire system locked up sometimes, which really shouldn't happen on an atomic distro at all.

Lots of great options here. Just wanted to add it may be worth using KDE if they're transitioning from Windows. I try and get the look visually close to what they previously had so they're not fighting against muscle memory.

I may be in the minority, but I've had some success in the past with getting Windows users to adjust to XFCE and LXDE on low resource machines. I know Ubuntu based distros are frowned upon by the community (even actively hated sometimes), but xubuntu and lubuntu might be worth a look for liveusb testing and having a low barrier to maintain.

Xfce. Keep it lightweight and simple.

I'd go Mint xfce.

GNOME for sure. My wife really struggled with Windows 7/10 interface because options and settings are all over the place, and filemanager was inconsistent. Set her up with NixOS and GNOME. She no longer gets in a tizzy over the OS

For grandfathers nad mothers I personally install an inmutable distro. If they come from windows, KDE Plasma will probably be easier for them than gnome. So I would say Fedora Kinoite, but Silverblue Aurora is IMHO even best fitted for the case.

Fourth option is forcing the Windows 11 update through Rufus