My father in law is getting exceedingly frail and easily confused nowadays. He can't cope with his laptop (he keeps hitting the "wrong" buttons, opening up random programs etc) and is desperate to get a machine that will help him keep up with correspondence. (He can't write very well any more as his fingers don't can't grasp the pen). We have tried him with Dragon Dictate but as it is linked to his laptop and is quite confusing, he does not want to use it.

He has seen or read about some simple lap top like machines (not netbooks) that have one function – a word processor. I don't think they have an internal print facility (in my eyes that would make them typewriters) but I can't be sure.

I have searched for variations around word processors, I have browsed computer shop websites etc and all to no avail. Does anyone know what he is talking about and if so, which ones are any good?

Long shot I know but someone out there must have seen them.

I remember seeing these years ago, just when home computers were really taking off. My grandparents had one. we're talking 20 years ago though.

Just checked out ebay, there are plenty on there, god knows about tech support if they break though…

What happens when he hits the wrong button on one of these word processors you describe?

I'm sorry to say it, but I reckon someone is going to have to help him from now on.

There is an old persons's computer available.

Let me google that for you:

http://www.simplicitycomputers.co.uk/

Slowjo – My aunt died a few months ago and she had one of the Word Processor only machines. Old thing it is, but I'm sure it still works.
When we go up to clear the house do you want me to rescue it? Not sure when it'll be.

Big button keyboard?
http://www.bigkeys.co.uk/seniors.asp

you could configure windows so it only gives hjim access to Word when he logs in?

Have an Admin login that does everything and one just for him that only allows Word.

I'd go with Molgrip's suggestion. My mum used Debian for years, again, setup with a fairly simple OS. I never had to fix anything.

Now she has Windows. 🙄

IMO even with Windows in a hugely locked down state, it's a nightmare for people who don't know anything about IT – too many status messages, virus scanners, virus updates, things that you can't update without logging in as administrator etc.

Linux is functionally inferior to Windows in terms of the software available etc. but that's not really relevant to someone who can barely keep a PC running. Functioning rather than breaking or bamboozling is far more important!

DezB – can you let me have more info? I'll run this by him when we see him next week.

I like the look of the Simplicity kit. I'll add this to the list as well!

Thanks guys.

Oh, and another top tip – get a trackball. Logitech make good ones, and they avoid the problem of old folks positioning the cursor where they want, then lifting their hand off the mouse and stabbing the left mousebutton as hard as they can.

Don't know a great deal about it, I'm afraid. I just remember it as a step up from a typewriter. ie. what you type appears on a screen, so you can edit before printing out. That's it really!

Macs can be easy to use to those who don't want the fuss of Windows.

Good point. +1 for Mac.

See? I'm not anti Mac 🙂

Got to agree with both of Tron's suggestions here.
Can't see OSX being much easier than Windows to be honest. Far too easy to accidentally drag icons off the dock ("HELP IVE UNI-STALLED MICROWORD") accidentally open Exposé by pressing F3 etc. I tried to get my Gran to use it but it just terrified her. 🙁

Just a nice empty Debian desktop with a little launcher program for opening 'Word' and another for opening Thunar (file manager – hide all its menus and toolbars) or similar. XFCE would be a good starting point to set this up. There must be a netbook which comes with something like that. Maybe even those $100 OLPC laptops made for Africa/Asia would do the job.

How important is printing immediately? iPads are supposed to be great for older people.

All good stuff everyone, the more info I have the better. I have a funny feeling though that what he is talking about is basically a typewriter with a small (2 line) screen though how he thinks it wil solve the problem I don't know.

Thick question here… can you print from an iPad?

The new Samsung Galaxy Tab may be another answer. If he wanted to do email it should be simple to use with a Gmail account and cheaper than paying for broadband.
Will probably offer more than an iPad (I've read) but will be cheaper.
Think they're out next month.

If he has internet access (ie, he's emailing correspondence) something like Jolicloud might be the answer.

If it's purely letters > printer > royal snail, maybe the best option is just to stick Word in Startup as someone has said.

Or even, take Word off and use something similar like Wordpad. Word is horrendously complex, and overkill for most people's usage; it confuses me and I'm a geek, diety only knows how a silver surfer would cope with it.

Is this the sort of thing he was referring to perhaps? http://www.crc-tasktron.co.uk/gbu0-prodshow/SW70.html

Back again.

After discussion with father in law he wants to work around the following.

I am to buy him a laptop (yes, he'll pay me back!) and a large keyed keyboard plus cheap laser printer. He wants it set up so it will open up to the WP package of my choice (Wordpad I guess). He does not want internet access nor does he want any of the other programs that come with Windows.

The idea of setting myself up as Administrator and then setting up a different account would seem to work well.

The question then is this. Most new pcs will come with Win 7. I have a Win 7 laptop here and I have been trying to change it so upon booting up it automatically opens up to (in this case) open office. I can't seem to do it right, is there a quick and easy way to do this? (Once I have worked out how to do it I'll simply reset it to what it was before but I need to know what to do so I can replicate it on his new machine.)

Start / Programs / Startup, right-click and Open. Copy the shortcut you want to auto-run into here.

Alternatively, copy the icon to his desktop. It won't auto-run, but it's a single task to double-click it.

Windows 7 doesn't even shut down when you click on the power icon. Good luck explaining that one 🙄

Of course it does.

You can configure shutdown / standby operations to taste on the buttons (and on a laptop, when you close the lid).

A mate has one, it goes into standby. Looks like it's shutdown until you walk out and mouse moves a smidge and the whole thing starts up again…

Macs can be easy to use to those who don't want the fuss of Windows.

aaah, they're for people who are easily confused. I knew I was missing something.

Tron > user error.