Solidarity with veteran programmer in strife?

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wrlouis

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Hi folks,

I’m writing because my elderly father, after many illustrious decades as a programmer and Linux expert, and nearly 2 decades with Parkinson’s, now is having some cognitive difficulties, and as a result is having trouble with his desktop, email server, and printer which previously he ran via his Linux system. In particular he can’t get into his email which is hosted by a server run through his home office set up. There's quite a bit of bespoke software that he's written.

I myself have no linux skills, so I can’t fill the gap, and therefore I am hoping there would be a good Samaritan who can spare 20" or 30" over Zoom or another video connection to look over his shoulder and see if there are any obvious typos / bugs in the code he's stuck on, or give advice on how to proceed. It’s causing some serious difficulties for him because he needs the email for all kinds of apps and messages. Thank you in advance if you have any tips or suggestions for this challenge, or time to help out. We're based in Victoria, BC, in case anyone knows of local resources we could access.

regards,
wrlouis
 


Hi Wrlouis, Welcome to the forum. Sorry can't be of direct help here. But wish you all the best in finding a solution. Do you know if he is running linux which distribution/distributions he may be running. What linux he is using on the server? If you can find that out it may be better to ask on the forum of the distro he is using.
 
kc1di said:
Hi Wrlouis, Welcome to the forum. Sorry can't be of direct help here. But wish you all the best in finding a solution. Do you know if he is running linux which distribution/distributions he may be running. What linux he is using on the server? If you can find that out it may be better to ask on the forum of the distro he is using.
Click to expand...
Ok thanks, will do!
 
kc1di said:
Do you know if he is running linux which distribution/distributions he may be running. What linux he is using on the server? If you can find that out it may be better to ask on the forum of the distro he is using.
Click to expand...
I guess that @wrlouis took that to mean to re-post in the Slackware forum here on linux.org (which is now locked as a duplicate). I believe what @kc1di meant was to instead post into the specific forum used by that distribution, which turns out to be Slackware. The more-or-less "official" Slackware forum is here. Someone there may be able to help better.

But someone here with Slackware experience may also be able to help (not me, unfortunately). Be patient to see if others respond to you. But what you are asking is tough, and I would also caution not to get your hopes up too high. Your described needs are confusing... "not able to get into his email" is very different from "typos / bugs in the code he is stuck on."

Cognitive difficulties tend to get worse, not better, and I doubt that Zoom calling will work for long, if at all. Victoria should be a large enough population to find someone locally who can physically come by to help your father. Hired consultants may not be cheap, but someone who can put their hands on the network devices and servers may be much quicker than stumbling through a Zoom call or using a remote desktop application.

Whether remote desktop or a live in-person tech support.... you should be careful to evaluate who can access your father's work and documents, and possibly other important information like bank and/or health records that may be stored on his computer(s). Please do be very careful going forward. What you are asking could end badly, in spite of your well-intentioned efforts.

Good luck!
 
I know of two users here on the forum who have Slackware experience, although I agree with @stan the better option would be to hire a consultant in your area and will give you faster results. Connecting to an e-mail account is not rocket science just adding an account in your e-mail client, there's nothing to code when it comes to setting that up. If it was working then maybe the password was change, reset password and add changed the password of the account in the e-mail client.
 
stan said:
I guess that @wrlouis took that to mean to re-post in the Slackware forum here on linux.org (which is now locked as a duplicate). I believe what @kc1di meant was to instead post into the specific forum used by that distribution, which turns out to be Slackware. The more-or-less "official" Slackware forum is here. Someone there may be able to help better.
Click to expand...
Thanks Stan for clarifying that for me. I did mean the actual forum of the distro being used. I afraid I can't be of much help these days with Slackware though that was my original Distro when I came to Linux many years ago. I agree it would be very hard to walk him though using zoom, But hopefully some can help. I'm not too sure the op will find anyone on the slackware forums either they pretty much want you to know what your doing up front. It sounds like he has a homebrew server for e-mail and his own software driving it. If that is the case then if may be very difficult to diagnose the problems.
But I do wish the all the best.
 
Last edited:
stan said:
I guess that @wrlouis took that to mean to re-post in the Slackware forum here on linux.org (which is now locked as a duplicate). I believe what @kc1di meant was to instead post into the specific forum used by that distribution, which turns out to be Slackware. The more-or-less "official" Slackware forum is here. Someone there may be able to help better.

But someone here with Slackware experience may also be able to help (not me, unfortunately). Be patient to see if others respond to you. But what you are asking is tough, and I would also caution not to get your hopes up too high. Your described needs are confusing... "not able to get into his email" is very different from "typos / bugs in the code he is stuck on."

Cognitive difficulties tend to get worse, not better, and I doubt that Zoom calling will work for long, if at all. Victoria should be a large enough population to find someone locally who can physically come by to help your father. Hired consultants may not be cheap, but someone who can put their hands on the network devices and servers may be much quicker than stumbling through a Zoom call or using a remote desktop application.

Whether remote desktop or a live in-person tech support.... you should be careful to evaluate who can access your father's work and documents, and possibly other important information like bank and/or health records that may be stored on his computer(s). Please do be very careful going forward. What you are asking could end badly, in spite of your well-intentioned efforts.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Many thanks!
 
ok well i'm running on only 3/4 cylinders at the moment having just lost my wife. I was a user of Slackware. The issue with the Slackware forum and i say this having written documentation on the official site for Slackware and am still "officially" a maintainer for a package on Slackbuilds.org is that they are a "touchy lot" Alien Bob is the admin for the docs site and core contributor for Slackware but if you get on the wrong side of him and etal , you would probably be eaten alive .

The printer should be a piece of cake ,if he had the sense to use a H.P printer since hplip , basically software for H.P printers is installed as default.

Now with emails , somebody must have got an email from him , so start with finding out the email was it along the lines of [email protected] or a generic one. On Slackware I had an email with gmail and just used "claws email client" to fetch /compose on my laptop. Technically there is no Slackware 15 by the way, yet
 
Sorry for your loss..... thanks for taking the time to chime in, in the circs.

And thanks folks. He had his own server / domain, is part of the problem ... but I take everyone's point about getting a reliable local who can come in in person, esp thinking ahead.
 
G'day @wrlouis welcome to linux.org :)

I would seriously look into the suggestion from @arochester at #6 above.

There are many Linux User Groups (LUGs) around the world, but to have one in your home city is fortuitous.

On their front page. VLUG have Navigation-Contact Us, and dependent on

  • whether they are still in "business" and
  • what Victoria's COVID status is currently
a person might even be able to come around your place or your father's place to take a look, at no charge.

You won't know until you try them.

You are certainly welcome here, with general questions, and good luck with your father's condition.

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
Thank you Chris! I've tried them and they don't seem to be in business. Still pondering possibilities.
 
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