Do you consider SpiralLinux something I could throw on my grandma’s computer and she will be fine for the next 5 years? (when Bookworm runs out of updates)
Hi there, yes, this is exactly the intended use case. For users that would be confused by updates and changes, and also for experienced users that simply need to get work done on a reliable low-maintenance system that always works the same way.
Will updates be installed automatically or will the potential user have to know a little bit what they are doing?
No automatic updates, I recommend doing this every once in a while:
I’ve never used it myself, but Debian does offer a daemon for automatic installation of updates, so that might be an option to consider for grandma’s installation. But I’m not too paranoid about applying updates on a Linux system that is behind a standard broadband router running NAT and a firewall; in practice personal home Linux systems like that just aren’t being compromised. Frankly the biggest danger by far for grandma would be social engineering attacks and scam call centers.
What about upgrades? Once the current Debian release is EOL, how easy will it be to jump to the next one?
It’s pretty easy and very reliable in my experience and from what SpiralLinux 11 users have commented about their upgrade to Debian 12. This is the recommended method:
Another option might be to uninstall the DEB version of Firefox and install a browser from Flathub, and configure Gnome Software or KDE Discover to automatically download and install updates for Flatpaks.