What a fantastic idea. Hmmm… Wonder if my Nan can cope with it… maybe not… but I reckon there must be some who would be able to!

old does not mean out of touch.
I know people who are well over 90 and they’re hip to our game.

How old is senior?

Parhaps I should point my kids to this in case I need it in a few years….

Definitly will try this one. Looking for something like a teletyper without paper for mail. Usage must be absolutely bullet proof for my mom (84)

Great idea, what about a special version of an internet browser for the elderly?

Also, I would make the icons somewhat larger.

If I were elderly, and I nearly am, I would find the suggestion that I’m “simple” enough to need a “simplified platform” a little offensive. The aims are laudable, the description not so much.

I am a senior. Fortunately I am still very tech savvy and fully employed on my third career.

As someone who cares for their Greatest Generation nonagenarian father who can still remember every microsecond of his service during the horrors of WW-II combat at Normandy, Remagen, Bastogne, the Bulge, every battle between them, and as a POW under the Nazis (when he lost 1/3 of his body weight), but can’t remember if he had breakfast, let alone what it was (then again, neither can I ;) this is as much of a Godsend for caregivers as for the cared. As anyone who’s spent their lives in awe of such people and can’t do enough for them will tell you, they’re a very proud and stubborn bunch who prize independence more than anything other than their loved ones and their country. You have to sneak help in where and when you can without them noticing that they’re being helped, and since he declared himself a dinosaur in his early 70s, you can’t imagine how he feels now in the age of Tweets, Snapchat, and Tinder (as he said, “I’m ancient, but I’m not DEAD you know – at least not yet!” :)

This is just BRILLIANT, to use that proper British adjective (he spent two years in the South of England practicing for the D-Day invasion, so he knows the King’s, or Queen’s, or Whomever’s English in all its glory, especially the naughty bits :) Gerard is to be commended and placed in front of Eben in the line for the royal sword-shouldering, regardless of his citizenship (but just one place ahead, leaving plenty of room for him and Liz – oh yes, Dearie, you’d better be ready for the weighty wielding of the wide wedge, too! ;) I hope that I’m able to maintain a lucid interval long enough when I’ll be eligible to need this (some would say it’s years late :) where I can still mess with settings without making it unbootable or otherwise into an inexpensive paperweight (albeit not much of one).

Bravo Zulu, Gerard!

Getting this for my grandma and granddad.

Well Done!

Hope one day I can create something like this!

Luke

Love the concept of this. We gave my elderly grandmother an iPad a few years ago as she’d had an old Windows XP computer.

One thing I’ve found is once she knows how to do something, she can do it. It’s getting her to that point though. The iPad took a LOT less time for her to pick up and understand than the computer. The only issue she had was using the touchscreen (kept trying to claw at it).

The only thing I would say about Senior Pi is that the desktop isn’t anywhere near ready for senior users based on that screenshot.

Seriously, a grid of big, bright icons with big text under them would be way more helpful. Those tiny little desktop icons are going to mean nothing to a novice elderly user.

Take a look at a few of the android elderly themes and you’ll see what I mean. They do an excelent job.

Keep it up though. The UI is going to be your biggest issue as the standard apps just wont be any help at all to the elderly. Big buttons, all with text (seriously look at some of the icons in any web browser – they mean absolutely nothing to novice users).

The important part of this is that it must have settings to change fundamentals such as touch screen presses, time-outs, and delays. Olderly people have shakey hands. A quick brief touch is difficult to many. So it has to be possible to set it up so that a full second of holding your finger on a specific spot is registered as a click.

Never have double clicks. Never have right clicks.

Oh… this is so close to what I hope to do with my Pi…. now waiting for the touchscreen with a bit more excitement….. thanks so much

I’m with this.
Things like Internet radio, TV remote, SIP/VOIP phone, HELP ME!.. All with big buttons. My dad used to like keeping up with his financial news even though the act of logging in his sites kept forsaking him. Can all be downloaded, updated and automated.

Sadly the format is better with a pad but the pi with its easy programmability will be the server and overseer by the router.

However, the biggest stinker with phones and pads is the tiny usb socket the elderly cannot do because they are too small..
What happened to QI charging mats?

I digress. Good luck with this. A “killer app”!

BRILLIANT! I’m going to make one for mom this weekend. This is exactly what she needs. Thank you!

Thanks everyone for the positive comments. I have updated the download so it is compatible with the NOOBS v 1.4.2 operating system that now uses jessie. My apologies to those who got caught in the switch over and found that the install script did not work.
In answer to some of the comments, all the actions are single touch (not double click), as it is meant to work with a large touch screen. On a 21″ HDMI monitor the icons are over one inch high, and the text is quite big and configurable if one desires to change it. My 87 year old mother(long-term care facility) uses the email a lot, and it is the only email program she could use. (we tried lots) She likes that if someone emails her a picture, it goes automatically into her slide show. My mother in-law uses mostly the ebook reader (large print, good contrast), and audio book reader as her vision is poor.
Provision for web surfing was not added, as any one who has the ability to surf web pages, typically does not need the simplicity of the Senior Pi, and could use a PC or android tablet instead. Having said that you could always add the web broswer icon to the desktop :)
Gerald

What a great idea!
What about adding a news feed to make it even more perfect.
Jerry