Mail Archives: djgpp/1997/02/21/03:47:54
Mark T Logan (fwec AT juno DOT com) wrote:
: I have been contemplating downloading LInux,
: and I have a few questions.
You'd probably get better results asking this in a Linux newsgroup :)
NTL...
: 1. I know Linux has a DOS emulator available.
: Will the emulator allow me to do _anything_
: that DOS would. i.e. lauch windows
dosemu can run Windows 3.1. It can run DJGPP-written programs in
general. I'm not really sure since I haven't tried it yet.
: 2. Can I configure my system so that I can decide
: during the boot sequence whether to run Linux,
: or NT, or DOS, etc. ?
Linux comes with a boot loader called LILO (LInux LOader), which allows
you to define several bootable partitions, and it handles the cover-up
to stop DOS from barfing when it finds multiple boot partitions. In
short, yes.
: 3. How much hard drive space does Linux need?
This depends upon what you install, how you partition your drive, what
you intend to do with it, etc. I use the RedHat distribution, which
estimates between 30 and 50Mb for the root partition, about 16Mb swap
partition, between 150Mb and 350Mb for the optional packages, and user
space depending upon how many users you expect to have and how much you
intend to give them.
: 4. Is there a lot of software available for Linux?
Well... what sort of software? There's X-Windows, with its WIMP GUI. As
for applications, I don't think there are that many professional quality,
useful programs. AFAIK there's nothing as newbie-friendly as Word, Excel
or Office in general. However, the software that exists is very powerful.
I suggest you take a look at some of the Linux documentation,
particularly the FAQ and have a glance at the DOS-to-Linux HOWTO.
Most of this is available from http://www.redhat.com; try in
http://www.redhat.com/linux-info/
--
George Foot <gfoot AT mc31 DOT merton DOT ox DOT ac DOT uk>
Merton College, Oxford.
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