From: Jeff Weeks Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp Subject: Re: LInux vs. DOS Date: 3 Mar 1997 22:33:19 GMT Organization: Internet News Service Lines: 60 Message-ID: <5ffjjf$g51@nr1.toronto.istar.net> References: <19970220 DOT 202629 DOT 7543 DOT 0 DOT fwec AT juno DOT com> NNTP-Posting-Host: news.linkd.net Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit XPident: Unknown To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp Mark T Logan wrote: > > I have been contemplating downloading LInux, > and I have a few questions. I reccomend it, if that means anything to you :) > 1. I know Linux has a DOS emulator available. > Will the emulator allow me to do _anything_ > that DOS would. i.e. lauch windows Ahh... yes and no. It works pretty good for me but some things just won't run. I can run games like doom and heretic. I believe you can run windoze but it involves adding a few libraries to windows I believe (OS/2 does the same thing). A better way (but not nearly as finished) is to use WINE. It's a windoze emulator which runs under X-Windows. However, ideally, you will never need to run a windoze program every again :) Most people seem to use Linux for everything, but then boot back into Win95 to run M$ Office... HOWEVER... most don't realise that there is a very good (and free) office suit called StarOffice which is available for Linux. It's currently in beta stages (version 3.1) for Linux but is very workable. You can check it out at http://www.stardiv.de (german... main site) or http://www.stardiv.com (english... but not totally finished). > 2. Can I configure my system so that I can decide > during the boot sequence whether to run Linux, > or NT, or DOS, etc. ? Yep. Linux comes with it's own boot loader called LILO. > 3. How much hard drive space does Linux need? I think you can run it (basic) with only about 30 megs. X-Windows will add a bunch to that, however, it's still probably smaller than Win95's disk requirements. > 4. Is there a lot of software available for Linux? I'd say so. Maybe people pre-judge Linux by saying it has very little software support but I've found the oposite. I'm quite pleased with the software I have, and... truth-be-known... all of it was (legally) FREE! I've got over 900megs (soon to be more... I'm getting StarOffice) of Linux stuff and I'm perfectly happy. > My thanks and gratitude to anyone who responds to > any/all of my questions. Righto :) Jeff Weeks -------------------------------------------- - Code X Software - Programming to a Higher Power email: mailto:pweeks AT execulink DOT com web: http://www.execulink.com/~pweeks/ --------------------------------------------