Date:	Fri, 10 Jan 1997 10:27:46 +0800 (GMT)
From:	Orlando Andico <orly AT gibson DOT eee DOT upd DOT edu DOT ph>
To:	Liam <marl AT rmplc DOT co DOT uk>
cc:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject:	Re: NO Understanding?
In-Reply-To:	<199701100002.AAA05105@mx2.rmplc.co.uk>
Message-ID:	<Pine.SGI.3.93.970110101942.26372H-100000@gibson.eee.upd.edu.ph>
MIME-Version:	1.0

On Thu, 9 Jan 1997, Liam wrote:

> I don't wan't to sound stupid at all, but what is this UNIX and Linux. I
> understand it to be something like windows, but what exactualy? I`ve never
> heard it mentioned in any  magazines.

uhm.. try "UNIX World"  :)
You can get lots of nice Linux info at http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/
(this is the Linux Documentation Project) there is also a Linux magazine
(forgot the name).

Linux is not something like Windoze, it is _normally_ command-line (like
DOS) but with full multitasking on your PC. It can run most DOS programs
too (with a good deal of overhead). It's free. Zero cost. Kicks the butt
of Windoze. Can't run Windoze binaries (yet) unless you count Solitaire.
Uhm, and WinWord 6.0 actually runs.. but most of the buttons don't work.
If you use Linux and desperately need Windoze compatibility you can buy
WABI from Caldera. Don't know the $$$ but you need 32MB RAM.

> What the differance between protected and real mode?

If you _must_ use DOS (ack!) for programming then DJGPP is the way to go.
It's the cheapest and probably best protected-mode C compiler/tools out
there. Not to mention it's free. The main site is http://delorie.com/djgpp
but that's pretty slow.. Quake was compiled with DJGPP, which I think is a
pretty good testimonial for it.

> Life was so much simpler on the Amiga.

Hehe.. protected mode lets the 386+ access all the memory on your machine,
plus other goodies like protecting programs from crashing each other and
virtual memory.

The reason life was so much simpler on the Amiga was 'cause its designers
were not braindead. They started with a nonsegmented CPU architecture, the
Motorola 68000, so technically they were already in a sort of "protected
mode" in the sense that all the memory could be accessed directly. Also,
the AmigaDOS supports multitasking so it has all the other goodies
already. And BTW, there is a version of Linux for Amiga machines (Linux
68k) if you wanna reuse an old Amiga for UNIX.

> Cheers
> Liam
> 


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| Orlando Andico                email: orly AT gibson DOT eee DOT upd DOT edu DOT ph |
| IRC Lab/EE Dept/UP Diliman   http://gibson.eee.upd.edu.ph/~orly |
|  "through adventure we are not adventuresome" -- 10000 Maniacs  |
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