From:	span AT PROBLEM_WITH_INEWS_GATEWAY_FILE (M.M. Span)
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp
Subject:	Re: LInux vs. DOS
Date:	6 Mar 1997 09:00:41 GMT
Organization:	Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Lines:	62
Message-ID:	<5fm13p$lts@info.service.rug.nl>
References:	<19970220 DOT 202629 DOT 7543 DOT 0 DOT fwec AT juno DOT com> <5ejf2s$rln AT news DOT ox DOT ac DOT uk>
NNTP-Posting-Host:	psy.ppsw.rug.nl
To:	djgpp AT delorie DOT com
DJ-Gateway:	from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp

I have to comment on this: there is good, professional quality software in abundance for linux. Especially scientific software is of superior quality to anything I have seen for dos or mswindows. (I strongly believe that having access to source-code is essential to data-analysis).

The URL you refer to at Redhat also gives info about Applixware, which is absolutely as user-friendly as Word and Excel.

But look around on the net, search for what you want to see if it's there.
Why not just try it?

good luck!

Mark

George Foot (gfoot AT mc31 DOT merton DOT ox DOT ac DOT uk) wrote:
> 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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