To: opendos AT delorie DOT com Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 00:29:23 -0800 Subject: Re: A little history Message-ID: <20001030.010348.-4123357.0.domanspc@juno.com> X-Mailer: Juno 4.0.11 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Juno-Line-Breaks: 0,12-13,27-29,31-39,42-43,48-50,52,54,56-57,62-64,67-69,71-113 X-Juno-Att: 0 X-Juno-RefParts: 0 From: Robert W Moss Reply-To: opendos AT delorie DOT com Sorry chad, It's all a matter of semantics. When you bought the DRDOS package from Caldera you only bought the rights to install and use 'their' software on one personal computer, and they reserve the rights to the software. It is printed on the CDs (All Rights Reserved) and it is part of the software installation package. You must agree to their terms or cancel installation and send the software back to them. (Thank you Mr. Bill Gates). You are not authorized to do any modifications to the software or change the package in any way, by adding to or deleting from what came in the box. (You can only do that if you wrote the software or they sell you the copyright, which they are not stupid enough to do.) You can't copy and give away or sell any disks nor any documentation that you recieved with the package and it is serialized so they will always know who it is registered to. When you bought the OpenLinux package you only paid Caldera for putting it in a nice neat package for you, and for the rights to use their copyrighted Lizard installation package which makes it easy to setup Ngu Linux and all of the other copyrighted software in the box. You don't own Caldera's Desktop or Lizard, nor Netscape, Adobe Acrobat Reader, on and on and on, ....there are over 50 copyrighted items listed on my OpenLinux 2.4 box which are owned by the copyright holders. Linus has copyrighted the linux kernal so noone can sell it and anyone who wants to change it must go through him. Corel is so happy yought "bought" Linux from them that they will charge you $175US just to talk to them after 30 days, and after 90 days they want $495US to answer your e-mails. Of course that offer expired on 30 June 2000, so it must be much more now. And, of course, the only things they help you with are (Per my OpenLinux 2.4 manual): CD installation on supported hardware (you have to go to http://www.calderasystems.com/support/hardware/ to find out what is supported before you start installing. ) Basic configuration of the graphical system (XFree86) Basic network configuration of TCP/IP,IPX, and the NetWare Client Basic configuration of an e-mail client Basic configuration of printing Basic configuration of a PPP connection to an ISP via modem using kppp Basic configuration of supported sound cards and in order to get any of the above support you are required to provide them with "their" serial number which you must register with them before they will help you. In your case, you could take an inventory of all your hardware and contact the manufacturers of each piece to see if they have released a new linux driver. I would also go to the M/B manufacturers website and see if there is a flash bios upgrade available. I was even able to get one from Gateway for a P90 motherboard. You can go to ftp://ftp.Calderasystems.com/ and download the scourcecode for the newer OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4, which will problably include the latest Linux kernel, and the latest updated information is available from http://www.calderasystems.com/support/docs/ . If you think the manual was lacking in clarity or was poorly written they want to hear from you at docs AT calderasystems DOT com. If you can invest a few dollars in a copy of the Maximum Linux magazine, they usually have a version of GnuLinux available (for free?) on the included CD, and they have a lot of good articles on the Linux world and detailed instructions on installing the version of Linux. You might want to try it out. In the last 3 issues they had 5 versions of Linux. Hope you are able to get your system up and running soon. I have problems with mine, also, but all my three main systems are full of WINDOZE hardware, which will have to replace or fall back to one of my old legacy 386/486 systems and pray a lot. BOB 'DOMAN' MOSS "It's a FLAW, Dammit, not a Bug" "We fixed it, Really" (Intel didn't call the Pentium a 586 because they added 486 and 100 and only got 585.999983605) On Mon, 30 Oct 2000 00:43:19 -0500 fernande AT internet1 DOT net writes: > Robert, > > Robert W Moss wrote: > > > > What's to like? You did not buy "Linux" or DR DOS from Caldera. > > Yes I did. I bought DRDOS from Caldera before they split the > company. > I also bought OpenLinux 2.3, but haven't been able to install it. > It > hangs on all my machines. > > The part that I don't like is SCO selling what they are know for... > Unix. Also they seem to be wanting to combine Linux and Unix. From > what I have read in Usenet Unix is still the heavy hitter, Linux is > making progress, but still has its flaws compared to Unix. > > Chad Fernandez > Michigan, USA > > > Linux is free for the downloading from many sites on the WWW. > > They are in business to build a "Distribution" of Linux for their > > Commercial Customers and that means they take all of the > > "Free GnuLinux" software out in the web and test it in combination > > with various combinations of other modules and pick the ones they > > think are the most stable to put in the "Distribution Package". > > Anything they use from the Gnu Linux libraries that they modify > > must be put into the GPL Pool. Caldera has been known for years > > as one of the most stable distributions while Red Hat is known for > > it's 'cutting edge' distribution. They sell a lot of custom > > distributions > > for use on commercial business site servers and workstations. > > Individual Linux sales to PC users is problably less than 5 > percent > > of their business. They also make money from Lineo for the > > customized DOS system installations that are sold to businesses > > and that's why we can get a free personal use copy of DR DOS from > > Lineo. > > > > BOB 'DOMAN' MOSS' "Chocolate is a vitamin" ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.