Sender: root AT delorie DOT com
Message-ID: <3BDE3AAA.A9A13675@earthlink.net>
Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 22:29:14 -0700
From: Thomas A Webb <tawebb AT earthlink DOT net>
Organization: Wordwonder.com - an E-zine
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.77 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.4.5 i586)
X-Accept-Language: en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: opendos AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: multitasking?
References: <01FD6EC775C6D4119CDF0090273F74A455A7CF AT emwatent02 DOT meters DOT com DOT au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Reply-To: opendos AT delorie DOT com

I've been running slackware Linux with Xwindows, Staroffice etc for two
years and have no reason to run any Microsoft stuff. I just set up a
school lab with a linux server and star office on Win95 ( they had the
licenses ) and they are completely happy with Star Office as an
alternative to MS Office. I think the issue in all this is learning
curve. The software is available, up to date, and free. :-) I believe
there is software out there for text-voice applications with linux,
though I've never used it myself. Linux comes "out of the crate" with
excellent text-based mail and web clients.

Tom Webb
http://wordwonder.com

"da Silva, Joe" wrote:
> 
> Well, from what I have read so far, Mandrake Linux looks
> extremely easy to install on modern PC's - even for non-geek
> and dumb Windoze users!
> 
> This and other Linux packages, also FreeBSD, appear to be
> viable alternatives to Windoze. The only things I need Windoze
> for, are Acrobat and IE, while some people also need to access
> M$-Office crap. Now, Acrobat is available for Linux and will
> run just fine on FreeBSD, Netscape (and other browsers) is also
> available for Linux and will run on FreeBSD, StarOffice is available
> for free and can read M$ documents pretty well. So, it seems to
> me that every possible application, for which I may have previously
> required Windoze, has a *free* alternative in the Linux and FreeBSD
> domains.
> 
> So, when time and courage permit, I will be installing Linux on
> my PC, dual-booting with DR-DOS, and will be wiping off all traces
> of that accursed Windoze crap! It should be fun! BTW, although
> Mandrake looks extremely easy to install, I think I will be going
> with Red Hat instead, because it gives me more control over the
> process. Both options (and FreeBSD, I think), normally allow and
> indeed assume you will be dual-booting, so you won't be "jumping
> off the deep end" by going this route. It is quite encouraging in
> fact, that Windoze is no longer required!!!  :-)
> 
> Joe.
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Paul O. Bartlett [SMTP:bartlett AT smart DOT net]
> > Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 10:04 AM
> > To:   opendos AT delorie DOT com
> > Subject:      Re: multitasking?
> >
> > On Mon, 29 Oct 2001, Alex Venn wrote (excerpt):
> >
> > >                                          but the real problem is that it
> > > stopped development some years ago.
> >
> >     Sadly, this seems to be true for nearly everything in the DOS
> > world.  If I don't want to be trapped in the Windoozy world, I might
> > have to bite the bullet and try to go with Linux.  Unfortunately, I
> > know next to nothing about Linux administration and would probably do
> > well in addition by installing a second HDD (I am no hardware monkey),
> > so Linux seems to be a bit of a daunting task.  I briefly looked at
> > BeOS, as it provides a (mostly) Posix-compliant shell with most of the
> > customary *nix-style utilities, but development there also seems to be
> > almost on the rocks.  Mac is out, as I am not in the market for a new
> > system.  Is there no alternative to Windoozy for some of poor non-geek
> > saps?
> >
> > --
> > Paul Bartlett
> > bartlett AT smart DOT net
> > PGP key info in message headers
> >