Greetings:
In case you need more answers, there are a few Linux groups at
cp-news.centix.net and at support-forums.novell.com
Following are answers I got after posting questions on one of those
groups about :
a)installing Linux on a separate partition from Windows XP and
b)using Linux with Windows Applications.
Hope you find this info usefull.
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You can set up a dual-boot deal. In fact, most versions of linux run some
sort of boot loader to help you do that. Most versions of Linux want their
own partition (actually, usually want 3 of them). You'll want to have a big
empty space on any shared hard drive, at least 10 gigs. After that you can
usually set up Linux to see the M$ stuff. What I do is get one of those HD
bays where you can swap out hard drives when you want to run a different
O/S. That way I can play on Linux and then go back to M$ when I have to.
FreeOffice (or its $$$ counterpart, StarOffice) has Word, Excel, PPT
replacements. Why in the heck would you want to replace Outlook? Almost
all Linux loads have at least one email program and at least one Web
Browser. And, you can download and install the GroupWise client for Linux
as well. Real hardcore Linux people never ever use any M$ stuff unless
they're forced to do so under pain of death.
By and large the Linux stuff crashes less than M$ stuff, certainly less than
Win9x platforms.
To get started I'd go to Redhat.com and download their RedHat 9 software (3
CDs). It's free, includes everything you're gonna want for a while, the
install is fairly simple, and there's lots of RedHat gurus out there. I'd
also serious recommend that you get a "Linux for Dummies" type book, since
all of the commands are in UNIX instead of DOS. Just a hint, "DIR" doesn't
work (unless you set it up to do the same thing as LS -al), and UNIX
commands are all case-sensitive.
Tim Wohlford
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Tim : RedHat 9 is pretty much gone as far as free.
You've got to move on to Fedora.
http://fedora.redhat.com/
Personally, if I'm a Netware guy, I'd fork over the $80 and get SuSE 9
Professional. You can test out all kinds of stuff, familiarize
yourself with Novells upcoming product line. Heck you can even tweak
it to act like a server if you like and test it in that capacity also.
http://www.suse.com/us/private/products/suse_linux/i386/
As far as running Windows apps on Linux, I wouldn't bother since it is
fairly problematic and you will not get the same product results as if
running it on native windows. However, if you want to play check out:
www.codeweavers.com
and get yourself a copy of CrossOver Office.
Barring that you can also take a look at the free version at
http://www.winehq.org/
Then of course you can also emulate a windows host and run apps under
linux like that using
http://www.vmware.com/
That's pretty much the state of things. If I were you though I'd look
at replacing Office apps with something of the OpenSource variety.
You'll find the functionality is mostly there and they run much better
than any emulated product. There are limitations though. You can
pretty much kiss off any ODBC applications. Although it's being worked
on I hear.
G of Borg
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