opinions on freeware/opensource operating systems?

  • Thread starter Thread starter No'm Este'
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No'm Este'

I'm looking for opinions on free and/or opensource operating systems.
What's good? What's to stay away from? Will they run Windows programs?
etc. Thanks.


*** ***
 
If you have interest in computers in general you should try linux...
you will learn a lot.

A good way to start is downloading a "live" cd,
like knoppix, this means that you boot up your computer with the cd
and linux loads from the cd without touching your hard disk....
http://knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html

Once you get used to it a bit you can try installing some version of
linux...

A good place to start learning about the various versions (called distros =
distributions) is
here www.distrowatch.com.

Another way to try out linux is to install it on a "virtual machine" ,
so that it will run on top of windows. You can find a free VM player that
allows this here:
http://www.vmware.com/products/player/ . then you can download a ready made
virtual machine from here:
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/cat/25

I suggest one like Kubuntu from that list, since it has a graphical
interface (KDE) easier for windows users to get used to.

The opensource effort is very important and may change the world of
computing.
There is much to say about this... but anyway....

Some versions of linux can run SOME windows programs... with a program
called WINE, but if you do that you are missing the whole point....
because there are thousands of programs for linux that do what windows
programs do...
if you want to use windows programs then use windows :-)

If you need any addition help post here... I will be watching this thread...


PS. If anyone calls me a troll again.. ill have to tar him and sprinkle him
with feathers.

-K
 
No'm Este' said:
I'm looking for opinions on free and/or opensource operating systems.
What's good? What's to stay away from? Will they run Windows programs?
etc. Thanks.


*** ***
Click to expand...

Depends.

- What kind of winderz programs?
- What will you use your computer for?
- Is your hardware "vanilla?"

So many questions...

-Craig
p.s. Hey Mark Warner...any suggestions for this guy? <GRIN>
 
Craig said:
Depends.

- What kind of winderz programs?
- What will you use your computer for?
- Is your hardware "vanilla?"
Click to expand...

A compiler (IBasic or PureBasic or either VB3 Pro or VB4) and general
document files. It's an IBM ThinkPad 365x with Win 3.1 and a floppy drive.
It has a Pentium of some sort and about 40 megs of RAM along with a 2 gig
hard drive. There is a 14.4 PCM card modem. The screen is color, but is a
little flakey on the left edge. I paid $35 USD for it and an AC pack and
carrying case. It has a PS/2 connector on the back for mouse or keyboard,
but no USB ports. I do have a connector that plugs into a PS/2 port and has
a USB socket on the outside end. There are two slots for PCM cards.



*** ***
 
No'm Este' said:
A compiler (IBasic or PureBasic or either VB3 Pro or VB4) and general
document files.
Click to expand...

Search doc related to the linux program called "wine." That will tell
you whether you can run windows-based compilers in linux.
It's an IBM ThinkPad 365x with Win 3.1 and a floppy drive.
It has a Pentium of some sort and about 40 megs of RAM along with a 2 gig
hard drive. There is a 14.4 PCM card modem.
Click to expand...

The good news is that the h/w has been around for a while: better
chance drivers have been written for it. The bad news is that the h/w
is pretty weak by today's standards. Considering you're thinking of
compiling windows code in an emulator...

Try Tiny and DSLinux:
http://tiny.seul.org/ and
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

In fact, I'd hit their forums first. See what they think.

hth,
-Craig
 
I'm looking for opinions on free and/or opensource operating systems.
What's good? What's to stay away from? Will they run Windows programs?
etc. Thanks.
Click to expand...


It is odd to, in one breath, ask about an open source OS and ask if it will
run Windows programs :-)

As has already been mentioned, trying a few live CD's (Knoppix, Ubuntu,
Mepis, PCLinuxOS, Etc.) would at least give you a feel for Linux and the
wide variety of choices available.

Ubuntu linux is wholly open source, including the programs that it installs
by default. Others, like SUSE or Xandros, etc. install some proprietary
software or closed source programs for various multimedia formats and such.

If you are wanting to break away from Windows and are looking for programs
to do what you might in Windows, here is a fairly comprehensive list of
'equivalents' for Linux: http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html

Good luck!
 
A compiler (IBasic or PureBasic or either VB3 Pro or VB4) and general
document files. It's an IBM ThinkPad 365x with Win 3.1 and a floppy drive.
It has a Pentium of some sort and about 40 megs of RAM along with a 2 gig
hard drive. There is a 14.4 PCM card modem. The screen is color, but is a
little flakey on the left edge. I paid $35 USD for it and an AC pack and
carrying case. It has a PS/2 connector on the back for mouse or keyboard,
but no USB ports. I do have a connector that plugs into a PS/2 port and has
a USB socket on the outside end. There are two slots for PCM cards.
Click to expand...

If you decide to end up with win, or dual boot, it sounds like a
candidate for 98 lite, or 95 as a second choice. With 40M RAM, to get a
linux live CDs to run on that you'd need to get it to use a swapfile.

However P1 40M 2G is enough to run most windows apps, if you use one
thing at a time, pick the slickest software, take all measures to keep
performance as fast as it can get, and dont expect it to be especially
quick. Do that and even such a dino is usable. Must be over a decade
old now.

I dont remember the address for 98 lite, its basically W98 with the win
explorer from 95, and some pointless services removed. Roughly speaking
it has the speed of 95 with the compatibility of 98.


NT
 
Linux ops. (eg. Fedora, RedHat, Knoppix, etc) require alot of text
editing for configurations at command shell. It is not recommended for
person not familar with command shell programming and exection

It's very difficult for mutilple users on one pc, would not recommend
as family pc.

Not all hardware is compatible with Linux.
check: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO/
 
The point is to learn a bit about computers! With linux you have to het your
hands
a bit dirty....

Or he could try Linspire then that is easy as windows...

:-)
 
Linux ops. (eg. Fedora, RedHat, Knoppix, etc) require alot of text
editing for configurations at command shell. It is not recommended
for person not familar with command shell programming and exection

It's very difficult for mutilple users on one pc, would not recommend
as family pc.

Not all hardware is compatible with Linux.
check: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO/
Click to expand...

I tired the Penguin products waaaaaaaay back with Red Hat 5! That
was enough for me. I'm a fast learner.

If it ain't broke, don't fixit! I'm grateful for different OS's but one man's
junk is another's treasure.

Helen
 
As has already been mentioned, trying a few live CD's (Knoppix, Ubuntu,
Mepis, PCLinuxOS, Etc.) would at least give you a feel for Linux and the
wide variety of choices available.
Click to expand...

Seriously doubt if that old system from the Win95 era is capable of
running any of those OS's natively reasonably well, yet alone off a
live cd.
 
Linux ops. (eg. Fedora, RedHat, Knoppix, etc) require alot of text
editing for configurations at command shell. It is not recommended for
person not familar with command shell programming and exection

It's very difficult for mutilple users on one pc, would not recommend
as family pc.

Not all hardware is compatible with Linux.
check: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO/
Click to expand...

If you can learn DOS and HTML then you can learn basic Unix, but I have
found that the new versions are getting more and more as simple as Windows
to load. The newer versions don't really need any text editing if you do a
standard install with common hardware. They are not quite there yet, but
they mount and unmount the floppy and CDRom for you, have a form of plug and
play and have a more usable GUI now. The ones that are starting to charge
(Redhat, Mandrake etc) for the full system have quite extensive driver
databases (which is the only area that Microsoft excel), are not too bad to
load nowadays and can do a full install with the mouse only.
 
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