Convert me! (from windows)

[RecursiveStar]

I want to be free!!!!

But I have two problems....

I'm self employed and most of my business stuff uses either Word, Excel or Access - can't afford to lose it - so can I convert it or is there OS apps that can read it?

I'm also studying VC++ (pity me, I was young(er) then) and so will have to learn all(sic) about Windows...which means I need to keep it    (

Dual boot? Bit of a pain tho...

Any suggestions?

[ November 08, 2002: Message edited by: Calum & his insidious little spies ]

[voidmain]

As far as office, check out http://www.openoffice.org.

You need to keep Windows because you learned all about it? Funny, I got rid of Windows because I learned all about it. You can ditch VC++ and use your C++ knowlege in Linux.

[ November 07, 2002: Message edited by: void main ]

[rtgwbmsr]

Openoffice is free, and can open and save in all Word & Excel formats. The link is in the post above.

As for C++, it doesn't change much across platforms (the basics, anyway). You can easily apply your VCPP knowledge to the GCC. That's what I did, and I had no problems.

I recommend Red Hat Linux for a programming/workstation environment. Get it from www.linuxiso.org

If you need anything else, just ask. A search in the linux forum would also be good, as many app equivalents have been posted. Like this one: http://forum.fuckmicrosoft.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=5&t=001098

Have Phun!

[ November 07, 2002: Message edited by: The_Muffin_Man/B0b ]

[pkd_lives]

You should convert yourself. It's the correct way to do things. Decide for yourself which way you want to go, then there is no bias  - it's your decision no matter what.

Dual booting can be a pain, but on the whole it's real easy, and I would advise it. These forums have loads of help. And visit the MES FAQ, it's listed in several signatures round here.

As for converting Access - I have not heard of anything for that, but then the time used creating a new database probably weighs favourably against the Access caused downtime - there may be something out there, search google, although if I remember rightly you can export all Access records as a batch of text files, so it should not be that hard to recreate a new database under a different program. Another reason for keeping M$ for a while is you can keep backwards compatability on all your information, in fact if you write code you should have as many platforms as possible. It's generally bad programmers who stick only to one platform, usually they are not good enough to even try another type of coding.

Once you know one version of C++ then the concepts are in place, there is no reason why another version cannot be picked up quicker than the first one.

[Pissed_Macman]

This is what you do:

[Doctor V]

Welcome to MES, your two problems are easily solvable.

You should have no trouble with Linux at all.  OpenOffice will handle Word perfectly, and Excel files work in OO almost always.  I have come across one that dosn't, but only one ever.  Its likely that future versions of OO will be able to handle them.

As for access.  Well, Access is very user freindly, but horribly inefficient.  Linux should come with Postgresql, which should work better than access.  I't would likely not take much time at all to write a small script to transfer all of your data from Access to PGSQL.

VC++ only works for windows.  Linux comes with a C++ compiler.  Rather than building apps that only run on windows with VC++, you could build them in C++ or Java.  Java has window toolkits to build apps with forms and such.  Java apps also generally are platform independant.

Dual booting is always an option if your not ready for the deep end.  I have found that setting up dual booting in Mandrake Linux 9.0 is so easy that anyone could do it and do it right on the first try.

It takes most people a while before getting used to Linux, but stick with it, and you'll find that it really is better than windows.

V

 

quote:Originally posted by RecursiveStar:
I want to be free!!!!

But I have two problems....

I'm self employed and most of my business stuff uses either Word, Excel or Access - can't afford to lose it - so can I convert it or is there OS apps that can read it?

I'm also studying VC++ (pity me, I was young(er) then) and so will have to learn all(sic) about Windows...which means I need to keep it    (

Dual boot? Bit of a pain tho...

Any suggestions?

[hm_murdock]

Get the new $999 iBook. Then buy some RAM for it, but not from Apple.

[psyjax]

quote:Originally posted by The Jimmy James X 10.3.6 / Bob:
Get the new $999 iBook. Then buy some RAM for it, but not from Apple.

I second that. You will have no problem transitioning from windoze to the MacOS. You will be able to use all of your current documents and programms (or their equivilants) and yet still benifit from the vast library of Linux/*NIX software available. You can even run popular desktop environments right alongside OSX such as KDE and GNOME. You get the best of all worlds with OSX    [/pitch off]

Seriously, you do. And you can dual boot with Linux if you are so inclined. I hear YDL on Mac's are getting better benchmarks than their x86 counterparts these days! At least that's YDL's propaganda  

[Calum]

Here, have you ever heard of THE INTERNET? if you are having trouble finding any information to 'convert' from using one system to using another system than just download a copy of the internet and read it at your own leisure.

[psyjax]

quote:Originally posted by Calum & his insidious little spies:
Here, have you ever heard of THE INTERNET? if you are having trouble finding any information to 'convert' from using one system to using another system than just download a copy of the internet and read it at your own leisure.

I love google in all it's forms  

Looks cute with tux between the letters.

[RecursiveStar]

Thank you Calum..yes I have heard of the internet - it's how I got here...

Are you now saying this is NOT the best site on which to discuss changing to an OS based PC???  :confused:  

Surely not....  :cool:

[preacher]

quote:Originally posted by The Jimmy James X 10.3.6 / Bob:
Get the new $999 iBook. Then buy some RAM for it, but not from Apple.

lol, yeah thats right, spend $1000 on an iBook, then spend another few hundred on MS Office, and then you can do everything that can be accomplished for free with linux on your current windows computer. Not a very convincing argument guys.

[Calum]

quote:Originally posted by RecursiveStar:
Thank you Calum..yes I have heard of the internet - it's how I got here...

Are you now saying this is NOT the best site on which to discuss changing to an OS based PC???   :confused:  

Surely not....   :cool:  

touchee!    
welcome to the forums, but as you say, this is a good spot to pick up ideas and news, however sometimes i think that this forum should be supplemented with more specific forum reading (of other forums, like for instance linuxquestions.org/questions) depending on which alternative route you decide on.

[ November 09, 2002: Message edited by: Calum & his insidious little spies ]

[RecursiveStar]

Touchee?

Since posting my query I have discovered that there is a thing called the "internut", marvellous idea, apparently all you do is get a thing called a "CP" and type in a question...Excellent idea...then this goggle thingy gets the answer for you...bang on!

 

[psyjax]

quote:Originally posted by ThePreacher:


lol, yeah thats right, spend $1000 on an iBook, then spend another few hundred on MS Office, and then you can do everything that can be accomplished for free with linux on your current windows computer. Not a very convincing argument guys.

No, How about have the option of spending a few hundred bucks on big time apps like Photoshop, Office etc.

Games like WarCraft III, Diablo II, etc.

And still be able to run Linux/*NIX apps all under the same OS. You can even run KDE and GNOME if your up to it. Finaly, you can dual boot with many popular Linux distros as well, but who would wan't to, since all the big linux Apps can be run under OSX without needing a reboot.

That's a nice argument I think  

[ November 09, 2002: Message edited by: psyjax v6.9 /Dave ]