And you wonder why Linux is not Mainstream Like Windows is?

[choasforages]

well, the cdburner that just went toast was a 4x4x16 drive.thats all i know


and it could burn 700meg cd's

[ August 08, 2002: Message edited by: choasforages ]

[Tonerman]

The Silicon Valley has a great deal of open source.. Cygnus was down here.... I tihnk they were open source.. I don't know.. my dad worked for them for a while.. and he's the one that told me the joys of Linux... and he said it was open... anyhoo... we got a number of open source..things... But.. I still say Finland could easily take over... but.. I like Finland... AN dI stopped making sence...

Dah..

anyhoo. yeah.. we got a good supply of open source in San Jose area...

[voidmain]

Sure there is open source there. But open source is everywhere was my point.  Silicon valley certainly provides no leadership for open source, that would be defeating the entire concept.  And I'm sure you know that Cygwin is now owned by RedHat.  Like RedHat, Cygwin is mostly made up of "community" developed software.

[voidmain]

Ok, finally got the 650MB version of DemoLinux downloaded and burned. I don't know what the difference is between that and the 700MB version.  I thought the difference was the 700MB version included StarOffice 5.2.  But it seems the 650MB version also includes it.

At any rate, I booted it up and played around a little and here are my thoughts:

1) It's Debian based (not a plus or minus, just a note)
2) Since it is all run from CD it is obviously much slower than an installed distribution
3) Includes the older KDE 2.x desktop (3.x would be much better in several respects, fonts most noticabely)
4) Includes the older Gnome 1.x (2.x would be better, along with a copy of Evolution)
5) StarOffice 5.2 is not nearly as nice as 6.0

But overall I think it is a pretty good demo. It's packed with a lot of stuff on one CD and it should give a good example to someone who has never used Linux. If it had the following I would say it would be a perfect demo CD:

1) KDE 3
2) Gnome 2 with Evolution
3) OpenOffice.org 1.0
4) Mozilla instead of Netscape

I think they have already creatively used the space on the CD and I don't know if the above upgrades could be squeezed on a CD without sacrificing a bunch of other stuff. I would say it's worth a download and I can see where it would make a good recovery CD.  There is also a DemoLinux HOWTO if you want to build your own version of the DemoLinux CD.

[Bazoukas]

quote:Originally posted by willysnout:


Res Ipsa Loquitor

 Όποιος γεννηθεί απ` την κότα, την κοπριά θε να σκαλίζει πάντα.

[ August 08, 2002: Message edited by: bazoukas ]

[willysnout]

quote:Originally posted by VoidMain:
1) It's Debian based (not a plus or minus, just a note)

What is "Debian?"

 

quote:
1) KDE 3
2) Gnome 2 with Evolution
3) OpenOffice.org 1.0
4) Mozilla instead of Netscape

I think they have already creatively used the space on the CD and I don't know if the above upgrades could be squeezed on a CD without sacrificing a bunch of other stuff. I would say it's worth a download and I can see where it would make a good recovery CD.  There is also a DemoLinux HOWTO if you want to build your own version of the DemoLinux CD.

Questions:

Is it possible for me to assemble the pieces that you've recommended and burn those onto a CD? I suppose I could go to various web sites and get them, but I wonder if there's some kind of software "glue" that I need for these things to work together. Is that what the DemoLinux "HOWTO" will discuss?

What is "Gnome 2 with Evolution?"

Is it better to use Open Office 1.0 or Star Office 6.0?

Sorry to keep asking all this stuff, but I want to prepare this correctly so I get a good, accurate demo the first time. Knowing myself, I'm likely to give the demo one shot and make a decision at that point whether to proceed into linux or wait a couple years.

[voidmain]

quote:Originally posted by willysnout:

What is "Debian?"

Debian Linux is a distribution of Linux.  It would be the equivelant/competitor to "RedHat Linux", or "Mandrake Linux", or "SuSe Linux". See http://www.debian.org/ if you want to know more about the Debian Linux distribution.

 

quote:
Questions:

Is it possible for me to assemble the pieces that you've recommended and burn those onto a CD? I suppose I could go to various web sites and get them, but I wonder if there's some kind of software "glue" that I need for these things to work together. Is that what the DemoLinux "HOWTO" will discuss?

Well it would be possible but I would definately not suggest it for someone just starting.  This would be an "advanced" concept for rebuilding a DemoLinux CD.  It would be similar task to creating/modifying a "run from CD" Windows CD. Only really advanced users would be able to accomplish such a task in either case.

 

quote:[KDE]
What is "Gnome 2 with Evolution?"
[/QB]

Think of Gnome as the equivelant of the Microsoft Windows desktop. Gnome 2 is the latest release simililar to a newer release of the Windows desktop.  KDE is another equivelant desktop.  In Linux and UNIX these desktop GUI systems are called "window managers".  Actually KDE is probably closer to the Windows interface. DemoLinux (and most distributions) include both KDE and Gnome and you get to pick which one you wish to use each time you log in to your computer.

Evolution is nearly identical in look/feel/functionality to Microsoft Outlook (a mail reader, contact list, task list, etc etc).  It is written by a company called Ximian (the founder of Ximian was/is a major developer of the Gnome window manager, in fact Ximian has it's own version of Gnome). See http://www.ximian.com/ for more information on Ximian Gnome and Evolution.

 

quote:
Is it better to use Open Office 1.0 or Star Office 6.0?

Well, OpenOffice 1.0 and StarOffice 6.0 are nearly identical as I mentioned as they both share the same source code.  OpenOffice is open source, freely downloadable.  StarOffice you will need to get from sun. It is the commercial version and you can not get it for free but you do get support from Sun.  So you can make up your own mind on this one depending on your needs.  I would certainly suggest trying OpenOffice first so you can "try before you buy".  Also read the FAQ on http://www.openoffice.org/ which list the differences in greater detail.

 

quote:
Sorry to keep asking all this stuff, but I want to prepare this correctly so I get a good, accurate demo the first time. Knowing myself, I'm likely to give the demo one shot and make a decision at that point whether to proceed into linux or wait a couple years.

As I mentioned. I think I would still suggest you download the DemoLinux CD and boot it up.  You will get a good feeling for Linux with this Demo.  As long as you understand that if you install a full version of a full Distribution (like RedHat, Mandrake, SuSe, Debian, etc) that things will be much faster, the software will be newer and improved, and you won't be limited by the "read only" CD filesystem.  That is you will be able to make changes and have the saved, install software, upgrade things as needed, etc.

And since RedHat is very close to releasing version 8.0 and Mandrake is very close to releasing version 9.0 of their distributions I might even suggest waiting until they come out and use one of them if you decide to go to a full fledged install.  RedHat has indicated that they are going to put much more effort into being a better desktop/workstation distribution (they've always been known as a more server oriented distribution).  Mandrake has been known as a more desktop oriented distribution although I still prefer RedHat for a desktop.

And if you are wondering what makes something a better "desktop" distribution I would say that one of the major factors is "ease of use for a new user".

Good luck!

[Calum]

unlike red hat and mandrake, debian is a charity however...

[voidmain]

Well, there is no "company" behind Debian like there are the other two, however you can download the other two from their respective web sites for free just like you can Debian so...  Debian would be the choice if you just want to stay completely away from corporate smell.

[willysnout]

Well folks I thought I'd let you know I am going to start with Open Office for Windows. If that works, then I'll try Mozilla for Windows. If that works, I'll look for something to replace Outlook.

I guess first the applications, then the OS.

(Added later)

At least this is what I want to do, but I've now tried 5 or 6 download sites, both HTTP and FTP, and none of them work. Hmm.

[ August 14, 2002: Message edited by: willysnout ]

[voidmain]

That sounds like a very good plan Willie.  I am sure you will find OpenOffice for Windows very pleasing.

[willysnout]

I went to every Open Office download site and every mirror site and I couldn't download from any of them. I also went to the Demo Linux site you recommended and it was going to take 20 hours to download over my cable modem. Screw that.

I did find a place to order both of these on CD for a total of $4.98, which I sure can't argue with. God, I can feel myself getting sucked into this.

[voidmain]

Good, you can't beat the CD prices.  I guess I have been lucky and have always been able to download OpenOffice without a problem.  You are getting the OpenOffice CD as well right?

[Calum]

hey ya! re: getting mozilla, openoffice and so on for windows, willysnout, if and when you do install linux, you will need new binaries for each of those programs (this means downloading the programs again or recompiling them for your new system. While the latter is easy, you may prefer the former as a more familiar method). In effect, this means downloading the stuff twice. (it's worth it, i did it!)

and i do recommend you get those CDs mailorder. Sometimes that's just a bit better than downloading the stuff, as you know that you are getting decent copies and so on, also, as you say, they're a bit cheaper than Microsoft's equivalent products!

[willysnout]

quote:Originally posted by Calum:
hey ya! re: getting mozilla, openoffice and so on for windows, willysnout, if and when you do install linux, you will need new binaries for each of those programs (this means downloading the programs again or recompiling them for your new system. While the latter is easy, you may prefer the former as a more familiar method). In effect, this means downloading the stuff twice. (it's worth it, i did it!)

and i do recommend you get those CDs mailorder. Sometimes that's just a bit better than downloading the stuff, as you know that you are getting decent copies and so on, also, as you say, they're a bit cheaper than Microsoft's equivalent products!

Maybe I'll have to send away for the CDs, given that none of the download sites really work. Even so, it's cheap enough that this option is workable.