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Subject: Re: Commercials in Linux

Author: James Swafford

Date: 09:39:02 08/22/99

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On August 21, 1999 at 15:23:06, Aloisio Ponti Lopes wrote:

>I'm posting again. Would like to have some answers...
>-----------------------------------------------------
>I heard that AMD-K7 (Athlon) is already in the market at the USA (Cybermax or
>Gateway, I don't remember), clocks are 500-550-600-650 MHz, but I don't know if
>it works well with Linux (ready-made machines come with Win98...). My choice
>would be an AMD-K7 650 MHz with Linux...
>The main question, though, was about Chess software. We need a good OS, good
>memory management, if available good SMP;yes; but what for if programmers don't
>port their programs to another OS? We chess players don't have a choice now! Is
>there a good, reliable Chess Database for Linux/Unix ? No! How many chess
>programs work with Linux?
>I do not agree with the idea of partitioning my hard disk just to let pure trash
>live side-by-side with my Unix OS.
>Is it really difficult to port those programs (I don't believe that, but I'm not
>a programmer), or is it a question of sales/marketing? Well, I can't believe in
>that, because many companies are selling Linux programs, just to mention a few:
>Oracle, Informix, IBM (really surprising...)...
>A. Ponti

It depends on the program.  For example, my chess program is split
into two parts.  One is the console based engine, which ports without
*too* many problems.  The other half is the GUI, which is written in
C++ and uses MFC.  It simply won't port.  No way.  It uses too many
Windows API calls (via MFC).  Maybe it could run through an emulator,
but in my opinion emulators are .... ugly.  They add another layer
of processing.

I'm one of those that has partitioned my hard drive, allowing "pure
trash" (as you put it) to live side by side with Linux.  I don't see
this changing anytime soon, simply because I don't feel like starting
my GUI from scratch.

--
James





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