Author: Robert Pawlak
Date: 13:41:10 10/09/99
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On October 09, 1999 at 14:27:54, Fernando Villegas wrote: >Hi R: >Can you tell us a little more about Linux stuff? The vesion you use? How good it >is with any kind of programs, chess included? How many original windows programs >can run there? I am fed up with Windows since long time ago and in he very >fringe to jump to another os, provided I can make good use of the huge lbrary of >software I already have. >Cheers >Fernando On October 09, 1999 at 14:27:54, Fernando Villegas wrote: >Hi R: >Can you tell us a little more about Linux stuff? The vesion you use? How good it >is with any kind of programs, chess included? How many original windows programs >can run there? I am fed up with Windows since long time ago and in he very >fringe to jump to another os, provided I can make good use of the huge lbrary of >software I already have. >Cheers >Fernando I tried several distributions. The best I found as far as stability/easeof use was redhat 6.0. Although Caldera is probably the easiest to install. You can start a holy war on any of the linux NGs by asking the "what's best?" question. Software is limited, and if you have never used UNIX, or Linux before, then it is probably not a good idea. Setting everything up can be time consuming, but when you are done, the system is extremely solid. It's possible to crash the windowing system for example, but you can just restart it, and keep on working. Unlike win9X, you do not have to reboot your machine 5X a day. As far as ICS play goes, you pretty much have Xboard, and that's it. Same goes for playing programs - if there is a linux version, and it runs under Xboard, then you're fine. As far as chess databases go, there is SCID, which I have not gotten to compile properly yet. there is a rumor that Peter Klausler might do a version of CDB for linux, but it is unsubstantiated. As far as other apps go, the free office suite called StarOffice is quite good. If reads MSOffice files pretty well, and has a decent feature set. The program I use most under Linux is Matlab, and it runs very well. Now the above comments apply to Linux native SW. As far as running windows SW under linux goes, you have the following alternatives: 1. dosemu - difficult setup, not too stable 2. wine - relatively easy setup, horribly unstable 3. vmware - easy setup, good stability, good compatibility Realize that dosemu and wine are still alpha (or so I believe). Vmware is amazing. I have not tried every windows program on it, but so far it has worked with everything I've tried (mostly business/scientific apps). Even virtual CDROm software works under it. However, you will take a definite performance hit under linux (you are esentially running two OS's when you start vmware), but you can adjust the priority of the virtual machine. So the bottom line is that you need to buy vmware ($100), and it will probably run all your existing DOS/Win chess SW. However, you will take a performance hit in doing so. So for analysis, use a native linux prog, or boot into native Win/DOS In case you were unaware, you can set up a dual-boot system, so you get your choice of OS when you start up. Personally, I love linux. It is a bit rough around the edges, but has huge potential. Bob P.
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