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Re: Xy4 - OS options


Just two addenda: first, looking over Mendelson's page, almost none of
the tweaks necessary for WP are necessary for XyWrite, e.g.:


(2) Set up DOS for use with WordPerfect, and of course

(4) Restore the Alt-F-keys to WPDOS

however the section about accessing Windows partitions IS something you
may need to read.


Also, to paraphrase Mr. Nixon, I am not a geek. I am like most everyone
else on this list -- if I felt I had any other choice, I never would
have changed OSes. I would much rather do what I have to do and not be
bothered with configuration files or operating systems. Unfortunately
learning to deal with these things is a necessary evil. I'm glad to say
that I don't really have to mess with these things anymore -- for
instance, I haven't changed anything about my dosemu setup in three
years now, and hopefully I never will again, since I've got everything
backed up.


-R


On 06/08/2011 11:26 AM, Raphael wrote:


Hi Patricia:

Short question -- long answer:

I know there are some basic guides out there but I hesitate to
recommend them -- something like this for example --


http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Ubuntu-Linux-Emilio-Raggi/dp/1430230398/ref=dp_ob_title_bk



takes advantage of the fact Ubuntu out-of-the-box has essentially
achieved its objective of making Linux usable for non-techies. But I
have a feeling it won't really tell a computer-savvy person anything
s/he wouldn't have figured out in the first hour of running Ubuntu
with Gnome or KDE out of the box.


I managed to get going based using only online resources, plus "Using
Linux," an old-fashioned, legendary bible. But in the end "Using
Linux" is a bit of overkill. I might recommend going to a bookstore
and finding a book aimed at an intelligent Windows user, which covers
the two trickiest bits: 1) how partitions are designated and
filesystems mounted, and 2) file permissions. These are things you'll
need to understand to get under the hood enough to get XyWrite running
to your satisfaction.


Online resources are exhaustive. The Ubuntu fora are excellent. For
(y)our purposes, also see


http://www.dosemu.org/docs/HOWTO/

which is a great overall guide. Even better is the estimable Mr.
Mendelson's guide to running WordPerfect under dosemu, which I wish
had been up when I started making my first attempts


http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/linux.html#wpdoslinux

It turns out to be a pretty good primer in configuring most ANYTHING
in Linux.  As they say, everything in Unix is a file -- to change
anything, you basically reword something.


Some random observations: I will speak of Ubuntu since that's the
distro I have the most experience with -- Paul is using Linux Mint,
which is also Debian-based, and has a great deal to recommend it as
well -- but Ubuntu probably has the broadest user base these days,
and, I think Paul would agree, probably the easiest to find support
for online.


1) Consider using an old machine you don't use much anymore, or
getting a little netbook, and installing Linux onto that. (Apparently
Asus is about to start selling netbooks with Ubuntu pre-installed.)
After you play around with it for a few months, you'll have an idea
how to optimally get it running on your main machine.  It's pretty
exciting to be able to download an ISO image in an hour or so, burn it
to a DVD, and start using it.


2) Linux distros' installation routines are pretty sophisticated now,
-- they are cagey and in my experience if you just click on "Proceed"
things will work -- but if you're installing over Windows, you
certainly should first back everything up, and then research how
things will work. Ubuntu's partition manager will offer a suggestion,
which in most cases is sound, but these are the very circumstances
that demand you know how Linux is seeing the partitions on your disk.


3) If you're going dual-boot Windows and share a partition, there are
considerations. Study up on these, online. It is possible to
configure a partition for Windows-based Xywrite and Linux-based
XyWrite to share, however it's my opinion that if most of your usage
ends up to be Linux, you'd probably end up wanting to keep those files
separate, just because the permissions issues on both OSes can get
complicated.


4) Don't forget to find keystop.sys and download it and install it
into your config.sys -- this will prevent ctrl-c from shutting down
your DOS session.


-Rafe



On 06/07/2011 04:02 PM, Patricia M Godfrey wrote:


Rafe,

Can you recommend a book that explains how Linux works, how you set it
up, etc?
Patricia

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