Re: Re Speaking of Linux

[Bob Molyneux drdata@xxxxxxxx]

> Like Bob Molyneux, I refuse to EVER go with XP. And while I'll take
> Robert's word that 2k is--at last--stable and runs Xy and all, MS should
> have GIVEN it to all us poor slobs who endured five--no, eight--years of
> buggy, flaky, unstable 9x. We won't even mention MEss.
W2K is stable. I would say that it is about as stable as OS/2 was in the
early 90s. Not nearly as good as OS/2 but it is stable. But stability is
only part of the problem. I had a FreeBSD machine that ran for years
without crashing. You couldn't much work with it but it sure is a solid
system. It always gets down to applications. If you have to have the OED
and it won't run on anything but Windows, that is that.
My choice on Mac was dictated by the problem. It was time to buy a laptop
at work. I could get W2K on a suitable laptop but I could not get the
system disk. For me, an important issue is who controls my work environment
and I have the temerity to think I can do a better job than Microsoft. Of
course, our objectives are different. If you get one of those "recovery
disks" you do not control the sytem. At that point my choice was Linux or
Mac. I don't doubt I could get Linux running on a laptop but who needs the
aggravation? Now I see from Paul Breeze that he couldn't get XyWrite
running on Linux. My sense of Linux applications--outside systems stuff--is
that there are tons of them on sourceforge that are 80% done.

So, Mac it was.
I still have five machines that can run XyWrite and a collection of
operating systems so I can go back to DOS if necessary.
> I'm sure I recall seeing some members of this list mentioning having
> gotten Xy going on Macs (under VPC--pre Microsoft) and Linux. Try
> XySearch, as I shall once I'm ready to make the switch. I got a CD of
> Koppix at the last NYPC meeting and found to my delight that Linux will
> run on this Mobo. (The manufacturer said it wouldn't. But all too often
> that just means, "Don't expect us to answer your questions.")
>
> MicroSludge--Robert, IIRC, YOU were the one who coined that "epithet the
> reverse of complimentary." OK, maybe I do overuse it.
I know years ago I found a site where people were talking about running
XyWrite on Linux.
Bob Molyneux
drdata@xxxxxxxx