Linux

[Paul Breeze paul.breeze@xxxxxxxx]

I installed a copy of Mandrake Linux version 9.0 last week. The installation was very simple and I
was provided with a plethora of software. Sadly most of it was of little use to me. On the
question of ease of use, it took me half a day to find my other partitions and disks within the
Linux file system (a good book explaining the Linux philosophy and structure helps). The
installation contained no DOSEMU -- the dos emulator -- and though I was able to download and
install this, it would not work. I spent most of the rest of the day trying without success to
install the Linux version of WP8. My conclusion was that while a working knowledge of DOS helps,
it is going to take a considerable investment of time to master Linux.

It seems to me, however, that software it going to be the Achilles Heel. When I am working in XY4,
I want OED available, I sometimes use Encyclopedia Britannica, and I have a number of other small
utilities which I use infrequently but would miss if they were not at hand. Unless I can recreate
this environment under Linux, using the OS will be a step backwards. If WINE can provide a stable
and easy-to-use environment for running Windows software, that would solve the problem. That is
two or three years away, I would guess. For the moment, I've put Linux back in its box.

Paul Breeze