Re: "NB Scholars Workstation "

["markseiler" markseiler@xxxxxxxx]

----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Henderson 
To: 
Sent: Thursday, November 18, 1999 1:49 PM
Subject: Re: "NB Scholars Workstation "


> Does Linux have a winemu for those of us with XyWin?


There is an on-going wine project which is an attempt to emulate Windows. It
is not ready for prime-time.

There is also a commercial product called WABI which allows you to install
Windows 3.1 within the Linux OS. This program works although you can not get
Windows as a window in your Linux environment. Instead, it is a full-screen.
I believe that WABI was about $100 a year ago, and it may be less given
Caldera's aggressive attempts to penetrate the market.

More importantly, there is an **amazing** software package from Vmware
(www.vmware.com) that allows you to install either a DOS, Windows 3, 95-98
or NT environment within Linux. In other words, you do a normal install(s)
with your DOS/Win disks from within a Linux window. You then can "boot up"
whatever systems you have installed from a icon or command line. For the
inner-nerd, the boot up process is amazing because you see within a window
the same start-up sequence you see when you turn on your computer - memory
check, bios check, etc.

Version 1.0 of the product came out this summer and it is being updated
weekly (current Ver 1.1.5 I think). The company is very responsive to
customer feedback and service needs. I believe they still have a beta
program going. I purchased the 1.0 version because they had a half-price
offer. The current price is $300. However, you can purchase a
student/hobbyist version for $100. This is tremendous software - well worth
the money if you use your computer to make a living and want to utilize the
Linux environment. Also, for those OS/2 fans, Vmware apparently is looking
at making 0S/2 installable as well.

A word about Linux in general. This is a truly mind-boggling communal open
source programming effort whose idealism is reminiscient of the '60's peace
movement. However, for anyone who has to interact with the real computing
world, it is incomplete and rough-edged. And, it is not for the faint of
heart. Vmware goes a long way to making Linux a usable operating system for
purposes other than powering a website.