On Fri, 03 Jun 2011 23:11:24 -0600, Bob Melson <[email protected]> wrote: >On Friday 03 June 2011 22:40, Steve Hayes ([email protected]) opined: > >> On Fri, 03 Jun 2011 21:48:58 -0600, Bob Melson <[email protected]> >> wrote: ><snip> >>>The other shoe that Robert hasn't mentioned is that WINE runs under >>>Unix, Linux and Mac/OS-X operating systems. It will normally run "well >>>behaved" Windows programs but seems to have problems with the bleeding >>>edge stuff. See http://www.winehq.org for more details. >> >> It's not the bleeding edge stuff I'm concerned about. It's what Microsoft >> is pleased to call "legacy" programs. In my case, many of them run under >> MS DOS. > >Understood. My point was - if point I had - that WINE is not the answer to >every maiden's prayer. IF you run an appropriate o/s (see above) it'll do >a workmanlike job for most programs but by no means all, which includes >not only the bleeding edge stuff but the moldy-oldies, as well. The >problem is that you won't know in advance which programs will run and >which won't. > >WINE is free, as are many versions of Linux and all versions of BSD Unix. >There was a free version of x86 Solaris - dunno if it still exists now >that Oracle has bought Sun - and, of course, OS-X has never been free. >You _might_ be able to run WINE under a live-CD linux distro and be able >to test things in that manner; I'm unable to say as I've had no occasion >to do so myself. I'd suggest you look at the web-site I mentioned above >for more details and answers to your questions. I have Linux installed on my computer, after battling for 11 years, it now seems to be running. But I haven't learnt how to do much with it yet -- I can't even get it to boot in text mode and load a GUI afterwards. And I'm still not sure how to install Gramps. But one day I'll get round to trying WINE. But I've noticed something ominous - not the LDS census CD, but something far newer. It's a "magazine I bought (actually as book in magazine format) called "Essential OpenOffice.org" It came with a CD to install OpenOffice 3.3 for Windows or Mac, which is higher than any version I have. But whe n I tried to install it, it said that they installer was corrupt, and when I tried to install a Java update I got a similar message. It appears that that is one of the most commonly-reported problem (on teh Java web site) and I wonder if it is caused by a new weapon in Microsoft's war against open-source software. I wanted to use OpenOffice because it is platform independent, and therefore one hopes that computers will still be albe to us the data in 20 or 50 myears time. But if Microsoft went bung, therte would be no one to phone for those numbers you need to make the software work, and what people feared would happen with Y2K might really happen - many computers would become unusabe, and the data inaccessible. -- Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

On 2011-06-05, Steve Hayes <[email protected]> wrote: > > I have Linux installed on my computer, after battling for 11 years, it now > seems to be running. But I haven't learnt how to do much with it yet -- I > can't even get it to boot in text mode and load a GUI afterwards. And I'm > still not sure how to install Gramps. But one day I'll get round to trying > WINE. Booting Linux in text mode and loading X afterwards has been easy, in my 11 years experience of doing exactly that. I'd be happy to help by email, or you could post to comp.os.linux.misc or a distribution-specific newsgroup. > But I've noticed something ominous - not the LDS census CD, but something far > newer. > > It's a "magazine I bought (actually as book in magazine format) called > "Essential OpenOffice.org" > > It came with a CD to install OpenOffice 3.3 for Windows or Mac, which is > higher than any version I have. > > But whe n I tried to install it, it said that they installer was corrupt, and > when I tried to install a Java update I got a similar message. It appears that > that is one of the most commonly-reported problem (on teh Java web site) and I > wonder if it is caused by a new weapon in Microsoft's war against open-source > software. That does sound a little suspicious. If true, a valid solution would be to avoid Microsoft except for maybe as a guest OS in a virtual machine cage. > I wanted to use OpenOffice because it is platform independent, and therefore > one hopes that computers will still be albe to us the data in 20 or 50 myears > time. > > But if Microsoft went bung, therte would be no one to phone for those numbers > you need to make the software work, and what people feared would happen with > Y2K might really happen - many computers would become unusabe, and the data > inaccessible. If that were to happen, solutions would happen--open-source solutions. -- Robert Riches [email protected] (Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)

On 5 Jun 2011 03:33:29 GMT, Robert Riches <[email protected]> wrote: >On 2011-06-05, Steve Hayes <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> I have Linux installed on my computer, after battling for 11 years, it now >> seems to be running. But I haven't learnt how to do much with it yet -- I >> can't even get it to boot in text mode and load a GUI afterwards. And I'm >> still not sure how to install Gramps. But one day I'll get round to trying >> WINE. > >Booting Linux in text mode and loading X afterwards has been >easy, in my 11 years experience of doing exactly that. I'd be >happy to help by email, or you could post to comp.os.linux.misc >or a distribution-specific newsgroup. Thanks very much for the offer. I'm posting it there. >> But I've noticed something ominous - not the LDS census CD, but something far >> newer. >> >> It's a "magazine I bought (actually as book in magazine format) called >> "Essential OpenOffice.org" >> >> It came with a CD to install OpenOffice 3.3 for Windows or Mac, which is >> higher than any version I have. >> >> But whe n I tried to install it, it said that they installer was corrupt, and >> when I tried to install a Java update I got a similar message. It appears that >> that is one of the most commonly-reported problem (on teh Java web site) and I >> wonder if it is caused by a new weapon in Microsoft's war against open-source >> software. > >That does sound a little suspicious. If true, a valid solution >would be to avoid Microsoft except for maybe as a guest OS in a >virtual machine cage. > >> I wanted to use OpenOffice because it is platform independent, and therefore >> one hopes that computers will still be albe to us the data in 20 or 50 myears >> time. >> >> But if Microsoft went bung, therte would be no one to phone for those numbers >> you need to make the software work, and what people feared would happen with >> Y2K might really happen - many computers would become unusabe, and the data >> inaccessible. > >If that were to happen, solutions would happen--open-source >solutions. I hope so! -- Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk