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Re: question



This one time, at band camp, Thompson-Laurin, Harriet said:
> Hi,
> 
> I am a systems analyst taking a course at the University of Phoenix on
> Unix.  My teacher has assigned a project in which I need to obtain
> specific information about Debian.  Although I searched your website,
> I wasn't able to find out if Debian runs on Pentium 4's.
> 
> Specifically, I am to find information regarding Debian regarding:
> Cost 
None for the software or help, you might have to count the cost of your
bandwidth or physical media (CDs etc), though.
> 	Market share
I dunno - check the linux counter website for some guesstimates
> 	Hardware requirements
There are lists of hardware that linux supports - I suggest google and
the words "linux hardware howto".  They may be a couple of years out of
date, though.
> 	File Processing
?
> 	Programming capabilities
I can't think of a programming language that can't be used on Debian -
there are probably some closed-shop languages around that I don't know,
though.  You have to bear in mind that linux has it's roots in the
programmer/hacker world, so there are plenty available.  There's a
running joke that Windows comes with freecell, while linux comes with a
compiler :)
> 	Availability of application software 
greater than 10,000 packages, all free, and installed and configured
quite easily.
> 	User interface
Choice between any of several gui's and the traditional *nix-like CLI

> I was able to find on your site that Debian works with the older
> Pentiums, but no reference to Pentium 4, so that is my primary
> concern.  In this college case study, would the Pentium 4's need to be
> downgraded to Pentium 3's in order to run Debian?

It runs on P-4's just fine.  Take a look at linux.org for the kinds of
hardware linux has been known to run on.  Also www.debian.org/ports for
the computer architecture debian has been ported to.

> Of course, any other information would be helpful.  It does appear
> that there are quite a number of available application packages for
> Debian, from the website.  I gather than the Unix/Linux/Debian
> marketshare in total is estimated at 5%, but I also need to obtain
> marketshare for just Debian by itself. 
Again, the linux counter site will be helpful.  As will google.

I don't mean to be rude, but google is immensely helpful for all of
these sort of questions.  Linux is probably the most-documented OS
on-line - not all of it is well written, or up to date, but there is a
discussion about linux and almost any topic you can think of, from
desktop gaming to Server farms to pornography.

HTH,
-- 
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|   ,''`.					     Stephen Gran |
|  : :' :					 sgran@debian.org |
|  `. `'			Debian user, admin, and developer |
|    `-					    http://www.debian.org |
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