[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Should be installing Linux soon. Questions.



On Wed, 2 Dec 1998, Kent West wrote:

> On Wed, 2 Dec 1998, Jeff Browning wrote:
> 
> > Howdy all,
> > 
> > I am a Windoze user tired of having 5 lockups a day. I should be 
> > installing Linux soon and I have a few questions. 
> > 
> > 1. Could someone please explain X-Windows to me. What are desktop 
> > environments, window managers, etc.?
> 
> X-Windows is a graphical user interface for unix/linux. It's basically
> composed of two parts: the server and the clients. The server is the
> "engine" that provides the under-the-hood mechanics of drawing lines and
> squares, etc. The clients are apps, such as Netscape or Wordperfect.
> Window Managers are clients that dictate how your screen looks/behaves.
> You can think of a window manager as being the Win95 vs Win95withIE vs
> Win3.x's Program Manager interface; choose a different wm and you get a
> different interface, such as a Win95 look-a-like or a Mac-look-a-like or a
> Next-look-a-like, etc. A desktop environment is kind of a package deal,
> including a window manager and other tools, such a an email client and a
> mini-web/file browser, etc.
>  
> > 2. Is Star Office compatible with Office 97 documents? Does it have a 
> > spell checker.
> 
> My understanding is "Yes" and "Yes", but not having any personal
> experience with it I suggest you don't take my word as gospel.
> 
> > 3. I currently have two networked computers. Both with Windoze 98. I am 
> > only going to install Linux on one of them. Is there any way that I 
> > could network them so when I install Linux, I can FTP Netscape, KDE, 
> > Star Office, etc. from the Windoze computer to the Linux one?
> 
> If I understand what you're asking, "Yes". You'd have a Win98 box and a
> Linux box on the same network. You can sit at your Win98 box and ftp or
> telnet to your Linux box. However, to run apps that are sitting on your
> Linux box and have the display/keystrokes happening on your Win98 box,
> you'd need an X-Server that can run on your Win98 box. I'm running the
> freebie Mix X Server on my NT box to access a Linux box, and it works
> okay. I've seen other comments that say Mix isn't so great and those
> people would recommend going with a commercial X server for Windows. But
> I'm cheap, and Mix works well-enough for me.
>  
> > That's all for now. Thanks in advance!
> > 
> > Jeff 
> > 
> > ______________________________________________________
> > Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
> > 
> > 
> > 
> 
> 

PS. Someone mentioned Samba. That essentially makes your Linux box appear
on the network to look like an NT server. For example, if you're currently
running an NT server for file and print sharing, etc., you could run a
Linux box with Samba and your users would never know the difference,
except that now their server is up all the time instead of having to get
voice mail messages telling them to log off so the NT box can be rebooted
every other week.

So Samba makes your Linux box look like a Windows server; and Mix (or
another X server for Windows) makes your Windows box look like an X server
that can run apps on your remote linux box.

HTH.

-- 
Kent West
kent.west@infotech.acu.edu
KC5ENO - Amateur Radio: When all else fails.
Linux - Finally! A real OS for the Intel PC!


Reply to: