Text 3686, 146 rader
Skriven 2005-10-06 22:11:00 av CHARLES ANGELICH (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MAURICE KINAL
Ärende: software for linspire
=============================

123c7d1a45b6
linux



Hello Maurice - 

CA>> I tried a few of the DOS/Unix packages but they really
CA>> couldn't do much of anything. I did get some rewritten
CA>> UNIX utilities and use those with DOS though. 

MK> Towards the end of DOS's life here, I started using DJGPP
MK> since it could handle 32-bit and was very simular to gpp. I
MK> might have stuck with it if I hadn't been enticed to switch
MK> to Slackware. I am glad I did switch gears when I did as a
MK> few years later DOS pretty well died. 

DOS didn't 'die' it was supplanted by other newer OS designed
to give the users more of what they wanted. Not unlike most
Linux livecds booting to a GUI, it's what users want. At some
point in time Linux may merge with OBERON and become a totally
graphically based OS? Well - it _could_ happen?

MK> I encoutered DR-DOS 7 the other day as the place I found
MK> the scsi array uses it to test basic functionality of
MK> systems. 

DRDOS and FreeDOS popup on service CDs, install CDs, and as you
have said on tech work benchs for testing. DOS isn't dead it's
just operating in the background with minimal recognition from
average computer users. 

MK> I had to chuckle about that. ttylinux, especially my
MK> version, is way better for that purpose. Oh well, maybe if
MK> I go there again I'll come better armed and show them how
MK> it SHOULD be done. :-) 

I've often thought that a mini-Linux could replace the lower
level uses of DOS. I really think that will happen shortly,
it's just taken longer than I had expected it to. 

CA>> Before Yahoo! and Google people were recommending that the
CA>> user could just guess at the domain names and 'find'
CA>> things somewhat at random. 

MK> I din't encounter that problem as we dealt with specific
MK> ftp servers for transferring data, mostly raw geophysics
MK> data from nine track tapes to a super computer in
MK> Switzerland. I learned how to make that happen from a DEC
MK> server using VAX/VMS and a ftp script I wrote especially
MK> for that purpose. That was a long time ago in a land far
MK> away. 

Feels that way at times, doesn't it? 

CA>> That sounded like a huge time-waster to me. My 2nd oldest
CA>> daughter signed me up for an ISP to win a contest at her
CA>> work and I decided to see what I could do with it. Took me
CA>> awhile to locate DOS apps for connection to the internet
CA>> but I finally did get online mainly using MSKermit then
CA>> finally switched to W31 and Opera's browser. 

MK> Makes sense to me. I used kermit on a 286 back then to
MK> transfer data from a magnetometer to a floppy via a serial
MK> port. Worked really slick. It could even could do
MK> corrections on the fly if the base station data was
MK> downloaded first. kermit is a keeper, despite it's lack of
MK> use here now. However I like how it now handles tcpip
MK> connections and a well written script on the server side
MK> might be just what the doctor ordered as far as Fido is
MK> concerned. 

Not sure how 'faithful' the Kermit Team have been to the
original MSKermit (DOS version) when writing their terminal
software but MSKermit has the Wermit server programmed into it
(much like an FTP server but using kermit for transfers).
Google for 'wermit' and there may be source code in the public
domain for a kermit server? 

CA>> I was that close. If someone had given me Slackware CDs
CA>> I'd probably have been using linux all this time. :-) 

MK> It is never too late to start. 

Well I _did_ start with two mini-installs of Slackware. One
even has a GUI of sorts and an older version of Netscape. I got
waylaid by other priorities. I have an old 233mhz machine I was
going to install Linux onto but now I'm thinking I might prefer
something with a bit more get-up-n-go to it. :-) 

MK> Slackware is the best Linux distribution, despite the
MK> hacking I have to do to make it work with the weirdness
MK> going on here. As for so-called embedded systems or utility
MK> disks, up to and including including bootable DVDs,
MK> ttylinux is the best. No doubts about that here. 

I found nothing to dislike about Slackware and did notice that
most who were customizing their own installs were starting with
Slackware at the time. Now that the emphasis is on the GUI I
see Debian being used as a starting place frequently. 

CA>> The "Kermit Team" sells a K95 browser type package for
CA>> Windows and NetTerm (what I use) can also do kermit
CA>> transfers. Juge.com offers kermit transfers as does
CA>> docs.place but the WildCat implementation is locked at a
CA>> very small packet size which _should_ be a sliding window
CA>> but isn't. 

MK> We'll see. I think I could cook up a suitable scheme with
MK> kermit on the server and transfers through the wireless
MK> without any alterations on the client end. I'll try that
MK> with the neighbour once we both get our acts together. He
MK> is a recent Slackware convert but still has one win98 box
MK> to play games on. That is all he does with it now and last
MK> assessment was that MS software should NEVER be networked
MK> (his last assessment). 

The Windows versions based on the NT kernel seem to do OK. I
have doubts if any Windows prior to that should be anything
other than a workstation on a network. My tweaked W2K is only
shutdown to complete software installs or to make image copies
of the OS as backups.  Uptime has been as much as six months
and could've been longer if I had not wanted to complete an
install.

CA>> With all the internet forums (even I have one), blogs, and
CA>> wikis not to mention usenet I'm not sure how much people
CA>> have remaining they feel a need to discuss? 

MK> I suppose that might be true. We'll see. 

If I were to get back into giving away free code/files from my
own hardware I would envision something more like SourceForge.
I don't really want to feed data files to 'the public' anymore. 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>     <|                              |>  __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

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