On Tue, 2003-12-30 at 16:20, Colin Watson wrote: > There's a program called WINE in Debian which allows you to run some Windows > programs, but > this is a very difficult job and it's not 100% reliable. > [...] > One-of-a-kind programs (notoriously games) may > be a different matter
However, while not part of Debian, there are commercial variants of WINE that make this task considerably easier (or possible at all): http://www.codeweavers.com/ for productivity software http://www.transgaming.com/news.php?newsid=95 for games, although I doubt that an avid gamer will be happy in the long run with the still rather limited choice of Windows games playable. Ruthie, from what I gather from your mail, I believe you will be happier not to use Debian as such, but some of the commercially available variants of it, which are easier to install and maintain, and contain more up-to-date software than regular Debian. E.g.: http://www.xandros.com/ http://www.libranet.com/ Knoppix http://www.knoppix.com/ is a great way to try out Debian, since it runs completely from CD (although slower than an installed version), no installation required. Knoppix too includes newer software than the current official Debian release. Or you may want to try some of the fine distros not based on Debian, e.g.: http://www.lycoris.com/ http://www.mandrakelinux.com/ http://www.suse.com/ However, some of these are not completely free (in both senses of the word), i.e., there may be no downloads at no cost, and they may not be legally redistributable. Some also already include Codeweaver's Crossover software, and/or Transgaming's WineX. You can find more Info, with descriptions and reviews, at http://www.distrowatch.com/index.php?language=EN regards, Mario
