On Fri, Apr 21, 2000 at 06:32:34PM -0400, Arcady Genkin wrote: > Hi all: > > A friend of mine in a fit of anger directed to his Window~1 > installation called me and asked if I would install Linux for him. We > have discussed with him before, that everything he needs from a > computer (web browsing, document/spreadsheet editing, email) can be > done from within Linux using familiar to him graphical interfaces. His > Win98 has been blue-screening on him way too often.
StarOffice supports most MSO file formats (Word, Excel, PPT) pretty well. It's a bit of a pig. It's free as in beer. I don't particularly care for it as a working tool. Corel Office has had mixed reviews, but promises similar compatibility to SO. WordPerfect is a champ (though I prefer the DOS 5.1 version). Applix is also available, though my experience is with an older, and very klunky, version. The Gnome "office suite" -- AbiWord, Gnumeric, and xmp (MagicPoint) do a pretty good job, though they're somewhat less feature-rich than their proprietary brethren. Browsers -- Netscape 4.x, Netscape 6.x/Mozilla, kfm, Gnome help browser... > Next week I'm going to install Debian on his computer. Basically, I am > thinking of setting up Gnome, and stuffing everything he could need in > a root menu and clickable icons. He is no dummy, but has very little > knowledge of computers besides most common applications. Though Gnome's probably doable, for someone with an MS Windows background I'd probably pick KDE. Personally I prefer WindowMaker to either, and generally prefer Gnome's philosophy, my recommendation is strictly from a beginner's usability standpoint. > Has anyone done this kind of setup? Are there any things that I should > be forewarned about, perhaps? Basics -- document generation, spreadsheets, file management, web browsing -- Linux is as simple as anything out of Redmond. Interactivity -- file formats and document interchange -- there *will* be issues. Redmond writes the rules for a large portion of the market, and interconnectivity can be painful. Games, multimedia. There are issues, particularly with web-based plugins, media players, and entertainment stuff. The simple fact is that there will be things you *can't* do (or can't do as well, as easily, or as nicely) under Linux. OTOH, your computer isn't crashing all the time, and there's a lot of slick stuff you can *only* do under Linux. Life is compromise. If your friend is aware of the tradeoffs, life should be good. One possible compromise is to install VMWare (~$100 personal edition) and boot a Windows session within it. Performance lags, and some functionality (devices, sound) aren't available, but certain interconnection issues go away. > How easy is it to configure a ppp connection as a desktop icon? (I'm on > a cable modem, and have never configured ppp under Linux). Gnome, KDE, and WindowMaker all have graphical PPP status/activation tools (gppp, kppp, and wmppp, IIRC). pppconfig is an ncurses (console-based) utility for configuring your connection(s). > I'll be very greatful for any suggestions and ideas! > -- > Arcady Genkin http://www.thpoon.com > Nostalgia isn't what it used to be. > > > -- > Unsubscribe? mail -s unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] < /dev/null > -- Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http:/www.netcom.com/~kmself What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ GPG fingerprint: F932 8B25 5FDD 2528 D595 DC61 3847 889F 55F2 B9B0
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