[PLUG] RE: Win98 End of Life -> Lin98

["Steven Arbitman" <info@starbits.com>]

chris.shank@acetechgroup.com:
> Seems to me this could be a good opportunity to get Linux converts
if
> there were a linux distro specifically tailored to machines
currently
> running Win98 (ie: lowerend P2 and up, 64M ram, etc). Their needs
are
> generally minimal: internet, email, office, and maybe a special DOS
> application or two. If this distro included a working/easy DOS
layer, I
> could get several clients to switch right away.

I am a newcomer in switching to Linux.  I have begun by trying to load
several "easy" Linux distros onto a Celeron 450 machine I have.  What
I learned may be of interest.

I tried Easy Linux, College Linux, Icepack Linux, and an old Corel
Linux (from the last time I decided to learn Linux).  I would not use
Lindows because as was said it is too expensive.  They all start out
pretty well, but generally fail in two areas: X and networking.
Partitioning is not a problem, as I am not new to computers, and most
of these distros only create two partitions, root and swap.

They each have their good points too.  College Linux has the best set
of applications (for a professional end user) preinstalled.  Easy
Linux gives me a chance to select a wheel mouse, which I miss in all
the others - they just assume a 3-button.  But I think the best is
Icepack Linux; it automatically recognized my DHCP network!  When I
finished installing I was online, just like that!  Although all the
others had a choice to specify DHCP, it never worked.  (Same hardware
too!)

So far I have learned that I must know more about X and about Linux
networking.  I am sure I will have questions, but not yet, I still
have to read the docs.  I think I may yet end up with Debian but then
I have to learn about selecting packages and I have to do all the X
and networking configuration myself.

Desktops are another issue for newcomers, I can get around in KDE, but
when I tried window-maker I barely knew how to log out.

Working alone is not fun when you get stuck, so I wanted to let you
know I was out here trying it.

Regards,
Steve

--
Steven Arbitman

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