Free Windows Help Tutorials sponsored by inkjet printer cartridges dot org /title> <META HTTP-EQUIV="imagetoolbar" CONTENT="no"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; CHARSET=ISO 8859-1"> <META name="description" Content="Hundreds of downloadable Windows help tutorials, articles and how-to guides sponsored by inkjet printer cartridges dot org."><style type="text/css">  </style> </head> <body bgcolor=#999999 vlink=blue link=blue> <span name = "INTRA" class="pg" style="top:0px; left:5px; width:714px; height:1010px"></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:0px; left:5px; height:1010px; width:714px' class='img'> <img src="pg0002im.png" height = "1010 width = "714" border="0"> </span> <span class='nav' style='left: 10px; top: 10px'><pre></pre></span><span name = "INTRA" style='top:48px; left:560px' class="ft2"><pre><font face='Helvetica'>Linux On The Desktop?</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:88px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>In practice, however, strategic software decisions are made based on more than just</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:101px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>technical issues. Proposing a solution used by just 1 % of people could be consid </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:114px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>ered foolhardy. But there's a lot at stake. If you refuse to countenance other solutions</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:127px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>you'll be handing control of the desktop and your IT budget to Microsoft for the</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:139px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>foreseeable future.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:166px; left:247px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'><i><b>Not</b></i> <i><b>Unix?</b></i></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:188px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>Linux is part of the GNU Project, set up during the 1980s to create a free clone of the</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:201px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>Unix operating system. It is released under a software licence the GNU General</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:213px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>Public License (GPL) that ensures you can install as many copies as you like without</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:226px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>paying a fee for each one. You also get free access to the source code, which is more</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:239px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>useful than you might think if you ever come up against what seems to be a bug in</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:252px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>the OS.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:272px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>Linux is a multi user, multi tasking operating system that runs on a wide variety of</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:285px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>hardware. As a desktop OS it has broadly comparable capabilities to Windows NT</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:297px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>and 2000. Security is good. Ordinary users can only write to private work areas</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:310px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>(stored under the directory/home), which are normally kept on a separate partition</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:323px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>or drive. This makes it easy to organise backups, as well as facilitating access via a</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:335px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>network.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:356px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>Every aspect of a Linux system can be controlled using text based configuration files</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:369px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>and command line utilities. These can be automated using a wide range of scripting</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:381px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>tools, from industry standard Unix shells to script languages like Perl and Python.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:394px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>It isn't hard, once you've mastered the principles, to develop your own scripts to</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:407px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>automate system management. The major Linux distributions such as Red Hat and</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:419px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>SuSE include tools for automated deployment, much as you may be used to using</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:432px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>to roll out installations of Windows. Linux hasn't been just a hackers' plaything for</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:445px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>years.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:471px; left:247px' class="ft1"><pre><font face='Arial'><i><b>Desktops</b></i></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:494px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>Linux offers a range of graphical environments for desktop users. The most suitable</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:506px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>for ordinary office use are KDE or GNOME. GNOME (GNU Object Model Environ </font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:519px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>ment) looks attractive and has some elegant design concepts, but KDE (K Desktop</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:532px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>Environment) is more mature, more stable and looks more functional. Each has been</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:544px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>created using a different set of programming libraries, and has native applications</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:557px; left:247px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>and accessories that use these same libraries. The choice of environment doesn't</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:759px; left:62px' class="ft3"><pre><font face='Arial'><i> Linux</i> <i>offers</i> <i>a</i> <i>range</i> <i>of</i></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:783px; left:62px' class="ft3"><pre><font face='Arial'><i>graphical</i> <i>environments</i></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:807px; left:62px' class="ft3"><pre><font face='Arial'><i>for</i> <i>desktop</i> <i>users.</i> <i>The</i></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:831px; left:62px' class="ft3"><pre><font face='Arial'><i>most</i> <i>suitable</i> <i>for</i></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:855px; left:62px' class="ft3"><pre><font face='Arial'><i>ordinary</i> <i>office</i> <i>use</i> <i>are</i></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:879px; left:62px' class="ft3"><pre><font face='Arial'><i>KDE</i> <i>or</i> <i>GNOME. </i></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:903px; left:261px' class="ft0"><pre><font face='Arial'>Figure 1 The KDE desktop isn't all that different to the one seen by Windows users.</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:950px; left:52px' class="ft2"><pre><font face='Helvetica'>Update 157:December 2001</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:943px; left:263px' class="ft4"><pre><font face='Arial'><b>PC</b> <b>Support</b> <b>Advisor</b></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:950px; left:612px' class="ft2"><pre><font face='Helvetica'>File: B1225.2</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:962px; left:52px' class="ft2"><pre><font face='Helvetica'>page 4</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:962px; left:474px' class="ft2"><pre><font face='Helvetica'>Buying and Evaluating:Operating Systems</font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:967px; left:284px' class="ft5"><pre><font face='Helvetica'><b>www.pcsupportadvisor.com</b></font></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" class='nav' style='left: 357px; top: 1010px'><pre><a href='page0001.htm'><</a> Next page <a href='page0001.htm'>></a></pre></span> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:1050px; left:50px' class="ft4"><pre><b><font color="#FF0000" size="3" face="Arial">New!</font><font color="#FF0000" size="3" face="Arial Narrow"> </font><font size="2" face="Arial">The best sites for quality <a href="http://www.inkjet-printer-cartridges.org">inkjet printer cartridges</a> and the best sites for <a href="http://www.cheap-inkjet-cartridges.com">cheap inkjet cartridges</a></font></b></pre></span></body> <span name = "INTRA" style='top:1100px; left:300px' class="ft4"><pre><b><font color="#FF0000" size="3" face="Arial"><a href="../index.html">Windows Help Desk Home</a> </font></b></pre></span></body></html>