Re: help

[Matthew K Poer]

On Wed, 2007-02-14 at 21:14 -0700, RJ Gillis wrote:
> Hey guys...
> Thanks for all the responses and I got it figured out; my buddy went
> there and thought it was a Quick-time like player needed to view the
> page. Nothing happened and so he never told me about it.
Well it is good to know that Debian wasn't installed on your computer
with malicious intent.

>  But I would think a program install would show you something...?
(The developer is in the CC list. They'll be able to respond to this
better than I can, as I have never even used that installer.)

>  Anyway, from reading your emails, I got kinda interested, my main
> question is; will all my programs run on Debian? If so, I might try it
> out. Thanks again for the replies- RJ

Windows programs, (.exe files), do not run naively in a Linux/Unix
environment. There are work-arounds to make them run, using a program
called WINE. 

But instead of using WINE, I typically recommend people find open-source
software to replace the proprietary software they were using. For
example, instead of Microsoft Office, use Open Office. Here's a
quick-list of popular desktop software and their Debian superiors:

MS Office = OpenOffice.org 2.0
Outlook / Outlook Express = Evolution / IceDove
Windows Media Player = Rythmbox and Totem/mplayer
Photoshop = GIMP
Internet Explorer = IceWeasle

Many users feel that the Open-Source replacements are superior to their
proprietary counterparts, but it may require a bit of getting-used-to.

Debian is a great system. It is functional, stable, secure, and free.
There are disadvantages, though. I wrote a lot about these in a blog
post, The Disadvantages of Linux and Open Source Software(1), where I
describe substantial negative issues that many users face when switching
from Microsoft Windows to a Linux-Based Operating System, and how to
deal with them. 

Please give it a quick reading, and if you think you can face these
issues, run that installer next time you boot, and let us know how you
do.

1:
http://matthewpoer.freehostia.com/wordpress/index.php/computers-technology/the-disadvantages-of-linux-and-open-source-software

-- 
Matthew K Poer


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Re: help

[Matthew K Poer]

On Sat, 2007-02-10 at 16:33 -0700, RJ Gillis wrote:
> Hopefully you can forward this to the correct party; everyone I've tried gets 
> my message returned stating: "you are not subscribed to this list". Yet, I 
> cannot find a way to subscribe, nor do I wish to. Thanks- RJ
> 
> 
> Hi, I am hoping you can help me. I recently had to use 'safe mode' and 
> when rebooting, was offer the choice of 'windows' or 'debian installer'. 
> I have never seen or heard of debian before and no one else uses my pc, 
> so the question is; how did this get on my pc? I cruised your site and I 
> know it's an OS, but not how it got here. The only hardware changes I've 
> made recently are a new monitor and graphics card; neither disc includes 
> debian on it. Any clues? It sure is a mystery to me.
> Thanks- RJ
> 
> 

Are you sure you don't have geeky friend's messing with you, trying to
have you use Debian (Linux)?

I can't say for sure how the Debian Installer got onto your computer,
but it may have to do with the Debian Windows Installer project, check
www.goodbye-windows.com, which basically loads the Debian OS installer
from within MS Windows. It's neat... if you want it. As far as I know,
no one has forced this on anyone unwilling. (Though there would be irony
in forcing people to use a secure OS via a security hole in an insecure
OS)

To me this sounds like your opportunity to try out Debian GNU/Linux. If
you're not interested, just select to load Windows. Check out here for
how to fix your boot.ini file and go to Windows automatically when your
PC boots up: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/289022

If you've accidentally stumbled upon Linux, why not give it a shot? I'll
tell you one thing: you won't not know when you've installed a second
operating system!

(I've CC-ed to what I think might be the correct mailing lists for such
a topic. If you reply, keep please keep these addresses in the CC field)

-- 
Matthew K Poer


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