Questions about programs under Linux.

[Yvonne Smith]

Anna Schneider writes:
 > 
 > First, my understanding is that while Linux comes with some programs under 
 > it, many other have to be downloaded off the web.  Is this correct?  

Umm, I think you'll find that linux is the same as most operating
systems in that regard. In fact, most linux distributions, by default,
come with more software than, say, windows or macOS. But no matter how
much junk your distribution comes with, you'll probably have to download
some software from other places eventually, yes.

 > Regardless of whether or not this is the case, I am curious about the 
 > following:
 > 
 > 
 > 1.  Does any virus protection exist for Linux and if so, what programs 
 > would people recommend and how can I get them?
 > 
The easy answer is, there are no linux viruses, and don't worry about
it. The slightly more complicated answer goes something like, There are
*some*  viruses for linux in theory, and I think there have been some
 trojan horse programs where people have downloaded a destructive
program rather than the software they meant to download, but I've been
using linux for years now, and it's never happened to me. I don't think
you need to worry. Certainly none of the outlook viruses and soforth'll
get in under linux.

 > 2.  I want to get the Emacs editor.  When I read some info on the 
 > Emacspeak site, it sounded like there are a couple of different Emacs 
 > packages available depending on what sorts of things I plan to do with 
 > Emacs.  Do I have to go find the package I want and download it?  And 
 > then, if I want to fill out my Emacs package even more, with the Dismal 
 > Spreadsheet for example, do I have to go download it too?
 > 
Ok, emacs I'm better at, since I'm running emacspeak most of the time,
not speakup. Once you've installed emacs itself, depending on what you
want to do, you might not have to go any further. If you just want to
use it as an editor, what comes with it by default will do fine. But
there are a lot of emacs packages you can download to make the editor do
different things. Yes, you'll have to download dismal. There's a
sofisticated calculator called calc. There're two web-browsers native to
emacs. That's only the tip of the iceberg. 
All the stuff above you'll have to download and install, but unless you
need any of those things immediately, you should probably cross that
bridge when you come to it. Install emacs first, and then try to figure
out what else you want it to do, and we can probably give you pointers
to emacs packages. Although you'll probably be best to ask on the
emacspeak list or even a general emacs list for that kind of information.

 > 3.  Are there ways to open Word and Excel programs in Linux?
 > 
Umm, that kind of depends what you mean. If someone sends you a word
document, there are a couple of programs to turn it into text or
html. Catdoc, antiword and wordview are the three that spring to mind
off the top of my head.

excel spreadsheets are a bit more of a problem. I'm pretty sure I saw
something to turn them into html or something like that on the wordview
page, but I'd have to go do some more research, since I haven't really
looked in a while.

 > 4.  Will I have to be compliling things before I use them and does Linux 
 > usually come with these complers or do I have to go find them too?
 > 
You might have to compile software, depending on what you're looking
for. A standard distribution usually has all that stuff in it. Using
compiling a program consists of nothing more complicated that something
like typing configure make make install. Unless something really weird
happens, compiling most software is easy. there's usually a readme file
in the archive for the program that tells you what to do to install it.

 > 5.  What is the most recent version of Lynx?  Is it considered to be 
 > equivalent to Internet Explorer 4.0 or better?   This matters quite a bit 
 > actually.  If I need another web browser in addition to Lynx, do any exist 
 > for Linux?
 > 
Umm web browsers under linux for console users are a bit problematic. I
don't think there's anything we can use under linux that I'd consider
equivalent to ie4 or above. The things that are impossible for us under
linux that you're likely to encounter are javascriptand activex.

Javascript would be useable if we could use x-windows, but we
can't. Activex will probably never be useable, since it's a microsoft
scripting language. I don't know if this answers your question. Again,
you'll need to be a bit more specific about what you'll want to do.

 > 6.  And last I hope and this is just a point of clarification, when you 
 > all talk about telnetting and ftyping and all that, you are doing from 
 > your machines right?  Do you have to dial in first to do those things from 
 > your machine or how does that work?
 > 
Telnet and ftp are generally used to connect from one machine to
another. Almost certainly you'll want to be connected to the internet,
unless you've got a network at home, and need to talk to other machines
on your own network.


> 
 > Okay, I think that's everything for now.  Have to go start reading How To 
 > documentation this weekend.
 > 
 > Anna
 > 
 > 

Hope some of this is some help. More of this will make more sense when
you have the machine in front of you, and you're actually trying to do
things. At least, it'll make slightly more sense, <grin>.