Questions about programs under Linux.

[Thomas Ward]

Hi, Anna. Ok, read further down. I put my comments below in the body of your
message.

----- Original Message -----
From: Anna Schneider <annas at drizzle.com>
To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Friday, March 08, 2002 5:55 PM
Subject: Questions about programs under Linux.


>
> All right, now that I have ordered my computer, and am in limbo until it
> arrives, and have rested my brain for a few days, I have a bunch more
> questions.
>
> 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?



Hi, it all depends on the program. Red Hat 7.2 comes with almost all the
programs you want right out of the box.

> 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?
>


Hi, there are a couple of virus programs out there, but they are not that
necessary. At last count I believe there were something like 6 virus's out
there for Linux, and the chanses of getting one of them is vary small.


>
> 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?

Hi. Red Hat 7.2 comes with Emacs 20.7. So you don't need todownload Emacs.
However, some lisp extentions like Dismal and TNT will need to be
downloaded, compiled, and installed separate.

>
> 3.  Are there ways to open Word and Excel programs in Linux?

Yes, there is. You will want a program called Antiword to open MS Word
documents, and convert them to text format.
However, if you really want to do more than that with them you will need
Star Office which only works under X.

>
> 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?


Again it all depends on the program. Most programs come in a binary package
in rpm, and can be installed without compiling. However, some programs do
need built from source, and all Linux distributions come with the gcc
compilers, and you don't need to get those extra.

>
> 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?

Hi, well this is a tricky question. Lynx is a text only browser. It works
well on most pages, but in many ways it is not equil to Internet Explorer
because you can not render graphics, use pages with Java script, etc.
However, a program called links, l i n k s, is also text based, but will
allow you to view pages with frames.
Until X is speech friendly we won't be able to use Netscape which is the
equil of Internet Explorer.



>
> 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?
>
 Yes. Linux has ftp, telnet, ssh, and etc. Basically, as far as ssh and
telnet goes it depends if you are telnetting outside your local network or
in your local network.
If I wanted to access my shell account on the colleges computers I'd have to
dial my modem then type telnet computername.domain.edu.
Otherwize if it is an internal telnet I just forget about dialing, and type
telnet ipname or telnet computername.internaldomain.com.



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