Questions about programs under Linux.

[Toby Fisher]

On Sat, 9 Mar 2002, Yvonne Smith wrote:

> 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.

It should also be added that, unlike a lot of operating systems (most
notably Microsoft Windows),, not only is the software free to download and
use, but if you are into programming, you can even make alterations,
subject to credit being given where it's due, of course.

>  >
>  > 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.

Actually, the first Linux virus, ell it as a worm, was introduced because
players of Quake needed in earlier days to be logged in as root, and the
game's protocol was used.  Also, there have been several worms related to
such things as the telnet server, which was patched last Summer by many of
the distributions, and this was not confined to Linux.  However, if you
ensure that non-essential servers are closed down either by disabling the
start-up scripts or through the use of inetd.conf, you should be ok.
n.b. Most distributions when installed have such servers as telnet and ftp
running by default.

<snip>

>  > 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.

It should also be noted that if you don't care about formatting and other
frilly bits, and just want to know what it said cos someone sent you a
memo or something in Word, then the following should work, which is what I
use:

cat yourfile.doc | strings | less

Strings, btw, just pulls all ascii characters out of its input.
Also, the headers and footers will appear at the bottom of the output.
Btw, this does not work directly from the attachments menu of Pine, you
have to save the document first.

>  > 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.

The only thing to add here is that some software may complain if it is not
compiled/installed as root.

>  > 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.

Hmmm, if this is the case, why is there, in the latest release version of
Lynx, a config entry for javascript support?  I'm sure I've been told that
the Lynx development team are going to see if they can make use of the
libjs engine.  In addition, there is a piece of software called w3m, which
while not technically a web browser will display frames if you urgently
need it, for example to get some facilities out of a web site which
doesn't have a non-frames version.  It also has support for ssl and can,
for your sighted friends, display inline graphics I believe.
Also, I don't know of the situation over there, but over here the
distributions cannot contain encription software due to U.S. export
regulations, so it is possible that you may find your version of lynx does
not support the https protocol and ssl transactions, needed for
communication with secure sites, such as those used for online shopping.
The only real way to check is to try it.


Hope this hasn't confused anyone, bbut I'm just catching up and felt these
things needed some clarification.

Cheers.
-- 
Toby Fisher	Email: toby at g0ucu.freeserve.co.uk
Tel.: +44(0)1480 417272	Mobile: +44(0)7974 363239
ICQ: #61744808