Linux and MS Office 1

[willyboy58]

Hello,

I have a copy of Linux 2.3 on CD. I have never used or even seen Linux in use so I have a few questions:

Will the MS office suite work with this?

Will the Opera or Mozilla browsers work?

Should I obtain a newer version of Linux or can I install the 2.3 and then download an upgrade?

TIA,

Bill

 

[sleipnir214]

Linux 2.3? Are you talking about Lindows?

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[willyboy58]

The CD that I have says: Open Linux 2.3; Linux Kernel and Installation; Caldera Systems; 1999.

 

[AdaHacker]

1) Normally, MS Office will not run under Linux. However, I understand that it can be made to run fairly well on Linux using Crossover Office, which is, for all practical purposes, an Office-optimized Windows emulator. I don't own a copy of Crossover Office or MS Office, so I can't tell you much about it. Depending on what you do with Office, OpenOffice.org may be just as good for you, and it has a native Linux version.

2) Yes, both Opera and Mozilla have Linux versions.

3) Is OpenLinux even in production any more? I thought I remembered reading that SCO/Caldera dumped it. Either way, 1999 is like a million years ago in open source time. You're probably better off getting a newer distribution. Many are available over the internet at no charge.

 

[princessangry]

I would suggest..........

Debian or RedHat's Fedora. Free and full of goodies!! :-D

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[zeland]

The first thing you would want to do is to get a more recent copy of linux. Go with princessangry suggestion. Although RedHat would be a fine choice, but they plan to discontinue the free & supported version. The new free version of RedHat is called Fedora and will be community supported with a lot of new bells and wishtles but may be less stable.

The next thing that you want would be WINE (WINdows Emulator). You can run quite a number of Windows apps under WINE but not games. For that you would need WINE-X (WINE with Direct-X). I've only tried running Office97 under WINE and it runs quite flawlessly except for the fonts which you would want to copy from an existing Windows installation.

Alternately, you may want to try out OpenOffice that runs natively on Linux. OpenOffice can do just about anything that Office97 can do (except spread viruses) although you'll need to get the lates Java JRE. Try it out, you'll not be dissapointed!

 

[MickTheBelgian]

Mandrake just released their 9.2. They even have a "discovery" version for people trying to use linux on the desktop. Mandrake is known for it's easy installer and good hardware support. If you have enough harddisk space (1 GB free) you can install it side by side with windows.