From: i1041301@ws.rz.tu-bs.de (Mike Dowling) Subject: Re: Linux vs. OS2, DOS, Windows, PCGEOS, etc. (convince me) Date: Sun, 14 Mar 1993 17:52:22 GMT
I'm sure you have now been flooded with Linux evangelists. I shall offer what
I hope to be a rather objective account. As far as I can see, you are
sometwhat in limbo. I cannot give you a definitive answer, but here goes.
Forgive me if this sounds ignorant (i am a mechanical engineer)
As an engineer, most of your applications are at home in UNIX. Even FORTRAN,
which can be had on almost any platform, is best under unix. The only true
ANSI conforming compilers I have ever seen are UNIX compilers. IBM mainframes
are not ansi. DOS, you have that ridiculous 16-bit, 640KB limitation. DOS
extenders are either expensive, or incompatible with other applications such as
windows. You say you want the do C and C++ programming; then linux is very
well suited for this. Also, as C++ still does not have an ansi standard, the
best means of guaranteeing program portability is to use the GNU compiler as
linux does, for the GNU compiler has been ported to every, serious os.
I will be graduating in May. If I find a job, I will probably buy a
computer. Most likely, it will be a 386 or 486.
For heaven's sake, don't get a 386.
I will be running: desktop
publishing/word processing, spreadsheet, communications, CAD and
finite element software.
There is a spreadsheet program under linux, but you can forget the rest. If
you can get the source code, then porting UNIX software to linux is possible,
but not to DOS unless you are a real guru. If you want CAD stuff, forget
linux. (I use a Linux box networked into the campus workstation complex. It
is as though all the applications that run on the workstations run on my PC at
workstation speeds.)
DOS:
Lots of old cheap software available. most CAD/FEM software
made for the PC runs under DOS. no multi tasking. not much
realy nice NEW software available.
Wrong! Nothing runs under DOS. You need DOS+XXX, where XXX is some scheme to
help DOS find its memory. As a rule, the XXX for one application is
incompatible with the XXX for another. Invariably, DOS ports of engineering
software are mere pale shadows of the real thing. The real thing invariably
runs on workstations under UNIX.
OS/2:
Almost no software available. expensive software. runs some
windows apps. true multi tasking.
Wrong! Virtually anything that will run under DOS will run under OS/2, albeit
possibly in a DOS emulation mode. This is fine for application programs such
as word, but a severe limitation if you think of your computer as a machine
that computes as I do. Neither DOS not OS/2 will ever be anything more than a
frustration if you think that. The only people who can really be satisfied
with DOS, WINDOWS, OS/2 are those who are exclusively application programmers,
never write a program themselves, and do not require much computing power.
Particularly OS/2 squanders resources such as memory and processor power.
Neither offers adequate background job management. DOS has no background
jobs at all.
Windows:
Old technology. not true multi tasking. NICE GUI software
available. decent prices. runs DOS apps in windows.
You can forget windows if you want your own programs to run under windows. A
proper windows interface is very difficult to program. I would not call
windows old technology, but merely bad technology. Windows is the worst swear
word I know. It was designed by fools for fools. Whatever you do, keep you
hands off that!
PCGEOS:
True multi tasking. not much software available. decent GUI.
only runs GEOS apps (i don't think it multitasks DOS apps?)
Never heard of it. I cannot imagine that there is much software around for it.
Linux:
FREE. lots of public domain stuff around. nice GUIs
implemented. commercial software prices through the roof
(Framemaker for Windows - $500, for UNIX - $5000!!!!), you
need a degree in systems administration to run it properly.
People who should use linux should satisfy the following requirements.
(1) You have a reasonable amount of computing experience.
From the outset, you will not only be a linux user, but also the linux system
administrator. Moreover, you will be doing things that other system
administrators never do, such as recompiling kernels and the like.
(2) You enjoy learning about and playing with operating systems.
Again, most of the linux system is still only in an alpha or a beta test phase.
You will find a bug every so often. You will have update your software
regularly, and that means recompiling it. You will have to think in advance
what can go wrong, and devise recovery strategies in the event of failures.
Most problems you will meet will be because you have made mistakes yourself,
but, if you don't think, you can kill filesystems, or make your linux
unbootable.
If you shudder when I tell you all this, then hands off linux, at least until
version 1.0 comes out.
If, when you hear all this you think to yourself, "what fun", then linux is the
os for you.
I would not recommend DOS, OS/2, or WINDOWS to anyone of a scientific or
engineering bent. If you don't want linux, and have money to spare, and want a
stable, tested system with customer support, then I would suggest SCO UNIX.
Mike Dowling