The best news I have for you is that Opera runs on Wine! So for all of you X11 users who haven't had the opportunity to try Opera, NOW is the time!
Netscape's recent announcement making the its browser slash browser suite free has more than a few implications. One that is obvious is that Microsoft may not take over the Internet after all. Too bad that this was an integral part of their world domination strategy. A lesser implication may be that Netscape, in its desperate attempt to save its arse, has inadvertently made one of the biggest contributions to the Linux community (maybe Linux will take over the Internet... Oops! It already has).
Unfortunately, this is bad for my favorite browser, Opera, which must remain commercial. Its life on the X11 platform may have ended even before it began. But Linux users may yet have a decent browser. I say 'may' because I think Netscape is bloated and a piece of crap as it is now. It needs to be totally rewritten IMHO. Perhaps the efforts of the Openscape Group will make it a decent browser that doesn't have a recommended memory requirement of 64 MB's on all Unix-compatible systems and is at least as fast as Opera in rendering web pages.
Note: one of the things that hit me to write the above was the announcement of Red Hat Software of Netscape being an 'update' for their distribution of Linux. I don't doubt that all major Linux distributions will now ship with Netscape filling in a serious gap. Sheesh, I know a lot of you are sick of Arena and KFM. At least I know I am.
This may not be news to you, but it is definitely news to me. It was only by coincidence that I typed in 'sco.' Guess where I ended up? Guess what I discovered? Well, among other things SCO, Santa Cruz Operation, is a UNIX vendor. I believe they even own the copyright. They make UnixWare and OpenServer. They make UnixWare and OpenServer free for non-profit and individual use. The catch is it's only available on CD for which you have to pay a minimal amount [for a UNIX system]. Well, there's another one. It's a single-user license. Otherwise, it's the exact same thing as the one they're selling for who knows how many hundreds of dollars. It even includes Netscape FastTrack Server and Netware clients/servers but, unfortunately, no CDE or WABI like Solaris. I know, UNIX in philosophy is multi-user, but this is a chance to get your hands on a 'real' UNIX for a relatively small amount of money. If you really need a free multi-user Unix-compatible system, I suggest FreeBSD or my favorite Linux distribution [despite glibc], Red Hat Linux 5.0. I personally ordered UnixWare Application Server and Skunkware '97, a collection of software for SCO Unices, for about $26 with shipping.
I've been assisting a friend in deciding on a Linux distribution. My final recommendations to him are: Linux Pro 5.4, and then TurboLinux 1.2 when it's [finally] released. I'll be doing a [informal] mini-distribution how-to soon, but, until it's finished, you can e-mail me for info on why I choose (note present tense) these distributions [other than because they're Red Hat derivatives].
Wine is Not a Windows Emulator. So what? This is probably the most important Linux-related project as it will allow 16 and 32-bit Windows programs to run under Unix compatible systems without having Windows installed [unlike WABI]. I just installed the 97.12.21 release, and I am impressed. It actually works! Well, at least to some extent... I'm going to see if I can get an HTML editor to work (I haven't been able to find one for Linux). Needless to say, I'm going to keep a close eye on this project and will contribute to it in every possible way I can (mostly testing and reporting, since I don't do programming [yet]). Look for a WINE page in a few days (after I take my first tests since dropping out of Valparaiso U.) - it's about 50% done.
WABI is a solution, but it costs a bit of money, and I won't be able to afford it for a few more months. It does not and will not do 32-bit Windows programs. I have been informed that DOSEmu can run Windows 3.1 in enhanced mode, but it's probably not very stable (it's Windows, and it's running on top of emulation software).
Copyright © 1997 Mark Santos. All rights reserved.