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• Life with Linux, Part IV:

My First Experiences in Linux

A brief history lesson: Elements of the Windows operating system was copied from the Lisa and the Macintosh computers (which, in turn, were copied from Xerox PARC's pioneering efforts in graphical user interface design). Windows rides a perilous wagon called MS-DOS, which Microsoft purchased from Seattle Computer Products. S-DOS borrowed a number of concepts from CP/M, one of the earliest operating system for personal computers. CP/M in turn borrowed concepts from Unix, upon which Linux is based.

My point to this brief history lesson is twofold: (1) if you can use Windows or the Mac, you can use Corel Linux; (2) if you are familiar with DOS commands like CD, then you can use command-line Linux.

Just as Windows is the pretty user interface that hides the underlying DOS operating system, so too KDE is name of the user interface that covers up Debian Linux (the dialect of Linux used by Corel). With Windows 95/98/NT/2000/Millennium, you are limited to a single user (albeit customizable) interface. With Unix/Linux, you can choose from several user interfaces. Corel Linux happens to come with one called KDE, which can be made to look more like Windows -- complete with task bar, shortcut icons on the desktop, Web-enabled file manager, and right-click shortcut menus. Or made to look more like Macintosh. Or Sun. (KDE is short for "K" Desktop Environment.)

While most of Corel Linux's GUI-based applications take on the KDE look, Netscape Navigator uses another GUI, called Motif, which more common on Unix systems.

Friday 8 January
By now, my wife is getting suspicious: "Are you getting any work done on your book?" I am supposed to have started on Advanced AutoCAD LT 2000 for WordWare Publishing, but am determined to get Linux working for me. I tell Heather that my days of experimenting with Linux could lead to "future possibilities." She seems satisfied with that, especially after hearing on the tv news that Linux might one day replace Windows.

As I work with Linux, I find that some aspects are better than Windows; in other areas, Windows is better. Of course, this is Release 1.0 for Corel Linux, as opposed to Release 6 for Windows (1, 2, 3, 3.1, 95, and 98).

As I fumble my way through the familiar -- yet unfamiliar -- computing environment, my biggest frustration is the "grafted" help system. I am puzzled, for example, when the help tells me I need to manually mount the CD-ROM drive using several cryptic commands at the command prompt; the next sentence says Corel Linux mounts drives automatically. It takes a few days for me to realize that Corel simply added help text specific to their implementation -- without removing text that no longer applies.

Whenever I get a new computer (not that often!), I usually allow two full days to customize Windows to my liking, which includes setting up printers, network permissions, software installations, and GUI customization. As I worked to set up Corel Linux to my liking, here are the notes I took on my experience:

• Default screen resolution is 1024x768x15-bit. I prefer 1280x1024x24-bit. Took two reboots before the resolution changed correctly.
• It seems to take a few reboots for Linux to recognize the Windows drives and files. This is done via a software program called "Samba," which Corel Linux automatically loads. Samba began working on its own (I did nothing to make it work). I'm able to open Word documents in WordPerfect for Linux, and raster images in GIMP (the badly-named raster editor written for Linux).
• I can now access Windows files on the C: drive. But where are the CD-ROM and A: drives? Why aren't they being "auto mounted" by Linux? I finally realize that these drives are not displayed in the file tree as I am used to under Windows File Explorer; instead, they are individual items, almost like another computer in the network.
• The CD-ROM is now working. I'm going to try to install software off a CD disc. I double-click any and all icons, but nothing seems to get the installation working. The online help is of no help. I've searched my bookshelf and come across an old (1986) book from O'Reilly & Associates. UNIX in a Netshell tells me to use the sh command at the prompt line. It works! (Sh executes commands in a file.)

References:

Corel Linux tech support FAQ.
Unix in a Nutshell book.
Interview with IBM's future with Linux.

Next week, Part V: More explorations with Corel Linux