| The Best Free Desktop Linux . . . and how to make it better |
(Part 6)
Internet
SimplyMEPIS' default browser is Mozilla. I experimented replacing Mozilla with FireFox. I decided to continue to use Mozilla. The reason is that a lot of work has been done integrating everything into Mozilla and switching to FireFox means that you have to do all that work yourself. Using apt-get, it is always easy to update your version of Mozilla.
Mozilla is not only a great browser, it also has a great e-mail program. Some people will prefer Evolution because it is very similar to Outlook. Evolution has a more sophisticated editor. To download Evolution, simply type apt-get install evolution or you can use Synaptic.
SimplyMEPIS provides Kopete as the standard messenger. Kopete is a very good messenger but many people prefer Gaim. You can download and install Gaim using apt-get or Synaptic.
If you decide to make Evolution your standard e-mail package, you can modify the bottom panel accordingly. You can remove the Mozilla Mail Button. In its place, you can insert the Evolution button. To do this, right click on the panel, Add --> Office --> Evolution. If you would like to replace Kopete with Gaim, you can remove the Kopete button and then insert Gaim onto the panel by right clicking on the panel, Add --> Internet --> Gaim. To remove the application Kopete from the system, type apt-get remove kopete.
Mozilla, Gaim, and Evolution running on SimplyMEPIS
(Click to enlarge)
Emulation
It is possible to add emulation to SimplyMEPIS to allow SimplyMEPIS to support more than just Linux applications. It is possible to download emulators for classic computers such as the Atari 800 or the Commodore 64. There are emulators for game counsels such as the Sony Play Station 1, Atari 2600 or ZNES.
By typing apt-get install dosbox, you can install an emulator that supports legacy MS DOS applications. There are many legacy applications such as accounting, embedded and point of sale that still run on MS DOS.
Wine is a project that allows many Microsoft Windows applications to run under X Windows. Wine is not an emulator. It is a Windows compatible API for X Windows. Applications that run with Wine run at their native speed. When Corel released Word Perfect for Linux, they did so by using Wine to migrate the Microsoft Windows version to Linux.
This article has focused on non-commercial programs as the quality of Open Source is equal to and in some cases better than many commercial applications. There are some applications that are simply not available in Open Source and if the applications are already paid for, why not use them if you can?
CodeWeavers produces a commercial product called CrossOver Office. CrossOver Office will support several popular Microsoft applications on top of Linux. CodeWeavers uses Wine as their foundation but they have made the process of installing software much easier and they have tweaked Crossover Office to provide direct support for several applications to include Visio, Internet Explorer 6.1, Microsoft Office 97/2000/XP, Quicken, Photoshop 7.0, DreamWeaver and Media Player 6.4. For anyone who already owns Windows 98 and Microsoft Office, CodeWeavers Crossover Office provides a painless way to continue to use these applications on Linux.
If you only need to support one or two programs or simply want to experiment with Wine, you can use Synaptic or apt-get to download wine, winesetuptk, and wine-utils. Once these applications are downloaded, you can begin to install Windows applications.
I use a great service called Jfax. Jfax allows you to receive faxes from a dedicated phone number. Faxes are routed via e-mail. In order to view the faxes, a compatible viewer is required. I downloaded Jfax's messenger and installed it on my computer using Wine.
The first time you run Wine, it will create the fake_windows file system. The default location is ~/.wine/fake_windows. To find your programs, change to ~/.wine/fake_windows/Programs*Files/.
A very good website with information on how to use Wine to get popular Windows applications to work is Frank's Corner. Wine should not be used to support critical applications -- other than using CodeWeavers CrossOver Office. Many applications that work with Wine are simply not needed as Open Source alternatives are already included.
-- Continued --
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