question?

[Paulette McGee]

--- Roofscum614 at aol.com wrote:

> hi i am doing a project for school:
>  
> find an alternative operating system - one that will
> run my  computer
> without Windows being installed.  The cheaper the
> better (Hint  start your
> search with the word "free").  Find out what the
> software  does, what
> applications it supports (e.g., will it run
> Microsoft Office), how  much it
> costs. 
> 
> 
> does your OS relate to this project? any help would
> be appreciated.
>  
> thank  you
> tom gunderman
>
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Hello Tom,
With respect to your home work assignment:

"does your OS relate to this project? any help would
be appreciated."

The answer is yes.  Now keep in mind that this is a
users mailing list.  This translates into support gets
done via volunteers; just an information tid bit.

"find an alternative operating system - one that will
run my  computer without Windows being installed."

Here is the home page to FreeBSD: www.freebsd.org . 
It has a good description of the Operating System. 
The answer is yes, this is an operating system that
does not require the use of Microsoft Windows.

"Find out what the software  does, what applications
it supports (e.g., will it run Microsoft Office), how
much it costs. "

FreeBSD by itself doesn't support Microsoft
Applications; however there is a program called WINE
that allows Microsoft applications to be run via a
compatibility layer via a Windows API (Application
Program Interface).  More information can be found
here: 

www.winehq.com

What other applications does FreeBSD support?

http://www.freebsd.org/ports/

The above is a link to a database that has over 16414
ports.  What is a port?  Well, I cannot do all your
home work.  :-)  

Keep in mind that there are several applications out
there that have similar functionality to the Microsoft
world.  Here is a quick list of equivalents:

Open Office similar to MS Office
http://www.openoffice.org/

Web browser
Firefox similar to IE
http://www.mozilla.org

There  are several more that exist; but this is just
to illustrate a point.  Browse the ports collection;
change the list to "listed by logical group" located
on the left hand side of the screen.  Ports will be
grouped by functionality.  

PS: Additional information can be found here:

http://www.freebsd.org/docs.html

Hope this helps.


 
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