Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Windows Linux-style interface

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Mon, 4 Feb 2002, Mike Miller wrote:

> On Mon, 4 Feb 2002, Ross, Matt wrote:
> 
> > I have a friend seeking a program called "Cygwin" or "CGWin", he's not
> > sure which.  It supposedly gives the windows user an optional Linux
> > CLI that he feels would help him 'ease' into linux.  Anybody know
> > anything about this prog?
> 
> Yes, it's Cygwin:
> 
> http://cygwin.com/
> 
> I downloaded it for free, also downloaded tcsh (which I'm used to) and I
> *really* liked it. It beats the snot out of using the dos prompt.  This
> reminds me that I have to put it on my new Win box.  

Ah, but it does get even better.  Cygwin is almost the ultimate in
bread-slicing/floor-wax/desert-topping technology.  To the wonder and
amazement of all, XFree86 does work under cygwin, and you can even do
Cygwin/Gnome on Windows (albeit rooted in its own window, alas).  I think
XFree86 in rootless mode (free intermixing of MS windows and X window
programs!) is also in the works.  Cygwin has some foibles, alas; some of
that networking code is pretty doggy, and Windows often has problems 
shutting down the Cygwin process, but Cygwin makes Windows bearable (tm).

Now that's all well and good, but I believe right now the all-time
champion of almost everything is (perhaps surprisingly)  Mac OS X.  You
get Aqua, you can emulate a non-trivial Windows PC, you can run *rootless
X* with Aqua...life is getting seriously good.  Heck, you can even use MS
Office on the thing if you have to.

Seriously, you have no idea how cool this can get.  Some of you may have 
seen performance issues on previous versions of OS X, but most of those 
have been addressed.  The only time I get impatient these days is in the
automatic software update/installation drill.  In an rpm-based system like
Linux, this is blindingly fast.  Under OS X, it is (for some reason) 
mind-numbingly slow.  Also, some Classic applications (notably Kid Pix) 
are still a real chore to run under OS X.  But everything else is really
great. :-)

jking



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