some bees nest stirring, was just how much can you do with?

[marbux]

On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 11:03 AM, Karen Lewellen
<klewellen at shellworld.net> wrote:
> Changing the subject line slightly based on a new question.
> I promise i will get to the odd speakup command question.
> Still if elinks and mplayer exist ported for DOS, why go through the extreme
> mayhem of finding someone local enough to learn speakup and ora and so forth
> to teach me in the first place?
> have folks seen these?
>
>
> http://www.ausreg.com/dos_ports/index.htm
>
> Dos is anything but dead folks, and already have a
> local tech who understands it...but not Linux.

If DOS fulfills your needs then I can't recommend changing to a quite
different and much larger boat.  Don't fix what isn't broken.

But DOS use is unquestionably dwindling rapidly, quickly becoming an
OS mostly for hobbyists. You won't find very much new software for it.

On the other hand, on my Linux Mint 14 system, I can currently
download and install any of over 63,000 software packages, and that
doesn't begin to cover the ground of other software that can be
installed from source code.

Linux does indeed have a learning curve, like all operating systems (I
still remember the disruption in my productivity when switching from
CP/M to DOS and then later from DOS to Windows 95.)

But there are ways to make that learning curve more gentle. The one
I'd recommend is to get whatever assistance you need: [i] to get Linux
set up with DOS running on a DOSemu virtual machine and your apps
running on DOSemu, which uses FreeDOS as its DOS; and [ii] to teach
you how to start Linux and get into DOSemu, to switch back forth
between Linux and DOSemu,  and to shut down DOSemu and Linux.

Once you've got that far, you can continue to use DOS without a big
productivity hit but have Linux a couple of keystrokes away so you can
tackle learning to use it at your own pace. And don't expect overnight
miracles: Linux is more versatile than DOS by many orders of
magnitude, and no single person will ever learn everything there is to
know about Linux. It's that flexible. Somewhat akin to WordPerfect's
flexibility, but on steroids.

But if you see no advantage in greater flexibility, far more programs
available,  and vastly increased computing power, then I recommend
staying with DOS.

Best  regards,

Paul E. Merrell, J.D.