From: dfox@quack.sac.ca.us (David Fox)
Subject: Re: unix tutorial et al.
Keywords: tutorial, dos, ibm-compatible, unix, lost-in-space
Organization: The Duck Pond public unix: +1 408 249 9630, log in as 'guest'.
Date: 14 Dec 1992 04:42:22 UTC

In article <1992Dec7.041726.11994@seas.gwu.edu> salomon@seas.gwu.edu (A. Lee Salomon) writes:
>i am a unix newbie who will be living with nothing but ibm-compatibles 
>running dos for the next couple of weeks.  i would like to continue 
>learning unix (am a unix Newbie -- note the cap N!) and ran across an ad
>for MKS Learning Unix on DOS.  i am tempted to buy it but would like some
>other opinions first.  could anyone tell me anything about it?  are there
>other such programs out there?  

I don't know what the 'MKS Learning Unix on DOS' is.  If it's the MKS
toolkit, that appears to be very good. It's essentially a ton of Unix
programs ported to DOS - they've gone to great lengths to make this
look as much like unix as is possible given the obvious restrictions
that DOS has.


>actually, since i am here, another question (please no flames, i am
>*really* ignorant about unix and am studying as fast as i can!), can
>i run unix on a pc?  (actually, i believe i can, but is a 386 or 486 
>recommended?  

You can run Unix on a PC.  I do (386BSD).  I think a 386 or 486 is
not only recommended; it's required, if you want to do real work.

Jump over to comp.os.linux and/or comp.unix.bsd.  There you will
learn about two very nice FREE unixes for a 386-based ISA PC.  
You can even get the source code.

>what are the (AARGH! vi is driving me batty!)e
>advantages of unix over dos?  (i run simple stuff like your standard
>spreadsheets, wordprocessors, relational database, symbolic math, desk-
>top publishing, maybe some statistical/number crunching stuff from time

A lot of that (if not all of that) can be done under Unix.  The advantages
as I see them is that you aren't limited to a 640K barrier (you can use
all the memory in your machine), you have multi-user and multi-tasking, and
much of the stuff in Unix is free and comes in source code form.  There
really isn't the mindset (as exists in DOS) of 'you don't want the source
code, since it's a PC running DOS, and if you obtain the source, you'll
get sued'.  It's a much more open environment.

Just this past week, (I wanted a spreadsheet) I got source code for three
different Unix spreadsheet programs, and compiled them.  I chose one that
I liked the best (and it was easier to compile/install), but put the
rest on a floppy in case I wanted to look at them later.

>to time, but never anything really big)  what about for a small lan (10
>people, say, accessing mostly wp, spreadsheets, and database).  what about
>if e-mail is added to the lot?  and finally, what about for accessing the
>internet?  

This is an area where Unix really shines.  Since networking is built in
(in 386bsd and it's being worked on in Linux; many commercial unixes also
have it), and since it's multi-user, setting up a network may be as easy
as hooking up a couple of terminals to a central machine with a multi-port
com card.  No network cards to buy, no big expense, and most of all, no
multiple-user license agreements.  Because of the multi-user nature of Unix,
it has a permission scheme, which can effectively section work of one of
your users from someone else.

Email is built-in to Unix as well.  IMHO, it's very nice and clean.

I haven't yet directly accessed the internet via my 386BSD box, but I
have gotten UUCP to mostly work.  I can also mail to remote sites - I'm
still working on that, but it generally works.  There are DOS packages
that do UUCP, but they have a major disadvantage - they take over the
whole machine, since DOS is a single-tasking OS.  Under Unix, the
uucp stuff could be running all the time in the background while you
do other work, and you don't notice it.  (It's a nice way to keep all
those damned telemarketers off your phone.) :)

>please mail me at salomon@seas.gwu.edu (in case my sig file doesnt attach, which it hasnt been recently....)
--
David Fox
dfox@quack.sac.ca.us