On Thu, 18 Jan 2001, neil wrote:
> But one question that puzzles me is about this
> Arachne program. It is exactly what? I know it is a browser but is it
> also an operating system? How does it compare to Lynux? I see that it
> must not be the same since there are downloads of Arachne for Lynux
> users. But from what friends of mine say it sort of sounds like they
> share some of the same things.
> All the best in 2001--
> Neil
Maybe some basic definitions will help you straighten this all
out:
Arachne is a graphical web browser. It has many elements of
a GUI, but isn't what would normally be considered a full-fledged
GUI.
A Graphical User Interface (GUI) is a program (or sometimes
called an "environment") which allows a mouse to accomplish the
things that would otherwise be done on the Command Line Interface
(CLI).
Copying, moving, and deleting files, text manipulation, and
other things which require sometimes arcane command syntax,
are done "intuitively" using a mouse. Of course, you have to
learn the behavior of the mouse commands, but for some people
this seems easier than typing commands.
For DOS, the most popular GUI is Windows... to the point that
many people don't even realize that Windows IS DOS.
For Linux, the most popular GUI is X (or more completely,
"the X windowing system").
An Operating System (OS) is the low-level "program" which allows
all the other applications to communicate with the hardware.
DOS is a single-user, single-tasking OS based on CP/M.
Linux is a multi-user, multi-tasking OS based on Unix.
