:-) http://www.winehq.org/ cheers Szemir
On January 10, 2004 20:11, Marcel Lecker wrote: > Hey Folks, > > As I mentioned at the meeting, Nexus Computer Books is now stocking the > SuSE Wine Rack, and I've finally had a chance to get my hands on > it,...and let me tell you, it delivers. At $69.99, it's a steal! > > What it does: > > The SuSE Wine rack combines 3 great utilities in one package: > CodeWeaver's Office Crossover suite, its Crossover Plugin suite, as well > as TransGaming's WineX. These programs all use specially enhanced > commercial implementations of WINE. For newcomers to Linux, WINE is a > freely available project which aims for native support of Windows > programs (www.wine.org). The aforementioned programs build on WINE's > functionality and contribute portions of those refinements but use > commercial distribution models. Take home message? It will cost you a > little, but it may save you a lot of fussing about especially if you are > new to Linux or would rather just have things work conveniently and > quickly. > > Codeweaver's Crossover Office provides native Linux support for > MS-Office as well as a large number of other Windows based applications > (most notably Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia's Dreamweaver MX and Flash > MX). Codeweaver's Crossover Plugin is designed to deliver a number of > bowser plugins and browsing based applications such as Quicktime, > Shockwave etc.. Finally TransGaming's WineX is designed to deliver > Direct-X game compatibility via WINE. TransGaming claims title's such as > Diablo II, Warcraft III, Counterstrike and Half-Life all work without a > hitch. In addition to this, a reasonably entertaining little game called > Marble-Blast has been thrown in for good measure. > > The best part of Wine Rack is that you get all the individual pieces for > incredible value....$69.99 CDN to be precise (at Nexus here in Calgary > ...in stock now!) instead of roughly $150-170* if you order these > products individually. This is an amazing deal! ...as long as you use > SuSE :) > > Installation: > > Not surprisingly the appropriately named "Wine Rack" is designed for > SuSE 9 and intended to be installed via YaST as a "Patch CD Update" > (There weren't any instructions on the jacket or on the CD it self, but > having familiarity with similar products from SuSE, I quickly deduced > that was their intended installation method). > > Very painless, but the lack of instructions regarding this little detail > might make it quite a bit less so for a novice user. > > Looking around on the disk, I found that the actual install files are > all rpm based. I haven't the opportunity to try it yet, but I imagine > one could (with some expertise and experimentation) install this > software on prior SuSE versions and potentially even on non SuSE systems > as well, providing the necessary dependencies are resolved. > > Once the SuSE installer is done -if you're using KDE (on SuSE 9)- you'll > find handy menu items have been added for adding/removing software > configuration etc. Additionally, you'll find that Crossover Office adds > another folder on your SuSE 9 menu bar called Windows applications, > which is where it installs icons for your all of the programs you > install via crossover. Very Nice. > > If you're a Gnome user, things will lose their luster somewhat quickly > from here. The only icons that are placed in the menu are those of the > installed windows programs which is a lot better than nothing, but still > far from ideal. That may be fine and well if you regularly use both > desktops or are at least able to do so occasionally. Without a KDE > installation things are a bit more difficult and as such may require > launching binaries from a shell or creating your menu items. > > For convenience sake I've listed the shell commands and documentation > URLs for folks using Gnome (and possibly other window managers) below.** > > Both the Crossover set-up utilities as well as the TransGaming utility > will allow you to add and/or remove supported as well as unsupported > programs. They become in effect mini Control Panels which offer a number > of options. > > Conclusion: > > In conclusion I have to say that I am elated. This package means that I > may never need to boot into Windows again (I sure could use that space > for mp3s!). As much as I would like to see the world (or more > specifically my work place) adopt open standards, That hasn't happened > yet. I'm still regularly confronted with the need to edit existing > MS-Office documents. When that change happens, I'm ready. In the mean > time this I believe this the best solution that one is likely to find > find from both cost and ease-of-use standpoints. > > I also have the odd game that I'd like to play that doesn't have native > Linux support (Half-Life, Diablo-II, and Warcraft-III come to mind). > Because I much prefer working in Linux, I haven't played them for ages. > Being able to do so is a real treat and a terrific bonus, as I'm > comfortable spending money (when warranted) on productivity solutions > but am reluctant to spend money on playing games. > > As a result of installing the SuSE Wine Rack I am now able to > transparently access all manner of MS-Office files, and play games that > were not available to me outside of a Windows environment in one easy > painless experience. > > I'd recommend it confidently to any SuSE 9 user (Pro or Personal > Editions). This is truly a steal! > > Marcel > > CodeWeaver's Office Crossover: > http://www.codeweavers.com/site/products/cxoffice/ > Codeweaver's Crossover Plugin: > http://www.codeweavers.com/site/products/cxplugin/ > TransGaming's WineX: > http://www.transgaming.com > TransGaming's Marbleblast > http://www.transgaming.com/marbleblast.php > > * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > CodeWeaver's Office Crossover: $59.95 US > Codeweaver's Crossover Plugin: $39.95 US > TransGaming (minimum subscription: 3 months): $15.00 US > TransGaming's Marble Blast (Gold): $19.99 US > _________ > > $134.89 US > Currency Conversion (1.269 - Jan 10 2004) $171.18 CDN > Note: shipping etc is still not factored in. > > ** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > office setup: sh -c /opt/cxoffice/bin/cxsetup > plugin setup: sh -c /opt/cxplugin/bin/cxsetup > office reset: sh -c /opt/cxoffice/bin/cxreset > plugin reset: sh -c /opt/cxplugin/bin/cxreset > simulate reboot: sh -c /opt/cxoffice/bin/cxreboot > TransGaming control panel: sh -c /usr/bin/Point2Play > > Crossover office documentation URL: file:///opt/cxoffice/doc/index.html > Crossover plugin documentation URL: file:///opt/cxplugin/doc/index.html _______________________________________________ clug-talk mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca
