Linux OS question

is there a linux OS that works with Microsoft office 2007 and dragon naturally speaking?

 

No clue. You might check out the Wine software compatibility lists to tell for sure.

Why do you want to use Linux? Because if you're just looking for Windows, except free, that's not really a good reason. Switching operating systems is not a trivial matter, so you need to have a need to do so. Curiosity is a need, but that's not quite like just trying to be productive on Linux immediately

Update: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_NaturallySpeaking#Editions_and_versions

Looks like versions 7,8 and 9 will "work" after a fashion, but they won't give you the same kind of full control you would expect to have under Windows.

 

the easy answer is NO.

there are workarounds to get Windows apps to run in Linux, but the real-world answer is that no, you cannot run windows software on Linux.

for example, you can run some versions of Office with WINE, but the most you will get are buggy sessions of Word and Excel ONLY. Outlook and the other apps will not work.

 

Well there is another option to run programs such as MS Office and Photoshop and others on a Linux machine - check out "Cross-Over Office". It's a proprietary program (one of the very few for linux as most of the software is open source), but supposedly it does the trick. Never tried it, so can't tell you how well that would work, perhaps there are others here that may offer testimonials.

But in short, any program that is designed specifically for windows or MacOS will not run natively in Linux ... at least not without some help (Cross-Over Office, Wine).

Having said this, there are plenty of free alternatives to MS or Adobe products that offer 98% compatibility with the said products. Google "linux alternatives to windows programs" and you'll find a list of alternative programs for linux.

Cheers

 

what do you mean why? is there something wrong with linux that you don't like? i'm just wondering b/c right now i am getting ready to install ubuntu on the laptop..so i can partition my hard disks using gparted..i tried using gparted in vista but it wouldn't work and plus i heard it works better in linux b/c you can just download it and start it...but anyways i'm installing out of curiousity and just to see ya know..anyways is there any voice programs that will work? and what do you mean by won't give me the same kind of control..which parts are u talking about?

 

pretty much anything that exists in the windows or mac world has an open source counterpart. seek, and ye shall find.

 

well i want to use it out of curiosity and i've always heard good things about it. the IT at the school here had ubuntu installed one one of their computers and and with their experience personally they said that as long as you get linux compatible software like openoffice or gimp or whatever it does really good. as far as gaming go with wine and cedega..at cedega there is a whole list of games..which i had found while browsing about linux OS's. i'd say there is no harm in trying it out. and i was always one to find out stuff on my own and do research so that's not a problem..for me anyways..and it's like someone going from windows to mac..there is differences there too.
anyways i thought i'd give it a whirl..and possibly post a user review too if i decide to install it. and as far as the games go i could use cedega or wine and try out a few of my games on it for personal knowledge and to see how they run myself and post a review for other users in the future if they are wondering about the sorta stuff. hope that answers your question

 

there is no harm trying it out, but it's not an easy OS to use.

you will spend many many many hours searching the web for fixes and instructions on how to do things.

a friend of mine once sent me a comic illustrating the differences between Windows and Linux.

Windows is like an All-Wheel-Drive off road vehicle. It's big, bulky, but it can pretty much go anywhere and do anything with relative ease.

Linux is like a lightweight, small, highly-customizable import racer car. It's small, fast, but it can't go all the places Windows can and you have to work on the car yourself. A LOT.

 

what type of fixes?
what places would you be talking about?

and what type of hassles?

 

lol..gee thanks..
well i do also have a friend that uses it and he said it wasn't hard and had a good time using it ..he won't go back to windows.
so maybe you just had a hard time with it(hehe)

 

hahahaha for example, on my M1330, it took me about an hour and a half trying to get the wireless working. Getting dual displays to run with the proper resolutions and desktop effects was another ordeal.

All in all, its gives me satisfaction when I finally get it working.

 

well thats good to know you got it working.
what type of desktop effects? and what did u do to get the wireless working? (just in case)

 

haha. you got me.

it's hard to predict what problems you'll have. you just run into something, then start troubleshooting and the next thing you know, it's like 5 hours later and you're like wtf ?!?!

i'm not dissing the OS, i'm actually in awe that the compiz stuff can be done on such a small footprint and i really don't know why Microsoft can't provide similar functionality with so much more code.

however, the inability to use Outlook, Word, Excel, and OneNote was just too much. Outlook especially, there is simply nothing that even comes close in the Linux world.

to be honest, my experiences with linux have made me realize that Windows is a damn fine OS and doesn't deserve 99% of the flack it gets. for me, the perfect OS at this time would be Vista's software-friendliness combined with Compiz' functionality.

if only.

 

i don't use outlook..and the alternate for word and stuff is openoffice which i have actually used and works great. Linux is becoming popular pretty fast, who knows that could one operating system that all the big computer companies start to put on their computers. LIke Dell is doing.

 

I believe support for Dragon NaturallySpeaking (and Photoshop CS and CS2) was added to Wine recently with Google's help. If you're using Office just to type some stuff (i.e. not for the macros or other uncommon features) you can just use OpenOffice.org. It's compatible with Microsoft Office documents.

 

Which distro are you using? My wireless (desktop, Belkin) connected immediately with Ubuntu 7.10. Took me a minute or so to realize how simple it was to bring up the password/key page, and then all was well.

In 7.04, and OpenSuse, for me to figure out how to properly install and set up video drivers so that a 1920x1200 monitor would work, took quite a while - much longer than 1.5 hours the first time around with Ubuntu!

@OP: These are the sorts of "problems" people were talking about earlier, I think. But, in some of the newer distros, lots of these types of issues have been eliminated. The wireless problem in Ubuntu (and probably other related distros such as Mint), for example, has, at least, been vastly improved.

As Jusl3laze said, I also get a feeling of satisfaction (and sometime GREAT accomplishment) when things are sorted out and work properly. I was extremely happy and relieved the first time my monitor worked with the proper resolution in 7.04 (my machine uses an ATI card).

I think you'll enjoy Linux quite a lot.

 

now if only i can get my darn lappy running like it should

 

There are hardware support issues, but if you boot off of the LiveCD and everything works, then you should be way ahead of the game.

I spent 3 days trying to figure out how to get wireless working in my friend's Acer 5050. It's just not gonna happen until MadWifi writes something for it, and we tried everything (including NDISWrapper).

So test everything on the LiveCD and if it works, great! Try it out, and learn about the open source versions of software. Try out OpenOffice, try Gimp, etc. I'm sure you can find voice control too (Though I personally hate it. I type faster than I can talk, though I do have a stuttering problem).

 

lol..the voice recognition is for my hubby..he can't type very good at all..

 

You can run Windows inside the Virtualbox in the seamless mode - So the Windows applications will appear on the Linux desktop as if they were native Linux applications.

/Tomi

 

how to you set in to seamless mode ?

 

Right Ctrl+L once the virtual machine is launched.

 

okay thanks srunni

 

How is everything going now on your GNU Linux laptop? What distro did you install?

 

the lappy was having a lot of problems..so i called and i have to send it in ..the guy thinks it might be the motherboard..I couldn't get ubuntu to install right on it..something with the BIOS that ubuntu needs to access that hp/compaq ends up locking up. i did have PCLInuxOS installed..but seems the lappy was giving me lots of problems..then yea..but thanks for asking.
Stuff works better on my Dell desktop anyways..hehe

 

I read on the net somewhere that someone was able to get office 2007 to work under linux partially, with wine, but he was a coder and it was a very big job....so, no really