cyteck:Hi,
I wonder if someone who uses Linux can help answer a question I have,
QTN:- If someone moves over to using Linux isnt there a problem with
exchanging files with the vast majority of Microsoft users. Doesnt
Linux using a very different filing system and wouldnt that be a
problem? Especially if all your previous data was made in MS Windows
and NTFS? How might a new Linux user deal with that? Just out of
curiosity! its the one thing that puts me off making a final move away
from MS.
Ivan
I think there's a bit of clarification
needed here, so I'm quoting Ivan's original post to make it clear that
I'm responding to that!
There are two issues: file format (e.g. Word, Excel etc.) and file system (e.g. MS Fat32/VFAT/NTFS, Linux ext2/3, reiser, etc.).
To
take the second first: Any file can be stored on either an MS or a
Linux filesystem.After all, it's just a load of bytes, and that's what
filesystemsdo. But, of course, whether that's useful depends on whether
you have the software to handle a particular file format (which is the
other issue).
The real issue is whether either OS can accessa
filesystem of the other type. Windows can not (as far as I know) access
any of the Linux types of filesystem. However, Linux can read and write
many types of filesystem, including DOS and Windows 95/98/2000
(which are all MSDOS/VFAT/FAT32). Indeed, I have both Linux and Win98
installed on spearate partitions on a laptop (it came with Win98 and I
decided to leave it on, so made a separate partition for Linux); I
hardly ever boot into Windows on this machine, so there's a lot of
empty space (1.5GB) on the Windows partition. I use this a temporary
storage for files which are too big for what'sleft (80-100MB) of my
heavily used Linux filespace -- e.g. a CD-full of photos, movies, audio
tracks etc. when I want to burn a CD. I just store them on the Windows
filesystem from Linux, and on the surface you wouldn't even notice that
it wasa Windows filesystem. When they're done with, I delete them.
However, NTFS which is required for Windows XP. is readable but
not (until, possibly, recently) writeable by Linux. Have a look at
http://www.linux-ntfs.org/
for
standard Linux NTFS capabilities and news on the latest beta which is
claimed to be able to write new files to an NTFS system (i.e. to access
NTFS freely for reading at writing).
The above remarks apply to situations where Linux and Windows
filesystems are installed on the same machine. There is also the
question of transferring filesbetween Windows and Linux machines.
One
aspect is the file size. For files totalling less than 1.44MB, you can
put them on a floppy and that works without problems in either
direction. For larger files, on the "volatile" storage front there is
the USB stick. I think most USB sticks have a VFAT partition on them,
and so are both readable and writeable by both Windows and Linux (at
least that's the case with the USB sticks I use). So, again, no problem
in either direction. I should think (though I don't know directly) that
WinXP should be capable of reading from and writing to a VFAT
filesystem. If you should have a USB stick with NTFSon it, both Linux
(certainly) and Windows (probaboy) should be capable of reformatting it
to VFAT. So again this would work in either direcftion. Then, for much
larger files, you can write them to CD in ISO9660 formaton either Linux
or Windows, and again use the CD to transfer files. Finally, if youhave
a Windowsmachine and a Linux machine on the same network, you can
transfer files painlessly in either direction using FTP.
For the
first issue (can you handle MS file formats on Linux?): as has been
said in other replies, there is software available for
Linux (Open Office and others) which can read and generate MS-type
files (Word, Excel, etc.), and store these on the Linux filesystem (or,
as in my case above, on a Windows partition if you prefer). However,
the general capability of Linux software to handle Windows file formats
tends to be limited to the "Office" type formats such as Word, Excel,
Access, Powerpoint. Other applications which are designed to run on
Windows may have their own file formats for which there is no available
Linux software.
Or you can install an emulator on Linux which can provide an
environment in which MS executables can run. For example WINE. Or (as I
do) install Virtual Machine software such as VMWare: this, when started
up, emulatesPC hardware in software (providing a low-level interface in
the background to your real hardware). You then set up a "virtual hard
drive" (which is really just a big file in your Linux system) and
install Windows onto that. You then start up VMware, and then "boot"
into Windows -- all on Linux! Then any Windows software which you
install in your virtual machine will run as if on Windows, and duly
read and write its own native file formats--but into the "virtual hard
drive".
The difficulty of making use of binary file formats which
require Windows software has been a pain in the Rs for Linux users for
a long time. It is of course easing as noted above, but remains a major
problem. However, the incompatibility is not all in one direction.
Linux users will be aware that a prime file format for printed text
produced on Linux is PostScript (PS), which can be readily converted
into PDF on Linux for general consumption. Just as well--PS support in
Windows is practically non-existent (mainly confined to printer drivers
for PS printers). Just try sending a PS file to an average Windows
user: they'll probably end up opening it in Word, which will ruin it
for ever! (One very strong reason for converting it to PDF before
sending it to a Windows user--though they won't be able to edit it
without paying for the non-free components of Adobe Acrobat which are
capable of creating and editing PDF files: it's only Acrobat Reader
which is free).
Hoping this helps!