Alpha Software Mobile Development Tools:   Alpha Anywhere    |   Alpha TransForm subscribe to our YouTube Channel  Follow Us on LinkedIn  Follow Us on Twitter  Follow Us on Facebook

Announcement

Collapse

The Alpha Software Forum Participation Guidelines

The Alpha Software Forum is a free forum created for Alpha Software Developer Community to ask for help, exchange ideas, and share solutions. Alpha Software strives to create an environment where all members of the community can feel safe to participate. In order to ensure the Alpha Software Forum is a place where all feel welcome, forum participants are expected to behave as follows:
  • Be professional in your conduct
  • Be kind to others
  • Be constructive when giving feedback
  • Be open to new ideas and suggestions
  • Stay on topic


Be sure all comments and threads you post are respectful. Posts that contain any of the following content will be considered a violation of your agreement as a member of the Alpha Software Forum Community and will be moderated:
  • Spam.
  • Vulgar language.
  • Quotes from private conversations without permission, including pricing and other sales related discussions.
  • Personal attacks, insults, or subtle put-downs.
  • Harassment, bullying, threatening, mocking, shaming, or deriding anyone.
  • Sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or otherwise discriminatory jokes and language.
  • Sexually explicit or violent material, links, or language.
  • Pirated, hacked, or copyright-infringing material.
  • Encouraging of others to engage in the above behaviors.


If a thread or post is found to contain any of the content outlined above, a moderator may choose to take one of the following actions:
  • Remove the Post or Thread - the content is removed from the forum.
  • Place the User in Moderation - all posts and new threads must be approved by a moderator before they are posted.
  • Temporarily Ban the User - user is banned from forum for a period of time.
  • Permanently Ban the User - user is permanently banned from the forum.


Moderators may also rename posts and threads if they are too generic or do not property reflect the content.

Moderators may move threads if they have been posted in the incorrect forum.

Threads/Posts questioning specific moderator decisions or actions (such as "why was a user banned?") are not allowed and will be removed.

The owners of Alpha Software Corporation (Forum Owner) reserve the right to remove, edit, move, or close any thread for any reason; or ban any forum member without notice, reason, or explanation.

Community members are encouraged to click the "Report Post" icon in the lower left of a given post if they feel the post is in violation of the rules. This will alert the Moderators to take a look.

Alpha Software Corporation may amend the guidelines from time to time and may also vary the procedures it sets out where appropriate in a particular case. Your agreement to comply with the guidelines will be deemed agreement to any changes to it.



Bonus TIPS for Successful Posting

Try a Search First
It is highly recommended that a Search be done on your topic before posting, as many questions have been answered in prior posts. As with any search engine, the shorter the search term, the more "hits" will be returned, but the more specific the search term is, the greater the relevance of those "hits". Searching for "table" might well return every message on the board while "tablesum" would greatly restrict the number of messages returned.

When you do post
First, make sure you are posting your question in the correct forum. For example, if you post an issue regarding Desktop applications on the Mobile & Browser Applications board , not only will your question not be seen by the appropriate audience, it may also be removed or relocated.

The more detail you provide about your problem or question, the more likely someone is to understand your request and be able to help. A sample database with a minimum of records (and its support files, zipped together) will make it much easier to diagnose issues with your application. Screen shots of error messages are especially helpful.

When explaining how to reproduce your problem, please be as detailed as possible. Describe every step, click-by-click and keypress-by-keypress. Otherwise when others try to duplicate your problem, they may do something slightly different and end up with different results.

A note about attachments
You may only attach one file to each message. Attachment file size is limited to 2MB. If you need to include several files, you may do so by zipping them into a single archive.

If you forgot to attach your files to your post, please do NOT create a new thread. Instead, reply to your original message and attach the file there.

When attaching screen shots, it is best to attach an image file (.BMP, .JPG, .GIF, .PNG, etc.) or a zip file of several images, as opposed to a Word document containing the screen shots. Because Word documents are prone to viruses, many message board users will not open your Word file, therefore limiting their ability to help you.

Similarly, if you are uploading a zipped archive, you should simply create a .ZIP file and not a self-extracting .EXE as many users will not run your EXE file.
See more
See less

linux

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    linux

    I have given up on Bill Gates and am switching to linux. I have lots of files in Alpha 5 ver 4.5. I would like to buy the new version 5 and use it on my linux system. Has anyone done this successfully?

    John

    #2
    RE: linux

    Hello John,

    I believe the only way this would work is to use wine, or one of the windows software emulators. I've not tried this but would like to.

    Jim

    Comment


      #3
      RE: linux

      You could also try using an OS called Lindows.
      Aaron Brown
      Alpha Software Development Team

      Comment


        #4
        RE: linux

        Arron,

        Have you tried Lindows?

        Comment


          #5
          RE: linux

          Hi John:

          Currently, there are several ways to run windows apps under linux:

          1. Win4Lin 4.0 from a company called NeTraverse.

          This program will allow you to run Win 95/98/ME with up to 128M of ram dedicated to the Windoze session. Win4Lin creates a virtual DOS environment for Windoze to run in. The downside is that you must have, and install, a licensed copy of Windows along with the Win4Lin product.

          See www.netraverse.com for more info.

          2. VMWare

          This product creates an entire virtual machine, complete with BIOS, under linux - you can watch the BIOS boot in a window. You then install the OS that you wish (i.e., Win 95/98/NT/2000) into the virtual machine. The downside, as above, is that you must have, and install, a licensed copy of Windoze. Also, the VMWare product is fairly expensive - somwhere in the neighborhood of $300 or so. It is useful for software developers who develop for multiple platforms - all testing and development can be done on one (physical) machine.

          See www.vmware.com for more.

          3. Wine

          As someone else suggested, the Wine project is coming (slowly) along. It is a massive open-source undertaking, translating all of the Windows API calls into corresponding X Window calls. The plus side is that you do not require a copy of Windoze in order to run your Win apps. The downside is that the project is nowhere near complete, and *many* programs either do not run, or, if they do run, crash *alot*.

          A company called Code Weavers has released a commercial (not open source) product called Cross Over Office, that will allow you to run MS Office (97 or 2000 only), Visio, Quicken, and possibly some other Windoze apps successfully. The plus side is that you do not require a copy of Windoze. The downside is that Cross Over is only capable of running a few apps (even though it is a *huge* achievement).

          Also, Microsoft has slipped language into their licensing agreement(s) that essentially state that you can only run MS software on genuine MS operating systems. This essentially rules out running newer MS apps (i.e., Office XP) under Wine/Cross Over.

          See www.winehq.org and www.codeweavers.com for more.

          Hope this helps,

          George

          Comment


            #6
            RE: linux

            Thank you George. It was very helpful.

            John

            Comment


              #7
              RE: linux

              John:

              I neglected to comment on the Lindows OS, which was also mentioned.

              Currently, Lindows is only certified to run three, count 'em, three applications: MS Office 2000 versions of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

              The Lindows concept seems fairly sound, but I don't think that they are where they want to be in terms of Windows application compatibility. Also, I believe that the giant in Redmond is suing the company over the name 'Lindows', since it is so close to the word 'Windows'. Go Figure.

              I've been wanting to try the Cross Over product. I suspect that it may be capable of running many Windows apps (i.e., Alpha 5), even though CodeWeavers is only *officially* supporting a small number of apps.

              If I find anything out through my informal testing, I'll let you know!

              Also, if you are switching to linux, you'll want to get a copy of Open Office - it really is slick, and it's a good native linux replacement for MS Office. (They have a Windows version too, if you want to try it before you switch your OS.) If you feel more comfortable with a commercial (i.e., supported) product, check out Sun's StarOffice, which is based on the Open Office program.

              Further, the "Ximian Desktop" product, and "Evolution" in particular, is a nice replacement for MS Outlook. I believe that Ximian is selling StarOffice as an add-on to their desktop product. Also, StarOffice can be had cheaply from SuSE (25 bucks, I think) if you plan to run SuSE 8 linux. Many other vendors are also selling / bundling StarOffice with their distributions - just watch the version numbers. The current version is 6; some vendors, such as Red Hat, are still shipping the 5.2 version.

              See www.openoffice.org, wwws.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/6.0/index.html, www.suse.com and ximian.com for more info.

              Have fun,

              George

              Comment


                #8
                RE: linux

                Looks like for the time being our office is holding off on Alpha Five because we are considering moving all our desktops over to Linux. We already us Open Office - was an easy switch from MS Office. We may buy a copy of StarOffice to compare. Anyway, it looks like I'll be sticking with v4.5 for awhile.

                In my email to Alphasoftware I mentioned that I sure wish they would consider porting over to Linux. I see I'm not the only one.

                Borland's success with Kylix, as well as others, shows there is both room for and a market for commercial software in the Linux arena.

                There is a lot of talk on many of the linux sites for an 'MS Access' type database solution. There are rumors that Filemaker Pro may be ported over to Linux, since it's now running on a version of unix - Mac OSX. But Alpha Five, especially v5, beats both of them. If Alpha Five was ported over to Linux, they would own that part of the Linux market. I know it's easy for people like me to say and a whole lot of work for programmers to do, but this business opportunity is just sitting there for the taking. Somebody is going to jump into it - I just wish it could be Alpha Five.

                Ford

                Comment


                  #9
                  RE: linux

                  Pardon me for asking about this small point which is not really related to Alpha Five. You said:

                  "Also, Microsoft has slipped language into their licensing agreement(s) that essentially state that you can only run MS software on genuine MS operating systems. This essentially rules out running newer MS apps (i.e., Office XP) under Wine/Cross Over. "

                  I just upgraded to Office XP and your comment induced me to get out and read my license. I don't find any such license restriction in my End User License Agreement. Where would I find this language?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    RE: linux

                    VMWARE is your best bet. I have heard nothing but good things about it from those who have tried it. I think it is about $80-$90.

                    WIN4LIN I've heard a lot of good about but not as much as VMWARE.

                    You may want to check their website and see if they have a trial version so you can test A5 on it.

                    My comment on Lindows. It is a complete piece of hyped up marketing crap!!!! Dont ever switch to it. They are just trying to make money quickly by peoples current resentment of Microsoft. Even the stuff it is supposed to run is shakey.

                    Lycoris is about the most polished distribution I have seem. But it is still in beta. It will cost around $30. They did a real nice job on it.

                    The new Red Hat Beta is supposed to be pretty nice but I havent tried it.

                    Hope this helps.
                    Jamin

                    Comment


                      #11
                      RE: linux

                      OOOOOPS I guess VMWARE is a bit pricey. Win4Lin is under $100.
                      Runs on Mandrake which has a decent all around desktop.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        RE: linux

                        Not sure exactly how it will work at present, but the web version of A5 will allow access through any browser, I assume this means a browser on Linux as well as Win. Perhaps (big perhaps) the program can be run in Samba thereby eliminating windows altogether. Samba will work as a file server, not sure about whether is can run any kind of executable, probably not at this time.

                        Russ

                        Comment


                          #13
                          RE: linux

                          RE other's success as commercial software in the Linux market:

                          The following are comments by Doc Searls in an article in Linux Journal:

                          "Ted Shelton of Borland told me that Kylix, the company's Integrated Development Environment (IDE), is a huge success. Sales for Kylix' cross-platform IDE for Delphi alone are in the multimillion-dollar range. Now Borland is pushing Kylix for cross-platform C++ development, and Ted told me Borland expects this to expand Kylix' market enormously."

                          ...and many are begging for an 'Access-like' database tool for Linux....somebody's gonna make a bundle - why not Alpha ?

                          Ford

                          Comment


                            #14
                            RE: linux

                            John:

                            I may stand corrected. I may have incorrectly stated (or failed to verify) what I've read concerning the non-microsoft OS / Office XP restriction.

                            I do recall that a Code Weavers rep mentioned this restriction in an article I read (and on their web site too, but I can't seem to find it now) concerning the Office XP EULA.

                            From a ZD Net article:

                            It's unclear at this point whether CrossOver Office will be able to support Office XP. On my radio program, CodeWeavers's Aric Stewart said a clause in the Office XP End-User License Agreement, which stipulates that Office XP be used only on top of a Microsoft operating system, could throw a hitch into those plans.

                            See the complete Ziff-Davis article:
                            http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/software/business/story/0,2000023555,20264478,00.htm

                            Sorry if I mis-guided anyone; it was not my intention to give incorrect info.

                            Perhaps this is all just speculation on the *next* revision of MS's EULA .

                            At any rate, I'd like to see a native linux version of Alpha. I doubt that it fits in to their current plans, but who knows??

                            Just out of curiousity, what is Alpha written in? Is it technically possible / feasible to port it to linux?

                            George

                            Comment


                              #15
                              RE: linux

                              No, I haven't tried it. Just a suggestion if you are choosing to boycott MS.

                              Aaron Brown
                              Alpha Software
                              Aaron Brown
                              Alpha Software Development Team

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X