Re: what is the best Windows distribution?

[Riccardo Mottola]

Hi,
> Thanks for the information. I come to realize MinGW+GnuStep setup 
> doesn't have a packaging system or installer like CygWin, thus there 
> are two choices to get applications.
>
> 1. To get applications packaged in a Win32 installer. There is only 
> gorm, systempreferences and calculator available, a rather barren land.
>
> 2. To compile from source. This isn't trivial. For example, gnumail 
> only offer source code in form of monotone checkout, so first problem 
> is how to get monotone running. Many other application have source 
> hosted on their site, and the way to get them may change. Besides it's 
> not sure they will successfully be compiled, not even mentioning 
> dependencies.
>
> -1. Switch to cygwin. This is a dead-end at the moment.
>
> Both seems to be much poorer choices than FreeBSD (excluding -1).
>
> There is an additional choice that is also non-trivial: To run a 
> X-server on Windows and to install a virtual machine where FreeBSD 
> inside, and install application in FreeBSD, port to X-server in 
> Windows 2000.
>
> This additional choice looks only as good as falling back to FreeBSD 
> and tolerate 2 devices having no driver.
>
> Thanks for commenting so far!
Well, compiling from source *should* be trivial. Any decently maintained 
application has tarball releases, often also nightly or beta tarballs.

I compile and install stuff that way. Compiling Ink, FTP, PRICE, 
LaternaMagica, Gorm, ProjectCenter, Graphos is a matter of make && make 
install. GWorkspace needs some configuration tweaks I remener (all 
within the configure realm) and in any case it is not so suited for 
windows, although the latest versions do run now.

Riccardo