Corel Linux

Last updated
Corel Linux
Corel Linux.png
Screenshot of Corel Linux running WordPerfect and Netscape Navigator
Developer Corel
OS family Linux (Unix-like)
Working stateDiscontinued
Initial releaseNovember 15, 1999 (1999-11-15)
Latest release Second Edition / August 15, 2000
Platforms IA-32
Kernel type Monolithic
Default
user interface
CDE (variant of KDE)

Corel Linux, also called Corel LinuxOS, was a Debian-based operating system made by Corel that began beta testing on September 21, 1999 [1] and was released to the public on November 15, 1999. It mainly competed against Windows 98 and Windows 2000 by Microsoft, plus Mac OS 9 by Apple. Corel later discontinued the distribution, but did not remove the former Corel Open Source Development website until March 2002.

Contents

Corel did not use KFM, the standard KDE file manager. It instead used its own file manager, CFM. This, along with other modifications Corel made, made the operating system incompatible with other versions of Linux much more so than other competitors in the industry. At a time when there was relatively little commercial Linux software available, this was a serious hurdle for Corel and its users.

The operating system's Second Edition was released on August 15, 2000, in download, regular and deluxe editions. The latter bundled Corel WordPerfect Office for Linux.

Xandros purchased the Corel Linux source code and development team when Corel scrapped its Linux business in August 2001.

System requirements

System requirements [2] [3]
MinimumRecommended
Processor Pentium (P5) or compatible/newer
Memory24  MB of RAM At least 64 MB of RAM
Video adapter and monitor VGA (640 x 480) or higher resolution with 2 MB of VRAM
Hard disk drive free space500 MB for initial release
800 MB for Second Edition
Optical drive CD-ROM drive [4] (only to install from CD-ROM media)
Input devices Keyboard, mouse or a compatible pointing device
Sound Sound card and Speakers or headphones (only for sound playback)

Features

Corel Linux featured a file manager that was very close in look and feel to Windows Explorer. The file manager provided an integrated Windows SMB network browser. The company also advertised that the operating system was compatible with its flagship software.

Applications

The key selling point of Corel Linux was its compatibility with the company's WordPerfect applications. The eponymous word processor's eighth version was given away to personal customers in the hopes that they would purchase WordPerfect Office 2000. This suite added the Quattro Pro, Corel Presentations and CorelCentral programs. The Deluxe version of that suite added the Paradox database manager and Railroad Tycoon II: Gold . The latter omits a level editor, the network mode and some scenarios from the original game. The 'Limited Edition' of Corel Linux Deluxe came with Civilization: Call to Power instead of Railroad Tycoon II. [5] Unlike the free WordPerfect 8, the office suite was not written natively for Linux, but instead consisted of the Windows programs powered by Corel's fork of the Wine compatibility layer. [6] [7] As a result, the Linux suite suffered from a performance penalty compared to the Windows version and WordPerfect 8. [8] [9]

As with the WordPerfect suite, Corel adapted its graphics applications to run on Linux using Wine. [10] This consisted of the CorelDraw (stylized CorelDRAW) suite. While the eponymous program was paid software, Corel Photo-Paint was available as a free download.

SmartMove

Corel SmartMove was a part of Corel Linux. This application provided the following:

  1. Migrate Microsoft Windows settings to Corel Linux.
  2. Automate restoring settings that are changed by SmartMove.
  3. Provide an easy way to access network folders through Corel Linux.

SmartMove was built around the Wine libraries to read the Windows Registry settings for the Windows applications and thus be able to migrate them. SmartMove core libraries created a wrapper for the Windows registry to easily look up the settings.

SmartMove looks for existing Microsoft Windows installations on the machine, looks a little further for individual users, and offers to transfer application settings to analogous programs under Linux. It understands how to deal with Internet Explorer and Netscape cookies and bookmarks, Outlook, mIRC, and ICQ settings, and a variety of desktop preferences, including wallpaper, color scheme, and even mouse "handedness". We tried it out with a few settings, but since our Windows installation was fairly new, we didn't have much to check against. [11]

With the death of Corel Linux, this application faded away and is no longer maintained, however similar functionality is now available on at least Ubuntu when installing a dual-boot configuration on a machine that already has Windows on it. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WordPerfect</span> Word processing application

WordPerfect (WP) is a word processing application, now owned by Alludo, with a long history on multiple personal computer platforms. At the height of its popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was the dominant player in the word processor market, displacing the prior market leader WordStar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wine (software)</span> Windows compatibility software

Wine is a free and open-source compatibility layer to allow application software and computer games developed for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems. Developers can compile Windows applications against WineLib to help port them to Unix-like systems. Wine is predominantly written using black-box testing reverse-engineering, to avoid copyright issues. No code emulation or virtualization occurs. Wine is primarily developed for Linux and macOS.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">StarOffice</span> Discontinued office suite software

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alludo</span> Software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario

Cascade Parent Limited, doing business as Alludo, is a Canadian software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, specializing in graphics processing. Formerly called the Corel Corporation, the company is known for producing software titles such as CorelDRAW, and for acquiring AfterShot Pro, PaintShop Pro, Painter, Video Studio and WordPerfect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xandros</span> Linux distribution

Xandros, Inc. was a software company which sold Xandros Desktop, a Linux distribution. The name Xandros was derived from the X Window System and the Greek island of Andros. Xandros was founded in May 2001 by Linux Global Partners. The company was headquartered in New York City with its development office in Ottawa, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WPS Office</span> Office suite software by Kingsoft

WPS Office is an office suite for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Fire OS and HarmonyOS developed by Zhuhai-based Chinese software developer Kingsoft. It also comes pre-installed on Fire tablets. WPS Office is made up of three primary components: WPS Writer, WPS Presentation, and WPS Spreadsheet. By 2022, WPS Office reached a number of more than 494 million monthly active users and over 1.2 billion installations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corel Photo-Paint</span> Raster graphics editing software

Corel Photo-Paint is a raster graphics editor developed and marketed by Corel since 1992. Corel markets the software for Windows and Mac OS operating systems, previously having marketed versions for Linux. Its primary market competitor is Adobe Photoshop.

A number of vector graphics editors exist for various platforms. Potential users of these editors will make a comparison of vector graphics editors based on factors such as the availability for the user's platform, the software license, the feature set, the merits of the user interface (UI) and the focus of the program. Some programs are more suitable for artistic work while others are better for technical drawings. Another important factor is the application's support of various vector and bitmap image formats for import and export.

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of office suites:

Corel Presentations, often referred to simply as Presentations, is a presentation program akin to Microsoft PowerPoint and LibreOffice Impress. The current release, version 2021, is available only as part of Corel's WordPerfect Office productivity suite.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quick View</span> Windows file viewer software

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">CorelDRAW</span> Vector graphics editor

CorelDRAW is a vector graphics editor developed and marketed by Alludo. It is also the name of the Corel graphics suite, which includes the bitmap-image editor Corel Photo-Paint as well as other graphics-related programs. It can serve as a digital painting platform, desktop publishing suite, and is commonly used for production art in signmaking, vinyl and laser cutting and engraving, print-on-demand and other industry processes. Reduced-feature Standard and Essentials versions are also offered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linspire</span> Linux distribution

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snap (software)</span> Software deployment system for Linux by Canonical

Snap is a software packaging and deployment system developed by Canonical for operating systems that use the Linux kernel and the systemd init system. The packages, called snaps, and the tool for using them, snapd, work across a range of Linux distributions and allow upstream software developers to distribute their applications directly to users. Snaps are self-contained applications running in a sandbox with mediated access to the host system. Snap was originally released for cloud applications but was later ported to also work for Internet of Things devices and desktop applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collabora Online</span> Online office suite based on LibreOffice

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References

  1. "Corel Begins Beta-Testing of Corel® LINUX®". Bloomberg. 1999-09-21. Retrieved 2013-12-04.
  2. "System Requirements". Archived from the original on 2000-03-01. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  3. "System Requirements". Archived from the original on 2001-08-06. Retrieved 2013-11-11.
  4. Any optical drive that can read CD-ROM media.
  5. Knight, Will (1999-12-09). "Corel Linux Deluxe won't cross the pond". ZDNet . Retrieved 2023-06-30.
  6. "WordPerfect Office 2000 Linux manque de maturité". 01net. 2000-05-29. Retrieved 2024-05-27.
  7. Eisenberg, Bart (1999-06-18). "The Linux Parade Marches On". Pacific Connection. Retrieved 2024-05-27.
  8. Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J. (2006-01-30). "WordPerfect for Linux lives on (Sort of)". Practical Tech. Retrieved 2024-05-27.
  9. Leibovitch, Evan (2000-08-21). "Corel going south?". ZDNet . Retrieved 2024-05-27.
  10. Shankland, Stephen (2002-01-02). "Corel joins Linux effort with new system". ZDNet .
  11. Hall, Michael (2000-08-07). "Sneak Preview: Corel Linux OS Second Edition". LinuxPlanet. Archived from the original on 2000-08-15. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
  12. "7.04Tour -". Ubuntu Wiki. 2008-08-06.

Further reading