Summary

You might wish to use Windows and the UNIX System together for any of many reasons, and these operating systems can be made to work together in many ways.

We began by describing how Windows is a graphical user interface to DOS much as CDE, KDE, and GNOME are graphical user interfaces to UNIX. We then described some similarities and differences between how the DOS command-line environment under Windows is used in comparison to command-line environments under UNIX.

Among the techniques that we have shown is using PC software to emulate a Windows environment under UNIX. We described how to build environments that allow the use of familiar commands for either the Windows or the UNIX environment, and how to use software such as Samba to access and print UNIX files as though they were Windows files. We addressed running the UNIX System and Windows on the same PC. We also briefly addressed the issues of file transfer and networking Windows and UNIX machines together. These last two issues are discussed in much greater detail in Chapters 9 and 15.

We conclude by suggesting that your method of sharing UNIX and Windows environments depends on what you need to do when you share the environments.