Is Cygwin of any use for me?

What is Cygwin capable of doing? Will I be able to run linux app on it? ...

I have read this post "http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?t=379855"

It's capable of allowing you to run a lot of Linux applications from within Windows. It's also possible to run remote Linux apps on the Windows machine via X11 forwarding.

you can run applications, yes but that depends what you actually want to do. would help if you actually bothered telling us what you want from it. a "linux app" covers both ping and KDE... basically you download the setup.exe from cygwin and select what you want to install into your pretend system, this does include things like X servers and window managers.

Originally Posted by scar_freewill What is Cygwin capable of doing? Will I be able to run linux app on it? ... I have read this post "http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?t=379855"

You can compile Linux apps in Cygwin for Cygwin. You cannot run native Linux apps (ones compiled for Linux) in Cygwin.

All depends. You need a rather powerful system to take advantage of everything Cygwin has to offer. If your processor is, by any chance, below 1.5 gigahertz, you could look into UWIN (UNIX for Windows), which I use for all of my practice shell programming on my Windows XP install. It just has the shell, though, nothing pretty.
Just my 2 cents.

Yeah, I used it to compile my stuff but it's SLOW. Running a configure script takes long. Another drawback is that you will need the cygwin.dll to be present in another systems.

Here are 2 more alternatives:

http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/
The best for me so far, but it's never updated

and there's this one I've never tried:
http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/

Guys thanks for all the feedback:

Does anyone know if cygwin can compile xmms? I have treid, but firstly i get ./configure deps and it tells me i need gtk+, but i have it so, then i do "./configure --disable-gtktest" and then it lakes a long time to give me and "error" that tells me i need x11 sources or something like that...

peter_89: I have a 3000+ Amd64 939; 1gb hynix ram, msi neo2 platinum, ati 9600se, sata-150 120gb, ... i think it's strong enough for cygwin? anyway planing to get a mobo upgrade to msi neo4-f and getting sometipe of 7800 since its my birthday 20 April so its a month and 2 days..

primo: Thanks for those options and I checked em out, but i think i'll stick with cygwin because it is suppored under some opensource games and there is how-tos for it too. [=

spooon: Thanks for telling me, but i am already aware it that. Its too bad ]=

runing remote Linux: I don't have a linux box atm ]=

acid_kewpie: I would like it if I can run most of my multi-media through cygwin like (xmms, xine...)

I think thats about it.

Originally Posted by scar_freewill Does anyone know if cygwin can compile xmms? I have treid, but firstly i get ./configure deps and it tells me i need gtk+, but i have it so, then i do "./configure --disable-gtktest" and then it lakes a long time to give me and "error" that tells me i need x11 sources or something like that...

Well after all it is the X MultiMedia System, so you would expect to need the X headers and stuff to compile. Cygwin setup has various packages like xorg-x11-devel, gtk+-devel, etc.; you might need try some of them.

Originally Posted by scar_freewill peter_89: I have a 3000+ Amd64 939; 1gb hynix ram, msi neo2 platinum, ati 9600se, sata-150 120gb, ... i think it's strong enough for cygwin? anyway planing to get a mobo upgrade to msi neo4-f and getting sometipe of 7800 since its my birthday 20 April so its a month and 2 days..

Looking at your specs I wouldn't worry at all.

How do I (or can I) run kde on windows via cygwin? (http://kde-cygwin.sourceforge.net/) If its one of the packages/snapshots on that site, what one should I use/download? what is qt3?

Is cygwin pretty useliss to me? (just a wast of bandworth? - http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=503470)

Most importantly what packages/snapshots should I use/where can I find one that will let me run kde?

I found a snapshot that will hopefully work meenwhile I will try it so long. (I have a 56/k shaired between 3 people)


[BECAUSE ITS TOO EXPENIVE TO GET BETTER INTERNET BECAUSE THE ONLY TELEPHONE OPPERATOR IS OWNED BY THE GOVERMENT. THEY LIKE TO NOT ONLY GET MONEY FROM 14% TAX, BUT ALSO FROM EVERY PHONE CALL THAT IS MADE IN THE COUNTRY] [SEE www.hellkom.co.za HOW TELLKOM SCREWS SA.]

Anyways so anyone can download the whole cygwin and all that stuff that goes with it. Then I will maybe be 1/5 of the way.