Korean Job Discussion Forums

[talltony4]

Hi, does anyone have experience with using Linux to access typical Korean websites. e.g banking, naver, daum, etc?

I want to ditch windows, but I wonder if my Korean GF will get really grumpy with me. We share the computer.

One of the earlier threads mentioned a way to run IE (and it's evil active x component) inside firefox so I'd be interested in that. Or running IE on linux. Is it easy, difficult etc

[JustJohn]

Unfortunately many Korean sites require the (evil) activex, and since linux and evil are diametrically opposed you can't run activex with linux.

However, you CAN run it while in linux, it just takes a little work. You need to run internet explorer through a program called WINE that lets you run windows stuff. If you're comfortable messing around with stuff from a command line then give it a go.

[bassexpander]

You can download firefox and add the IE Tab add-on. Then you can run a lot more of IE stuff within firefox if you toggle back and forth. The more sophisticated internet banking stuff doesn't work 100 percent this way, though.

As the rest of Korea, you're screwed, IMHO. It's so ironic that a country so insane about keeping control of its money is so totally tied to the whims of Microsoft -- something which was Korea's own doing due to it's own stupid protectionist attempts.

They hung themselves out to dry.

[keetrainchild]

It is possible to install IE7 using WINE. I haven't done it, though, since I'm content with Firefox. Another option is to run a Windows virtual machine inside Linux, using VMWare, VirtualBox, or some other virtualization program. I've done that, and it seems to work pretty well.

Here's a link to an early method of installing IE7 in WINE:

http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/news/28

[Auslegung]

Get Opera, it's better at rendering webpages than Firefox (though I still use Firefox cuz it's cooler). It also emulates IE pretty well. <http://www.opera.com/>

[swigs]

Why not partition your hard drive and dual install both operating systems. That way everyone is happy. I assume you can do this with Linux and Windows, although I have never tried.

[Auslegung]

Sure, you can partition and install Windoze, but the problem with that is you would then have Windoze on your computer.

[keetrainchild]

VirtualBox (open source, made by Sun) is a great option for people who want to run Windows and Linux, but don't want to set up a separate partition for Windows. You just make a file which acts as a virtual partition. It can be any size you want (I recommend about 5 to 10GB), and you run it inside Linux. It's basically the same thing as "Virtual PC". VMWare is another similar program. I'll post a screenshot of it some time. Ok, here are some screenshots:

[img]http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/th.0581947a3f.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/83126bd603.jpg[/img]

[talltony4]

Thanks for the help

Keetrain, that looks pretty nice. have you tried it with Korean online banking sites? I think that would be the problem. I can hear it now...

"Haaaaay, why doesn't his computer have internet explorer?!!" "I need to pay my credit card." Talltony, what have you done to my computer?!!!"

I can't see why it wouldn't work though.

[keetrainchild]

That would be funny Of course, it's always fun to pull harmless pranks on people with virtual machines. Let them think they're hacking into all your files and messing up your computer...

Anyway, tell me the URL of a Korean banking site and I'll test it. My American banking site works fine with Firefox in Linux, and even if the site won't work in Linux, it'll almost certainly work in a virtual machine. The only things that generally have trouble working from VM's aren't software, but hardware, like special USB devices.

[TpaK]

[keetrainchild]

True, I must admit that my frame rates in Call of Duty 4 and Crysis in Linux aren't as high as they are in Windows Vista.