Ok I know there are a lot of crazy computer people in the guild like me, so I figured I'd ask if any of yall have tried replacing Windose entirely with a Linux package like Ubuntu or Fedora and using Wine or VMWare to run games and (more importantly) editing apps like Adobe Phtoshop and Premiere.

My main question is how much of a speed hit will I take to go this route? I know VMWare is a emulator of sorts so it would take more of a speed hit then using Wine, but it seems its more compatible as it emulates the entire windows environment. Have any of yall had any experience with this kind of thing?

Also, what other packages for Linux should I know about? There's just SO many things I don't know about modern Linux. Last time I ran with the penguin was 7 years ago, so nothing is the same anymore. I mean holy shit, have you seen the Beryl/Compiz GUI yet? It's freekin awesome and its umm reprogramable... Me wants to reprograms it.

Anyways thanks for any pointers you guys may have.

The downside about WINE, as I recall, is no support for DirectX. VMWare requires you install Windows and run it virtually. Again, the issue is DirectX. I am not sure that it works correctly.

from what i understand from reading lots of stuff VMWare just recently got its gaming support up because of increased DirectX support. Wine on the other hand relies on magic to make games work rofl... Seriously I tried figuring out how Wine gets games to work and I couldn't. Although i did discover another package called Cedega that is made specifically to run games, so thats good to know, but it looks like they charge a monthly fee...

Welp I decided to install a copy of Ubuntu and see what i can figure out. This should be interesting...

Welp after hours of installing, testing, and failing I've discovered that Linux is still not good for media editors. /sigh I was really, really looking forward to the Compiz GUI, but alas I will have to settle with Windows Vista x64 with its classic theme... /cry Oh and on a side note, Vista x64 is much more stable then Vista x86... Go M$! Force people to 64 bit with shitty 32 bit OSs!!

Sorry I didn't see this post last week (showed up as alreday read).

Yeah, it sucks for gaming and grpahics support

Think about it, the windows app is going to a virtual driver that goes thru vmware to a real linux driver, than back the same route to the application.

Not all driver support that exists for the hardware exists in the virtual driver, so you're taking a pretty big performance hit.

Everyone I know in the linux/mac crowd is buying macbooks, and osX boxes and dual booting them between linux / osX / windows xp pro

Basically they use xp for games only, and most of your good design apps exist in mac as well. But no vmware, cause thats not good for workstations, think of vmware as a server virtualization tool, which it works _AWESOME_ as.

The Ubuntu bug has stuck again! This time to a greater extent. A few things happened that convinced me to give it another shot (so glad I did!).

So we have a LAN party 2 weeks ago and two of the guys are running it on their laptops, so I decide to take a peek and see whats happened in 6 months. Apparently every 6 months Ubuntu gets a HUGE update (like from Windows 98 to XP huge!) With the latest incarnation (Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron") it's like they addressed every major issue I had with it! There is native NTFS support, the windows emulators are working better then windows, and media is so much better now. So far I've just about switched entirely over to it. Just have to get my flash and html editors working and I'm good to go!

About a week ago I got EQ2 running with WINE. Holy crap! It runs faster then it did on Windows! Apparently every time there is a major game released the guys at WINE scramble to get it working in Linux! All the top games are working on WINE with about a gold rating. (it goes platinum, gold, silver, bronze, garbage)

VMWare is kicking ass and taking names now. You can install and run ANY program for windows on it. It still has a bit of lag over windows, but its only a last resort now because of WINE's awesomeness.

VLC has increased its Linux support 10x which is just awesome. In a few short weeks version 0.9.0 will be out!

Theres a free built in music editor/iTunes look-a-like that makes using a shitty iPod bearable.

There's also an awesome version of Word, PowerPoint and Excel built into Ubuntu. Also an eMail client that owns Outlooks ass!

Built in disc burning app better then Nero and has native ISO BIN CUE NRG support!

All the basics come built in: Notepad, Calculator, Solitare. And every one of them is better in at least ONE way.

Then it comes with some things that make me wonder WTF M$ is thinking by NOT adding them to Windose: a Dictionary, an Archiver (with RAR support), a virtual sticky note maker, SUDO-freeking-KU!!!!

Then after all that I check out what has changed in Compiz... Amazingly, it got better! I set my UI up with SlicknesS (best UI skin evar!) and reskined my login screen and even my bootloader!!! My windows wiggle and jiggle and turn in 3d as they open and close and I have 4 desktops that are switchable by just clicking the middle mouse button and dragging left or right on the desktop. Then my desktop turns into a 3d cube and spins with my mouse. All my windows are in 3d space as well. As you rotate the desktop you can see the windows that are in front and behind other windows. Its gotta be the coolest thing ever. It makes a lack of real estate a thing of the past even on small monitors.

Then I found out that the multi monitor support in Ubuntu was awesome too! You can have the Overlay span all your monitors! Windows has never been able to do that!

The list goes on and on, but its getting late now, so I gotta go to sleep. But I need to say one last thing:

I'm now proud to use Firefox... Version 3 with FlashGot and DownThemAll! has made me a believer. I never thought I would enjoy FF, but now I do. I'm not sure I would use it on Windows, but in Ubuntu, it is king.

Xevin,

I'm a little surprised you weren't going the OSX route and running the mac installs of the editing software.

My understanding is this is better performance than ubuntu+wine+vmware.

Problem is, your still running a dual boot or vmware for game support.

Update - WINE now supports DX9c. From what I have read EQ2 will run on it. There are some graphics issues (mainly on some reflections) but no show stoppers. I have not tried it myself. The WINE homepage has some set up hints for a variety of MMORPG's that can be very helpful. However, WINE gives the EQ2 performance a gold rating (platinum being perfect with no issues) on Unbuntu 7.0 Gutsy.

Yeah Mac OSX is umm too simple. I have a Mac at the office, but it sits in the corner collecting dust. From my experiences with it, the software that was created for mac is decent for basic editing (cut copy paste), but if you want to do any advanced compositing or 3d manipulation, prepare for a headache. Last time I used a Mac, adobe premiere wouldn't run on it, 3ds max cried out in pain, and everything else moved at a snails pace. And this wasn't an old Mac either. It was top of the line just before Mac went Intel. My boss used to use it for editing our footage way back, but for me, every advanced effect I knew I could no longer do because of software limitations.

Right now I'm dual boot Ubuntu + Win Vista x64. It will prolly stay that way, but less and less I'm not leaving Ubuntu to do something in Windows, I'm just finding a way to do it in Linux.

running preimier or 3dstudio on osx via vmware is the suck. I was talking about using the native osx applications rather than going thru an emulator.

omg, you guys need to put a warning on here for people like me.
My brain hurts from trying to understand all that, lol

The OSX native apps are lacking major features. Plus they are slow as poop.

Final Cut Pro/Studio is sad. Support for external animators (After Effects, Illustrator) is lacking severely last I used it. Also It had no real way of blue/green screening built in. You had to do all the compositing in another app, that didn't play nice with shared files, then render the completed composite, import it into FCP and then render it again to get it to RAW MOV format... In Windows everything plays nice, and if you want to chroma key in Premiere, you can, or you can do it in After Effects. Ether way it works well. Windows HD video format issues are more preferable then loosing features. Although I hear Adobe is releasing its programs on Mac now. I still I think I would rather use them on Windows, or in Ubuntu.

3D on a Mac is abysmal. The only choice is Blender... I like my 3DS Max. I can make things look awesome in it, and I can do it quickly. Only thing that takes time is rendering... /sigh I want a render farm.

Garage Band is the only one I like and its replaced with Acid Pro easily. I haven't tried to install Acid Pro on Ubuntu yet. I'm not really sure if it would work.

PhotoShop... well it works on all platforms. I like it in Vista/XP the best though.

HTML and Flash editors work on all platforms equally well, so there is no comparison.

I think I'm going to stick with Ubuntu for personal use and Vista x64 for business use. Keeping things separated is good.

If you dont mind, expand on the everquest running better in wine than windows.

Umm well you install EQ2 in linux then you have to uninstall gecko (if you have it already) and then patch (eq2 cant patch with gecko installed) then you run the game from everquest2.exe in your install directory.

Turn off all the heat shimmer and blurring stuff in the eq2 settings. The game (with AA turned on) runs slightly faster with an 8800GTS g92 than it does in windows with AA turned on. (40FPS min to 60FPS min in EFP) however there may be some unseen glitches that I did not see. I only played in a solo leveling situation. no raiding or grouping.