So Michael, does that mean that if we get a Mac version soon - that you might be able to do a Linux port sometime after?

Just hoping I guess.

Roger

Hi Roger, I do not expect to do a special Linux version, but the Windows version is now set up so that it can run under Linux using the Wine system, just as long as you have a good enough video driver that is stable and not crashy.

I thought you were already running it under Linux this way already, didn't you mention that you were doing that on this previous thread here:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=4409.3

- Michael

Yep - have been using it under Linux - with Wine - but still not as fast/good as native under Windows.

Just thought that the move to the Mac would give you a code base that could easily port to Linux. But I guess that supporting multiple platforms then becomes the main issue.

Roger

Hi Roger - it is using Wine on the Mac too, that's how I was able to be able to do a Mac version without a 100% complete rewrite.

> but still not as fast/good as native under Windows.

What doesn't seem to be as fast as running under Windows?

Usually one of the good things about Wine is that it actually gives great performance, since it directly loads and executes program code, it only gets involved when programs make system API calls, and at that point just basically passes the request on to the OS. It does not get in the way of normal code execution unlike a "virtual machine" type emulation system like Parallels or VMWare.

So if something seems slow on your current system, I'm not sure that I would be able to solve it by a native Linux version, maybe you have some problem with your video driver.

Unstable and buggy video drivers for 3D acceleration functions seems to be rampant on Linux unfortunately - that by itself kind of rules out me being able to target Linux very well with a specific version since there is just too high of a likelihood that any random person's video driver is going to be substandard.

- Michael

Ah - I see. Yes I do agree about the Linux driver world.

I haven't full documented the performance of Moi under wine on Linux - but it just doesn't *feel* as fast as under windows. I tried it on a dual boot machine (same hardware) and usually ended up going back to Windows. And when I am fully into a complex design I just want to work as fast as I can - so I don't actually do a lot of heavy duty design work in Linux. Perhaps all that shows is the amount of effort that has gone into the Windows O/S as opposed to Linux. Gotta give Microsoft credit for something ;-)

Actually the main problem for me is that I have too many devices to lug with me when I am on the road. I started with a Windows - laptop/notebook - but the lethargic W7 boot kills that as a true portable device. Then I went to Linux - boots quickly but doesn't run all the apps that I need and is still a big heavy laptop/notebook. Recently have been using an Android tablet. Functionality is perfect - instant on and size/weight suits me - but no real apps that I need. Plus it is a media *consumption* device as opposed to a media *creation* device.

So looks like I will stay with a Windows laptop/notebook for my apps - including Moi AND the Android tablet for email etc.

Roger

Hi Roger - if the sluggishness is something to do with the 3D display, stuff like pauses or hiccups when you move the mouse around inside of viewports then that's likely to be some problem with the video driver and that makes it fairly likely that a native Linux version would still suffer in the same way on your particular machine / video card / driver setup.

When the video driver misbehaves it's difficult to make things work well...

Video drivers are even more problematic than other kinds of drivers since video cards these days tend to be the most complex piece of hardware on the machine.

- Michael