updates

are there rolling updates or do you have to re-install every time?

and how would you say it handles/runs most Win programs?

paradive wrote:are there rolling updates or do you have to re-install every time?

and how would you say it handles/runs most Win programs?

1. There are rolling updates. The Update Manager (in the administration menu) will generally notify you on the level you set it to depending on what you put in settings, but this is an Ubuntu-based distribution, you have to set "Notify me of a new Ubuntu version" to "Never". I generally only keep security updates on in the update section. I'll update when I get new programs.

2. It's a mixed answer, mostly positive with reservations. The truth is it can handle a lot with Wine-- the Windows Compatibility System Zorin OS has running on it (and if we go by the size of the library of PC programs I would say most) but many major programs do not run-- sometimes this is the software company's issue (it uses Windows features natively while being unsupported otherwise) and sometimes a user issue (people love cracked copies of Photoshop; licensed versions will run on the distribution, but cracked ones won't). It appears the basis of the Zorin system is that it will try to be Windows-friendly and where there is no direct Windows compatibility a comparable substitute takes its place.

This site lists a lot of compatibility indexes for Wine and PlayonLinux.
http://appdb.winehq.org/

http://www.playonlinux.com/en/supported_apps.html

And then there's Codeweavers: http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/

The question you have to ask is "what program do I want to run?" And then, "can another program do the same thing-- usualy for free?" (Example, LibreOffice does what MS Office does for free, but there is no substitute for World of Warcraft, however-- which runs just fine on Zorin OS.)

P.S. If you are a Photoshop user, dock the windows on Gimp 2.8 and give it a try. It opens .PSD files fairly well now, and with the docked windows you don't feel like you're running some art program from another planet. Sorry old style GIMP fans! It scares away some people.

Deacon wrote:

paradive wrote:are there rolling updates or do you have to re-install every time?

and how would you say it handles/runs most Win programs?

1. There are rolling updates. The Update Manager (in the administration menu) will generally notify you on the level you set it to depending on what you put in settings, but this is an Ubuntu-based distribution, you have to set "Notify me of a new Ubuntu version" to "Never". I generally only keep security updates on in the update section. I'll update when I get new programs.

2. It's a mixed answer, mostly positive with reservations. The truth is it can handle a lot with Wine-- the Windows Compatibility System Zorin OS has running on it (and if we go by the size of the library of PC programs I would say most) but many major programs do not run-- sometimes this is the software company's issue (it uses Windows features natively while being unsupported otherwise) and sometimes a user issue (people love cracked copies of Photoshop; licensed versions will run on the distribution, but cracked ones won't). It appears the basis of the Zorin system is that it will try to be Windows-friendly and where there is no direct Windows compatibility a comparable substitute takes its place.

This site lists a lot of compatibility indexes for Wine and PlayonLinux.
http://appdb.winehq.org/

http://www.playonlinux.com/en/supported_apps.html

And then there's Codeweavers: http://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/

The question you have to ask is "what program do I want to run?" And then, "can another program do the same thing-- usualy for free?" (Example, LibreOffice does what MS Office does for free, but there is no substitute for World of Warcraft, however-- which runs just fine on Zorin OS.)

P.S. If you are a Photoshop user, dock the windows on Gimp 2.8 and give it a try. It opens .PSD files fairly well now, and with the docked windows you don't feel like you're running some art program from another planet. Sorry old style GIMP fans! It scares away some people.

yeah, i'm aware of osalt, et al.
i just thought it might have layers of compatibility beyond Wine.
i'm mostly a gamer. so that's my main concern. as Wine isn't staying on top of current games really. =/

and i'm still wondering when/where i can use Windows Live Movie Maker, as there aren't any Linux alternatives that will play with the 500 or so project files i already have (.wlmp).

paradive wrote:yeah, i'm aware of osalt, et al.
i just thought it might have layers of compatibility beyond Wine.
i'm mostly a gamer. so that's my main concern. as Wine isn't staying on top of current games really. =/

and i'm still wondering when/where i can use Windows Live Movie Maker, as there aren't any Linux alternatives that will play with the 500 or so project files i already have (.wlmp).

Not sure what games you want to use; there are a lot of Linux gamers with their own solutions. What games currently are you referring to?

As to the .wimp files, I am not sure how much support they get. Usually people jump on file formats, but .wimp is a project file, meaning it needs to be converted into a movie format.

Deacon wrote:

paradive wrote:yeah, i'm aware of osalt, et al.
i just thought it might have layers of compatibility beyond Wine.
i'm mostly a gamer. so that's my main concern. as Wine isn't staying on top of current games really. =/

and i'm still wondering when/where i can use Windows Live Movie Maker, as there aren't any Linux alternatives that will play with the 500 or so project files i already have (.wlmp).

Not sure what games you want to use; there are a lot of Linux gamers with their own solutions. What games currently are you referring to?

As to the .wimp files, I am not sure how much support they get. Usually people jump on file formats, but .wimp is a project file, meaning it needs to be converted into a movie format.

diablo 3, torchlight 2......

and ideally, something could convert the .wlmp to it's native project file format so i could still work with them.
see what i'm saying?

Diablo 3 and torchlight 1 are included in the list of PlayOnLinux.
http://www.playonlinux.com/en/supported_apps-1-0.html

swarfendor437 wrote:Theres also 'transgaming.org' (Cedega) which is now predominantly involved with Cider (running Windows Games on Mac) - I don't think they had enough take up - the nice thing about Codeweavers is that when you purchase Cross-Over you are donating to the WINE project so it is getting fed back to the community - they also used to run a discount code when Winedoors project folded - cometothelight - for 25% discount if memory serves me right.
You can try Crossover for 30 days free to see if it meets your needs.

interesting.
so how is Cross-Over related to Wine?
are they separate entities?

paradive wrote:

swarfendor437 wrote:Theres also 'transgaming.org' (Cedega) which is now predominantly involved with Cider (running Windows Games on Mac) - I don't think they had enough take up - the nice thing about Codeweavers is that when you purchase Cross-Over you are donating to the WINE project so it is getting fed back to the community - they also used to run a discount code when Winedoors project folded - cometothelight - for 25% discount if memory serves me right.
You can try Crossover for 30 days free to see if it meets your needs.

interesting.
so how is Cross-Over related to Wine?
are they separate entities?

Crossover began with a Wine developer and something about rum drinks.
http://www.codeweavers.com/about/story/