Best Windows emulator

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Gollam

47 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 9

#13633 21-May-2007 12:18

OK - this should start a riot!!

The only thing stopping me from converting completly to *nix is getting my accounting package to work ABSOLUTLY reliably on the *nix platform - as my business relies on this.

Package is MYOB 12

I have spent some time on Ubuntu 6.10 but have still had some doubts about Windoz emulation

Give me your best shot....

Gollam

Time flies like an arrow - fruit flies like a banana

Mostly Harmless

77 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#71597 22-May-2007 00:09

If you really need to it be rock-solid then I'd suggest either dual-booting, or virtualisation.

VMWare is a little pricey, but is superb, and will let you run Windows within Linux. Downside: you need to buy both VMWare and a copy of Windows.

Dual-booting is cheaper, but you have to reboot and you still need a copy of Windows.

Wine is free but your mileage will vary - some things work very well, some things fall over immediately. Upside is that it integrates nicely. There is also CrossOver Office, which is built on Wine and offers support, and is also quite reasonably priced. The application DB on Wine's site seems to suggest that MYOB will run quite well, however.

There are real emulators, like Bochs, but the performance does not match that of virtualisation and the emulation is always a bit less compatible. But it's also free (except for the pre-requisite Windows licence).

Cheers,
James

Gollam

47 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 9

#71679 22-May-2007 13:51

Hi James

Yes - been down the path of dual booting - just a pain in the a$$
Did some work with VMware when I was working full time in Auckland, you are correct that it is expensive, but it does work well!

Have heard about Wine, but not yet played with it - I will give it a go

Cheers

Roy

Time flies like an arrow - fruit flies like a banana

barf

643 posts

Ultimate Geek

#71704 22-May-2007 15:08

VMware is free and (mostly) Open Source. even VMware GSX server is free now. they only charge for support contracts!

I reccomend using the vmware server, although you can install vmware player with only a couple of clicks using automatix and create the images over at http://easyvmx.com

for business use, I would not suggest using MYOB under WINE as WINE can be unstable

Sniffing the glue holding the Internet together

Mostly Harmless

77 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#71740 22-May-2007 19:06

VMWare Server is free, and VMWare Player (which cannot create new images are free), however the very useful client version of VMWare is still somewhat expensive.

As for Wine, your mileage will vary. Some applications are rock solid on Linux (usually the ones the Wine maintainers want to use), others aren't worth trying to load. And most are still a bit dodgy under Mac OS X, although it's getting better.

You could also try Parallels - the Mac version is rather good, and while I haven't tried the Win/Linux version it is only US$50.

weblordpepe

460 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#71752 22-May-2007 19:54

It is my understanding that these commercial apps are forks of Wine. I tell you one thing though, Wine seems to be coming out every month with loads of improvements. The last one was only 2 weeks old when a new version came out with three screens full of updates.

The Wine project is burning rubber at the moment.

Gollam

47 posts

Geek
+1 received by user: 9

#71894 23-May-2007 14:05

Hi all

Thanks for the feedback...I am tending towards wine (well I will run in tandom for a while) as VMware Client is still the expensive part which I feel you would need to set up correctly.

Anyway - watch this space, but you could add your 2c worth in regard to best *nix to use

I am still going for Ubuntu

Cheers

Gollam

Time flies like an arrow - fruit flies like a banana

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Mostly Harmless

77 posts

Master Geek
Inactive user

#72001 23-May-2007 21:59

Ubuntu works nicely for me at work... only hassles so far are Beryl (don't try if you've a dual-head setup on an ATi card) and directory servers (Fedora DS is a pain to install under Ubuntu).

It is fast acquiring polish though, very impressed overall.

cam34

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

#74334 11-Jun-2007 21:49

Try Cross Over Office

Its free to try and only like 20 or 30 bucks to buy (only is it works etc)

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/download_trial_linux/