Multpile OS's, large files, which FS?

[thraxes]

OK, some may remember that I posted last week in a Linux discussion why I can't use the penguin as my main OS. The reasons were the unavailability of programmes for Video-Editing and some 3D animation work. Since then I have gotten suggestions for a few proggies that could fill that space (Cinerella and Blender 3D). Together with a few smaller utilities like AVIdemux and mencoder I think I could perhaps indeed look into Penguin-Power more seriously. There are gaps though, I good DVD Authoring solution is not yet available. The best you can get requires knowledge of how to describe the workings of a DVD menu in XML... I don't need DVD authoring often and when I do it is quick and dirty so a GUI would be nice - as far as i know somebody may just be working on it. For that and games, Windows will still be my friend.

MY QUESTION:
The best way to get big files (4+ GB) from one OS (Linux, Os-X, WinXP) to the other? FAT32 won't work with files that big, NTFS (which I use now) can't be written to by the 2 *nixes, UFS could be used between the *nixes but how to read that on a Windows machine... I'm at a loss. This is currently my main problem, I have so many files and projects that go beyond the 4GB mark and there is NO modern filesystem that will work well on all OS's. It's something that I would need to be able to work with stuff from other people. Mac to Windows is not that hard as they run on seperate machines and the files can be transferred via Gigabit network without effort. But Linux to Windows that both on a dual-boot machine? HOW?

I'd really like to try Linux as my main OS but I will only do it, if I know I can be productive on it - otherwise what's the point? Up until now I have used the Penguin as a Surf-box, media-server and as my router/firewall/FTP for broadband access so i am reasonably comfortable with the OS... advice please!

 

[Nothinman]

There are gaps though, I good DVD Authoring solution is not yet available

http://dvdstyler.sourceforge.net/index.html

I don't know how good it is yet, but it's available.

UFS could be used between the *nixes but how to read that on a Windows machine... I'm at a loss

Even if UFS or HFS+ were writable in Linux, I wouldn't trust them. From my limited experience the UFS support is still pretty experimental since not many people care about it.

Your best bet is probably to setup a network server with all of the disk space, all 3 OSes shouldn't have any problems with large files that way.

 

[TGS]

Put samba on a box, create a sharepoint, enjoy the data access from windows or linux.

 

[thraxes]

Hmmm good ideas... a small, not increadibly fast, low power box (something with a VIA Epia maybe that can be cooled very quietly), gigabit card and running Windows with Network shares. (Windows so I have a central point to connect high capacity NTFS formatted external HDDs)

I do have a PII-300 that I could also use for this but I would then need to get a USB2 card, GigaBit Net and it wouldn't be really quiet or efficient either. I hate not having enough money for stunts like this

 

[drag]

Unfortunately it seems to me the only real solution is to get a seperate file server.

There are several major advantages to this approach.. one of is the distinct possiblity of having faster-then-local disk access and higher reliability. With new PCIe enabled motherboards, with PCIe disk controllers and network controllers, the sky is the limit to software RAID arrays and network connectivity speeds.

Then with a seperate server it takes a big load off of the workstation so that it works more efficient, too.

To bad you realy aren't going to get that with the 300mhz machine though. But it's perfectly workable for sharing files and is much more ideal then any aviable shared file system between the 2 machines.

For the noise issue, the easy solution is to stick it in a different room/closet/basement/whatever. Who cares how noisy the big powerfull server you have, just as long as you don't have to be there listen to it?


For multimedia apps in Linux.. Cinellera is nice and Blender is cool.. but they are alien compared to the UIs used in commonly used Windows-apps. Very weird, so don't be to dissapointed in them when you use them.. they don't look very impressive. There are also Kino and Mainactor (propriatory, but inexpensive.. plus they have a trial version) for NLE's aviable for Linux.

As well as 3d propriatory apps.. Maya and softimage XSI are aviable, as well as numerious smaller others (special apps just for things like hair simulation and such).

A couple other projects that I've found recently... Jahshaka is a realtime open source effects and processing editor. A video compositing app, it's neat looking and can be used to make fancy looking effects. http://jahshaka.org/

Another one, that is under advanced alpha developement, is Piviti. It's a new one designed to address the shortcommings of other projects like Cinelerra and Jahshaka. Only currently aviable from CVS (a distributed code management system for developers) and it's not to complete, but it should be very interesting. http://www.pitivi.org/

For Cinelerra there has recently (more or less) been a fork in the project. They've setup a community website and the fork is ment to address the deficiencies in the original developer's developement model. (as far as I can tell the original developers think the fork is swell.. I think that having a community website seperate from themselves makes their lives a bit easier) They have a couple tutorials and a manual aviable also. It's aviable http://cvs.cinelerra.org/

If you google around you can find lists of applications aviable. They vary in what they have, but if you can find some wikis and a few lists usually you can find some good stuff.

 

[thraxes]

I have my fast drives running locally. New stuff that usually arrives on external drives will just be shared and copied over via the Net. Not much different than what I do now, where the files I need are taken from the external drives and stored locally for editing. When everythings done it is copied back... no problem with a file server.

I'm not that bothered with wierd UIs... I started my 3D-ing on an Amiga with a prgramme called Reflections. It was completely and totally drag and drop based - EXTREMELY wierd in comparison to just about any other larger 3D app out there and I haven't come across anything like it since. Maybe Blender will be Deja-Vu?

So now I just gotta find out how I am going to pay 212 Euros for getting the 300MHz system up to scratch for this job... Who the hell said Linux was free???