I don't think there's any alternative to a Windows VM for multiplatform computing. Small apps run fine in WINE (along with some games, which are just pure graphics calls), but many large applications that use their own custom libraries experience UI issues or run slowly/buggy. If I want to run "Simple Socket File Transfer" I use WINE. If I want to run Visual Studio I use VMware.
It's generally possible to place a Windows VM fullscreen on your second monitor with automatic mouse recognition across the host and guest. This makes it extremely convenient and reliable to use multiple apps on one PC.
Originally posted by: Kenshin911
I'm sure there are a lot of programs that it runs just fine. I'm just currious if it's truely possible to use the official microsoft files instead of the open source copies to get maximum compatibility.
I have a few applications I'd like to run that I know are quirky as hell: Orcad, ModelSim, Xilinx ISE etc. I bet they'll run at least to some extent, but I don't want to have to wonder if the reason my design isn't working is because of an incompatabilty in wine.
Well that's what WINE does if you specify the WINEDLLOVERRIDES correctly. But it's still not reliable.
There's nothing wrong with wine for gaming but I wouldn't be using it for flashing chips.
ModelSim and Xilinx ISE appear to have native Linux versions.