Maybe its time now for addressing Linux64bit

[geoffwilliams]

Linux is exclnt but - its like promising a 10 year old loads of chocolates and sweeties for their birthday but turniong around and handing them a pot and a packet of sugar, some cocoa and a chinese recipe book.

their is still too little support, ease of use for the main stream market place

I have to disagree here.
Ubuntu, OpenSuse, Mandriva will install almost perfectly on most systems. Try a LiveCD if in doubt. And usually they work out of the box. With OpenOffice, Blender, GIMP etc you have a complete suite of free software. Trainz runs well on Linux under WINE,it isn't perfect but a couple more releases of WINE and I reckon the bugs will be ironed out.

As for support, well, if you get stuck Google it and you will find a host of information and forums.

Linux promises nothing, sweets or otherwiswe, but it is fast becomming a fair alternative to the expensive, bug ridden Microsoft offerings. Whilst it is true that most of the best software out there is for windows, this is rapidly changing.

Of course I am biased, I just love an operating System which rarely crashes, for which I don't need Anti Virus software or disk defragmenters, and all at the right price.

Because Trainz will run on Linux under WINE, maybe the programmers at Auran would like to look at tweaks to perfect it. The major drawback is CM 2.0 which will not run (though it can be run in a Virtual Box machine) I don't think this should be too difficult to do (CMP runs OK and there is not that much a difference in the interface.) The advantage is that they would capture another area of the market. AFAIK neither MSTS or Railworks will run on Linux.

Linux used to be a hackers os. It is now fast becoming a viable alternative to Windows. Ignore it at your peril
Geoff

 

[mikemike]

we could run trainz on PC-DOS, if we didn't need all the pretty. somewhere in between you have to decide what kind of trainz you want to run: is it going to be prototypical operational or 16-Plex cinematic? XP3 doesn't crash, and i'm using free Avast and haven't had a virus since the 1918 flu epidemic. i make my own routes, and they're minimalist, with only a hint of building and maybe a tree for variety -- the topographic and geographic level is strictly done with color surfaces on the baseboard -- and, this is well and good for me, and i can run trainz fine. it's prettier than those early DOS time-saver games, and more fun than Train Dispatcher 3 for operations. also, it's good to have detailed engines and carstock.

what am i missing that u-bee-too isn't giving me?

but, that's me and how i want trains to be in my world. if i really needed a complete visualized replica of new zealand or colorado, i'd use win 7 and the fastest card and chip i could buy, including SSD drives. now, how is that going to be remedied by Linux or Mac? mac's just cost more, and linux just loads OS faster? DOS loads faster.

smartest would be a dedicated OS for trainz -- i mean writing your own OS to only run trainz and maybe text-pad... dedicated computer and trainmaster controls, and a nice O gauge layout for when you got bored and wanted to actually touch more than your mouse...

 

[johnwhelan]

Of course I am biased, I just love an operating System which rarely crashes, for which I don't need Anti Virus software or disk defragmenters, and all at the right price.

Many versions of Unix do have antivirus software and there are defragmenters available for some as well. Our security people were keen on Unix but it was only acceptable for production work if it had some form of antivirus software.

Cheerio John