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balstestrat
Problem Solver
I would say most of the installs is on linux. People just have other win/mac stations to do everything else. Rarely it's the same guy printing and designing.
Caldera has good internal ICC profiling and support for devices so you don't need extra software.
Caldera has good internal ICC profiling and support for devices so you don't need extra software.
Pauly
Printrade.com.au
Im not really concerned about adobe, more of an example.
My main issue would be my barberi devices. (barbieri gateway) are only windows or mac. apparently theres linux drivers for it i see on their website.
I also use a lot of colorlogic software (windows)
colorlogic i can run in a VM probably as it uses a USB licence (plug it into my server)
but im not sure with Gateway as i dont think WINE can do USB passthough. (been a while)
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
I used to (not anything that they did). Personally, I would go with Debian Buster versus Ubuntu. Now some of my issues with Ubuntu (I run Arch by the way, I can't resist) are ancillary (snaps being a big one), Ubuntu still has other things going for it, depending on your experience with Linux.
When I first made the switch to Linux (which was before my time here, but this period did extend in to the beginnings of people's joy with me in this forum), I ran Windows software via a VM. Usually VirtualBox, but at one time, I have used Qemu as well (Qemu, unlike VB, is a virtualizor as well as an emulator (and there are differences for those that don't know between the two, I know some people on here use those terms as if they are the same thing, they are not (not anyone that I am aware of in this conversation at this time, just talking in general))).
WINE (and there is a version of this available on Mac as well) wouldn't have a passthru, a passthru is more of what you would see with hypervisors. WINE is a compatibility layer only, think of Rosetta on Mac, same type of thing. If the bits that you need for the USB operations aren't there to translate Windows sys calls to POSIX calls, no bueno. But it treats everything as if it was originally apart of the system, not an isolated environment like we have with VMs and/or emulation. NTVDM on Windows for old DOS programs was the same thing as well.
When people are thinking about switching to Linux, there are two big things that I suggest for everyone:
1. Don't do it cold turkey, always do it either in a VM at first or on a non essential computer
and
2. Don't think in terms of "Can I run software 'X' on Linux?", but "Can I do 'X' operation in Linux?". This is one that especially gets people. I find it amazing that people understand that they may have to get different programs from from Win->Mac or Mac->Win, but boy howdy, they want to try like all get out to run that Win software on Linux (also ironically, Linux is closer to Mac compared to Win (Mac is BSD under the hood after all), I actually have run Apple developed programs unaltered on Linux boxes before, that really doesn't happen with Win based programs on Linux, atleast would need something like WINE to get that to work).
If any essential question is in the negative with regard to #2, don't do the switch directly. Would at least have to run a VM of Windows (which I would argue is better than nothing).
When I first made the switch to Linux (which was before my time here, but this period did extend in to the beginnings of people's joy with me in this forum), I ran Windows software via a VM. Usually VirtualBox, but at one time, I have used Qemu as well (Qemu, unlike VB, is a virtualizor as well as an emulator (and there are differences for those that don't know between the two, I know some people on here use those terms as if they are the same thing, they are not (not anyone that I am aware of in this conversation at this time, just talking in general))).
WINE (and there is a version of this available on Mac as well) wouldn't have a passthru, a passthru is more of what you would see with hypervisors. WINE is a compatibility layer only, think of Rosetta on Mac, same type of thing. If the bits that you need for the USB operations aren't there to translate Windows sys calls to POSIX calls, no bueno. But it treats everything as if it was originally apart of the system, not an isolated environment like we have with VMs and/or emulation. NTVDM on Windows for old DOS programs was the same thing as well.
When people are thinking about switching to Linux, there are two big things that I suggest for everyone:
1. Don't do it cold turkey, always do it either in a VM at first or on a non essential computer
and
2. Don't think in terms of "Can I run software 'X' on Linux?", but "Can I do 'X' operation in Linux?". This is one that especially gets people. I find it amazing that people understand that they may have to get different programs from from Win->Mac or Mac->Win, but boy howdy, they want to try like all get out to run that Win software on Linux (also ironically, Linux is closer to Mac compared to Win (Mac is BSD under the hood after all), I actually have run Apple developed programs unaltered on Linux boxes before, that really doesn't happen with Win based programs on Linux, atleast would need something like WINE to get that to work).
If any essential question is in the negative with regard to #2, don't do the switch directly. Would at least have to run a VM of Windows (which I would argue is better than nothing).
Pauly
Printrade.com.au
the choice to run ubuntu is purely because i know it and i run many ubuntu server VMs. But also it seems like Caldera is moving towards Ubuntu rather than Debian as on the list of supported OS, Debian has started to disappear on some new apps and versions.
In my case, there's no alternative apps
and these apps i *need* I can see VMware works on ubuntu, so i might just use that as a VM as passthrough works great with it.
i've used Vbox in the past, but vmware seems to be faster & smoother. their free tier is prob good enough too.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
I can understand that and to be honest, snaps makes more sense running it on a server compared to a desktop centric version.
Most do that or they do RHEL, just because you can get enterprise level support on either one of those (5+ yrs (I think Ubuntu is 5, RHEL is 10, have Suse as well, but there is no support of that for Caldera))
It's been a long time sense I have used VMWare and at that time, it was RHEL and it's derivatives, no Ubuntu support (it does have that now).In my case, there's no alternative apps
I can see VMware works on ubuntu, so i might just use that as a VM as passthrough works great with it.
i've used Vbox in the past, but vmware seems to be faster & smoother. their free tier is prob good enough too.
Make no mistake, even though I'm on Linux, I have no problem paying for even open source software (contrary to what people think, oss doesn't mean that you get it for free, it just means that you have access to the source code upon request). I know you made no such mention of that. Every time I see "free", I go into that diatribe.
or DIGI usb anywhere (a favorite of mine![i believe you can share 16 usb ports over 1 ip
Pauly
Printrade.com.au
I have one
This would have worked, just means I need to turn the PC on and off each time.
Pauly
Printrade.com.au
On my Ubuntu servers, i dont actually run any snap apps. Its either on docker, or if i need to install something out of docker, it's apt.
Oh i know the difference between FOSS and OSS. Im more than happy to pay for OSS. some FOSS/OSS is far better than the proprietary crap out there.
I self host a few OSS apps on docker. some great automation apps i run.
If i had the time, i could write a series of blog posts on how to set up a print shop using FOSS software using an old PC as a server.
on another note,
I cloned my win11 dekstop into a VMware VM. opened it in vmware in ubuntu. It spun up with no issues.
i tested my network licences and they worked. im confident my USB devices will work also. I've passed though a scanner to a win7vm a few months ago for running the head calibration on the arizona (software only works in win7)
that solves my problems.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
Never got the docker fever. I don't even like the repos themselves. I like binary archives (which is really what's in those .deb files as those files are really not much different compared to .tar .zip .rar etc, I have run many programs that were apt packaged on Arch just be extracted and drag/drop where the go, can do the same thing with .rpm ones as well, they just don't have the handy post install script if needed, but that's another topic). However, be careful with apt, it's been known to default to the snap version without one actively wanting it.
I agree, there are actually more compared to what people think. The operations to do functions may be different from what they are used to, but that may really be it in some instances. It's come along way from how things were in the 90s and early aughts.
Love automation. Written several nim scripts (akin to bash, but written in nim (which has other benefits using that language)) and have written small gui utilities (c++/SDL/IMGUI combo) as well. One thing that Linux has done, that haven't done since I was in HS (and that was well before the turn of the century) is that it encourages this type of work and ultimately, while it takes time to learn it and do it and become efficient, overall over time, become more efficient compared to not having down it. But how Windows and Mac is setup, it doesn't encourage this type of workflow for just anyway, they have to be exceptionally motivated to do it, but I digress.
There shouldn't be any problems with standard USB passthrough on any of the VM options out there. One thing that I really did like with the vmWare player is the "Unity mode", which suppresses the window of the VM and makes it look like everything is happening on the host side. That was (been a long time since I used it remember, I have no reason to doubt that that is different) far more stable compared to VB.
Now IP passthrough for non hardline LAN devices that may be something else. At least it was with VB, I never got that sophisticated with my testing of vmWare for that. It may be easier.
Pauly
Printrade.com.au
IICR wine wont do passthough for USB devices.
WildWestDesigns
Active Member
No, it's not a hypervisor or emulator (WINE stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator). USB passthrough would imply a Host/Guest relationship which is not found with WINE. In some ways that's better (don't have the performance lag), but not everything has been accounted for the translation. WINE works in some situations, but I have never had much success with it. It's usually on the bottom of things that I would recommend, especially the more niche one goes, which Adobe is not.