Linux has always been an interesting, almost-free alternative to Windows and Macs, but there is no useful software! Well, nothing that compares to Vegas anyway.

As I recall there used to be an interface layer that you could run called "Lindows", that would allow Windows software to run on Linux machines. I believed they had to rename the product under pressure from Mr. Bill.

but there is no useful software! Well, nothing that compares to Vegas anyway.

I'd say a good NLE is what's lacking. There's already good photo, audio, 3d, business, etc. There's just no good NLE out there. :(

Well there's Autodesk/Discreet Smoke on Linux if you have a lot of money lying around (it's six figures). There's also a bunch of other high-end kit that runs on Linux.

then they do have everything. And just think, if you buy all the expensive stuff you'll be a "pro" like all the avid guys cuz you spent a lot of $$ :D

I dual boot my machine - XP/Ubuntu 7.04 Linux.

There are plenty of good software offerings out there, and, a program called Crossover that allows you to run many windows applications flawlessly - unfortunately, Vegas (not any version that I own, and I've been a steady upgrader since Version 2.0) is not among them.

I arrived at this thread as the result of a search on Linux. I was hoping to find someone who has succeeded in getting any version of Vegas/Vegas Video to run on Linux.

The need for a good NLE (and, IMO, a good audio editor) is all that keeps me from dumping my XP pro all together.

Del

This is about as close as it gets - UbuntuStudio

Add MainConcept's MainActor NLE for Linux - you pretty much have what you need for audio and video editing (No HDV support as far as I can tell).

I'm very interested in this topic and am curious if anyone has tried Vegas via VMWare on a Ubuntu install???

There is a topic on the Ubuntu forums. I'm just curious if someone has successfully ran the three together.

I can put a network MPEG player with Linux OS on a bootable 3.5" CD.
Haven't been able to do that in Windows.

Our church just put in a dual monitor PC using a PowerPoint look alike in Linux.

Working on small Brick PC that has firewire (for a DV camera) and composite
out to do lower thirds going to a cheap switcher for cable access.

So I say Linux has a future.

One of the big issues with Vegas is that it requires the .NET framework, and uses Directx as opposed to OpenGL. To my knowledge this will require it being run via a virtual machine (VMWare) on any Linux box (like Apple's Parallel?).

It is a shame, because it makes it very unlikely that there will be a Linux port of the product. Mac's will be in the same boat.

There are a number of free NLE's on Linux (KINO, Cinelerra, DIVA, Pitivi), all at various stages of maturity and functionality. Cinelerra (http://cvs.cinelerra.org) comes closest to Vegas, Premiere, and Final Cut, in terms of power and functionality, but it is a long way from there. I wanted Cinelerra to be good enough (it is certainly powerful) but workflow and functionality-wise it just does not give you the confidence you need when you are working on a large project. It is open source, and it shares Vegas' roots of starting out as a sound editing app. The user model and the application features are very similar. But it started out as a one-developer project, and the architecture does not lend itself well to expansion and/or extension (e.g. virtually no separation of interface and application, does not use a GUI toolkit)

For what it is worth, Vegas is pretty much the only reason that I retain a Windows partition. For me it really is a killer-app.

Irony is, I would be happy to pay for Vegas on Linux, just for the confidence in the OS (stability, memory management, etc). Sigh...

C'est la vie.

Ciao,

marks

Hmm I've found Vegas/Windows to be fairly stable. In comaprison to high-end kit (Mistika) and desktop-level stuff (Final Cut, Final Touch/Color, Premiere), Vegas is definitely more stable and bug-free. The OS X folks have to suffer from Quicktime bugs + Quicktime + FCP releases that break their system, so even though OS X is based on Unix it's not that stable in practice. A lot of the high-end kit that runs on Linux isn't necessarily stable and bug-free in practice.

As far as the OS goes, Windows XP is reasonably stable. Malware and non-standard AVIs can screw up your system (non-standard AVIs will crash Windows explorer for example), but overall it's fairly stable and my XP system stays up for weeks.

I have a Debian box too... I've found just setting it up takes a bit of time. Which would sort of balance out the extra stability / not having to worry about malware?

"but there is no useful software! Well, nothing that compares to Vegas anyway."

I have not looked too far into the application world, but I DO use Linux as a web and FTP server. I have never seen ANYTHING as solid and dependable, it does not fail. The only times I re-booted in the last year was when we had to shut off the building power for maintenance. The first server I set up (in 1995) was a 486 with 16 megs of ram. That server ran for OVER TWO YEARS without a re-boot or even a hiccup. The power supply finally failed.

XP is pretty good, IMHO no better no worse than Mac, but neither can touch Linux. Vista I have not bothered to even consider yet.

If Vegas is ever supported on Linux, GO THERE.

It's a shame those Bell Labs guy's didn't push UNIX to new frontiers. They always had "Total reliability" designed into their stuff and it wasn't the new 1% baloney. I found that out when I installed a new Western Electric transister into a piece of drop equipment and the transister was not labelled so I put it in one way and it was 36 db gain and then reversed it and it was 34 db gain. Talk about ambidextrous amplifiers. I heard a lot of those guys went to work for Google which has me more than worried. They do not accept things that cannot be done, and then invent new technologies that supposedly could not be done.

JJK

Linux servers ... yep, i've had many of these go for years without even a thought about them necessary. Sometimes they'd be so trouble free that i'd even forget they were there ... just doing their job 24x7. Can't say that about Windows at all.

I think the only time i ever got close with Windows was once when i had a Win95 machine set up as an office file server. It ran for 14 months without a reboot. We we're all pretty shocked that it was still running at that point. But then, no programs had been run on it all that time. No one had even touched the keyboard. It had just sat up on a high shelf serving files and doing nothing else. The only reason we rebooted it was because we moved the office to the other side of the building and it had to be unplugged for a few minutes.