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SynthEyes on Linux Systems

SynthEyes runs on Linux systems using Wine, which stands for "Wine is not an Emulator." From the Wine site:

Think of Wine as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs. Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely free alternative implementation of the Windows API consisting of 100% non-Microsoft code

Some potential and current SynthEyes users ask "Why don't you have a native Linux version of SynthEyes? The question fails to understand how modern cross-platform software is developed, namely, that every cross-platform application is developed using a particular API to talk to the operating system, and that API is then implemented to talk to the actual operating system that version of the application is designed to run on. This approach is necessary because it is not feasible to develop and maintain a completely separate code base for each operating system, which would require two, three, four, etc times the amount of work!

SynthEyes is written against the Win32 API, so Wine is the appropriate implementation of that API to run SynthEyes on Linux. As a benefit, Wine is open source, so it is an API implementation that you can see and even adjust if your needs warrant it. Wine has been developed and refined by legions of programmers the world over, and it's free!

As a further benefit, Wine installations are available on 9 different Linux versions, which would be impossible for us to maintain directly. And you can compile it on your own favorite non-standard distribution if you like.

We understand that some people "don't like" Wine or have had trouble using it with other applications. Some even get kind of huffy that we are not true belivers in the Linux way or something. The facts, though, are that Wine works nicely with SynthEyes, it's the appropriate solution, and that there are studios large and small using SynthEyes on Wine worldwide every day. If you believe in Linux, you should believe in WINE. So give it a try!

And some exciting news! The WINE developers have been working on the 64-bit version of WINE for some time, and with WINE 1.2, it is being introduced. We have not had a chance to test it, or gotten feedback from users yet, but the 64-bit WINE will allow the full 64-bit SynthEyes to run on 64-bit Linux versions, bringing full SynthEyes power to Linux users.

A stable supported version of Wine is offered commercially by CodeWeavers. Please check with them regarding the Wine version corresponding to their current version.

Limitations

• The OpenGL solution requires some nontrivial capabilities from the video card, so older video cards may not have the necessary support.
• Installing the correct video driver into Linux is advisable to enhance image redraw speed.
• Test both the OpenGL and non-OpenGL versions of the camera view and 3-D viewports to see which is fastest on your particular machine and drivers. Open a solved SynthEyes scene, hit Play, and check the frame rate on the status line.
• The DirectX-based source formats are not supported, ie AVIs. This shouldn't be a significant issue for production use, which typically uses sequenced images.
• QuickTime should be supported once you install QuickTime, which is a supported application under CrossOver, but you will need to have the proper codec installed on Linux.