Linux

#1

Will EIAS ever port to Linux?

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Movie_Making_Manual-Linux_in_film_production

some excerpts:

Advantages

Free (or very cheap)
Bugs are usually fixed very quickly
Stable
Fast
You can modify it to your heart’s content
There is a lot of support available on-line through Wikis and Forums
Developers are usually very open to suggestions from users. Much more so than closed-source, corporate software developers. If you’ve got money to spend, then the developers will probably gladly design custom modules for you.
Many software options for similar tasks.

Disadvantages

Documentation is often a little sketchy
The Macintosh is the Industry standard for most aspects of film production (— HUH!!!)
Is harder to learn if you are only familiar with Mac OS or Windows (although it’s getting easier)

enjoy
k!

#2

I cannot claim to know EITG’s precise intentions for further OS advancements however, Matt Hoffman, EITG’s product development supervisor has informed members on EITG’s forum that their current focus is to deliver a final patch to v6.5r2 which will include additional FBX capabilities and other program enhancements. At that time, EITG will move towards recoding EIAS for the new Mactel platforms. I would not expect any ventures into Linux until after such an endevour is completed…if at all. If you would like to see EIAS on Linux, write Matt Hoffman an email and express your desires for such a product.

#3

I just think it would be great to be able to use cheap fast “headless” Linux boxes for a mini (or Large) Renderfarm.
I’m not sure of the implications of such, but since Camera and Renderama can work with a mix OS9/OSX/Windows.xxx
it sounds like a cool idea, to me anyway.

thanx
k!

#4

Headless renderfarms could easily be accomplished with macintosh systems with Apple Remote Desktop or a program like Timbuktu. Used to do that all the time over at Reality Check.

Brian

#5

Linix port means plug-in will need to rewrite?
:rolleyes:

Loon

#6

Big thing for me here, would be to be able to build some really cheap AMD based boxes. I recently built up a MythTV PVR box for around $500 that is quite fast. I would guess it would match a 2 - 2.5 GHz G5 if I were to load Windows up on it and run an EI rendering. I could easily build the same unit without PVR related hardware for $350 to $400 depending on hard drive.

I agree that just Camera and Renderama would be fine. I have no need or want to try and run EI application on Linux… OSX (or even Windows) does such a great job for it.

However, as others pointed out over at Postforum… the big thing here would be getting all the plug-ins released for Linux. I don’t know how much work that would be, or how willing the developers would be to do it. But, it is more involved than just having EITG do the port… at least to really be useful for most users.

One option for your headless renderfarm might actually be the Mac Mini. They are fairly cheap and work great headless. They put off little heat or noise and take up little space. Only problem, is I think they are limited to 1 GB RAM at the moment. They are about as fast as the PowerBooks (if you look at the EI benchmark sites, that would give you some idea of speed).

Also, once EI gets ported to Mactel, then I’m guessing there will be Mini like machines with Intel Dual Core CPUs by then. That might make a ‘mini’ style box quite attractive for renderfarm situations.

-Steve

#7

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