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["God's Beard!"]

Ok so I'm building a new computer because my old one's broke, and I can spend about $800 bucks. I'd really rather not spend $130 to get XP Pro. My main concern is not being able to use the programs I need, especially Photoshop and Corel Painter. Is it a huge difference?

I've heard about a windows emulator, WINE or something like that? How does that work? Is it consistent? Stable?

If it matters, here's the main parts for my computer I plan on building:
DFI LANPARTY DK P35-T2RS LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS EN8800GT/G/HTDP/512M GeForce 8800 GT 512MB
Rosewill RP500-2 ATX12V v2.01 500W Power Supply
Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Total: around $730 without windows

 

[Relix]

Wine works like wonder, but don't expect everything to work the same as Windows. On Linux you'll need to make some adjustments. I remember running Photoshop 7 on WINE a few years ago though, so that definitely should work. Check http://www.winehq.com/ for the info. There are many great alternatives on Linux to Windows software so check that too

 

[Fireblend]

There's already a bunch of threads discussing this.
Wine is basically what Wikipedia describes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_(software)

Wine is a software application which aims to allow Unix-like computer operating systems on the x86 architecture to execute programs written for Microsoft Windows. Wine also provides a software library known as Winelib which developers can compile Windows applications against to help port them to Unix-like systems.[1]

The name 'Wine' derives from the recursive acronym Wine Is Not an Emulator. While the name sometimes appears in the forms "WINE" and "wine", the project developers have agreed to standardize on the form "Wine".[2]

It is hardly perfect, but I know Photoshop works; just don't rely on it and think that every single windows application will work on it because although there are some in which you won't notice the difference, others will have minor/major issues.

Edit - Read these threads:
http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=304231&highlight=linux
http://neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298360&highlight=linux

They should help you decide, and the second one has some quality apps you should check out.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Wine works like wonder, but don't expect everything to work the same as Windows. On Linux you'll need to make some adjustments. I remember running Photoshop 7 on WINE a few years ago though, so that definitely should work. Check http://www.winehq.com/ for the info. There are many great alternatives on Linux to Windows software so check that too

thanks, it seems like CS2 should run great. Checking up on Painter and Crysis now.

 

["God's Beard!"]

FUCK. it says that Painter runs like shit.

hmm... Deep Paint doesn't look quite as good either.

 

[Barkley's Justice]

just pay the $130

 

[koam]

or $87 (do you really need pro)
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=6526&vpn=N09-01153OEM&manufacture=Microsoft

 

[theBishop]

Linux is great, but if you're primarily a PC gamer, you won't be happy.

 

[Fireblend]

just pay the $130

...and dual-boot!

If you're a gamer, Linux just won't work out, but for keeping as a secondary OS if you rely so much on Windows applications, it can be really useful. It's my primary OS because what I do (programming) is pretty much the same in both worlds, but if you're dependent on Windows, then just get both. Also I do need Windows for Assassin's Creed, luckily Team Fortress 2 runs under Wine just fine.

 

[aoi tsuki]

Get an OEM license for XP. It's locked to the machine you install it on, but it's cheaper and a better alternative to running Linux for graphics work.

If for some reason you're set on running Linux, common sense be damned, you can try Crossover Linux. It's a pay emulator for Windows apps in Linux, and it's friendlier than Wine.

 

[Xabora]

FUCK. it says that Painter runs like shit.

hmm... Deep Paint doesn't look quite as good either.

1: I'm gonna be lazy
2: http://lifehacker.com/367714/run-windows-apps-seamlessly-inside-linux
Read that...

3: Problem Solved! I hope.