Archlinux - Visual Studio 10 or 11 - Work, Do I have to switch?

kanazky · 2012-05-30 23:37:23

Dear Archlinux,

I am currently using Archlinux for my main laptop, handles all my website development with ease. I was just hired for a new job developing software for windows and I am really excited to get started until I found out they will be using Visual Studio 10 for development of the software as they would like to use C# for integration with quick books. As I am on the team of programmers I need to use Visual Studio for development and would like to work at home over SVN for most of the project. However I cant find any resources saying that Visual Studio would work on linux at all.

I realize that compiling the software would require windows as there's no guarantee that it would work in wine.

What are my options? Do I have to switch back to windows?

headkase · 2012-05-30 23:58:36

Since the programming output isn't likely to be graphically intense you should be able to have a Windows guest in a Virtual Machine such as VirtualBox or VMWare. VirtualBox is free. You will however need to have a legal license for the guest operating system. Once you do have one, just install it as a guest then in that full Windows installation install whichever programs you require. Employment trumps ideology here: if a Virtual Machine doesn't work out then you should either get a second machine or dual-boot with Windows for the income you, and everyone, needs.

Mono is an alternative to C# on Linux but you will very likely always run into "edge-cases" so that is just not pragmatic. If it was just yourself working as a hobby or intending to deploy to Mono on Linux then that wouldn't be an issue.

Also, Mono would not integrate with QuickBooks. Recent versions of WINE have started to support the .Net framework but overall compatibility and stability is likely not there yet for your intended use.

Last edited by headkase (2012-05-31 00:03:05)

kanazky · 2012-05-31 00:29:47

Thanks mate,

They provided me a workstation computer in my office but id much rather work from home. Guess its back to windows for the remainder of the project.

How good is VirtualBox for compiling non graphics intensive applications?

headkase · 2012-05-31 00:47:09

VirtualBox is good but make sure you have automated saves with revisioning, I'm sure there's a feature in Visual Studio for that, turned on. It could crash and you don't want to lose a lot of work if that happens. I've only used VirtualBox in Windows with a Linux guest and get the occasional crash. In Linux with a Windows guest you'll have to experiment a bit and get a feel for it yourself. A dual-boot solution would be ideal although: you could use Windows for work and Linux after hours.

kanazky · 2012-05-31 01:51:23

That's to bad to hear about the crashes. I'd hate to be programming on a module and have it crash and reopen a old revision

ewaller · 2012-05-31 02:01:11

Actually, I find XP running as a guest in VirtualBox on Linux to be rock solid. My daughter is a competitive gymnast. Her Gym hosts meets that use a Windows based scoring system with USB controlled proprietary keypads for Judges to enter scores, and custom displays (as seen on Television in televised meets). The whole shebang runs in a virtual machine. In the mean time, I push the score data out to the host through a virtual network. That host runs a dynamic web page that allows the spectators to monitor scores on their phones and PDAs.

Runs 14 hours straight on weekends over multiple sessions. Runs great. It would be a disaster if it did not.

Guess what I am doing this weekend?

skottish · 2012-05-31 02:37:19

Why not run your work computer from home? There's a number of available options depending on your security needs. All of the compiling work will be handled on that machine and all you need to do is to connect to it. Of course this assumes a fairly fast and stable Internent connection on both ends.

Last edited by skottish (2012-05-31 02:38:44)

marenkay · 2012-05-31 06:39:09

From personal experience, you could easily use a VPN connection to access you Windows system in the office. I'm doing this myself, and for testing purposes I run a Windows XP installation in VirtualBox, plus a Windows 7 VM. Funny thing is, those VMs run faster than Windows runs on actual PCs...

axel668 · 2012-05-31 07:38:15

You can't develop Windows software under Linux, even more so if it should interact with other Windows software.
Ask your employer for a remote- accessible Windows Box (VPN, mstsc or Citrix), or a Vmware / Virtualbox image.
Larger companies usually have stuff like that.

DSpider · 2012-05-31 09:01:37

Remote desktops are fun until one day when the internet goes down for, say, only a few hours and you have a deadline coming up.

I don't think it's worth dicking around with VM's when there's money on the line. Just dual boot.

rubenvb · 2012-05-31 13:13:50

axel668 wrote:

You can't develop Windows software under Linux, even more so if it should interact with other Windows software.
Ask your employer for a remote- accessible Windows Box (VPN, mstsc or Citrix), or a Vmware / Virtualbox image.
Larger companies usually have stuff like that.

Yes you can develop Windows software on Linux. A MinGW-w64/WINE combo will get you *very* far, you'll even get valgrind for free

Arch Linux

#1 2012-05-30 23:37:23

Archlinux - Visual Studio 10 or 11 - Work, Do I have to switch?

#2 2012-05-30 23:58:36

Re: Archlinux - Visual Studio 10 or 11 - Work, Do I have to switch?

#3 2012-05-31 00:29:47

Re: Archlinux - Visual Studio 10 or 11 - Work, Do I have to switch?

#4 2012-05-31 00:47:09

Re: Archlinux - Visual Studio 10 or 11 - Work, Do I have to switch?

#5 2012-05-31 01:51:23

Re: Archlinux - Visual Studio 10 or 11 - Work, Do I have to switch?

#6 2012-05-31 02:01:11

Re: Archlinux - Visual Studio 10 or 11 - Work, Do I have to switch?

#7 2012-05-31 02:37:19

Re: Archlinux - Visual Studio 10 or 11 - Work, Do I have to switch?

#8 2012-05-31 06:39:09

Re: Archlinux - Visual Studio 10 or 11 - Work, Do I have to switch?

#9 2012-05-31 07:38:15

Re: Archlinux - Visual Studio 10 or 11 - Work, Do I have to switch?

#10 2012-05-31 09:01:37

Re: Archlinux - Visual Studio 10 or 11 - Work, Do I have to switch?

#11 2012-05-31 13:13:50

Re: Archlinux - Visual Studio 10 or 11 - Work, Do I have to switch?

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