MicroStation for Linux ?
Naresh Sharma - aio fac L en R
A year back I'd asked the same question, are there plans to port MicroStation
for Linux OS ? At that time linux had very few commercial apps, but now
there are numerous ports of commercial software. OSF/Motif, SGI/OpenGL, XView
and a host of other goodies make porting a breeze.
I'm a CAD user and an ardent fan of MicroStation. I have not used it extensively
as most of you have (big guess why; no port on Linux!!!), but I had installed
the beta/preview that was sent to our university a year back. From the postings
of Bentley and their home page, MicroStation runs on most Unix platforms and
uses Motif toolkit. If this is true, porting it to linux will be little more
than mere recompilation.
I'd like to request the developers to just try a recompilation of MicroStation
under linux and compare its performance--- if they are satisfied, they could
then release a port...
I'd definitely buy a copy (resources permitting) of this fab product.
--
Greetings, __ N.Sh...@IS.TWI.TUDelft.NL
__________/ F
c'____---__=_/
Naresh _______________o_____o______ http://is.twi.tudelft.nl/~sharma/home.html
Chris Zakrewsky
[snip]
>...uses Motif toolkit. If this is true, porting it to linux will be little more
>than mere recompilation.
>
>I'd like to request the developers to just try a recompilation of MicroStation
>under linux and compare its performance--- if they are satisfied, they could
>then release a port...
Hi,
You couldn't came closer to the deja vu feeling... we had had this stuff ongoing here
prior to uStn OS/2 announcement.
In short:
Porting or not porting is NOT a technical/performance question.
It is easily done - Bentleys surely does such things over the coffee break or so
- almost ;)
Unless you can't guarantee the market commitment for additional 2000 licenses
sold on the new platform - it won't be any.
As simply as that.
PS: I hope I didn't spoiled your day...
HTH
/Chris...
*------- Chris Zakrewsky ----------- ch...@cadperf.se
| CAD Perfect Development Lab Co.
| Torpangsvagen 9
| S-183 68 Taby, SWEDEN
*=================================== fax: +46 8 756 1353
"Do your job whole-heartedly and you will succeed -
- there is so little competition." (Elbert Hubbard)
Sergey Solyanik
> In short:
> Porting or not porting is NOT a technical/performance question.
Good point. We do not just "drop" platform once we made
commitment to support it, so we have to think twice (and usually
more than twice) before starting to support it.
Athough any change of a platform is more than just recompile due
to differences in the compiler, there is significantly more
certification, technical support and documentation efforts than
development efforts during initial port. Once platform support
is announced and the port is done, somebody in certification has
to continuously look at new versions to verify that things did not
go wrong, and support people have to maintain certain knowledge
level about that platform.
So it's not that easy as it seems to be.
Regards --
Sergey Solyanik
Software Development
Bentley Systems, Inc
690 Pennsylvania Dr.,
Exton, PA 19341
Tel (610) 458-2688
Fax (610) 458-1060
eMail: Sergey....@bentley.com
CIS: 73400,606
Naresh Sharma - aio fac L en R
: cad...@ibm.net (Chris Zakrewsky) wrote:
: > In short:
: > Porting or not porting is NOT a technical/performance question.
: Good point. We do not just "drop" platform once we made
: commitment to support it, so we have to think twice (and usually
: more than twice) before starting to support it.
: Athough any change of a platform is more than just recompile due
: to differences in the compiler, there is significantly more
I agree with you whole heartedly,
by saying that it will be little more than a remcompile,
I meant that it will not require grassroot level programming.
: certification, technical support and documentation efforts than
: development efforts during initial port. Once platform support
: is announced and the port is done, somebody in certification has
: to continuously look at new versions to verify that things did not
That I'm sure will not be a problem because Linux strives
to abide by ISO standards, POSIX and IEEE standards. Almost all
known vendors have vouched for standards compliance. How much
compilance they provide is not known, but linux is standards compilant.
If you look at the latest Linux-Journal article about the port of
Linux on Digital-Alpha (the article is written by digital folks),
you will realize that apart from standards compilance, Linux has
several technological advancements compared to coinventional UNIX.
However, there is interest in the port, I have posted a request for the
campaign on the comp.linux.advocacy for the port. There has been some
interesting response by email... I'm going to compile the results.
If there are any folks out there, who'd like to see a linux port of your
favourite MicroStation, please e-mail me directly. I'll compile the results
of the campaign and post them to Bentley/Intergraph.
Thanks.