[real]

Hows it going I was woundering if the mac versions of linux are capable of running versions of linux that run say shake and maya those types of programs. or does it take the PC versions to run those apps. I have never palyed with linus and am interested in putting together a render farm of linuxs boxes. Any help would be great URL's any thing to get mr started. thanks
REAL

[bluedog]

In order to run the software from computers with x86 processors to the mac running linux on PPC processors, you'd need to recompile the source code. In most instances it would run fine if you have all the dependencies met (libraries, toolkits and such).

BUT, the commercial software you are speaking of won't run without the commercial provider doing the recompile. They are not willing to give out their code for you to do it yourself. In reality the complex programs you mentioned are probably already compiling without a hitch in-house at these companies.

Look to run both SHAKE and MAYA under MacOSX. Both are available and work great. The arguments that people say to use linux over OSX don't apply here, because most people say linux can be used on older hardware. If you really wanted to run SHAKE or MAYA I'm guessing you'd have the money to want to run them on useful hardware that will get your work done the fastest (not see how old of a computer you can get up and running with linux).

I've tried maya and believe there are alternatives that are a bit easier to use for a beginner, but their toolset is arguably the best to date. The others like Softimage are very good also, anyone serious about animation will not stick with one package, but know the strengths of each and use them when necessary. Its the same with the platform wars (mac/pc bah! use what is best for the task!). I can't stand hearing people claiming to be professionals but being completely unable to use or admit the advantages of one platform/os/software over another.

Its all the same for MS drones that make only things using MS. Its easier to take someone seriously if they know what they're talking about and admit the strengths and weaknesses of what they use.

[Secret Vampire]

bluedog's right about the compatibility of most commercial apps, it's really annoying, where I work we were moving a bunch of Sparc machines to Linux (Solaris is way too slow for anyone to use on older hardware), we discovered that although we had Versions of Matlab for Solaris on sparc, and Linux on intel, there was no version for Linux on sparc, we decided that if anyone really needed it they could run it remotely on one of the intel machines, or a Solaris box with more power. That isn't really an option in this case.

But, if you want to set up a render farm for fun there are alternatives, like the ancient POV-Ray http://www.povray.org/ dunno about render farms with it, though it should be possible.

I'd question the wisdom of building a render farm of Macs though, it's the kind of application that requires lots of grunt, and unless you've got a load of old powermacs waiting to be put to good use, you'd be better off buying some PC hardware, since it's cheaper, and you'd get little advantage from PowerPC over x86 with Linux.

[real]

thanks for all the info?
The render farm idea is for work i have used shake I wont be useing MAYA (that was just a example. i have 4 G3's just sitting around not really doing anything and need some work.. i wouldn't be using shake in linux although i guess i could, I would be waiting for the MAC OS X version (which I think will be a long wait. )Then send offt the work load to be rendered or if it was possible to use all the processors to work with. then render on. Just looking for the best setup For doing great work. any other thoughts are welcome.
thanks
mIKE