Linux versions of Layout&Modeler?

[haemish]

I've been searching for news/rumours about Linux versions of Layout&Modeler, but I havn't found any. Does anyone know if anything is happening on this front?

My shop is mostly Mac and Linux. The only PCs we use are to run Lightwave. My current desktop PC box just ate its motherboard, so it (the motherboard, at least) needs replacing. But I'd love to do something more dramatic. Ideally, I'd love to just pick up a G4 (I actually have budget, whopee!) but from what I've seen of the benchmarks, the top of the line G4s consistantly lag the top of the line PCs by about a factor of two - which I have a hard time ignoring. I don't want to buy another PC because that starts to force me down the road where I'll have to upgrade from Win2K to XP, and I'm one of the few who has actually read the XP license and its horrifying, I just can't do it. A decent compromise would be a Linux box, but I need Lightwave...

Any thoughts? Is the Mac really half the performance?

[Ade]

No, not in all tests but in some. Like ps7.

[BeeVee]

I just did a search on Chris Blanos' LightWave benchmark site, just looking for the fastest renders of the Rad. Ref. scene using 7.5 and a Mac was last in the list, with a dual 1420 MHz G4 with 2GB RAM at 41 secs. The fastest machine on the list was a dual Xeon at 2.8GHz with 1GB RAM at 28 secs.

http://www.blanos.com/benchmark/

I can only render this scene in 97 secs, so go figure... :)

B

[pixelmonk]

Originally posted by Ade
No, not in all tests but in some. Like ps7.

Most of the tests. Combustion, PS, After Effects, Lightwave, Maya... regardless, G4 is an investment just like a PC is. It's up to you how you spend your money. There's no right or wrong answer or else only one platform would be used in the world.

[wapangy]

Well they have some problems right now, but I would still not call them slow. If I were you, I would throw in a cheapo motherboard for now, and get a G5 when they come out later this year.