Right... if you decide to go with Linux you should do a little bit of planning with the hardware. AMD graphic cards are less supported than NVIDIA, also not all latest hardware is supported so if you go with 1y.o. components and peripherals that should be safe. I had problems with all-in-one Canon but I resolved it with the help on ubuntu forums. Graphic cards is a common source of problems.
True. I ran Arch linux, even doing a little audio production for years up until about 1/2 a year ago when I bought a few new things including a new pc that came with windows 8, and an audio interface, not supported under Linux. I also really like Cubase, but that's neither here nor there. A few years back I compiled a -rt kernel but soon after the kernels were coming stock with soft real-time capabilities set by default, which was good enough to get me down to 4ms audio latency. Not sure what you need hard real-time capabilities for, but if you do... use linux then. That would be a valid excuse to do so.
Linux.. where you can almost do everything you want, almost as fast as windows too... I can almost run my trading software under Wine and almost connect reliably to other software running natively in Linux. I can almost find everything I search for and almost get answers that help me on the forums... One thing Linux actually could do that I liked: have some security from hackers. Windows is playing eternal catchup with 'nix on security and will never quite be secure.
http://www.freechess.org/ is also down due to hacking. Is there a global conspiracy here? Is this an omen that the sun will spew a coronal mass ejection wiping all living things on earth?
Did you get the answer you were looking for? I am also looking for more on that. I just reformatted the macbook pro into 3 partitions. I setup the OSX, and windows side partitions. But I'm debating between linux versions.. ubuntu, mint, red hat. . I don't know enough about linux but i want to play with it to learn and later go on to build some server stuff with it after getting used to it on desktop.. trading of course. I don't care for what's easiest to learn..
I am thinking about dropping Windows and trade from Linux (Ubuntu). The problem is that there is not many charting software, like Ninjatrader 7, for Linux. Does anyone have suggestions for a good charting software that runs on Linux?
Sierra Chart runs pretty well under Wine. They have worked on a non .NET version for awhile that is supposed to run easier under Wine/Linux. I don't personally run Wine but it is doable and I've had it working for a couple of years under Linux. Currently I have Windows 7 running in a Virtual Machine with QEMU/KVM and that works pretty seamlessly if you have enough RAM and CPU to spare. I would recommend having at least 6GB of total RAM (4GB as a bare minimum).
So I am trying to understand the benefits of this configuration. If I were to run my trading software under a Virtual Machine inside Linux, don't I give up the benefits of running Linux? My problem is that over time, the Windows system becomes more and more slower and unstable; Ninjatrader would just crash while monitoring the market. I was hoping that if I were to move away from Windows, I won't have to reinstall my system every two years.
Not really, lock down Windows, only run a bare minimum of apps for trading, run a whitelisted firewall so it only connects to the trading server and a minimum other sites, turn off updates, etc. The benefit is that you can run other applications on different VMs (database, web server, dns, etc.) if you have need of other services on your network and you can segregate your trading to a separate VM. If all you are doing is running a single desktop for trading, it is probably overkill but with cheap as extra RAM and disk space is I don't see why not. I'm not recommending it for everyone but it works for my purpose and allowed me to get rid of Windows as the base OS and I'm never going back now. Oh and dealing with re-installations, adding/removing resources on VMs is much easier compared to physical systems. The notion that Windows runs slower over time is based on how you use the Windows machine and what you install to it. I can only speak from my personal experience but I've run virtual Windows 7 and XP for years and do not experience ANY crashes or slowdowns whatsoever and I also run NinjaTrader on the same setup. Like I said, if you want to use Linux only you could try Sierra Chart with Wine. Either way you are still running Linux as the base OS.