I frequently run Alibre 12.1 on Linux (Suse 11.1, but the particular flavor is not especially critical) using VMWare 7 to run XP. Alibre also worked with VMWare 6.5 and XP.
Because Alibre is a graphics and calculation intensive application there is a noticeable performance hit, probably due in equal parts to the fact that the program is being executed by a virtual (simulated) computer and that it makes heavy use of DirectX 3D calls which require optimized support from your (in this case also virtual) graphics system driver.
As I understand it, Microsoft forces the graphics card vendor to provide the meat of the code used to execute DirectX functions and procedures as part of its driver, if they want to be able to handle programs that use DirectX. Of course, Microsoft gets the credit when this works and the graphics system provider gets the blame when it does not.
Only VMWare has succeeded in providing support for DirectX 7,8,9 and (Guessing, since I managed to avoid Vista) 10. VMWare 7 is specified to support Windows 7, so I think it is reasonable to assume that support of whatever DirectX level is found in Windows 7 is, or will be, supported.
VirtuualBox has recently succeeded in achieving significant support for DirectX 8 and 9, but fails in DirectX 7. Thus it is not yet possible to run Alibre within Virtualbox.
Forget about Wine. We may all be dead and gone before Wine can run contemporary level DirectX anything. Don't mis understand. My hat is off to the people who code \wine, but they are scrambling just to keep pace with MS on a handful of office applications that require next to no special software technology, and they are doing it the hard way by trying to actually replace the MS executable code. The concept is great, but now that MS is actively changing the platform (dodging, so to speak), it would take a major corporate, or government, funded effort to bridge the gap. (Maybe the Chinese Government would like to make a substantial donation to the Wine effort, since its open source.).
If you "live" in Linux and you want to do moderately complex parts in Alibre, then the VMWare route is reasonable. If you are constructing complex assemblies of intricate parts and especially if you are also using Alibre extensions such as Motion, Algor, and/or CAM, then you will want to squeeze every bit of performance you can out of your hardware, which will mean (I know, ugh!) directly booting Windows so Alibre can be at full speed.
I went from a single NVidia graphics card to SLA. I think there was some improvement, but not a huge amount.
Memory is critical. Give Widows all the memory you can. I put 10GB on my system so I can have 2gB for Linux, 4 gB for the virtual XP (all it can address) and another 4gB for a virtual Windows swap drive.
I have found that having a dual processor system is a big help and believe that having even more CPUs is better. I currently have a dual core AMD64 system and will soon be upgrading my AM3 motherboard the new 6 core chip. XP will use up to 4, so thats what it will get. This will leave two for Linux native background operations.
If you have an extra $4000.00 or so to spend (I don't), splurge on a system that is dedicated to running Alibre and based on the new gazillion core Intel 64 bit processor and motherboard with gobs of memory, 64 bit Windows 7 and a double or tripple way graphics co processor video system. Don't use it for anything outside the firewall but getting secure updates and the like. Use your Linux box for all the other stuff and use a KVM switch to go back and forth. If you use CAM, you don't need to connect your Alibre Workstation to any machines. ECM2 running on an old Pentium, or better, box with ubuntu real time Linux can execute your G-Code (downloaded via network) just fine, for running a CNC machine.
I'm pretty committed to Alibre (spent many $), but if there was an affordable equivalent that ran natively on Linux, I would think seriously about jumping ship.
