by Cal Erickson (Apr. 22, 2003)
DesktopLinux.com previews the upcoming CrossOver Office 2.0 release from CodeWeavers that introduces support for Adobe Photoshop, among other featured enhancements. Embedded Linux support engineer, and former Adobe test engineer, Cal Erickson gives the new release extensive testing. Read on for his review . . .
By the early 1990's I had been in the computer industry for over 20 years. During that time I had worked on large mainframes and mini-computers. The PC had not quite bitten me yet. It did happen though. I was working at a company where we each had a workstation on our desk attached to a Data General computer. When we migrated to PCs, I was exposed to Windows 3 and Word for Windows. I bought a PC for home use. Times change, and Linux became my OS of choice. So much so, that I now use it exclusively as a Linux Consultant at MontaVista Software. Despite my Linux leanings, I still missed the ability to use Word for Windows. I kept thinking back to a Usenix conference I attended many years ago and saw a Unix workstation running Word for Windows (WinWord). Though I never did see the commercial release.
I had been using Applix Ware and Star Office, but still yearned for the familiarity and compatibility of Microsoft Office. Then, along came CrossOver Office. My prayers had been answered. Not only could I run the full Office suite, but other Windows programs on Linux as well. It was the best of both worlds.
In addition to being a Linux evangelist, I am a semi-professional photographer. When the folks at CodeWeavers revealed that they not only improved their MS Office support, but made it possible to run Adobe Photoshop on Linux I became intrigued. Agreeing to test the product -- something I am very familiar with in my career -- I set out to determine what didn't work quite right.
Testing CrossOver Office 2.0
The soon to be released version 2.0 of CrossOver Office will install and run Adobe Photoshop. I have been able to install it and run it as if I was on a Windows host. I decided to try it on my laptop computer, a Micron TransPort ZX with a 700Mhz Pentium III, 512Mb of RAM, and a 40Gb hard drive. It is running SuSE Linux 8.1 Professional. It is a fair machine that has served me well in the past.
I downloaded 'release candidate 1' of the CrossOver Office 2.0. It installed with great ease. This being my first exposure to the product, I installed it as root. I selected the general defaults. Everything went smooth and without a single problem.
CrossOver Office Setup
Now it was time to install Microsoft Office 2000 Professional. After selecting the CrossOver Office setup, the associations were checked and installation of Office was selected. I inserted the MS Office CD and immediately the installer detected that 'dcom95' was needed to complete the process. The system then went out and and automatically loaded the requisite software from Microsoft's website. The installation then completed from the CD. Nothing special was required. Once the process was complete, true to form, the system requested to be rebooted. In Linux though, only CrossOver Office was reset. This was so much easier than a full system reboot, and far less of a nuisance.
Internet Explorer 5.0 was also included as part of the MS Office package I installed. This is an older version of IE and while it still work, the latest update is far better. With CrossOver Office installed, I opted to give it a try. The easiest way to get the latest version of IE is through an online update. So why not? I fired up the old version of IE and went out to Microsoft to download the update, along with Service Pack 1. It self installed with great ease. Now, running IE 5 was just a memory.
Internet Explorer 6.0 under CrossOver Office
Photoshop on Linux?
I have been a Photoshop user for many years. In fact, I used to work at Adobe Systems, where I used it everyday to test Imagesetter RIPs. I had several versions of the software to test -- just to be sure it worked. I decided to install the earliest version I had on hand first, and then upgrade to later versions incrementally.
I installed the 5.02 version of Photoshop first. Aha! This process found that there was an option missing in 'fstab' for mounting the CD. Then it offered to fix the problem. I selected the option to allow the fix to proceed. The system then told me what it was going to attempt the repair and showed me details before it was fixed. Next, I upgraded to version 6.0 of Photoshop. Again, still no problem. I was pleasantly surprised.
Adobe Photoshop running under CrossOver Office
I did some initial work on some old images I had saved on CD. I had manipulated these images to both enhance and restore them without any issue. I then scanned a picture taken in the late 1940's of my in-laws on their wedding day. The original print was badly scarred. It had been folded in two and was creased by time. It needed some work to repair. I had scanned it at a high resolution and saved it as a color image. Using Photoshop tools, the image was cleaned up and I saved it in native Photoshop file format (PSD). Before I printed it on an HP Photosmart 1115 printer, I converted the file from color to grayscale. This is how I normally use the product to do most of my work. Everything went as easily using CodeWeavers' CrossOver Office with Photoshop 6.0 as it had when I did the original restoration under MS Windows 98 and Photoshop 6.0. All features, formats, and output functions performed well.
Last, I installed my copy of Photoshop 7.0. I decided it was now time to remove the older versions of Photoshop and cleanly install the full version of 7.0. This process, like before, went forward with no problems. Within minutes I was able to start working on restoring the same photos following the same process I had used to fix them earlier.
Conclusion
Prior to testing CrossOver Office, I was not sure how much the emulation would affect performance on my laptop. That apprehension was unfounded. There do not seem to be any performance bottlenecks. Everything worked seamlessly, as promised. Setting up printers, which on my laptop are networked, was easy. Access to the Photoshop files was easy. Access to the Linux file system was easy. Everything a user will need is here. CodeWeavers' CrossOver Office will most certainly become one of the tools in my arsenal for every day use.
I had been looking at earlier versions of CodeWeavers' products and had decided to buy CrossOver, but never got around to doing so. Oftentimes, we read reviews of what almost works on the Linux desktop and how features are “not quite there yet.” CrossOver does not fit into that category. After a testing environment that allowed me to lean on the software and fully evaluate three versions of Adobe Photoshop, I determined that the product is fully capable of performing on Linux. It just works.
Copyright © 2003 by Cal Erickson. Reproduced by DesktopLinux.com with permission.
 About the author: Cal Erickson currently works for MontaVista Software as a Senior Linux Consultant. He is a senior member of the MontaVista support staff. Prior to joining MontaVista, he was a senior Support Engineer at Mentor Graphics Embedded Software Division. Cal has been in the computing industry for over 30 years with experience at Computer manufacturers and end user development environments.
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