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Date/Time: Thu, 18 Apr 2024 22:02:22 +0000



[User Discussion] - Linux

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[2017-10-09 16:49:42]
ertrader - Posts: 640
I'm considering migrating to Mint Linux (or other linux version if you recommend). Can you please let me know your latest recommendations? Wine version, version, SC version, SC Settings and anything you can think of.

(MS continues to fix, break, fix, break and after so many years Win 10 does not seem any better)
[2017-10-09 17:15:10]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
We cannot make any recommendations. We will leave this to others.

We also recommend avoiding using Wine. You will have problems with that.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
[2017-10-09 21:12:36]
ganz - Posts: 1048
ertrader

I'm considering migrating to Mint Linux

dude ... just stop dreaming you are cool hacker and be more realistic

if you are using SC you are just a user as mouse operator

.Net Core is crossplaftorm and open-source

transfer all of your systems to .Net Core and use linux as a macho

(.Net Core will be ready for production in 3 years or so)

don't waste the time using harness for a car :)
[2017-10-09 21:21:45]
ganz - Posts: 1048
ertrader

after so many years Win 10 does not seem any better

Win 7 is the best choise till 2020

or try windoze server 2008 r2 for free 240 days
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11093
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2017-10-09 21:22:31
[2017-10-09 21:45:04]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
Windows server 2008 R2 is good.

Much preferred over version 2012 which Microsoft has basically botched the server operating system.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
[2017-10-09 22:18:06]
Kiwi - Posts: 374
Jeez Guys. Stop being pessimists.

Sierra Chart runs fine on Wine on Linux Mint. I haven't had a bug in years.

ertrader, I just run a current version of SC (1615 when I last looked), the most recent Mint (but it will work fine on any of them), but I do use an ubuntu ppa to ensure that I have the most current version of Wine. SC/Wine used to be a bit of a processor hog at around 10% but recent changes in one or both have dropped it to the 1% level for my charts.

Wine is where the rubber meets the road so I use 2.4 rather than 1.8 which is default for Mint 18. 1.8 may actually be enough now, but I got into the habit of having the latest wine because of an issue a couple of years back and haven't bothered dropping back.

The only downside was compiling dlls and keeping that working. But now the Sierra Chart team have provided a remote compiler option ... and you just press the button and wait a few seconds for the dll to be deposited in your data directory. Cool.
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2017-10-09 22:19:51
[2017-10-09 22:19:50]
ganz - Posts: 1048
ertrader

in case you find my words unkind a bit: then just use linux as a linux not as windoze one

try arch linux or lfs in order to find out what that linux really is

then use wine-staging and check CPU usage on chart scrolling and so on.

compare it to that "buggy" windoze :)

another point is linux video subsystem that there is no stable and officcial support from nvidia nor amd. it is always in beta stage or as a closed blobs

another pain is 4k screens and multi-monitor configs

high end MB and optimus will not work coorectly and stable

i love to use linux since 1995-96 but it is not the time to say it is ready for retail
[2017-10-09 22:25:27]
Kiwi - Posts: 374
Just a note on ganz's arch post.

I'd suggest Mint is a better choice for you initial live system. Play with arch, learn stuff. But for live use something boring like Mint :)

On screens I have an Nvidia card so use their drivers for multi-monitor but I don't yet have 4K screens (default in linux is to use os drivers but they can be tricky). I'd forgotten about graphics card drivers - they've always been the trickiest thing for me so when I do a new install I install with 1 screen. Then I add the NVIDIA drivers. Then I boot with multiple screens and adjust everything. At that point I save my "bare" os image and continue to add other software.
[2017-10-09 22:43:56]
ertrader - Posts: 640
Thank you... this helps! I will get mint installed and update with my experience using latest Wine. Current configuration is AMD video but I'm not needing 4k or multiple screens at this time. I'll look into remote compiling and most likely change over to this method with my custom ACSIL's.
[2017-10-09 22:50:13]
ganz - Posts: 1048
Kiwi

Stop being pessimists.

OK. Let's start party :)

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Ubuntu-Dropping-Unity

they've always been the trickiest thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_36yNWw_07g

:)
[2017-10-09 22:52:15]
ganz - Posts: 1048
ertrader

I'll look into remote compiling

let's be the linuxoids then

How to build ACSIL study on Ubuntu/Linux
[2017-10-10 08:17:11]
AlexPereira - Posts: 197
well, if i can give my feedback:

Gentoo, Arch and openSUSE work well right, have wine and cross dev tools ( gentoo will be a pain in the ass for crossdev ).

Right now the combination of wine 2.18 and freetype 2.18.1 are giving me problems with antialiased fonts, but other than that, works well.

Also no issues with performance with wine, wine-staging or wine-staging-nine. Checking my cpu they are most of the time below 10% ( real core utilization, not dividing by cpu numbers ), only when there is alot of action it goes to 20% or so. Also charts are fast, and i have 2560x1440 maximized charts.

The real waste is that you will have a wine thread running, in which in windows you don't. So compare to using SC on linux , the same as windows + wine server thread expenses.

About SC bugs on Linux, there is the famous and really pitty tradewindow bug, other than that, works very well.

Also you can customize your wine colours to make SC like almost native app.

Also since sierra charts allow to customize the charts titlebars, means that with a window manager like kwin, you can do whatever you dream of with the windows ( just launch SC and they go to the right place at the right size always ).

For ACSIL development, you have visual studio code, atom editor, kate, geany, etc ... my favorite is qt creator.
[2017-10-10 14:15:20]
ertrader - Posts: 640
"About SC bugs on Linux, there is the famous and really pitty tradewindow bug, other than that, works very well"

Can you please speak to this a bit more?
[2017-10-10 16:21:49]
AlexPereira - Posts: 197
"About SC bugs on Linux, there is the famous and really pitty tradewindow bug, other than that, works very well"

Can you please speak to this a bit more?

Its a bug that if you have a tradewindow and close it, SC will give an exception error on the message log ( also trading will not work properly until you restart SC or close and open the chartbook ). Else it works fine....
[2017-10-10 17:29:32]
ertrader - Posts: 640
Thanks... I do not usually close the trade window but I do attach it to the right hand side of the screen so I'll test that configuration.
[2017-10-10 17:29:51]
User35525 - Posts: 179
I don't think I've seen the tradewindow bug in Wine on MacOS [or I forget... I know I've seen issues with attaching a trade window to a chart, but you just restart SC if there's a problem in Wine].

So if you have a Mac, Wine is still a great option. It seems quite a few people are using SC with Wine on Linux and MacOS, so I'm glad we have SC.
[2017-10-10 21:41:00]
ganz - Posts: 1048
Kiwi

Mint is a better choice for you initial live system

sir, with all of my respect to you

from my pov in terms of qualified engineering solutions a system should be stable, predictable and well managed

a system is so good as good an every member that chain
and a system is so weak as weak any worst member that chain

so using Wine as a main trading tool an one makes justified by none and an unwise step

imho :)

with best regards
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2017-10-10 21:54:58
[2017-10-14 22:28:37]
Kiwi - Posts: 374
Your humility is noted :)

I've been using Wine with Sierra Chart since 2013 and it hasn't given me any problems. Sure I've had an issue picking fonts and with a difference in chart edges but they never impacted trading or charting really and even they've been gone for the last year.

So, pick a boring, stable, but likeable Linux. Then wine + sc should give a good experience.

I would always recommend back up in trading though. First, know how to use your broker's tech to shut down a trade if SC/Wine died (ie, how do I exit a position with TWS). Second, have their number written down so that if your system or the internet dies you can call and close positions.
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2017-10-14 22:29:31
[2017-10-17 21:38:53]
ganz - Posts: 1048
Kiwi

Last twenty years it wasn't possible to explain to windows users what exactly linux was

They all trying to use linux as some kind of Windoze

Even devs are ill of that issue to try build yet another a la windoze shell

And they are fail all that time

It may makes you smile but this is something that makes Linux as a fail Desktop at all for decades

These wrong advices provides an unstable and incomplete solutions to users to make them sure the windoze was the better choise
[2017-10-17 21:58:15]
ganz - Posts: 1048
ertrader

In case IB is on the table you may want to try MacOS and Investor/RT.
[2017-10-18 01:08:06]
ertrader - Posts: 640
Thanks ganz... but ALL Apple solutions in any form are not part of any aspect of my life. I'll keep on with linux testing for now.
[2017-10-18 09:41:11]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
When we say they have botched server 2012, it means the following and numerous other items:

- When accessing it over Remote Desktop, it is sluggish and not responsive for the first 30 seconds or so, if there are many programs running. Totally different from the perfectly fine responsiveness of 2008. And this is consistent across many 2012 server installations, and not just isolated.
- There is this ridiculous start menu that takes up an entire screen.
- There is this ridiculous charms bar. This is supposed to be a server operating system. Not some experimental desktop full of all kinds of nonsense.
- Cannot run separate time synchronization utility. The time synchronization that it offers, is not as trustworthy for various reasons.
- There are conditions where Windows updates will automatically install, even though we have disabled that. In other words, Windows automatic updates turns back on under certain conditions.
- Loss of the ability to configure color and font settings in the same way on 2008. Very frustrating.
-When it comes to overall execution performance, it is hard to say if it is worse than 2008 but there are indications at times that it is.

Numerous other items which do not come to mind at the moment.

Also take Visual C++ 2017. They have completely screwed that up. We use a touchscreen, and it is not even touchscreen functional anymore. Even menus randomly stop functioning at times. They replace a perfectly fine scrollbar with this tiny barely able to interact with scrollbar in the text editor. Settings randomly change. Various stability problems. They have screwed up Visual C++ so much.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2017-10-18 18:24:30
[2017-10-28 02:35:50]
ertrader - Posts: 640
Update on my experiences moving to Linux:

Linux Mint 18.2 purchased CD and installed. Did not really need to purchase CD for 5.95 as it is free to download and burn a CD/DVD but it was convenient while I was traveling to have it ready when home. Installation went smoothly.
Hardware: (Yes I know old but want to see how Linux performs)
8 Gig memory
1 TB SSD
Nvidia GT440
Intel Core 2 CPU 6420 @ 2.13 GHZ


1) Mint Linux 18.2 working OK. Hangs on screensaver for some reason. Have turned it off for now. Investigating.
2) SC installed and running V 1630 using Wine 2.0.3.
3) SC ability to drag tabs not working for some reason. Cannot drag tabs and move.
4) Windows Version of Standalone Interactive Brokers installed and working. Yes I know they have Linux version but SC needs to connect via Windows Standalone IB (at least that is my understanding and experience)
5) TWSStart for auto re-logging is not working. Investigating
6) SC Remote compiling works well using my custom studies
7) SC and IB Performance seems good. On old hardware, Linux seems to eliminate all the windows baggage...maybe just placebo effect. Will look for objective performance metrics and comparisons.

More to come as I get use to OS and Windows differences. I'm a newbie Linux user but I really want this to work. I am so fed up with Microsoft and Mac OS never an option.

Best regards
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2017-10-28 02:41:43
[2017-10-28 02:45:42]
Sierra Chart Engineering - Posts: 104368
We are extremely fed up with Microsoft as well, you will not believe the level of problems we have with Visual Studio including preventing two of our systems from starting up and requiring either reinstalling the OS, or correction of the startup files.
Sierra Chart Support - Engineering Level

Your definitive source for support. Other responses are from users. Try to keep your questions brief and to the point. Be aware of support policy:
https://www.sierrachart.com/index.php?l=PostingInformation.php#GeneralInformation

For the most reliable, advanced, and zero cost futures order routing, *change* to the Teton service:
Sierra Chart Teton Futures Order Routing
Date Time Of Last Edit: 2017-10-28 04:10:22

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