Bordeaux 1.8.0 for Linux review

Introduction

Bordeaux is a Wine GUI configuration manager that runs winelib applications. It also supports installation of third party utilities, installation of applications and games, and the ability to use custom configurations. Bordeaux is written in GTK and requires GTK 2.10 or higher to be installed on a given system. Bordeaux also uses wget and cabextract extensively and they should be installed for Bordeaux to operate correctly.

Getting Bordeuax 1.8.0

Bordeaux is a commercial product which is currently available only as a download and cost from ($20.00) to ($25.00) depending on your architecture A DVD version is planned for the 2.x release and will cost a little extra for the media.

Their is no free demo of Bordeaux available at this time, this will also change with the 2.x release but instead of a time restricted demo Bordeaux 2.x will have a free non restricted limited version that will install a couple standard applications and let the user get a feel for the application. Then if they choose they can purchase the full version and have access to all the supported applications and support.

Installing Bordeaux 1.8.0

• .sh installer for Linux, Free-BSD and Solaris
• .deb and .rpm packages for Linux
• .pbi package for PC-BSD
• .dmg package in a tar.gz for Mac

To install Bordeaux I became root and used the following command:

dpkg -i bordeaux-linux.x86.deb

Supported Platforms

Bordeaux 1.8.0 is built for Linux, BSD, Solaris and a Mac beta is currently available. The product has been tested on:

• Ubuntu 8.04 and higher, Fedora, OpenSuse, Mandrake, and Gentoo
• FreeBSD 7.1, 7.2
• PC-BSD 7.1
• Opensolaris 2008.11, 2009.06
• Mac OSX 10.5.7 and higher

Bordeuax should run on all current Linux distributions

Supported Software

Bordeaux 1.8.0 currently supports

• Microsoft Office 2007
• Microsoft Office 2003
• Microsoft Office 2000
• Microsoft Office 97
• Microsoft Office Visio 2003
• Microsoft Office Project 2003
• Adobe Photoshop 6
• Adobe Image Ready 3
• Adobe Photoshop 7
• Adobe Image Ready 7
• Adobe Photoshop CS
• Adobe Photoshop CS2
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 6
• Steam and Steam based Games

Please note Office 2007 isn't supported on Solaris at this time.

Installing Software with Bordeaux

For this review I have installed three applications that I have that Bordeaux supports. IE 6 which is a free download, Adobe (PhotoShop 7) I know its a little behind the times but it's the latest version I own. And I also have Microsoft Office 2007.

To install a application in Bordeaux just go to your Applications menu then Bordeaux and select "Install Windows Applications" and Bordeaux will start up.

Once Bordeaux is running just double click on Application you want to install and their scripts will install any needed libraries for you.

The install of IE 6 is simple, I just started Bordeaux and double clicked IE 6 and the install proceeded without and problems. All I had to do was follow the install and answer a couple installation related questions.


PhotoShop 7 was just as easy as IE 6, I just double clicked PhotoShop 7 and the install started. After Bordeaux installed some needed libraries a dialog came up and ask me to browse to the install media. I then browsed to my PhotoShop 7 CD and and selected setup.exe and the install proceeded. After the install completed I had short cuts for PhotoShop 7 and Image Ready 7 in my Applications menu under Wine > Programs.

To run PhotoShop 7 all I had to do was go to Applications > Wine and click on the shortcut and PhotoShop started up and ran as expected.


Microsoft Office 2007 installation goes just like IE 6 and PhotShop 7 just double click the field in Bordeaux and the install starts and runs with any problems. The main difference in the install is when the install reaches about 75% it seems to slow down, I can see that its still working in the background and after about a 10 minute wait the install successfully completed.

Shortcuts for Office 2007 were also added under Applications > Wine > Programs Word, Excel and PowerPoint 2007 are supported and run at virtually native windows speed on my Ubuntu system. With the limited testing ive done so far the only problem ive ran into is sometimes the equation editor doesn't display fonts as expected, other then that everything has worked as expected.


Tweaking your Bordeax install

Bordeaux comes with a Cellar manager a cellar is a wine prefix and Bordeaux installs each application into its own sandbox in .bordeaux in your home directory. To start the Cellar manager go to Applications > Bordeaux > Run command (In alternate cellar) and the Cellar manager will start. From the Cellar manager you can edit and configure any of the wine prefixes Bordeaux has created for you.

Bordeaux 1.8.0 Pros and Cons

Pros

• Price, cost only $20.00, or $25.00 for Solaris systems.
• Runs on many architectures Mac, Linux, BSD, Solaris/OpenSolaris
• Supports most Microsoft Office applications
• Simple and easy for anyone to use with no learning curve.
• Actively developed and supported

Cons

• Doesn't currently support Microsoft OutLook
• Only Mac release comes with a custom bundled Wine version at this time.
• Current GUI is simple and needs further improvements to make installing unsupported applications easier.

Bordeaux Group and MyLinuxSupport signs first reseller agreements

MyLinuxSupport Inc., signs first reseller agreements with the Bordeaux Software Group and Wine Reviews to resell pre-paid open source support cards. The pre-paid support cards will help reduce costs, complexity and improve overall productivity for businesses and individuals. With a dedicated 24/7 support channel now available business can reduce their total cost of ownership and better protect current and future investments that are in place.

Current support options are both easy and efficient. Customers can receive support through a variety of methods including e-mail, instant messaging, telephony and multimedia conferencing services provided by a dedicated MyLinuxSupport staff.

By combining our unique strengths, in our respective fields we believe we can make a real difference in the overall end user experience by providing dedicated support services.

Pre-paid support services start at only $25.00 per incident making it economically feasible for everyone looking for professional support services to receive it. With support services being provided 24/7 no matter where your located MyLinuxSupport will always be open to serve your needs.

According to Tom Wickline of the Bordeaux Group “Our relationship with MyLinuxSupport allows us to provide 24/7 technical support services for a broad variety of open source software. This is also an excellent way for open source companies to generate revenue for their projects through the MyLinuxSupport reseller program.”

According to Vince Corning, CEO of MyLinuxSupport “We look forward to our relationship with the Bordeaux Group and Wine Reviews, we are excited to work together with two of the leading companies in the WINE community."

About MyLinuxSupport: MyLinuxSupport Inc. is a Delaware corporation with operations based in Cebu City, Philippines. The company provides professional services for Linux powered solutions including development, testing, and 24/7 technical support services.

For further information, visit MyLinuxSupport Services

About Bordeaux Group : The Bordeaux Technology Group is a software services and development company specializing in Windows compatibility software. Users of Linux systems from time to time find themselves in the need to run specialized Windows software. The Bordeaux suite enables access to these programs and data in a seamless and low cost manner without requiring licensing of Microsoft Technology. The Bordeaux Group also provides migration services and support for alternative operating systems specializing in Windows compatibility.

For further information, visit http://www.bordeauxgroup.com