uberdorf

I got started with Ubuntu, it is a decent distribution to get started on.  I have different versions on each of my computers for the kids to use, and distro-hop too much.  What distribution I would recommend depends partly on some questions.

1. Do you want high stability or newest software?  (The newest packages are sometimes a little buggy, Ubuntu is kind of a compromise between stability and newer software.)

2. Do you play many games that are high on resources?  (Steam was designed with Ubuntu in mind so games can be easier to get working on Ubuntu without so much troubleshooting.)

3. What is the cpu speed, RAM, and graphics card of your computer?  (that affects the desktop environment to recommend.)

4. Do you mind learning a new desktop environment like Gnome, or would you prefer a Start button.

I personally use Wine with RM7 and it works fine in Debian and Kubuntu (a copy-paste problem I ran into on Fedora was actually due to a bug in that version of Gnome which is hopefully fixed by now).  I recommend installing microsoft fonts through winetricks if you don't like the look of how Wine renders some fonts in Windows apps (almost like dot matrix but not that bad).  However, there is a big downside to using Wine, and that is that Windows malware can try to install themselves on your Wine prefix.  If successful, it might read your documents or be a nuisance, but it shouldn't affect the core system. 

I have used a virtual machine with Windows 10 and Rootsmagic 7 in the past, but it is more resource intensive since you have to run two operating systems at once.

Linux has plenty of options that essentially do the same thing.  There are actually three universal ways of packaging for Linux (that I can think of), so that you only have to build the app once and it will work for most distributions.  Snap would probably be the best option for selling an app that will work on most distributions.

1. snap.  This is the method sponsored by Canonical, which makes Ubuntu, but it will work on most distributions.  https://snapcraft.io/Google and Microsoft both use the snap store, it provides a framework so that the app-maker packages it once for the snap framework (the website claims it can take 30 minutes to make the snap) and then any linux user with the snap framework installed can install the snap.  An advantage for for-profit app developers is that the system is friendly to proprietary and for-profit companies.  This might be the best option for rootsmagic.

2. flatpak.  This is very similar to snap in that flatpak offers a framework in which an app can be packaged once for flatpak and it will work on most distributions, if flatpak is already installed/enabled on the customer's linux computer.  https://flatpak.org/ Flatpak is more geared for open-source instead of for profit companies, so I don't know how that would work.

3. a compressed tar file.  You make the app, compress it with its dependencies, and let people on linux download it.  I have to admit I know the least about this option, but I have used it since Minecraft and Firefox both use this method in addition to other methods.  They both have deb installers too, in addition to a tar, but that is beside the point.

That's ridiculous. You don't need to write to them all. Debian-based would be a good start and would embrace the largest proportion of Linux users.

I agree.  Many Linux distros are based on Debian (including Ubuntu and Linux Mint), so if you write Rootsmagic into a .deb installer for Debian it will work on most linux distributions.  The other distributions like Fedora use .rpm installers, but they aren't used as much as the Debian family.  However there is an even simpler method used by Firefox and Minecraft for other distributions. 

What you do with firefox and Minecraft in some distributions is to download the app compressed into a tar file with all dependencies it needs.  So get it working, compress it into a .tar file, and let people download it.  It's that simple.  You wouldn't even need a .deb or .rpm installer.

I have run RM 7 in a Windows 10 VM guest using Virtualbox on a Linux host, and I currently run RM 7 on Wine 4.0.3 on Linux.  There are advantages and disadvantages to each method.

--running RM7 native on a Windows guest in a VM

-disadvantage-you are running two OS at once, Windows as a guest and Linux as a host, or vice versa.  You will use more RAM and CPU cores this way.  You also need a Windows license, and if Windows is connected to the internet there is that problem too.

-advantage-you can clone the Windows VM as a backup in case things get infected in the Windows guest.  Also RM 7 looks better running natively in Windows.  Windows is sandboxed by the virtual machine so it can't corrupt your host machine unless you do something stupid.

--running RM7 on WINE in Linux

-disadvantages-you have WINE installed, so if you open a Windows virus through a WINE browser or something, it can access your files just like in Windows.  WINE can run .exe files.  WINE does not render Windows fonts well, which not everyone knows how to fix. 

-advantage-RM 7 on WINE uses less RAM and CPU cores than having a VM.  RM 7 on WINE opens much faster, since you don't have to open a VM and start Windows.  You don't have to transfer files through a VM when putting pictures and such in RM.

--instructions for installing RM 7 in Wine on Linux (as of January 2020)

1. go to https://wiki.winehq.org/Downloadand follow the instructions for installing the stable version of WINE.  I prefer using current stable versions of WINE from the website over the older distro packages in the repositories, which you could try if you want.

2. run winecfg in terminal to configure WINE and click yes to install various packages like MONO and GECKO.  Set it to Windows 7 or 10 compatibility.

3. run the RM 7 exe, it should work perfectly now