I will be attending college for a non-computer related course however I will be required by them to learn Visual Basic and use NI Multisim software for computer-related stuff. I'm already sinking in thousands of dollars for the first year and I really can't afford and cannot legally install (without being in violation of the EULA) a copy of Microsoft Windows. I've tried Visual Basic under WINE however it doesn't run properly - fails to open old projects, fails to create new projects, constantly gives package errors and refuses to close.

So I was wondering if there are any Linux utilities that offer code completion that are also compatible with Visual basic (I am willing to swallow my pride and temporarily install mono if needed). It should offer cross compatibility (interoperability?) with Visual Basic so that I can properly submit projects (and collaborate if necessary). (If it were up to me, I'd use Python or C, but I can't).

Also, I will be required to use NI Multisim for developing and testing electronic systems and I was hoping that there is something free in Linux that I can use which would be compatible with it.

I know Openoffice.org offers compatibility with M$ Office, but I need something that offers similar compatibility for Visual Basic and NI Multisim.

Thank-you for any assistance that can be offered.
-kev717

Well there are tools to develop Mono projects, I believe monodevelop is one projects but I don't think those are compatible with Visual Studio/Basic I might be wrong, perhaps a search might yield the answer. The problem you have here is that Visual Basic is an intermediary language with a CRL (Common runtime language), theoretically it could be cross platform, and to some minor extent it is with mono, however, MS has not released the CRL underpinnings that takes the compiled .NET code and executes it for any OS other than Windows. Have you considered looking for a Windows XP copy on ebay or something, or perhaps buying a used P4 for <$100 to use for the development so you have a copy of Windows? If you can get windows and do not have the Visual Basic software you can use icsharp an open source development IDE for .NET. As far as NI Multism I did not see any alternatives in my brief search and running under WINE looks to be impossible. I think your only choice here is to try and get a hold of a copy of XP or an old computer.

Hi -

I don't think this has anything to do with Wine.

It sounds like you're simply trying to open a project that was created with an incompatible version of "Visual Basic"!

Actually, I received a copy of Visual Basic from my old CS teacher (I never told him that I couldn't install it). The CD came with the Visual Basic installer as well as some programs designed with it, so version incompatibility can't be the problem. Visual Basic doesn't seem to want to run under WINE and the fact that I can't even create new projects could pose a problem.

Thank-you for your suggestion, however I already have about 7 other computers (more like computer-like devices which will be sharing internet resources such as my printer) that would be capable* of running Windows XP, but if I install windows XP on any of them then I am in direct violation by having those devices shared with more than 5 other machines (see Windows XP EULA sect. 1.3).
Even if I was to find another computer to just "run" windows on, I do not have the space for it. My desk size is limited and my floor space is less-than-adequate. It isn't a terrible idea, however I cannot legally accept the EULA and I don't really have the choice to simply buy a new computer.

I will continue to search solutions, however any more help would be appreciated. Thank-you.
-Kev717

With XP if you get the Pro version is the 5 device limit still a problem? Could you try using say Server 2003 instead of XP then? Finally I know we are happy to not that you are being so upright about not violating the EULA, but you could just go ahead and break it, not that I condone that. Also as one other option you could run XP in a virtual machine with something like VirtualBox it is within the EULA and then you are not sharing devices out from it. If you only need it for development that is an attractive option.

There exists a problem with the VM: My computer is not very powerful. I will be using an inexpensive netbook for this, so running Windows in a VM (or at all) would be extremely difficult (and slow). Additionally, anything that Microsoft could threaten me with is not something that I will willingly accept. If I break their license agreement then they could pursue legal action and that would make my money problem even worse. I'm sure they wouldn't attack somebody who couldn't pay big, but I will not take any risks. Installing Microsoft Windows is not a solution that I can pursue, any free solution would be the best for my situation.

Thank-you anyway for your help on the matter.
-kev717

Unfortunately I think you are out of luck then, that is the only viable option there seems to be is a windows machine. If your netbook has anything other than an Atom processor though you should be able to use VirtualBox to run WinXP it doesn't take much 256MB of RAM and not much processing power I do it on a sempron processor. None of the other devices could host the VM, you could then use Rempte Desktop or VNC to the virtual machine from your netbook, if for instance you have any headless servers. No matter what good luck.