Of all the Linux distributions, which version is suitable for Houdini?

Hi, my guess is that most Linux distributions should work as long as the system meet the official installation requirements.

Since I'm free from requirements I'm using Debian 11. There is a converter for RPM files I think is called Alien. With that it was quite easy to get RenderMan working as well (only RPM:s are provided for Linux AFAIK). Debian has a good package manager called Aptitude (APT). Furthermore with Wine I got ZBrush working okay as well. This can be tricky with some distributions.

Otherwise some people mention Rocky and it should be some kind of CentOS equivalent belonging to the RPM side of Linux/GNU. I tried it once but the system was quite large to install in the first place and I have a need to be able to do small systems for other reasons. Probably Rocky is a good choice for Houdini since some developer has or still use it. If you are willing to pay for a license and get some support you could go with Red Hat Enterprise. They have some beautifully written documentation as well that require subscription and it could be worth it.

I use PopOs because it supports nVidia drivers. I'm not experienced with Houdini or Linux though.

SWest
Hi, my guess is that most Linux distributions should work as long as the system meet the official installation requirements.

Since I'm free from requirements I'm using Debian 11. There is a converter for RPM files I think is called Alien. With that it was quite easy to get RenderMan working as well (only RPM:s are provided for Linux AFAIK). Debian has a good package manager called Aptitude (APT). Furthermore with Wine I got ZBrush working okay as well. This can be tricky with some distributions.

Otherwise some people mention Rocky and it should be some kind of CentOS equivalent belonging to the RPM side of Linux/GNU. I tried it once but the system was quite large to install in the first place and I have a need to be able to do small systems for other reasons. Probably Rocky is a good choice for Houdini since some developer has or still use it. If you are willing to pay for a license and get some support you could go with Red Hat Enterprise. They have some beautifully written documentation as well that require subscription and it could be worth it.

Thank you very much for your answer, I am trying to use fedora

eyeclick
PopOs

Is popos friendly to nVidia drivers

I can recommend fedora with Gnome DE. It has some dependencies you need to install beforehand . And since I couldnt add sesinetd to startup I need to manually start every time I open the computer(it is not about fedora just my lack of knowledge). Other than that everything works fine.

duveil
I can recommend fedora with Gnome DE. It has some dependencies you need to install beforehand . And since I couldnt add sesinetd to startup I need to manually start every time I open the computer(it is not about fedora just my lack of knowledge). Other than that everything works fine.

I tried to install Fedora on my laptop with boot efi error.... I'll try mint

In my Openion Fedora is not stable distro for houdini FX , I used to use the Fedora distribution
You should better use Ubuntu based distro like pop , mint and etc ...
im using rocky linux 8.7
rocky based on rhel
and developed by CentOS developers
it is very stable and has high performance

in the general : All Linux distributions are fine , The choice of Linux is up to you !

GOOD LUCK !

SWest
I'm using Debian 11

I too can recommend Debian. I've been using it with Houdini for the last six years (at least) without any major issues. Very stable and comes with the best package manager under the Sun.

But in general it shouldn't matter much which distribution you choose, as long as its libraries and driver versions meet Houdini requirements. Though I would rather avoid rolling distros, like Arch, Fedora or openSUSE, unless you're comfortable fixing stuff when things break.

VFXDOG

duveil
I can recommend fedora with Gnome DE. It has some dependencies you need to install beforehand . And since I couldnt add sesinetd to startup I need to manually start every time I open the computer(it is not about fedora just my lack of knowledge). Other than that everything works fine.

I tried to install Fedora on my laptop with boot efi error.... I'll try mint

Did you disabled secure boot? And you can always try live iso before you install it. It is a fast way of reviewing distros. I use fedora because of autodesk products. If you are gonna use just Houdini debian based distros are ok too. For laptop fedora is my first choice. For desktop or ws Rocky Linux would be more stable.

Since this thread is still 'fresh' on Linux distributions,
I thought I would put out a question/feedback on anyone using RHE?
'Easy' to setup/use nvidia drivers?
Would people only shy away from RHE because of the 'fee'?(although to me it's a non-issue as the last time I checked it was like $50/yr.) CentOS being essentially the same? except no fee and for 'support' it has a good forum by many users that can be accessed?

I am an old linux user. I am about to try to install Houdini on Linux today. I am focused on ease to install.
- ubuntu 23.04, following this doc https://www.sidefx.com/docs/houdini/licensing/install_launcher.html [www.sidefx.com] and using this command to solve installer QT issue sudo apt-get install --reinstall libxcb-xinerama0
- pop os, is Ubuntu base so it's the same as above but i didn't see the point of using Pop OS yet.
- Rocky Linux : is probably going to replace CentOS in studios but i couldn't find the equivalent to that command i used to solve Qt issue. If anyone knows how to fix it. Anyway in general it's a more advanced distro. I ll probably give another try soon but it needs more time to configure while it took 1 hour to do everything with Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is perfect right now.

Emile31
it took 1 hour to do everything with Ubuntu.

It is a beautiful thing. Having to fix things, although you can, simply is not that amusing after you've done it a couple of times.

I'd use Mac, being quite Linux (Unix) like as derived from BSD [stackoverflow.com], if Apple would just be a little more humble in their approach (forcing me to basically recycle old hardware for their "updates") and support more hardware and respect my privacy.

Since that day seem far away, any distro that works out of the box or is quick to troubleshoot is a good choice. Time can be used for better things than fixing broken distros.

Cheers!