I believe this may be a niche question but hopefully someone may have an answer.

Has anyone gotten PipeMax working on Linux? Or does anyone know of a Linux native alternative software for automotive engine design? I’d rather not purchase a software for $100 only to not be able to get it working. I am not very knowledgeable on how to get Windows programs working on Linux as I’ve tried using Bottles and Lutris for Zwift but was unable to get it working.

  • Meltrax@lemmy.world
    5·
    4 months ago

    I’m a techy and a tinkerer. I run Linux on a lot of machines and I self host some stuff, and I also mod and tune my car.

    I keep a windows laptop on hand that at this point I literally only use for tuning software. If something goes wrong with the car I don’t want to go through trying to fuck with booting a niche engine tune program in Wine on a Linux machine with an OS that may or may not even recognize the OBD device needed to flash the tune. Too many places for things to go wrong and the end result is a car I can’t drive.

    Unless you’re very comfortable with having your car unusable for long periods of time while you troubleshoot things, I’d highly recommend having a windows laptop for car tuning.

    • yak@lemmy.ml
      2·
      4 months ago

      Same here, I have an old Thinkpad running Windows just for my car tuning software, last thing you want is a potentially unstable connection when flashing an ECM.

    • sic_semper_tyrannis@feddit.chOPEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      I totally get what you’re saying. Luckily for me the program just runs formulas so I can figure out for instance what size plenum, what length runners, what size turbo, etc. I need. I’m not using it to flash a tune as my engine is too old for that fancy stuff