Linux & Poker

Does it work with the software (both clients and HEM)?

If not would running in a WINE window (or whatever it's called) be slower than if I default install windows?

I'm getting really sick of M$ forcing me to use their software.

Swig, I run WINE on my laptop (xubuntu) and it works a treat. It isn't slow at all and it works so well that you just don't notice it.

Both FT & Stars run fine. PT won't work though.

I haven't tried it in a while... even when I was running poker clients on linux, I was using a virtual machine.
The problem with tracker programs is that if you let the linux window manager control the windows then the HUD app has no way of knowing where the windows are and can't create an overlay. You can let the wine window manager control it, but then they're not very well integrated into the desktop. Running a virtual machine is not very recourse intensive, you can suspend and wake it up much faster than a physical machine. But if you're not running much besides poker and every day stuff this is probably not an optimal solution.
If you have a weekend to spend, get Ubuntu and a spare hard drive and find out for yourself. I love linux, but it does come with a learning curve, and there is no guarantee you won't hate it as much as windows... only there won't be anyone to blame.
If you can live with that:
http://www.ubuntu.com/ - get the LTS version and i386 build (it's actually i686 or i586... it will do it for you... 64 bit still comes with extra work and little else).
https://help.ubuntu.com/ - to get started
http://www.ubuntu.com/support/CommunitySupport - for support

And see if it works for you.

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...er-t82023.html

in short, if you need pt/hem, i recommend running winxp under virtualbox, with only poker and security software installed.