Linux and Daytrading

Anyone use or considered using Linux as their operating system of choice for their trading endeavors?

I've always wondered if there's enough software on other platforms to trade both strongly, without any lack of tools, and reliably.

I'm now using Linux 100% for day trading.

I trade via interactivebrokers which is fine as there trading platform is Java based. I also write ny own Java apps to interface with there API.

Additionally I have a spreadbet account that is web based and works fine with Firefox and the Flash plugin.

The flavour of Linux I'm using is Ubuntu and the actual OS is bullet proof and has never crashed. I do get some problems with Firefox occasionally.

XP whilst good has been less reliable on my trading station so I'm sticking with Linux.

JonnyT

Ubuntu sounds and looks cute. Thanks for the reply.
I'd be interested to see similar posts, even screenshots of serious Linux or Unix based trading.

I just am getting a new PC, I'm walking away from Windows and Intel, and replacing both with opposites, a 64bit AMD Athlon X2, and a taste from the world of free.

So far I like the look of FreeBSD and Fluxbox (GUI) working together...

Looks classy, there's of course alot of reading and the like...

The main reason why I'm looking to trade on this platform as well is that this is the computer I wish to try a multi-monitor setup (2-4 monitors) and invest alot of my time getting to know (firstly) the infrastructure of unix systems, then learn languages like PHP and MySQL and have some kind of experienced based self-learned abilities in Database administration so I will be able to trade for a living and maybe webprogram or go down whichever road I wish too..

Also there seems to be a better learning envioronment under Linux to learn c++ in its primitive. So many Linux users are c or c++ programmers, and I wish to have a look at altering some of the open-source programs. This may not have alot to do with trading you may think. But the resultant is a good basis for quantitative derivative study (as it just so happens that my core interests are computers, finance and economics [trading]).

The reason I plumped for Ubuntu is that its easy to maintain and update and has the best resources freely available bar none.

Its forums are superb. Ubuntu is currently miles ahead in the number of downloads of Linux Distro's and for good reason.

PS you can make Ubuntu's Desktop do just about anything, you don't need fluxbox...

JonnyT

As already remarked InteractiveBrokers is an excellent choice if you are running Linux. TWS is very reliable on a Linux machine. The API is free and reliable.

Choice of distribution is probably not all that important. If you want to learn, then Gentoo might be a good choice. Ubuntu will be easier to install.

InteractiveBrokers do have real time charts, but they still leave something (actually quite a bit) to be desired. Otherwise, the charting landscape is a bit bleak. You can probably get QuoteTracker to work under wine. I've also seen it reported that AmiBroker runs under wine. I have my own real time charting written in Java driven off the IB API, so it's not a problem for me.

Read Eric Raymond's book The Art of Unix Programming to get a feel for the 'philosophy' of UNIX. You can find it free on the web. One of the attributes of UNIX he describes is transparency. For me this is perhaps it's most important quality. You can always find out how things work because it was designed that way. This is important in a multitude of ways. As a simple example you can almost always fix system problems with minimal adverse impact. Compare to Windows which is an opaque monolith where the standard procedure is reinstall. Just doesn't happen on UNIX systems, unless things are in a very poor state.

If you are not a programmer, do not underestimate the amount of work required to learn C or C++. It will be lots - and then some. Much better to start with something like Python and move on to Java or C++ later if you feel you have a need to.

I have ordered a free CD from Ubuntu. Does the CD contain software to split my drive and run two OS, or do I have to use other software?

Essentially you need a partition on which to run Ubuntu, ideally two so you can have a swap partition. The swap needs to be twice physical ram so isn't going to be large. The partition for Ubuntu only needs to be a few gig aswell.

The CD contains tools that allow you to create the necessary partition(s). Once installed Ubuntu installs something called Grub that provides a menu allowing you to boot any existing OS on the Hard Drive along with Ubuntu. Ubuntu by default will be the default!!!

You will probably find that after installing the OS there will be a bit of tweaking to do. Just PM me if you need help.

JonnyT

Thanks JT. I think I can spare 100gigs, so that should last a week or two

If you have broadband, just download it!

JonnyT

Hi

I'm using Fedora Core without any problems, I haven't used FreeBSD since 4.10 the company I worked for was running it for dns and mail servers, whats it like now? I loved its stability!

Q

pistolpete said:

Ubuntu sounds and looks cute. Thanks for the reply.
I'd be interested to see similar posts, even screenshots of serious Linux or Unix based trading.

I just am getting a new PC, I'm walking away from Windows and Intel, and replacing both with opposites, a 64bit AMD Athlon X2, and a taste from the world of free.

So far I like the look of FreeBSD and Fluxbox (GUI) working together...

Looks classy, there's of course alot of reading and the like...

The main reason why I'm looking to trade on this platform as well is that this is the computer I wish to try a multi-monitor setup (2-4 monitors) and invest alot of my time getting to know (firstly) the infrastructure of unix systems, then learn languages like PHP and MySQL and have some kind of experienced based self-learned abilities in Database administration so I will be able to trade for a living and maybe webprogram or go down whichever road I wish too..

Also there seems to be a better learning envioronment under Linux to learn c++ in its primitive. So many Linux users are c or c++ programmers, and I wish to have a look at altering some of the open-source programs. This may not have alot to do with trading you may think. But the resultant is a good basis for quantitative derivative study (as it just so happens that my core interests are computers, finance and economics [trading]).

Click to expand...

flubber2k I'm personally impressed with its features.

Call me biased but I am a big believer in UC Berkeley's designing of BSD, the main reason for this is that rather than a few hackers (including Torvalds) trying to write a unix for the PC, Berkeley's intention was to port Unix to PC.

To me there's a big difference, to others its the same thing.

In summation.
I prefer something designed over something that has been grown.

FreeBSD to me seems nice and technical, as well as probably one of the most solid operating systems in existence -- and I want to be awed by this solid environment.

So for me it maybe Unix and Daytrading rather than Linux.
But the differences are subtle.

pistolpete said:

flubber2k I'm personally impressed with its features.

Call me biased but I am a big believer in UC Berkeley's designing of BSD, the main reason for this is that rather than a few hackers (including Torvalds) trying to write a unix for the PC, Berkeley's intention was to port Unix to PC.

To me there's a big difference, to others its the same thing.

In summation.
I prefer something designed over something that has been grown.

FreeBSD to me seems nice and technical, as well as probably one of the most solid operating systems in existence -- and I want to be awed by this solid environment.

So for me it maybe Unix and Daytrading rather than Linux.
But the differences are subtle.

Click to expand...

One thing worth considering in choosing FreeBSD is the state of Java. SUN (and I think IBM) do not support Java on FreeBSD. I know it's been ported and is available, and I'm not suggesting that it's unusable or anything like that, but it is something to keep in mind when things like IB's TWS are Java based.

The other operating system worthy of consideration is of course Solaris. Especially now that it's now free and open source (sort of). Solaris does have some unique stuff not found in other *nix's. In particular dtrace looks to be outstanding for developement and administration of high performance systems and really has no equivalent in other operating systems.

Actually, looking into the Java issue a little further, it seems that the latest JDK for FreeBSD is 1.3.1. This is a real problem for IB TWS and a lot of other Java apps that require 1.4 or higher.

http://www.freebsd.org/java/

Nice, looking at gentoo now... portage looks crazy though :\

Also nice to see some Australians here. DCraig from Brisbane wow...

Thing is I'm only beginning to trade, I'm 18, just looking at nix, and before I were to bore in I'd start this thread for in the future I desire to trade for a living (as I love the markets, reading ebooks in my spare time, fascinated, in for the long haul).

Say an hour in the house of someone who trades for a living in my area could be a very inspirational learning experience. Especially if he has a good setup and can explain the game.

DCraig wanna help out a brother?
DCraig, I'm new to these forums, how is the Australian presence here? Say -- have you met any traders here? Or even had a big get together!?

#ps: sorry if I sound like a freeloader, but it's true, I really want to stand by someone who has setup a system, see what they do, I'd probably learn alot more from that experience in 15minutes than an hour of reading my fx ebooks.

JonnyT said:

If you have broadband, just download it!

JonnyT

Click to expand...

Took over an hour and I have a few coasters trying to burn the CD but it now boots. I will try and load it tomorrow. Did RTFM but I was a bit unsure when I had a quick glance at this screen (see attached). I presume my windows XP is on the 163.9 GB primary partition but I am not sure how I add a partition for Ubuntu and a swap file while keeping my current OS and files intact. Would be grateful of any advice.

Oh dear,

You have your entire disk as one partition and NTFS at that!

You have got to shrink the partition to create some space for the Linux partitions but I'm not sure the Linux partition tool will do that to NTFS as in general Linux cannot write reliably to NTFS partitions.

Do you have a copy of partition magic handy as that will do the trick.

I'll also ask the question for you on the Ubuntu forum.

JonnyT

Bigbusiness said:

Took over an hour and I have a few coasters trying to burn the CD but it now boots. I will try and load it tomorrow. Did RTFM but I was a bit unsure when I had a quick glance at this screen (see attached). I presume my windows XP is on the 163.9 GB primary partition but I am not sure how I add a partition for Ubuntu and a swap file while keeping my current OS and files intact. Would be grateful of any advice.

Click to expand...

Your NTFS partition has taken up the available free space, you'll need to allocate some space for the linux native and swap partitions. You'll need to resize your NTFS partition.

http://www.partition-manager.com/overview_details/resize_NTFS.htm

and

http://www.powerquest.com/home_homeoffice/products/system_performance/pm80/index.html

Once resized, you can install Linux - or if you have a spare hard drive lying around you could install it as the primary drive - keeping windows as a secondary.

HTH

Thanks JT/flubber2k. This is a new base unit PC that I have recently loaded XP on to, so I could start again if I had to but I can probably get hold of a copy of partition magic. Will have a look at those links later. Must do some work now.

According to the Ubuntu forum you can do this from the Ubuntu boot CD using the partition tools.

JonnyT

Found this in my favourites

http://mlf.linux.rulez.org/mlf/ezaz/ntfsresize.html

Freeware ntfs resizer