Novell adds debugger to Mono to help Windows apps get to Linux

In addition, Novell is integrating its Suse Studio Online, which lets users build custom distributions of Linux so they can package their applications on an appliance loaded with a Linux operating system.

Mono Tools for Visual Studio is a plug-in for Microsoft's integrated development environment (IDE). The plug-in lets developers use Visual Studio to write and maintain applications that can run on Windows, Linux, Mac and Unix platforms.

Mono Tools for Visual Studio runs with Mono 2.4, which is available now, and 2.6, which is slated for release in December or January. Mono Tools for Visual Studio does not support Mono on the iPhone because it requires a Macintosh.

Novell's Mono is a .Net-compatible set of tools that includes a Common Language Runtime environment that enables the cross-platform capabilities. Mono can be run on Linux, BSD, Unix, Mac OS X, Solaris and Windows.

Novell officials said the most important part of the plug-in is a debugger that will make it easier for Visual Studio users to tap Linux as a deployment platform.