Is there a simple way for Meteor.js to interact with a SQL Server the same way it does with MongoDB? For example, by using the Node.js MSSQL driver found here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29995 - however ideally this needs to work in linux.
The closest I have found was tedious - how can I use this, or another alternative, in Meteor?
You probably have read the meteor docs. You will find it is given there :
The current release of Meteor supports MongoDB, the popular document database, and the examples in this section use the MongoDB API. Future releases will include support for other databases.
So until 'that' future release, you won't have native support for other databases. Your best shot is to use packages that allow you to connect MS-SQL. You can check the packages listed here or search them here. Some of them are:
Better use one that is popular and more recently updated.
__meteor_bootstrap.require doesn't work outside of isServer. However it's been replaced in 0.6 by Npm.require. Unfortunately for me 0.6 is only available on *nix & mac distro.