Gaming With Linux

[andrescasta 0]

I am preparing to migrate from Windows to Linux. Off course I still need to be able to do the things with Linux that I now do with Windows. Main issue today: gaming, what are my options? All of my games are Windows-based with some exceptions that actually have a native Linux installer. But I still want to be able to play all my Windows-based games when I have switched to Linux. There are a few options to solve this "problem". I have read about Wine, which works good for most Windows applications, but doesn't seem to do too good with gaming. There is Cedega, formerly known as WineX, which emulates the API's used by DirectX. Most games should run good - some even great - on it. At least that is what the developer says. The thing is I have not found that many user comments/reviews about it. Another thing is that you'll have to pay for it. Not that I am too cheap to spent money on a good solution, but I would like to see what I am buying - a demo or some good reviews/comments wouldn't hurt. Then there is the CPU emulator solution (VMWare, Plex86) and run Windows from it, but this will cost performance (and in case of VMWare; money) because it's an OS in an OS. And loss of performance is not something we want when we're gaming, right? Dual-boot is not an option - this will cost a lot of time booting between OS's and HDD space for installing several OS's. Aside from that it's too much trouble maintaining two OS'sWell, please tell me what you think about all this.....

[guangdian 0]

playing game on the Linux is a really bad mind.Linux is for net and work,but not for home entiretment,and any how why you don't use windows xp ?? it's really a good OS i think.

[mayank 2]

Well even I agree that Linux is not for entertainment purposes.We will have to except the fact that over the year windows has been the leading brand in this computer industry..there are people who will criticize Windows all the way but still they use windows as the applications and games are easily available for windows but when it comes to different operating systems like Linux..the main trouble is Drivers, games and applications.You can listen music for entertainment and play some of the games which are inbuilt.Now you've mentioned about lots of alternatives...like Wine and Vmware.Let me tell you that Wine will not at all give you the functionality of any program which you can run directly from windows and you have already mentioned that VMWARE is costly.So, I can suggest you to DUAL BOOT becasue that is the simplest and easiest way of doing things.

[Razor 0]

Im sure theres a way you can run Linux as a program for windows....i dont know if the person that told me this was true but he was talking abiut installing it as a program..so as standard he would use linux whenever he was hosting things for tempoary times...then switching it back off as easy as one click ..and your back on windows.that may be worth finding out about..anyway , god knows if that is possable..good luck !

[andrescasta 0]

Ok, i think that today the best way is dual boot because it is a lot of work try things in linux and then see that in windows works better......., now tell me something, i have a DELL D600 laptop (Centrino P M 1.6, 512 RAM, HD40 GB, RADEON 9000, Wifi intel 2100), i going to create a partition of 4 GB for linux and i think to install Debian Distribution and then compile the 2.6.14 kernel (because it have support for centrino systems).All this is ok, or there is a better way??Please give me your opinion.....

[realthor 0]

just download the free VMware player on windows and then download from http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ one pre-build linux distribution VMware image file as a torrent and run it from windows.You'll get details from internet just google it.

You'll have a functional Linux inside your Windows and about the performance loss i've read about minimal if non-existent because VMware does not emulate system calls on the host PC but tries to use directly the CPU as if you would run Linux (or another one).

[amhso 0]

usually games you run on linux and then if you try them on windows, linux will be better. even if it is emulated. the reason: linux already uses much less system resources, therefore making up for the loss of gaming experience in emulation. Sometimes it even overcomes the loss. Gaming in linux is still good. (The problem is paying for cedega).

[mama_soap 0]

A dual boot is probably the way to go. Most people I know - I mean the gaming freaks - use linux for everything geekish and windows for playing.But then... I think TuxRacer is a very entertaining game. I even got addicted to it for a while, and the penguin is really cute

[pbrugge 0]

I think if you really want to play windows based games you need a duall boot system.Sure you can try Cedega and I am sure most games will runon it (some even better as in windows) but it can be a pain in the **bottom** to get them to work.Linux can be a entertainment OS and you also can play lots of nice, fun and good games on it ( see http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ ) for example. Sound and Video are also wel supported for instance mplayer, and xine are well known and good videoplayers that support most filetypes. For music xmms (winamp clone) or amarok are good options imoBut you will need to step down of your "I want windows games to work" thought if you want to run only Linux since linux is not windows. Else keep sticking with windows or try duall boot

[kingi89 0]

Why Windows is so popular? -Because all software has made for it.Why all software is made for Windows? -Because it is so popular.It is so also in games. Celega is good option: Yes, you have to pay to get it (if not using illegal methods), but it is still way more cheaper than Windows XP. I'm not usually playing Windows games in Linux but I know how hard can it be to make Celega work. But it is worth of it. So don't give your money to Micro$oft and use Linux instead.This is slightly offtopic but anyway: Why play Win games, if there is at least equal good Linux games as Freeciv, Freecraft and so on.

[pbrugge 0]

Celega is good option: Yes, you have to pay to get it (if not using illegal methods).

Not completely true you can get Cedega from the CVS tree but you will mis some nice options you have in the payed version and there is chance that it will frees since CVS is dev-state. Alltrough it is a nice option to see if cedega fits your needs

[T100 0]

When the majority of PC games nowadays utilizes DirectX, there aren't many way that you can get away not having it. VMware works quite fine with me. I even debug with Soft-ICE using VMware. But I notice that you say dual boot causes you a lot of time, which is not true for most of computers at home (I use BootMagic for the job instead of Fedora's built-in GRUB). If you really have a very old computer, I don't think VMware will work well. An old computer does not give good gaming performance too. Gaming on Linux does not seem very feasible on your case to me.

[Sarith Pallewela 0]

I agree. Gaming in Linux is not a very good idea. Linux is NOT a gaming OS. If your a really "i need games" person you should either Dual boot or i think Mepis inux has option to emulate windows inside linux or something! Why don't you search and try that! I think it'll ork as good as the real thing! You should try searching in linux.com or on the mepis/knoppixe linux web site!

[xboxrulz 0]

Here are the reasons why gaming on Linux is better than on Windows. It all comes down to the core of the operating system design.

First let's take a look at Direct X versus OpenGL. OpenGL was here long before Microsoft decided to make its own standards. Direct X by design is already worse than OpenGL let alone that they close the source to the thing.

Second, it's not just Linux is better in gaming, any operating system that relies on the X Window System is better in gaming that Windows. Why? The reason behind this is that the X window system has better response time, and has a framebuffer that exceeds Windows at least 5x faster!

Third, memory management, UNIX based/inspired operating systems. Simply, you'll get less game crashes, if your game was written properly. For instance, when playing C&C Generals on Windows, if you click too many buttons, selecting too many characters, dropping nukes on your enemy almost at the same time, Windows will crash. On the other hand, doing the exact same on Linux (via Cedega), it doesn't happen.

For more of my arguments, it's here

xboxrulz

[abhishek 0]

I do not agree with "Linux is not a good option for gaming" as many people say. It is not because Linux is not a gaming OS(it is even better than windows for gaming), it is because most games available are written for windows "ONLY BECAUSE OF POPULARITY OF WINDOWS".