[ask] Any Windows-like Linux?

[FouGilang 0]

hello all, i'm kind of in a hurry for an answer so i think i'll put this here and see your opinions

i'll start the story:

 

me, and my bestest best friend, are going to create "game center" business (something like internet cafe which only has games inside, so there's no browsing there). originally, it's my friends who intended to create it, i'm just being a nice friend who invited in the project. he has ordered some PCs, tables, and spaces for our first brand new business

the problem begin here: he asked me for some advice about the connections and windows. i was like "are you sure you can buy all those windows licenses?! " (i know him well and i'm pretty sure that neither he or his parent are able and going to buy original windows system) and he innocently answered "that's why i'm asking you... "

 

the answer is simple: we need linux, a free distro which easy to use by most of windows users and have the ability to be able to play all the most favourite games in our local trend, which is the likes of DotA, Call Of Duty, Lineage II, Point Blank, Audition, and so on. most of them are online games though, so they're free copy-paste-ed and easily installed in windows system. yes, in WINDOWS system, i don't think they offer the option to play on linux. we simply can't just replace those games with another games, it's about gaming market trend. if we remove that, we're as good as dead...

 

in short, we are searching for linux with this criteria:

- simple (and hoped to be much alike with windows so they won't confused)

- easy to use (again, for most windows user)

- can play game without any problem (like, click on the desktop shortcut to play this game)

 

any suggestions?

[shadowx 0]

No, is the answer!You do get WINE which is a windows simulator that will let you use many windows programs perfectly in linux, you just download and run a windows installer and it works. However, games are VERY complex and rely heavily on various aspects of windows (or their native operating system). You are going to need to use windows to do what you want to do.However, you should be able to buy Windows XP fairly cheap at the moment, or Windows 7 for about ?50 ($70-$80) It's strange you're computers didnt come with an OS, you can try a linux Distro like Ubuntu but it probably wont play games like CoD etc... because they are so complex.

[-Sky- 0]

No, is the answer!

 

You do get WINE which is a windows simulator that will let you use many windows programs perfectly in linux, you just download and run a windows installer and it works. However, games are VERY complex and rely heavily on various aspects of windows (or their native operating system).

 

You are going to need to use windows to do what you want to do.

 

However, you should be able to buy Windows XP fairly cheap at the moment, or Windows 7 for about ?50 ($70-$80)

 

It's strange you're computers didnt come with an OS, you can try a linux Distro like Ubuntu but it probably wont play games like CoD etc... because they are so complex.

Agreed. Linux is way to complex for a gaming platform, as most of the games you'd have to ".makefile" in other words, compile the files. When I boot up my computer (on my 4GB USB memory stick) I boot with Linux (Back | Track) software. I try doing this code thing that allows me to save my stuff (can't remember what it is now) but I had to edit alot of things.

 

I'd rarther keep with XP Home Edition, since that's the version of XP that came with my PC.

 

NOTE!: NEVER use a pirated version of Windows XP Professional! If you get a virus, having a pirated version of this XP is NOT a good idea!

[FouGilang 0]

phew
so we HAVE to use windows? there must be some another tricks

It's strange you're computers didnt come with an OS, you can try a linux Distro like Ubuntu but it probably wont play games like CoD etc... because they are so complex.

it will, if we include that in the order. my friend here is at advanced level of hardwares, so he much to seek for high capability hardware with low price, and i'm here simply because i want to help him find an alternative for windows xp. even if in your country xp is in low price, my country still take it the hard way. i just checked it and 1 windows xp home edition is still in IDR 700,000 - 1,000,000 (about US$ 50 - 90), i'm sure they won't be able to afford tha without any reconsiderationt... for now... Edited November 12, 2009 by FouGilang (see edit history)

[rvalkass 5]

so we HAVE to use windows? there must be some another tricks

You don't have to, but for gaming in this environment unfortunately Windows will likely be your best bet. Check out WINE to see if the games you want to use will run under Linux. If they will then try it out on one PC before ordering loads, just to check. Linux is certainly the better system to be running in an environment like this, but combining that with gaming could be tricky.

 

windows xp home edition is still in IDR 700,000 - 1,000,000 (about US$ 50 - 90), i'm sure they won't be able to afford tha without any reconsiderationt... for now...

If you intend to use the PCs for gaming, the price of a licence of XP should be a fairly small percentage of that. If the cost of XP at $50-$90 is a lot compared to the hardware then you likely need better hardware.

[shadowx 0]

well like i said you can easily use linux however many, if not all, modern games designed for Windows either wont work at all or will be so laggy, slow, bad sounds, useless graphics and glitchy that no-one would ever pay to play them at your place so it would be a disaster!

Look at this website:
http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

WINE is the simulator i told you about, basically it fools the programs into thinking linux is windows, so they run. Of course this means "translating" their code into linux friendly code which isnt perfect at all so errors do happen. The link i gave you lists all the games that have been tested under WINE and how well they work. Use CTRL+F to search for the game (eg Call of duty) and its rating in precious metals will tell you how good or bad it runs as well as some of the details of what works and what doesnt.

[The Simpleton 2]

It's unfortunate that game developers still don't port their games to Linux even though it is getting more and more popular by the day This is really a sad situation where you really have no option but to get Windows for the gaming...I have a small suggestion - try to get the RC version of Windows 7 if someone you know has it - it is fully functional till April 2010 and if I remember correctly it will expire in June 2010 by which time it will start shutting down after every 2 hours. Also, each copy of the RC can be installed on 3 PCs so it's legal too Then by April you could try to raise some money to buy XP or maybe even 7 for all your PCs - all the best for this project of yours!

[The Simpleton 2]

@FouGilang: The list that shadowx has provided has given me another idea which I would like to suggest: WINE is able to emulate the popular WoW game so why not offer that to your customers? It sure is played in a lot of countries, right?

[shadowx 0]

WOW requires a monthly subscription per account, so each user would need their own personal account.I must admit i was thinking of the posibility of a similar "Game Cafe"Internet cafes are hopeless here in the UK where you can get 2mb broadband for under ?10/month if an internet cafe charges ?1 per hour of use then in 10 hours a month it gets cheaper to get your own internet. However, gamers are different, the customers likely to use a Game Cafe would have their own PCs and internet, possibly very good PCs but if i could offer then 16 PCs, all on a very fast lan with custom built private servers for all the popular first person shooter games then they would happily pay a couple of pounds an hour to beat 15 of their mates at the latest Call of duty I first started gaming playing Unreal Tournament GOTYE edition in an internet cafe, it was an amazing atmosphere hearing the groans as i sniped people and the excitement of being chased by a guy with a flak cannon while i could hear him laughing hysterically. Good times.... But to buy the set up is the pricey bit, think of 16 hi spec gaming computers, probably two high speed game-ready servers, a couple of decent switches and some nice cabling, then gaming quality monitors, keyboards and mice, plus a few spares. The building itself, food/drink and storage of said consumables. It's a lot of cash....But good luck with it, like someone said though, if you are using gaming (or at least high spec) machines/hardware then the cost of 8-10 Windows XP licenses shouldnt be too much to worry about. If you arent using high spec machines then you really need to think about getting fast machines. People wont pay to play laggy, slow games

[truefusion 3]

If you re-interpret the word "Linux" to mean "open-source," then you could try out ReactOS, though i've never tried it before. But for a regular Linux distro, you can get a few games to run through Wine, like Call of Duty 4, albeit with most of those games on their lowest settings. But when you said your friend had purchased several computers, i was expecting them to be pre-built and with Windows on them. I would have expected it to be cheaper this way; if the graphics card and memory that came with them wouldn't be enough, then all that you would have needed to do is buy another stick of RAM and a decent graphics card.

[FouGilang 0]

I have a small suggestion - try to get the RC version of Windows 7 if someone you know has it - it is fully functional till April 2010 and if I remember correctly it will expire in June 2010 by which time it will start shutting down after every 2 hours. Also, each copy of the RC can be installed on 3 PCs so it's legal too Then by April you could try to raise some money to buy XP or maybe even 7 for all your PCs - all the best for this project of yours!

good idea, i'll try to ask my friends. some of them might have it o_0

 

@FouGilang: The list that shadowx has provided has given me another idea which I would like to suggest: WINE is able to emulate the popular WoW game so why not offer that to your customers? It sure is played in a lot of countries, right?

the truth is, despite of that WoW popularity in the world, there is no WoW server in indonesia, and i bet less people would be playing "pay-to-play" game like that one, unless if i make a "free-to-play" private server for that name.

 

However, gamers are different, the customers likely to use a Game Cafe would have their own PCs and internet, possibly very good PCs but if i could offer then 16 PCs, all on a very fast lan with custom built private servers for all the popular first person shooter games then they would happily pay a couple of pounds an hour to beat 15 of their mates at the latest Call of duty I first started gaming playing Unreal Tournament GOTYE edition in an internet cafe, it was an amazing atmosphere hearing the groans as i sniped people and the excitement of being chased by a guy with a flak cannon while i could hear him laughing hysterically. Good times....

 

But to buy the set up is the pricey bit, think of 16 hi spec gaming computers, probably two high speed game-ready servers, a couple of decent switches and some nice cabling, then gaming quality monitors, keyboards and mice, plus a few spares. The building itself, food/drink and storage of said consumables. It's a lot of cash....

well, the basic standard for these pc is like 120 frame per second mark in the game Audition Online. some nvidia graphic card with 256 MB, 1-2 GB RAM will be likely sufficient. and for the start maybe we will make it about 10 pc to play DotA or Point Blank with. just the Game Center i know, full with "bang-bang" "boom-boom" "ratatatatata" and "monster kill!"

 

If you re-interpret the word "Linux" to mean "open-source," then you could try out ReactOS, though i've never tried it before. But for a regular Linux distro, you can get a few games to run through Wine, like Call of Duty 4, albeit with most of those games on their lowest settings. But when you said your friend had purchased several computers, i was expecting them to be pre-built and with Windows on them. I would have expected it to be cheaper this way; if the graphics card and memory that came with them wouldn't be enough, then all that you would have needed to do is buy another stick of RAM and a decent graphics card.

thank you for your suggestion, but i think we shouldn't use some alpha-phase system for business . anyway i'll try to find out the windows-built-in computers he had ordered and fill that to budget, if that is the cheapest way, then i'll just look into the games

 

---

i guess we really need windows for this, aren't we? i can try to make game private server in my pc (for the sake of "promotion"), but it is in windows too lol. hope we can afford that and make our fund back ._____.

[phonexia 0]

linus i think you should try ybuntu and with a xp skin in it it will surely get what you trying to get and also the most good thing is that you can have it done within so timeits easy though you should have some knowledge of ubuntu and also linux is a good os in itself it dont need any xp or win features its unique its linux

[shadowx 0]

Ubuntu is a brilliant OS but it still wont play many modern games on high resolution perfectly, and a paying customer will want to play it on high graphics with no glitches or lag etc.... You can multiboot with Ubuntu so if you install a windows RC then you can also install Ubuntu on a second partition (Google: ubuntu multiboot windows) so you can test ubuntu and if it works out fine then when the windows RC runs out you can just stay with Ubuntu, if its no good then you will hopefully have the funds to buy Windows for real.