Thinking of trying Linux...

[911medic]

...but I have one big hangup: gaming.

Linux (especially Ubuntu, which intrigues me) has been getting a lot of press lately, and I'm interested in it as an alternative to Windows. It's free, it's different, it sounds so configurable.

But--gaming. One of my main uses for both my laptop and desktop is gaming. I have a fairly extensive catalog of (relatively) current games, all designed for Windows.

I understand a limited number of games get ported to Linux, but to me, this implies two things:

1) Games that will run on Linux are limited in number and often only ported to Linux significantly later (sometimes years) than they're available for Windows,

2) My current catalog will be useless on a Linux system.

I am a total newbie here. Are my concerns justified? I've switched from MS Office to OpenOffice, I use free AVG antivirus and free ZoneAlarm firewall (behind a hardware router firewall); I'd like to try what sounds like a great free operating system, which is maturing more and more.

But my gaming...I need my gaming...

[911medic]

*crickets chirping*

I'll take this to mean that yes, my concerns are justified.

Maybe someday...

[wnd]

Yes, you are right. Currently, most games get never ported to GNU/Linux. Those that do, well, you never know when they come out. While Linux executable for UT2004 was released on the CD/DVD, Linux client for Neverwinter Nights was delayed for a year.

Cedega and Wine can help with some titles, but both run limited selection of games, and most of them have issues. For Cedega, see http://cedegawiki.sweetleafstudios.com/wiki/Main_Page. There's also a list of games at WineHQ.

If you spend most of your time playing games, GNU/Linux probably isn't for you -- at least not yet. Personally, I use Linux for everything, but occasionally boot to Windows to play games I cannot run otherwise.

[911medic]

Thanks for replying.

Hopefully someday things will be different. Not that I have problems with Windows, but I like alternatives.

[atriq]

Here's a couple places you may find helpful:

Wine Application DB - Lists detailed information if/how windows applications run via wine.
Linux-Gamers - Self-Explanitory, also includes tutorials on installing many games, native and wine'd.

Originally Posted by atriq

Here's a couple places you may find helpful:

Wine Application DB - Lists detailed information if/how windows applications run via wine.
Linux-Gamers - Self-Explanitory, also includes tutorials on installing many games, native and wine'd.

Agreed on these. Honestly though, there are so many distros with so many different kernels..even a great tweak may not work well sometimes.

If you do try linux out I would highly reccomend a debian based distro like Ubuntu. Learn some of the quirks and spend time chatting Ubuntus user forums. I think you'll like it.

[evilghost]

The native Linux client for Quake4 was released 15 days after the release of the game; not really that bad (but I had to wait, ugh).

AFAIK icculus does most of the porting and did so for the UT2004 game as well, http://www.icculus.org

What does your current catalog look like?

[911medic]

Originally Posted by atriq

Here's a couple places you may find helpful:

Wine Application DB - Lists detailed information if/how windows applications run via wine.
Linux-Gamers - Self-Explanitory, also includes tutorials on installing many games, native and wine'd.

Thanks...I've taken a look at Wine, and I think it was over at Linux-Gamers that I was reading a thread about how slow/infrequent it was that games got ported to Linux.

[911medic]

Originally Posted by grey_1

Agreed on these. Honestly though, there are so many distros with so many different kernels..even a great tweak may not work well sometimes.

If you do try linux out I would highly reccomend a debian based distro like Ubuntu. Learn some of the quirks and spend time chatting Ubuntus user forums. I think you'll like it.

Yeah, Ubuntu was what I was considering. I don't mind doing some tweaking, but to take the time and effort only to have it come up short on gaming would be a big drawback for me.

[911medic]

Originally Posted by evilghost

The native Linux client for Quake4 was released 15 days after the release of the game; not really that bad (but I had to wait, ugh).

AFAIK icculus does most of the porting and did so for the UT2004 game as well, http://www.icculus.org

What does your current catalog look like?

Well, the ones I'm currently playing are HL2, STALKER, FarCry, and FEAR/Extraction Point. Occasionally some Quake4 or UT2004. I rarely play Doom3 & Call of Duty 2, and I have a variety of older games that I don't play anymore (or at least very rarely).

[Sazar]

Originally Posted by 911medic

*crickets chirping*

I'll take this to mean that yes, my concerns are justified.

Maybe someday...

I have a dual boot ubuntu/vista ultimate box.

I've spent about 2 days with ubuntu so far. I just don't have time to keep fiddling round with stuff to make it work when Vista has everything just working for me without me doing anything at all (and believe me, I have tweaked vista a fair bit by now).

Ubuntu is fast and seems stable enough. Also isn't bad for features just after I install the bugger but there are some things I just dont' want to have to deal with.

I am planning on spending some dedicated time every weekend to get more understanding of the o/s and enjoy it, but it really depends on how much patience I have.

[911medic]

Originally Posted by Sazar

I have a dual boot ubuntu/vista ultimate box.

I've spent about 2 days with ubuntu so far. I just don't have time to keep fiddling round with stuff to make it work when Vista has everything just working for me without me doing anything at all (and believe me, I have tweaked vista a fair bit by now).

Ubuntu is fast and seems stable enough. Also isn't bad for features just after I install the bugger but there are some things I just dont' want to have to deal with.

I am planning on spending some dedicated time every weekend to get more understanding of the o/s and enjoy it, but it really depends on how much patience I have.

That's what I'm afraid of. I'll spend copious amounts of time tweaking it, only to go, "Windows was working just as well for me, why did I just go through all this?"

But I really would like a good alternative. And the fact that it's free is, of course, very alluring. The latest builds of Ubuntu seem more user-friendly for someone coming from Windows, if only the gaming were there as robustly as it is in Windows.

I'm also a little leery of dual-booting. I've F'd up my MBR on my own before, and I've heard a few horror stories regarding users who've had dual-boot systems and decided to just go back to Windows, and trying to un-do the dual-boot borked their PCs. That would suck.