KMFMS Forum Index KMFMS
Discuss why and how to avoid Microsoft
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

<<< Back to KMFMS home  

What about for gamers?

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    KMFMS Forum Index -> Microsoft Alternatives
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Jason Johnson
Guest





PostPosted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 6:07 pm    Post subject: What about for gamers? Reply with quote

I'd really love to stop using Windows, I really would. I'm sick of the constant crashes, worrying about security, wondering if today is the day I'm going to have to reformat, and all the rest.

I don't really see any alternative right now though, since I'm a gamer. I use Win98 at the moment, for the simple reason that it runs 99% of the games I like to play, which aren't all Windows based, many of them are from the old DOS days. Plenty are Windows based, though. And no, I'm not willing to hope for a Linux(or whatever) port, since I'm going to be pretty starved for games if I do that.

My system is only an 800mhz system also, so generally speaking, any emulators I might want to run are probably going to really choke up my system. For example, I can't use WinXP because my system can't handle the system resources required to use DOSBox and the like.

I'd love to switch to some alternate OS, despite the fact that it's going to take learning a whole new OS, but there is no way I could do it if it means sacrificing my games.

Somebody, please help me. Crying or Very sad
Back to top
admin
Site Admin


Joined: 20 Jul 2005
Posts: 93

PostPosted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 7:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Jason,

There's a question related to this in the FAQ at http://www.kmfms.com/faq-n-comments.html#linux , though it is a bit buried.

Even though you already have these games and you want to continue using them, you do have a few options that would allow you to use Linux. You mentioned one class of options when you said that you thought that running an emulator on your hardware would not offer satisfactory performance. I don't think you should rule that option out without giving it a try. One promising option would be to try running the games under Linux using Wine. Wine is not an emulator but is instead a reimplementation of the Windows API, which means that from the games' standpoint it handles the same plumbing that Windows typically does as opposed to an emulator which would pretend to be another machine. In theory (though not necessarily in practice), Wine could even let your games run faster than on Windows since it is a full reimplementation and doesn't use Windows code at all (whereas an emulator would). It's worth a shot. Also, actual emulators might be worth a try as well since some of them have surprisingly good performance.

Another option would be to continue using Windows 98 for your games and use Linux for everything else. It's actually fairly easy to install Linux so that it leaves Windows installed and you can boot into either one. This could be a good first step and then if Wine or an emulator ends up working for you, you could switch completely at that point. I would very strongly recommend switching to a more recent OS for your Internet usage since Windows 98 support was scheduled to end on January 16, 2004 and it is currently running on borrowed time. It will only be a few more months before Microsoft will stop releasing security updates for Windows 98, at which point there won't be a viable way to protect yourself against the frequent security holes that are unearthed in the OS and bundled applications like Internet Explorer.

- admin
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
Brad R



Joined: 07 Oct 2005
Posts: 27

PostPosted: Fri Oct 07, 2005 9:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not a gamer, but a friend reports good results running many games under Linux with the Transgaming product (used to be called WineX, now seems to be Cedega).

The same friend reports that he can run DOS games under Linux that won't run under WinXP. I'm guessing that he's using DOSemu, but I'll have to ask him to be sure.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Eric Melech



Joined: 15 Oct 2005
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 10:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What I want to know is if I can play modern games with WINE or some other program on some other OS. I find it hard to believe that something made my a small group of disparate hobbyists can figure out how get these games to run under Linux: Black and White 2, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Neverwinter Nights 2, and their forebears.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Eric Melech



Joined: 15 Oct 2005
Posts: 6

PostPosted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 10:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Okay... where's the Edit button? I just noticed a tiny mispelling; why can't I fix it?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
admin
Site Admin


Joined: 20 Jul 2005
Posts: 93

PostPosted: Sat Oct 15, 2005 3:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, Wine probably will run many modern games. I can't say for certain which games since I haven't personally tried it for that purpose, but the Cedega website lists many modern games which are supported. Bear in mind that Wine doesn't need to be updated for every new game that gets released, it just needs to provide the same underlying API that Windows provides and I would imagine that there is a tremendous amount of overlap in what portions of the API different games use.

- admin
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website
winningindustries
Guest





PostPosted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 7:15 pm    Post subject: Games and the REST Reply with quote

Hi,
I think - stay with gaming on W$, it wont harm as long as the machine is not on the internet and does only run the games.

The most important issue is not to go on the internet using IE, not setting up new Exchange-Servers, not sending out M$-Office-files... avoid beeing creative and collaborative on W$.

If its just a game-station - it will fade with time.

regards
Back to top
KDJ
Guest





PostPosted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 9:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I personally don't have a GNU/Linux box, but I have an OpenBSD & WinXP(c)tm(r)bs laptop, so I know about the lack of games. You can try running a console emulater to play older games (ZNES, MASS, MAME, PJ64), which is highly addictive. If you can get Wine to work (I can't Crying or Very sad ), most old games work, and I've heard Half-Life 2 does.

All I really use my Wincrap machine for is surfing the net (any page made by MS-Word is busted in Mozilla) and games (need my Halo). Everything else is on something else.

What I'm worried about is developers: I'm one, and I want to be massively cross-platform (console eventually). There are very few alternatives to Windows. OpenGL works great on everything, but input just isn't easy on *nix. Wincrap has DirectX. I think Idea that maybe an open-standards library to do the same as DirectInput is necessary (We could call it "OpenIL" for Open Input Library Very Happy ). Good idea or bad idea?
Back to top
Groxx
Guest





PostPosted: Thu Jan 05, 2006 4:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hate to break it to you, but that's hardly a gaming machine you've got there. But that's beside the point.

I'd suggest dual-/multi-booting. It's what I'm doing now, and I love it. The best of all worlds (except Mac).
VectorLinux SOHO, XP, XP 64-bit (for development primarily), and Windows 2000 (for when XP pisses me off. Fairly often, actually. It's more stable than XP is, by about ten-fold), all running happily on one PC, with my $40 160gig hard drive. Partitions are your friend.

MANY games now come out with Linux and Mac versions, you just have to look for them. Unfortunately, these rarely get price cuts like the Windows versions do, in part because they don't sell very well (generally, you have to buy them online). And, face it, Windows is the biggest, crankiest (most influenced by PMS) dog on the block. That'll stay for quite a while, there's not much choice but to live with it.
Besides. Doom 3 is beautiful on highest settings, something my laptop can't even get near (256mb video cards are nice).
Back to top
ubuntu-linux
Guest





PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 1:36 am    Post subject: CEDEGA - Transgaming and Gaming in general Reply with quote

Cedega - Wine and DosEmu -

To put it simpley they work, sometimes requiring a bit of configuring (harldy rocket science if you've had to setup cd-roms and soundcards through dos).

Got my native linux ports of what I play regular;

Doom's all of em incl 3 Quake(s) all of em; enemy territory etc.etc. UT blah blah

Cedega does an outstanding job for GTA's Guildwars and HL2 CS etc...

Basically what Im saying is I've been XP-windows micro$hit3 free for years, there's nothing any native linux ports can't handle as far as DTP is concerned and media isn't an issue.

By far its been the most flexible and configurable system (linux) that I've ever had. Reboots are a rarity unless Im upgrading the Kernel (core of the system). Or Im doing a full distribution upgrade. Yep thats right a full OS upgrade over the net "FREE" at this VERY minute while I type this (finally upgrading to breezy 5.10).

Oh and best of all - its not even asked me for a driver CD or some other cr@p yet. It just pops along over synaptic and gets me my updates then asks if I want em installing or not when Im good an ready.

btw: did I say I have'nt had a virus or lockup in the past few micro$hit3 free years.

So thats gaming/DTP/Media/homecomputing/work via vpn/ server environment on a seperate box without a single penny spent.

Now the downsides;

yup some hardware just wont work or isn't supported plain and simple but you dont get many windows users rushing out to buy mac specific hardware for their xp boxes. And you'll find the odd game everynow and again isn't supported (but its getting better and is a world away from what most people think).

Then there's running your own server on some old hardware - but thats another story.
Shocked
Back to top
Guest






PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2006 1:22 am    Post subject: Re: CEDEGA - Transgaming and Gaming in general Reply with quote

ubuntu-linux wrote:
Cedega - Wine and DosEmu -

To put it simpley they work, sometimes requiring a bit of configuring (harldy rocket science if you've had to setup cd-roms and soundcards through dos).

Got my native linux ports of what I play regular;

Doom's all of em incl 3 Quake(s) all of em; enemy territory etc.etc. UT blah blah

Cedega does an outstanding job for GTA's Guildwars and HL2 CS etc...

Basically what Im saying is I've been XP-windows micro$hit3 free for years, there's nothing any native linux ports can't handle as far as DTP is concerned and media isn't an issue.

By far its been the most flexible and configurable system (linux) that I've ever had. Reboots are a rarity unless Im upgrading the Kernel (core of the system). Or Im doing a full distribution upgrade. Yep thats right a full OS upgrade over the net "FREE" at this VERY minute while I type this (finally upgrading to breezy 5.10).

Oh and best of all - its not even asked me for a driver CD or some other cr@p yet. It just pops along over synaptic and gets me my updates then asks if I want em installing or not when Im good an ready.

btw: did I say I have'nt had a virus or lockup in the past few micro$hit3 free years.

So thats gaming/DTP/Media/homecomputing/work via vpn/ server environment on a seperate box without a single penny spent.

Now the downsides;

yup some hardware just wont work or isn't supported plain and simple but you dont get many windows users rushing out to buy mac specific hardware for their xp boxes. And you'll find the odd game everynow and again isn't supported (but its getting better and is a world away from what most people think).

Then there's running your own server on some old hardware - but thats another story.
Shocked
Back to top
Tux



Joined: 29 Aug 2006
Posts: 7

PostPosted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You could look for a compilation of the games from the DOS era online. I have seen duck hunt online at addictinggames.com . It's worth a shot. DOS era games should run fine on an emulator if you have an 800 MHZ CPU. If the games from the DOS era are about as complex as a Super NES game, you will be fine. I have run Super NES games in an emulator without much sacrifice. One suggestion that I would have for you would be to save for a new PC. If you have 1GB of dual channel memory and a dual core CPU or a CPU with SMT (aka Hyper threading) you should be fine with an emulator.
_________________
I am no longer a slave to Microshaft
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
ml2mst



Joined: 06 Aug 2007
Posts: 4
Location: Maastricht (NL)

PostPosted: Mon Aug 06, 2007 3:40 am    Post subject: Re: What about for gamers? Reply with quote

Although this is a very outdated treat, I thought I'll leave these links for future read.

This blogger has a series on articles about GNU/Linux gaming, with screen shots, links and a good history on GNU/Linux gaming.

http://kahvipapu.com/blog/2007/06/16/linux-gaming-part-one-first-person-shooters

This is the first article out of a series.

Also Wikipedia has quite an impressive list:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_source_games

Finally the latest version of Wine (a free implementation of the Windows API's) was pretty much improved, meaning there is a fair chance you're able to play some of your Windows games on GNU/Linux, however there is no guarantee here!

Many of the games and Wine are available from your package manager. Just fire up the package manager and search for them. If you're unlucky, you must download them from the given links in the articles.

Most of them are available as so called tarballs (game-123-i386.tar.gz), which you can compare with ZIP files. Unlike the widespread rumor that you have to compile these yourself it is more common that these are binaries, ready to run.

Happy gaming Smile
_________________
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GO d-- s: a+ C+++ ULU+++ P+ L+++ E--- W++ N++ o? K-- w--- O+ M V- PS++ PE- Y++ PGP++ t- 5? X+ R- tv+ b+ DI? D++ G e h+ r% y++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    KMFMS Forum Index -> Microsoft Alternatives All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You can post new topics in this forum
You can reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Forum posts are owned by the original posters.
Forum boards are Copyright 2005 - present, KMFMS.
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group