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Doball{MEOW}

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Linux

« on: November 02, 2007, 02:36:27 AM »

I am planning on trying a out Ubuntu. I have a buddy that uses it so I'm getting help. A few questions. Where do I find out if I'm a 32 or 64 bit system? I'm running a P4 3.4G D processor. Next if any of you are using linux, is it your primary or just a thing to mess around with? If it's a primary what do you use to resolve software compatibility issues. What are the best sites for assistance with problems? I don't plan on doing a full transition yet, 'cause I don't want to be left high and dry with no gaming system, but I do want to phase it in when I get a second HD.


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Kitty*{MEOW}*

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Re: Linux

« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2007, 07:37:41 AM »

well I have played with Linux quite a bit and there is a program in the works (still a few bugs in it) that will allow U to emulate windows games on a linux box this is the linux I use Called Fedora (very Newb friendly) http://fedoraproject.org/ They also have a great forum to get help at http://www.fedoraforum.org/

As for Ubuntu Raidien uses this on his second PC. I found it to be not so user friendly as Fedora or Madriva. He can give more insight on it.

THis is the website for the program that will allow U to play games. This particualar one costs a fee I will find the one thats free.

http://www.transgaming.com/


« Last Edit: November 02, 2007, 07:46:41 AM by Kitty{MEOW} »	Logged

Doball{MEOW}

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Re: Linux

« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2007, 08:00:27 AM »

I was just going to use Ubuntu cause I have live help. My buddy works right across the hall from me at work and is only a few blocks away after hours (he's a WoW head so it's not like he's doing much anyway lol). He did show me the transgaming site today and another one that I can't remember, starts with a "C"

I did download the CD ISO and mess around with the "Live CD". Other that the long boot process since I was rinning off the CD. I was very impressed. Lightning fast web browsing. Somewhat 'cause I didn't have all the plugins, but I'd say it was at least 5X faster than IE7. I'm pretty religious about disk cleanup, defrag, regcure, and a couple of other things, but my machine was smoking this afternoon (Ijust wish I could have tried out AA and ET-QW. The only thing I'm worried about is getting everything to work again. It's not like I have a bunch of stuff other than browsing and gaming, but I want to make sure I can have a seamless transition with TS, ALL my games, MS Word/Excell/Powerpoint, Nero, and music downloads.


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Raidien{MEOW}

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Re: Linux

« Reply #3 on: November 02, 2007, 08:28:44 AM »

linux driver support is way better now than it has ever been. Red Hat (I believe it was) hired some teams to work on only drivers for hardware, and they are starting to run short on additional drivers to create... so the driver list has grown tremendously. linux-drivers.org is most likely your best bet if ubuntu doesn't auto-detect what you need (though it should). I use ubuntu on my server (which is experiencing a faulty PSU) and it seems to be working pretty stable. I use the gnome version of ubuntu, but it also includes KUbuntu, XUbuntu, and Edubuntu. Ubuntu and KUbuntu are the most used derivatives. The Ubuntu line-up is debian based, so you can rely on a pretty stable system. If you don't want to "install" it yet, but just want to test it out, you can download either VirtualBox or MS Virtual Machine and "install" it in there... this way it won't touch your MBR or mess anything up if you want to switch distros or remove it... trust me, it will save you the headache... you can download a distro and install it and find out its not your cup of tea.

you won't have a "seamless" transition for any games or anything thats not native to linux. most popular ms word/excel/powerpoint replacement are openoffice (free) and staroffice (not free, unless installed through google apps). There is no Nero for linux (as far as I know), but there are several other cd/dvd burning alternatives. Music downloads I'm not really sure about (don't do it because I don't want to associate piracy with my domain name), but I'm guessing there are alternatives. As far as your games, there aren't too many alternatives. I know Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory has a linux variant (I use it on my ubuntu box occasionally). But your system will become a resource hog if you try running games through an emulator like wine, or any that Kitty was talking about. If you still want functionality for games, dual-boot is the way to go... but if you re-install windows again... you can pretty much expect it to wipe linux out of your MBR :P so windows install first, then let linux install grub (lilo with some distros) to the mbr to control them both...


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Re: Linux

« Reply #4 on: November 02, 2007, 08:38:25 AM »

also, teamspeak2 and the future ts3 have linux support...


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Doball{MEOW}

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Re: Linux

« Reply #5 on: November 02, 2007, 09:39:58 AM »

I can live with hogging resources when using MS office stuff. The only time I use it is when I email my work home. I'm not a big office user anyway, it's just easiest since that's what the Navy uses.

I don't see how I'll gain anything by running an OS through Windows, it seems to me like it would use twice the resources. I could live without P2P. Doing a quick search, it looks like AA, BF2, and ETQW run on a linux OS. It just seems like the linux updates are a few days behind Win.

So is there a good reason not to switch? I'll try the VM and try it out for a while, but I don't think I'll trust the performance of running it through Windows (unless I'm just not understanding it right).


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Re: Linux

« Reply #6 on: November 02, 2007, 10:41:37 AM »

yes Nero has a linux version. And I have got Guildwars to work on Cedega but at time was buggy and i really didn't mess with it much. AA i believe last i looked didn't work yet on Linux.

If your really interested in learning Linux i would check amazon for some books on Ubu i know there are several out there and they are great for trouble shooting things.


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Kitty*{MEOW}*

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Re: Linux

« Reply #7 on: November 02, 2007, 10:45:27 AM »

U could always do what I did. Get an extra HD and install linux on it. then when U want to boot linux just go into bios and change the primary Boot drive to one with linux. I don't recommend putting linux on same HD as Windows (it can be done and people do it all the time) it can be tricky and plus u have to make a seperate partition to get it to install.


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Doball{MEOW}

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Re: Linux

« Reply #8 on: November 02, 2007, 11:03:17 AM »

Quote from: Kitty*{MEOW}* on November 02, 2007, 10:45:27 AM

That's the long term plan. I told my wife that's what I wanted for Christmas. Newegg has a WD 160Gig laptop HD for around $80.


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Raidien{MEOW}

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Re: Linux

« Reply #9 on: November 02, 2007, 11:14:26 AM »

Quote from: Doball{MEOW} on November 02, 2007, 09:39:58 AM

I don't see how I'll gain anything by running an OS through Windows, it seems to me like it would use twice the resources. I could live without P2P. Doing a quick search, it looks like AA, BF2, and ETQW run on a linux OS. It just seems like the linux updates are a few days behind Win.

So is there a good reason not to switch? I'll try the VM and try it out for a while, but I don't think I'll trust the performance of running it through Windows (unless I'm just not understanding it right).

I wasn't suggesting thats how you run it... i was suggesting you try it that way to make sure you like it before committing to a real install...

and there are no game clients for the games you listed, only servers... if you wanted to host a game server on your linux box, you would have no problem... but at this point in time, you won't find too many games ~~to run on it~~ that use alot of graphical features available for linux. ArmA also has linux server files, but no game client for linux. So if you still want to play games, I wouldn't completely ditch windows (though i really hate to say that)


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Doball{MEOW}

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Re: Linux

« Reply #10 on: November 02, 2007, 11:31:05 AM »

Dang, I was kind of liking the idea of getting rid of MS and all its extra baggage. I just installed in VB and am downloading the available updates right now. I need to do some tweaking on the VB, but I'll mess with it untill I get the 2nd HD then do like Kitty recommended.


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Doball{MEOW}

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Re: Linux

« Reply #11 on: November 03, 2007, 01:40:15 AM »

Very unsatisfied with Virtual Box. Uses a small window that doesn't let me see the whole linux desktop. It also seems very slow. I think I'll just have to wait for a second hard drive to test with.


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Re: Linux

« Reply #12 on: November 03, 2007, 02:37:57 AM »

yeah i had that happen to me too... but after the install screen it auto-adjusted and I was able to change other settings in there too... its not really as user friendly as Virtual PC, but its an alternative :P the generic drivers that it uses also get auto-detected fine by the installs...


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Re: Linux

« Reply #13 on: November 04, 2007, 01:23:48 AM »

ET:QW Linux Client (yeah, i was wrong about this one)

other linux game clients:

Linux Gamers' Game List

linux-gamers.net

America's Army 2.5 Linux Client

Quote

As of version 2.5, AA was discontinued for Linux and Mac OS X, although it doesn't seem to affect the training missions or playing with other 2.5 clients. So, this makes it great for a Linux AA clan, or a LAN party.

Source: http://techgage.com/article/top_10_free_linux_games/2

as for Cadega that Kitty was talking about, it looks like you pay for a subscription at transgaming,which entitles you to Cedega updates / new releases... you could register for the minimum amount of time possible just to download it and cancel the subscription... and i'm sure other download sites probably have the file you could just download from there... not really sure how it all works though.

and here is some information on Wine (Windows Emulator)