Linspire

[Skelz]

Hiya ppls, im totally new to linux or the concept of a new os other than windows LOL but i installed Linspire on my computer the other day and it i cant install anything. There seems to be an error when it trys to execute a exe file :S

and ive also heard that linux is not the best platform to run games ie: Q3 or hl2... is this true ? if so what is a good platform to run games other than windows

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by Skelz

Hiya ppls, im totally new to linux or the concept of a new os other than windows LOL but i installed Linspire on my computer the other day and it i cant install anything. There seems to be an error when it trys to execute a exe file :S

and ive also heard that linux is not the best platform to run games ie: Q3 or hl2... is this true ? if so what is a good platform to run games other than windows

an EXE is a windows executable, and won't work in linux.

The only good platform to run windows games on is windows. You can use Wine or Cedega to attempt to run windows programs in linux. It's a bit of a hit and miss affair however.

[Deanodriver]

True, stuff made for Windows won't run on Linux, and vice versa. However, many alternatives (for IM clients, office suites, etc) are available for Linux.

For gaming, Windows is by far the superior OS, yes, Cedega and the like can run some games, and a few (like many ID software games, and a few others) have Linux ports (I was playing Q3A in Linux today, but couldn't get the sound working), but the majority won't be able to run.

If you want to play games, stick with Windows.

[Skelz]

sorry i wasnt very specific was i :P lol i am very n00b... i was reading about this program for linux called win4lin im not sure what it does but i get the impression it will allow one to install windows files on linux... well thats what im hoping

[Deanodriver]

Specifically, which Windows files do you wish to run on Linux?

[Skelz]

rocket arena... q3 ... hl2...

[Deanodriver]

Linux isn't a great gaming OS.

However, Quake 3 does have a Linux port (I was playing it earlier), and I have a feeling that Rocket Arena does too. HalfLife2, however, you may not be so lucky, you could probably run it with Cedega, but I don't know if it'll work, and if it does, how well. They're not as easy to install as in Windows, however.

Really, if you use your system mainly for gaming, Windows is by far the better choice. You can run some games on Linux, but very few games have Linux ports, and programs like Cedega aren't going to run the games as well as Windows can.

[fester2001]

i tryed gaming on linux once :/
a fiew games work under wine with minumum fuss
ie quake3 but others just plain suck and its just not worth the fuss

if you wanto try linux do a duel boot and get used to it dont just jump on it.

for games just reboot back to windows

[Mr_Smiley]

Quake 3 will run natively under Linux. A nice howto on installing Quake3 and mods (such as rocket arena) is here

I also play Hl2 under Linux although it runs slower than what it does under Windows, but it runs fast enough for me. If you want to run Hl2 under Linux you'll have to use either Wine (which may or may not work) or you could pay for Cedega. I use Cedega to run HL2/Steam.

There are other games that will run under Linux aswell - I also play UT2004. Don't expect to be able to play all of the games that you could under Windows though - most companies don't port their software to Linux which means you have to try and emulate it and if that doesn't work then your out of luck.

Linux is a different operating system to Windows and so it will not run Windows programs. Try and use native Linux programs first before you try and emulate Windows software. There is a nice list of Windows programs and their equivalents under Linux here.

Anyway, hopefully you can get a few games going under Linux but realise that there aren't as many available for it than there are under Windows. You can either live with it or have a dual boot.

Good luck

[fester2001]

DUDE i love that list!