Ubuntu - talk to me.

EdFred

EdFred

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Can I run windows based apps (games - not office software) on it w/o going dual boot? Has someone set up an interface to do that?
 
EdFred said:
Can I run windows based apps (games - not office software) on it w/o going dual boot? Has someone set up an interface to do that?
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No and no.

WINE mainly will run apps that use the Windows APIs, even Microsoft Office. Games bypass APIs and talk to the graphics hardware except for maybe DirectX to get better performance.

You can run VMWare on Linux and run Windows and the games in the virtual machine but that machine is entirely emulated in software and thus is going to be mediocre power. For games, which are as demanding as any app can be, you want as direct access to the hardware so you have to have only Windows between you and the hardware.

BTW above for games I mean graphic intensive games like shooters and flight sims and such. You'd have no problem with crossword puzzles. :)
 
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The commercial version tends to run a lot of the games better. It's still not perfect and you do have to go out of your way to make it happen:
http://www.cedega.com/
 
There are also a very few games for which you can get linux binaries.

But in practice, you'll need to dual boot.

~ Christopher
 
mikea said:
You'd have no problem with crossword puzzles. :)
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Mike, you're being pretty presumptive there. While Linux may have no problem with crossword puzzles and such, I'm not so sure about Ed!:dunno::rofl:
 
You're lucky I don't have a plane, or someone would be showing up at Clow after a comment like that!!! :D
 
Games (at least resource-intensive ones) are tough to run on any platform other than that for which they were written, which is kind of ironic because a good part of game programming, I am told, consists of trying to bypass the OS as much as possible.

But there are hundreds... maybe thousands of games written for Linux and available for free using Synaptic (in Ubuntu). It all depends on what kind of games you're looking for.

By coincidence, I installed Ubuntu for the two youngest children of one of my best business clients today, on a hand-me-down computer with a trashed Windows system. I didn't count how many games I installed, but there were almost two hundred packages (many of which were libraries or other dependencies) and about 400 MB worth of download by the time I finished selecting -- and those were just the games that I thought little kids would like, which were maybe one-quarter or so of the total available games. All free, by the way.

What's kind of funny is that the kids immediately recognized and knew how to play Planet Penguin Racer, Tux Paint, TuxType, some of the games included in the Child's Play package, and a few of the other games. Apparently either someone has ported the native Linux games to Windows (I know that there's a Windows port of TuxPaint, and that there used to be one of TuxRacer, the predecessor to Planet Penguin), or else one of their friends is running Linux.

Whatever the case, the point is that there's no shortage of native Linux games. Only question is whether they're the games you want to play. I'm not a gamer of any sort, so I'm not much of an authority on the matter. All I know for sure is that it took me almost an hour to scroll through the games and skim the descriptions, decide which ones to install, and install them.

Rich
 
I disagree with anyone who says no. I run World of Warcraft (very graphically and CPU intensive) in the newest version of Wine (not in Cedega), and it runs beautifully, with very little tweaking. Many games have had successful ports of the engine to Linux by those that care to do so (see Command and Conquer).

Wine has some limitations, but I rarely run into them anymore. For an example, on my home computer, I have a dual boot of Kubuntu and Windows XP, and haven't booted to XP in over a month. XP is only used for Protools so I can record, and not because there's not similar software, but because my mAudio Firewire 410 breakout box requires XP to boot (yes, boot....stupid design).

The biggest downside to losing Windows is losing compatibility with real intense programs like AutoCAD, FSX (X-Plane is available), and many other office suites. There are alternatives, like openoffice.org, and while I personally dig them just as much, some people dislike them, and that's why dual booting often makes sense.

But for most games....Wine away!

BTW - the comments in this thread are strikingly similar to the comments I made about Mac. Mostly true about 10 years ago.

edit: For real fun - check out Sauerbraten for Linux (it exists in Windows too, probably not Mac, but I'm not positive). Its an FPS that beats the crap out of most other FPSes I've played in both performance, fun, and playability.
 
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I always go back to this...for those that want to buy a game at Walmart, BestBuy, or the Gamestop and go home, load it and play it with almost NO tweaking...it is a PC, period.
 
I always go back to this: Nick, you show up at Gaston's with that avatar chick in the plane, your money's no good at the bar!
 
Well, I tried xubuntu - slow as hell on startup. Took about 3 times as long to boot as XP did.
Then I tried kubuntu - can't even install it. Run the boot CD, locks up, says there's missing data or something, but it will boot on my laptop.

ghey!!
 
Ed--did you install these to your hard drive? The installation CD is a live CD that starts a desktop environment but it takes quite a while. Why don't you just install the regular ubuntu?
 
with xubuntu I installed, but still needed the CD to boot, or else it just dumped me to a linux command menu awith no desktop, so I got rid of it. With kubuntu I can't even install to the drive because it says there is missing data and it just hangs giving me a bunch of nnn.nnn locations as to where the error is. I tried kubuntu because I figured I could pester nick for some help if I was running the same version.
 
Are you sure the drive's not dirty or out-of-whack? I don't think I've come across many things as trouble-free as a typical Ubuntu installation...

Rich
 
EdFred said:
with xubuntu I installed, but still needed the CD to boot, or else it just dumped me to a linux command menu awith no desktop, so I got rid of it. With kubuntu I can't even install to the drive because it says there is missing data and it just hangs giving me a bunch of nnn.nnn locations as to where the error is. I tried kubuntu because I figured I could pester nick for some help if I was running the same version.
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Gnome or KDE, its all the same pretty much, just organized differently. I usually install Ubuntu, and then install KDE afterwards anyways, so I get the best of both worlds.

I STRONGLY suggest Ubuntu Studio, rather than regular Ubuntu. It comes ready to go, no need to install a bunch of restricted drivers and whatnot to play MP3s or WMVs or DVDs, etc. Its the way to go, for sure.
 
RJM62 said:
Are you sure the drive's not dirty or out-of-whack? I don't think I've come across many things as trouble-free as a typical Ubuntu installation...

Rich
Click to expand...

Drive is fine, xubuntu installed fine. Except when it installed it made all the fonts so small I couldn't even read it. A bit hard to navigate the desktop when all the text looks like ---> ........

So it got uninstalled, tried kubuntu and it hangs on install.


Ubuntu studio would be nice if I had a DVD to burn it to.
 
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EdFred said:
Drive is fine, xubuntu installed fine. Except when it installed it made all the fonts so small I couldn't even read it. A bit hard to navigate the desktop when all the text looks like ---> ........

So it got uninstalled, tried kubuntu and it hangs on install.


Ubuntu studio would be nice if I had a DVD to burn it to.
Click to expand...

Too bad. Its so worth it. I have a US DVD laying around my house. When I get back I might could send it your way.
 
EdFred said:
Drive is fine, xubuntu installed fine. Except when it installed it made all the fonts so small I couldn't even read it. A bit hard to navigate the desktop when all the text looks like ---> ........

So it got uninstalled, tried kubuntu and it hangs on install.


Ubuntu studio would be nice if I had a DVD to burn it to.
Click to expand...

I have the DVD's for Ubuntu Studio (and most other Linux distros) if you want one mailed to you.

Which one do you need (AMD64 or i386)? The i386 DVD will work on 32- or 64-bit systems; the AMD64 DVD will work only on 64-bit systems.

Rich
 
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