Omnipresence

[jackofallgeeks]

So, I've been toying with the idea of switching to Linux for a while now.
There are a lot of reasons I think it would be better for me than windows,
but there's been one major point holding me back: my computer is my
entertainment center, and most video games don't run natively on Linux.
High-value games include City of Heroes, Guild Wars, Call of Cthuhlu: Dark
Corners of the Earth, and Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

I've been disinclined to dual-boot mostly because of the duplication (or
isolation) of data between the OSs, and the need to reboot every time I
switch context from Windows to Linux.

Anyways, I've been hearing for a while now that there are apps for Linux
that let these programs run correctly: I've heard WINE (which stands for
"WINE Is Not an Emulator") thrown around, but I'm not sure if that's the
right thing. Either way, I'm hoping that the good LiveJournal can maybe
help me out with my research and/or (not that I'm specifically looking at
Louis) help me get my system set up.

A major benefit of this set up is that it would make getting a laptop useful
for me: with ssh and an x-server, I'd effectively have access to my desktop
*everywhere*. The more I think about this possibility, the more I like it.

So... anyone out there know anything?

Comments

[higheststar.livejournal.com]

i know my brother has used linux as his operating system for our house for years now. i don't know anything else about it. he does play some games on there as well, though not a ton. i can give you his email/im if you want. shoot me a facebook or myspace message if you want it. :-)

If you want to learn to swim, you are gonna have to jump in the water

[otakulk.livejournal.com]

2 points to whoever can cite the reference!

Hahaha anyway, the short answer is you are right: most games don't run in linux. A few companies release linux versions (Doom 3 was on linux), but most don't bother.

Wine, in its naive format, captures the windows system calls. Unfortunatly, its not a silver bullet. In fact, its more like a slingshot. Many newer programs don't run at all. The ones that do may involve tweaking (the wine webpage and distro-specific wikis help a lot here), but don't count on something working unless you've tried it. There are a few off-shot projects like Crossover office and winex. These extend wine for speciffic applications, but they charge a small fee. I've heard a lot more games run on these than native wine.

With regards to dual-boot:
You can read your ntfs files in linux, but not write to them.
There is some windows software that lets you mount your linux paritions (specifically ext3) that works pretty well. I use it on my laptop.

Regardless though, I agree, dual booting is a pain. The best way to swicth is if you have an old box kicking around you can make a linux desktop, then KVM for a while. The most annoying thing about dual boot is the updates. I ALWAYS have windows updates to install when I boot into windows (which is rare, and only on my laptop).

The real change you'll see is how you think about getting stuff done on the computer. Windows the answer is usually "where can I download an app that does this specific things", where is linux is "How can I make applications I already have do my desired behavior". I like linux because when I need something specific, I can usually get away with using just a few nifty tools.

In regards to a media center: I am a videophile. You know this I am sure, but I can go on and on about why I like videos on linux better than window
s. One big reason is mplayer. Its just one of my favorite applications. The big video draw backs are in the lack of DRM support for windows media 9 codecs (obviously open sourcing DRM would defeat DRM in general) and really good dvd authoring tools. I know you meant more about video games, but I had to toss in how much I like videos in linux better.

As for ssh on your laptop: Its pretty much the best thing ever. I'll never forget katrina's uncle's face when I set my dvr in philly to record the football game from my laptop in Corning, NY. One thing to note about that though: I've noticed that x-tunneling is REALLY slow on windows. So you may want to make your laptop linux too! Also, wifi x-tunnel has its own set of slowdowns. Once you are comfortable with the command line though, you use x-tunnel less and less (though I x-tunnel real time visualizations across campus at work, but thats a gigabit network).

I would totally love to come down and help out! I probably won't be free on a weekend until march though :(. Might I recommend ubuntu? Its gotten a lot of popularity, mostly because its easy to use. If you want to dive noise deep into a lot of pain, but also a lot of knowlege, go gentoo. But I must warn you it will be a lot of pain. I use ubuntu on my laptop and gentoo on my desktop.

Another warning: When you get good at linux, people will see cool things you did and ask about it. Then you are stuck because doing some things in windows is hard compared to linux, or you are only familiar with the linux way. For example, I can convert all of my videos to video ipod format with a quick command. paired with bittorrent and a tv-out cable, I have a nice collection of tv shows ready to watch. Now everyone I know has a video ipod, but I can't convert them all to linux! Woes. Granted you can do this in windows, but its not as easy to setup.