Linux has game - bit-tech.net Forums

Da Dego · 9th Apr 2007, 13:51

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2007/...as_game/1.html

http://www.digg.com/linux_unix/Gaming_on_Linux_3/

r4tch3t · 9th Apr 2007, 14:15

Great article and certainly decided it for me, this computer is becoming a Linux Gaming machine when I get my new one.
Thanks for the clarification. One small question though, how long does it take for an average person to get something like WINE up and running? And then getting used to using it?

Bluephoenix · 9th Apr 2007, 14:19

Wonderful article.

I especially like the flight sim, though Glider forgot to mention it has a very realistic sailplane simulation (tow, etc.) which doesn't even exist in windows (Gliding in FSX is a joke)

Our gliding club over on this side of the pond is considering a simulator for some ground learning, and I'll have to recommend this over X-Plane, as well as saving the cost of Vista.

Happy Flying!

@ratchet - I only really heavily started using Linux last summer, and while the learning curve is a little steep, it is surprisingly familiar once you learn the differences in basic operations. the best thing to do is get a book on bash, it will save a lot of time trying to learn it from help.

Tomm · 9th Apr 2007, 14:21

I do like Linux (though more the [i]idea[/s] of it than actually using it...) but from reading that article, we're still a long way from Linux being the easy option for gaming. Especially if you have to pay £33 a month for Cedega. Perhaps this will appeal to the user who like Linux but plays the occasional game, but not for the average user/gamer.

Hardware150 · 9th Apr 2007, 14:21

i would really like to use linux but up to now have always had problems with my wireless network which has always put me off, i currently have opensuse on a drive (kde rules).

ubuntu seamed like the easiest distro to set up and use imo

Da Dego · 9th Apr 2007, 14:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tomm

I do like Linux (though more the [i]idea[/s] of it than actually using it...) but from reading that article, we're still a long way from Linux being the easy option for gaming. Especially if you have to pay £33 a month for Cedega. Perhaps this will appeal to the user who like Linux but plays the occasional game, but not for the average user/gamer.

nonono

£3 per month! Not £33!!!

Glider · 9th Apr 2007, 14:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by r4tch3t

One small question though, how long does it take for an average person to get something like WINE up and running? And then getting used to using it?

Wine is mostly included in the distro's package manager, so 5 minutes tops?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tomm

Especially if you have to pay £33 a month for Cedega. Perhaps this will appeal to the user who like Linux but plays the occasional game, but not for the average user/gamer.

Well, it is £3 / month, and £33 / year

For those £3 you get all te required software to run Cedega forever, just not the updates (alltough Transgaming likes yearly subscriptions, they are a commercial company after all

)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hardware150

i would really like to use linux but up to now have always had problems with my wireless network which has always put me off, i currently have opensuse on a drive (kde rules).

Wireless is somewhat flacky at times, but more and more chipsets are getting support. Also, with ndiswrapper, you can often just use XP drivers for unsupported cards. And Fluxbox owns them all

Kipman725 · 9th Apr 2007, 14:34

tux racer is another great game which runs on practically anything. I notice your running nvn under emulation, I was under the impresion that there is a native linux installer available for those who have the original game?

*flight gears graphics have come on a long way since I last looked at it

http://tuxracer.sourceforge.net/index.html

Bluephoenix · 9th Apr 2007, 14:39

only thing to be wary of for linux are the Pre-N type cards.

even with ndiswrapper, most 802.11n cards don't work (from my experience anyway)

Glider · 9th Apr 2007, 14:43

Kipman725, who says penguins can't fly?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluephoenix

only thing to be wary of for linux are the Pre-N type cards.

even with ndiswrapper, most 802.11n cards don't work (from my experience anyway)

As mostly with new technologies, or ill implemented standards, the Linux community has to make a great effort to catch up. Texas Instrument chips are known for those (CF readers, Wireless chipsets,...) ill implemented standards. A good example are the cardreader chips, where you have to disable part of the chip to get it working correctly. And figuring those things out, by trial and error, takes a lot of time. If only companies would release correct datasheets...

konsta · 9th Apr 2007, 15:59

For my purposes, Linux is still to a large extent a non-option, and this is due to the NTFS problem. All my disks are NTFS format, and I don't want to have to have multiple copies of things to allow me to work on them in both environments.

Glider · 9th Apr 2007, 16:28

Sorry to be the one to have to burst your bubble, but Linux has NTFS read/write support thanks to the guys over at ntfs-3g

You can even host your / (root, like the C drive in Windows) on a NTFS partition

Rich_13 · 9th Apr 2007, 16:42

There are a fair few good games out there, Just take an install of ubuntu or something and look under the games section for 'add applications' and i'm sure you'll find something you like. wine etc is still too much effort for the average gamer in my opinion.

What i'd like to know is whats being done for the future of games on linux. dx10 is comming and OpenGL has been a bit quiet as of late (please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong). This could be bad news for open source gaming.

Gmaes companies should also start to consider Linux as free advertisement. I mean articles like this are bound to drop big name games that are easy to play/install on this platform. i.e. UT2004.

GuardianStorm · 9th Apr 2007, 16:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glider

Sorry to be the one to have to burst your bubble, but Linux has NTFS read/write support thanks to the guys over at ntfs-3g

You can even host your / (root, like the C drive in Windows) on a NTFS partition

thanks Glider!

now all i need to do is work out how the hell to get Ubuntu to recognise my Asus wireless g dongle, and connect to my WPA network so i can actually get the damn box online!

BioSniper · 9th Apr 2007, 17:11

The thing I always found was graphics drivers were a total pain to install specifically ATI's drivers.
Oh yeah, and sound hardly ever worked and umm.. yeah, generally its a total pain to use for some of the more obscure games like PlanetSide.
However I've not tried anything like this for at least 6 months. I still prefer to use Linux as a development/web server platform though rather than as a desktop machine.

Glider · 9th Apr 2007, 17:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich_13

There are a fair few good games out there, Just take an install of ubuntu or something and look under the games section for 'add applications' and i'm sure you'll find something you like. wine etc is still too much effort for the average gamer in my opinion.

The same gamer that spends hours and hours on tweaking the last drop of performance out of its graphics card? Well, if wine is too much effort to use for those gamers, then they have an attitude problem. I checked, 2 commands are needed to install Wine in Ubuntu... How much effort does DX take in Windows? 15 clicks?

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/wine

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich_13

What i'd like to know is whats being done for the future of games on linux. dx10 is comming and OpenGL has been a bit quiet as of late (please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong). This could be bad news for open source gaming.

OpenGL isn't dead, far from it. And in many ways OpenGL is superiour to DX (at least v9, not sure about 10). What DX10 brings for Linux? Well, Cedega is DX9 compatible, so it will just be a matter of time before it will catch up and become DX10 compatible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BioSniper

The thing I always found was graphics drivers were a total pain to install specifically ATI's drivers.

Yeah, ATI support was pretty flacky 6 months ago, but now they are on par (or better at times) then nVidias. But TBH, nothing beats Intels support (IGP and the likes).

Quote:

Originally Posted by BioSniper

Oh yeah, and sound hardly ever worked and umm..

OSS was shamefull at times

I admit that. But ALSA now has support for 95% of the hardware...

Quote:

Originally Posted by BioSniper

I still prefer to use Linux as a development/web server platform though rather than as a desktop machine.

Linux just owns the server market... But I for one cannot work efficiently on an XP station anymore. Linux has spoiled me with too much freedom

TomH · 9th Apr 2007, 17:24

Having installed Sauerbraten this morning, I can't say I was too impressed. Aside from the fact that Ubuntu required an obscure library to be installed (libsdlmixer1.2?) before I could run the game, the sound was very crackly even when I did get it going.

Not only that, there was no widescreen support (though the -w and -h options on the console could probably provide this, it wouldn't take much to put it in the menus, would it?), the graphical effects didn't look up to the standard of the screenshots -- again I could probably spend a day or two editing the shell script that runs the game, but I really couldn't be bothered.. Why?

NO mouse sensitivity options. I could barely turn. What sort of 'frag-fest' FPS doesn't have controls (in the menus or _anywhere_) to adjust the mouse sensitivity?!

A much, much better example of FPS gaming goodness on Linux is 'World of Padman' [WoP]. It's an incredibly fun Q3A-based game, that requires no pre-requisite copy of Q3A and runs on Linux, Mac and Windows pretty seamlessly.

Installation was a sinch, much easier than Sauerbraten, widescreen support and everything you'd come to expect from a release-version FPS game.

I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for FPS kicks whilst living in Linuxland, and for when you're stuck with Windows or OSX too

Javerh · 9th Apr 2007, 17:35

Aside from looks Sauerbraten and Nexuiz seemed quite hollow for me. Somebody forgot to implement good game design while working the graphics.

airchie · 9th Apr 2007, 17:48

I really liked the article.
Its opened my eyes a bit to linux again and I'm gonna install ubuntu when I get home probably.

One thing, how does installing on a raid controller work?
Will I need to do something similar to what is needed in XP (the press F6 thing?)

Hell, I may even format my machine and try it out...

cyrilthefish · 9th Apr 2007, 17:50

I'm dual-booting with ubuntu at the moment, and theres only really one thing stopping me completely converting: the linux ATI drivers, they really are dire :P (some slowdown is due to wine/cedega, but i get a good 33% fps reduction)

Looks like i need to save up for an nvidia card to switch over to linux
(ironically, i swapped from nvidia to ati years ago due to the horrible nvidia windows drivers

)

9th Apr 2007, 13:51	#1
Da Dego Brett Thomas Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Cleveland, OH USA Posts: 3,906	Linux has game http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2007/...as_game/1.html http://www.digg.com/linux_unix/Gaming_on_Linux_3/ __________________ "Frankly that seems overkill. iluvtrees2 arguing with spec is the intellectual equivalent of a bunny rabbit taking on a pissed-off lion." - Nexxo Last edited by Bindibadgi; 10th Apr 2007 at 17:21.

9th Apr 2007, 14:15	#2
r4tch3t hmmmm.... Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: New Zealand Posts: 2,884	Great article and certainly decided it for me, this computer is becoming a Linux Gaming machine when I get my new one. Thanks for the clarification. One small question though, how long does it take for an average person to get something like WINE up and running? And then getting used to using it? __________________ Fight my Brute The quantum limit of reality might be scaled up because we're all holograms. Obviously. Once more we see that sufficiently advanced physics is indistinguishable from getting really stoned. From here

9th Apr 2007, 14:21	#4
Tomm I also ride trials :¬) Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Fallowfield, Manchester Posts: 2,233	I do like Linux (though more the [i]idea[/s] of it than actually using it...) but from reading that article, we're still a long way from Linux being the easy option for gaming. Especially if you have to pay £33 a month for Cedega. Perhaps this will appeal to the user who like Linux but plays the occasional game, but not for the average user/gamer. __________________ Carrot cake cheesecake Shuttle SN85G4V2 \| A64 3200+ / Apple PowerBook 12

9th Apr 2007, 14:34	#8
Kipman725 When did I get a custom title!?! Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: UK Posts: 1,753	tux racer is another great game which runs on practically anything. I notice your running nvn under emulation, I was under the impresion that there is a native linux installer available for those who have the original game? *flight gears graphics have come on a long way since I last looked at it http://tuxracer.sourceforge.net/index.html __________________ Sn45g game server mod My Electronics Site Hardware: 3400+ Sempr0n, 1GB RAM, 1.28TB local storage, x1950pro,Razer Viper,M$ comfort curve 2000,L70S + 17", Fujitsu 17" CRT Audio: HD-650's, PE congress amp, Sound Blaster AWE64, Soundblaster 24bit

9th Apr 2007, 16:28	#12
Glider /dev/null Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Belgium Posts: 4,102	Sorry to be the one to have to burst your bubble, but Linux has NTFS read/write support thanks to the guys over at ntfs-3g You can even host your / (root, like the C drive in Windows) on a NTFS partition __________________ There Are 10 Types Of People, Those Who Know Binary and Those Who Don't

9th Apr 2007, 14:19	#3
Bluephoenix Spoon? What spoon? Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Daytona Beach, FL Posts: 936	Wonderful article. I especially like the flight sim, though Glider forgot to mention it has a very realistic sailplane simulation (tow, etc.) which doesn't even exist in windows (Gliding in FSX is a joke) Our gliding club over on this side of the pond is considering a simulator for some ground learning, and I'll have to recommend this over X-Plane, as well as saving the cost of Vista. Happy Flying! @ratchet - I only really heavily started using Linux last summer, and while the learning curve is a little steep, it is surprisingly familiar once you learn the differences in basic operations. the best thing to do is get a book on bash, it will save a lot of time trying to learn it from help.

9th Apr 2007, 14:21	#5
Hardware150 Multimodder Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: NE England Posts: 81	i would really like to use linux but up to now have always had problems with my wireless network which has always put me off, i currently have opensuse on a drive (kde rules). ubuntu seamed like the easiest distro to set up and use imo

9th Apr 2007, 14:39	#9
Bluephoenix Spoon? What spoon? Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Daytona Beach, FL Posts: 936	only thing to be wary of for linux are the Pre-N type cards. even with ndiswrapper, most 802.11n cards don't work (from my experience anyway)

9th Apr 2007, 15:59	#11
konsta Multimodder Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: London Posts: 92	For my purposes, Linux is still to a large extent a non-option, and this is due to the NTFS problem. All my disks are NTFS format, and I don't want to have to have multiple copies of things to allow me to work on them in both environments.

9th Apr 2007, 16:42	#13
Rich_13 Hypermodder Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: London /Essex Uni Posts: 716	There are a fair few good games out there, Just take an install of ubuntu or something and look under the games section for 'add applications' and i'm sure you'll find something you like. wine etc is still too much effort for the average gamer in my opinion. What i'd like to know is whats being done for the future of games on linux. dx10 is comming and OpenGL has been a bit quiet as of late (please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong). This could be bad news for open source gaming. Gmaes companies should also start to consider Linux as free advertisement. I mean articles like this are bound to drop big name games that are easy to play/install on this platform. i.e. UT2004. __________________ [Gaming laptop:][Intel Cour Duo2 T7200 ] [Nvidia7900GS GO] [1920x1200 display] [2GB DDR][Creative 6.1's ] My blog

9th Apr 2007, 17:11	#15
BioSniper I Mod, Therefore I Own Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Somewhere in the south Posts: 3,454	The thing I always found was graphics drivers were a total pain to install specifically ATI's drivers. Oh yeah, and sound hardly ever worked and umm.. yeah, generally its a total pain to use for some of the more obscure games like PlanetSide. However I've not tried anything like this for at least 6 months. I still prefer to use Linux as a development/web server platform though rather than as a desktop machine. __________________ My Flickr :: Bit-tech Flickr Wii: 1792 1527 2926 7945 :: Xbox Live: BioSnipr :: PSN: Biosnipr

9th Apr 2007, 17:24	#17
TomH Bwahahahahaha Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Salford Posts: 607	Having installed Sauerbraten this morning, I can't say I was too impressed. Aside from the fact that Ubuntu required an obscure library to be installed (libsdlmixer1.2?) before I could run the game, the sound was very crackly even when I did get it going. Not only that, there was no widescreen support (though the -w and -h options on the console could probably provide this, it wouldn't take much to put it in the menus, would it?), the graphical effects didn't look up to the standard of the screenshots -- again I could probably spend a day or two editing the shell script that runs the game, but I really couldn't be bothered.. Why? NO mouse sensitivity options. I could barely turn. What sort of 'frag-fest' FPS doesn't have controls (in the menus or _anywhere_) to adjust the mouse sensitivity?! A much, much better example of FPS gaming goodness on Linux is 'World of Padman' [WoP]. It's an incredibly fun Q3A-based game, that requires no pre-requisite copy of Q3A and runs on Linux, Mac and Windows pretty seamlessly. Installation was a sinch, much easier than Sauerbraten, widescreen support and everything you'd come to expect from a release-version FPS game. I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for FPS kicks whilst living in Linuxland, and for when you're stuck with Windows or OSX too

9th Apr 2007, 17:35	#18
Javerh Superfreak Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Tampere, Finland Posts: 655	Aside from looks Sauerbraten and Nexuiz seemed quite hollow for me. Somebody forgot to implement good game design while working the graphics. __________________ Project: Seawolf "Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them."

9th Apr 2007, 17:50	#20
cyrilthefish Hypermodder Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: UK Posts: 838	I'm dual-booting with ubuntu at the moment, and theres only really one thing stopping me completely converting: the linux ATI drivers, they really are dire :P (some slowdown is due to wine/cedega, but i get a good 33% fps reduction) Looks like i need to save up for an nvidia card to switch over to linux (ironically, i swapped from nvidia to ati years ago due to the horrible nvidia windows drivers )