Linux on Gaming
 

Sorry if this has already come up beforehand.

I'm a Windows user and I have friends who have Linux and love it. My question is basically this: Why Linux? Why is it better than having Windows already installed and setup?

Secondly, how does it cope with gaming? I'm planning on installing Oblivion in the next week or so, and I'm needing to know if it will work correctly on it if I switch over. Also, how is it for MMO gaming?

Lastly, I'm thinking of making a partition of my C drive just for Linux so I can have both and mess with the stuff Linux doesn't like too much on my Windows part, and the stuff that Linux works well with on the Linux part. Is this a good idea?

Should I decide to install it, would I need any form on help guide to walk me through some parts, or is it relatively straightforward?

Thanks!

the above link said a good amount of what i was going to say

as for games? well there are several routes depending on the game
1. a linux port of a game (not too many around but some big name games do have linux ports)
2. a linux/open source equivilent
3. wine, runs a lot of modern games, even WOW
4. windows in a virtual machine (not really recomended)

i have found that the standard wine works just fine for some games, like diablo 2 or counterstrike. tho on others you may get lag from that. cedega can be used tho it costs $5 to subscribe.

Blue Screen of Death!

need I say more :)

linux has kernel panics, albeit far more rare then a BSOD

For your particular needs, there is no way to say if Linux will be better or worse---you simply have to try it.

For games, you might also be interested in CrossOver-- http://www.codeweavers.com/

@bret381
@frieza

I haven't seen a BSOD since Windows XP, except for when I built a new computer and it had a defective CPU.

And I NEVER saw Linux crash. Except for the one time I accidentally deleted the /boot directory (:o), but that's definitely not Linux's fault.

I've gotten the BSOD on all versions of Windows up through Vista. Haven't used Windows 7, so can't say on that one.

And so far, I've not had linux crash on me that was not MY fault

Ya'know, for being a Linux user, I have never really had a problem with Windows. I have never had a BSOD or a Virus. Never any spyware or stuff, either. I take care of my stuff and rarely have problems with it. (Software-wise anyway :))

That said, you talk & walk like a Windows user. That's not bad, and actually quite common, but its terrible for Linux. You have no reason to switch over. Who cares what your friends have? Just waste your time playing Oblivion or w/e, and I'll waste my time benchmarking JFS vs XFS and tinkering with system configurations. No, you can't install games on Linux. You can do it with WINE, but then you are getting terrible performance and completely missing the point. If you go into using Linux with that kind of a mindset, you're dooming yourself to misery and a weekend of 'why did I do that?'

Number 2, Linux isn't better than what you already got. I mean, keep it the way it is. I guarantee you will have problems with games. THEY ARE NOT MEANT FOR LINUX. MMO? What the heck is that? Oh, it's massively multiplayer online. Forget that too. Use Windows.

Number 3. Linux does not use a C drive. Why do you bring this up? Are you going to virtualize Linux? Then maybe, sure. You can also dual-boot if you want to. Maybe try a Live CD. Whatever floats your boat.

Number 4. Why would we waste time 'walking you through' a Linux install? What, you just want the kernel? Pick a distro, Google it, and install it. You like it? Give up your games. You don't like it? I told you so..

Number 5. Linux users use this great website. Its called: http://www.google.com/
I highly suggest it.

Number 6. Linux is nothing like Windows. Terms, usage, files, file systems, commands, programs... ITS ALL DIFFERENT. You can get flash player and MP3s on Linux, but this is basically where any similarities end. ITS A DIFFERENT OPERATING SYSTEM.

Now, time to stop sounding like a tyrannical zealot and ponder why Linux is great.

Number 1. You are FREE. Freedom. Do what you want. GNU/Linux = FREE. Windows 7 = $100 +. Linux Games = Free. Windows 7 =$ 50. Linux Software = Free!. Windows = ...$*. Change it. Give it to your buddies. Customize it. Make it dance. Download it again. Delete it. FREE,
Oh, by the way...have you ever read a Microsoft EULA? You CAN'T do this. Restriction here, everywhere. The GNU/Linux GPL? Do whatever...

Number 2. Its anything you want it to be. You can make yourself a fancy 3D desktop with flash and frills with all sorts of thrills. Windows start button is not even customizable without hacking it. Linux it's like: "I don't like that. I want it to say 'cheese' and be blue. Maybe you dont want one at all. Maybe you want it to do a dance for you. Didn't like that program? Change it the way you want. Hated the whole desktop? Try a new one. Or maybe just frankenstein it. Who cares?

Number 3. The command line. The CLI.

Number 4. Compiz.

Number 5. Drivers. It just works. Or if it doesn't you can make it work, usually. 90% of the time. You get all your drivers, for any computer you want...FREE...

Number 6. Spyware, Viruses, Adware, etc. Linux? You have to make one yourself, infect yourself with it on purpose, and run it as root to get one at all. There isn't hardly any at all in Linux.

Number 7. Unix. Power. Flexibility. Google it.

Number 8. Open-source. No secrets, no backdoors.

Anyways, review those and make a choice.

I noticed that the first time I successfully attempted switching to Linux was when I was more about wanting Linux (in my case because of all the nice dev tools) than not wanting Windows (because of annoying warnings, being against Bill Gates, etc). I now think that that is very important when switching to Linux.

amen, although for me it was a switch from mac os9 to linux even though i was perfectly happy with mac os i simply wanted to experiment with something new (linux) and found the more i used linux the more i wanted to use it over mac os, note i still am quite a fan of mac especially pre osX macs but i like the openness and freedom of linux much more

But for the vast majority of times kernel panics occur because the user did something stupid when trying to install a new kernel: not because of inherent flaws in the OS.

Evo2.

Thanks for the input guys. Know that I'm not deleting Windows and going with Linux only. I have them on 2 different drives so I can choose which one I want depending on what I'm doing.

I'm trying to get Linux on my laptop now so I can so a friend of mine cause he's thinking about learning it for his job (he's some kind of server technician guy)