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This might sound like a dumb question, but Im pretty new to linux, and Im an avid gamer... well, i keep seeing all this stuff saying that this game, or that game, etc has been "ported" for linux..... what does that mean?? ive been on loki's site and linuxgamer and all, but they all assume you know what they are talking about.... If i have a copy of Unreal Tourny for win, can i just download some code and run it on my linux box?? thanx in advance--
Sorry, just joined the forum - thought I'd answer your question (if you are still interested!).
Something most 'newbies' don't grasp is that Linux is not another add-on to Windows, it's a completely different system. A game (or any program) must be 'ported' so that it will run.
It is a bit like spoken languages - your favourite book might be available in German, but you only speak French. You have to wait until someone translates the book.
Lots of games, and other programs, can be run on Linux using an emulator 'wine', BUT this is not guaranteed. You could try this. So you install wine in Linux, and run your Windows game from there (sorry, never tried this).
The problem for games companies is that the number of people running machines under Linux that are capable of running their games is small compared to the Windows market. So they get smaller profits. If we want Linux games, we must pay (and wait, usually, as Linux games come out after the windows version).
let me add to this I myself am ver very new to linux and this is the first week I have ever used a unixed based operating system bymyself installing and everything. I know a boat load about windows and in all the time I spent in windows I was frustrated about all the work I had to do to keep it running smoothly.
Linux is 90% better cleaner and faster than windows but it dose not have the public backing for it. It is mostly computer enthuiasts like us that make up the majority. Linux takes some time to learn *oh boy is this true* so this may be why their very few games avable that are ported for linux. People want it now and right now all of the window majority promblems I answer are all very basic. some people cant figure it out.
in a nutshell once linux is a larger precent of all the computer sytems out there then we will see more games.
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