Linux is by far the best OS for server's and workstation's, but after many trials and pursueing Linux wholeheartedly as a gaming OS, I've finally come to the conclusion that it just can't beat XP in the gaming environment. Every fiber in my being is reluctant to 'chalk one up' for Mr. Gates, but I have literally worked HARD to get Linux to surpass his latest OS in gaming capabilities, but I have failed.

I've gone as far as installing gentoo, running fluxbox, and installing only one game, but the gameplay STILL is not as smooth as in XP. There are lost frames and a very uncomfortable gameplay experience. It's definitely playable, but compared to the M$ OS, it doesn't hold a candle.

I always hear of people getting so much better game performance in Linux. What am I doing wrong? Is it my architecture (Athlon XP, DDR RAM, Geforce3 Ti200 Video)? Does Linux just not have that great of support for my setup? If so, my next PC will be a different architecture all together! I just don't see any improvements.

Linux is by far the superior OS when it comes to workstations and servers (heck, my laptop at work runs Slackware 8.1, and that is my SOLE OS for a workstation, I have a gentoo samba server setup at work also, along with a slackware server here at home), but as far as the high-paced gaming environment goes, I'm done pursueing it for now... I just can't see a light at the end of the tunnel....

The only thing I cant think of is do you have the nvidia drivers?
and also what kind of harddrive performance are you getting this command will tell you

hdparm -tT /dev/hda

I've played UT2003 demo and it runs nice on this machine

I've played UT on an 800Mhz, 256 meg ram, gforce 4 mx and it ran sweet even when it was running as a server.

I kept windows around for gaming until just this last week when I installed winex and starting running my games in linux. I haven't been in windows since. Warcraft 3 only has a 4/5 compatibility rating with winex and it runs better than it did in windows. If you have an ati gfx card you may not be able to do gaming as well in linux as windows though... If you need help setting up winex just ask!

Also games (at least war3) work better if you add -- -opengl to the end of your command.

Linux is not built for games, is an optional extra that sometimes isn't great.

I love linux, but It just cant touch M$ in gaming.

It could touch MS for gaming if there was better support for hardware as well as developers making linux games instead of as an after thought. I mean hardware support from the manufacturers themselves.

It's not that MS is superior to linux in terms of games, instead (as Palin said), there's a lack of interest in developing (both hardware and software) for linux. Even when one makes a port to linux, the game was originally designed for windows- so it will do things that take advantage of the windows environment and will not look at a better (but different way) for linux.

What's strange...you'd think Linux would be the definitive OS for gaming. That day may dawn soon. Look at how far its come in such a short time. Really quite amazing. The fact we're having this discussion at all says a lot.

I agree cuckoopint. I believe the fault lies solely with hardware and software vendors. M$'s stranglehold on the market has forced most companies to bow down before them. This has also caused headaches for the Linux community because most vendors don't even acknowledge linux support when there designing there products.

I don't want to get this thread off topic, even though I am, but I would like to share a little story with you all. My girlfriend wanted to buy me a digital camera for my birthday last week. She asked me, because I've pounded Linux into her brain, "What cameras will work with Linux?". Hmmmm....What an interesting question. I'm sure the good sales people at my local big name electronics stores will know. We went to the two biggest electronics vendors out there and we got the same reply from both places-"Ummmm....well the majority of digital cameras were made to work with Windows." Oh really? I didn't know that. Anyway I had faith in Linux and just bought a camera that I liked and decided to deal with the support when I got home. A simple google/linux search gave me a perfect way to upload my pictures from the camera.

The point is this:

Linux is a beautiful thing. Its about sticking your finger in the air and telling the vendors that they can't tell you how they want you to do it but rather your gonna do it the way YOU want to do it.

As for PC gaming I have some sympathy for you ixion but remember:
Linux for development
Windows for solitaire

and a good ole Ti-86 for that game of Tetris.


Glad to hear that the camera worked out... not all similar stories have happy endings.

I am going to say and go out on a limb and say that linux is capable of becomming a awsome enviroment for Games. Like other people said game companys must bow before microsoft in order to make a profit.

I have a high end machine that I built with all of the parts I wanted and let me tell you it flys on linux and i got ut 2003 to work and I cant noticabally tell a difference when I play it in windows.

you just have to have enthuasisum for what linux has out rather than what it dosent have. I am stoked for NWN client comming out and even more so for DOOM 3 .

if your optomistic about it the future looks brighter.

are there any good native-linux games out there (ie, not built for windows then modified for linux)? UT (the original) runs like a dream in Linux compared to Windows, but Descent3 and ut2003 aren't quite up to par. Would there happen to be any games similar to those that are native-linux?

Thanks for the uplifting optimism, everyone! I just got discouraged because I thought Linux had made it to the point of totally eliminating Windows on my home network. It's getting there, I know... I just have to be patient...