For years I have been a Windows user at home, but I have had some work in with Linux over the years. I mostly use it when at work because the servers run Fedora Core 4 as of now. I've always kept XP on the custom box I built myself at home, so if any of my family wanted on they could use it. Recently I have taught them how easy Linux is and I am going to start with converting my box. I have been an active pro open source man. I have my family using open-source products, such as firefox, thunderbird, and open-office instead of Microsoft products. I am a heavy gamer and I have only used Linux at work. I've never used a home distribution or one meant for games. What distribution would you suggest? (I'd like it to be compatible with the games I often use)

Games often used:

1) Sims (all expansions)
2) Warcraft 3 (with expansion)
3) starcraft (with expansion)
4) Ragnerok
5) Diablo 2 (expansion)
6) Command and Conquer generals
7) Halo (don't really care about this... I play it online mostly just to do something with one of my friends... who happens to be a big microsoft freak and is anti-open-source)
8) World of Warcraft

game support will come via cedega, and have no bearing on your choice of distro. all other requirements you've listed are similary distro agnostic... just find one you like. that's always the answer...

shaji ki!

I'm a n00blet at using it for home and gaming use I admit :|

I only really have used Linux using Fedora Core on a server and doing little tests with Knoppix.

I was just looking for any advice which one would give me the best result, such as what would be easiest for my family to use when logging on this box, I Know wineX (cedega) is the answer to the gaming...

megajohn the question what distro should i use can only be answered by you ive tried 10-20 distros till i found the ones i like and im still trying some out right now im downloading mepis. i personly like ubuntu but noone can say if that distro is for you. heres something i do to see what one is best for me i go to the download linux link normally found on the right of the screen in this site, and than i will check out each ones homepage to see what that distro has that maybe good for me. i started with fedora and ubuntu they were the easiest for me to use but that may not be same with everyone.good luck in choosing the right distro for you and your family

mandrake (erm, mandriva) has a nice xp like login thing- it's also fairly friendly- but yeah, other distros are like that too.

titanium_geek

i agree mandrake/mandrive is a good choice only i have my thoughts on the urpmi thing

Your biggest problem is getting your friend to see that the dark side is not the stronger side of the force...





I agree with Chris. However, if you plan on using a Joystick or other types of usb controllers, you might want to go with a distro that will auto recognize those things. I believe Mandriva used to pride themselves in this area (back in Mandrake 8.x days I think they released a Sims Version of Mandrake). Really it won't make much of a difference, but you may find more support for a RedHat based distro when you find addon patches etc.

Cool

Just look on the transgaming site to see if your games are supported: http://transgaming.org/gamesdb/

Shaji Ki

I was thinking about doing Fedora and only install the desktop user tools or Mandrake.

Negai Naisu dei

I suspect that the answers have been posted by the acid_kewpie and MasterC - but too add my if you get a "paid for" copy from mandriva, you usually have some of the proprietary (but free) apps already configured (nvidia driver, adobe acrobat to name but 2 that immediately come to mind).

Plus you might even have trials for stuff like "crossover plugin" (from codeweavers) which is another wine like derivative. So if you checked out the cedega, crossover and wine/winex you should be able to work out whether you can run those games.

What the hell, live dangerously and dual boot</sarcasm>. I did that for nearly 3 years without any problems whatsoever, until I knew enough about linux to be able to dump windows completely - which is where I am now, windows free!

If you have the hard disc space, it's usually, much the easiest option (especially with Mandriva/mandrake). You get to "have your cake, and eat it".

regards

John