Linux or Windows?

[Thrillem]

As I am buying a new computer I would appreciate if someone could tell me what OS is better for playing ROL. Until now I have been playing on Windows Vista but as someone told me that Linux was better for this game I thought I better ask it in this forum.

[roonwick]

you could go dual boot, and install both. since I only play on linux, I cant say much to compare performance of RO. If you're buying a new computer, I wouldnt just let RO determine the OS.

[Kyrottimus]

Linux may not generate the raw FPS of windows (due to Direct X vs OpenGL), however it's more stable, less herky-jerky (smoother) and far more efficient with RAM.

And for me, I'd never even heard of RO until I made the switch to Linux and started looking for linux-native games.

I've tried playing on windows but the controls and spell-triggering seems to have a greater delay (more sluggish) and while the windows client may have looked slighting prettier to the eye (maybe better for sceenshots) with the right graphics card and drivers Linux RO runs great and looks great too. Plus the totally random crashes and freezes I've experienced with the windows version convinced me to stay playing it on my linux boot.

[Kitsuni]

Linux may not generate the raw FPS of windows (due to Direct X vs OpenGL), however it's more stable, less herky-jerky (smoother) and far more efficient with RAM.

And for me, I'd never even heard of RO until I made the switch to Linux and started looking for linux-native games.

I've tried playing on windows but the controls and spell-triggering seems to have a greater delay (more sluggish) and while the windows client may have looked slighting prettier to the eye (maybe better for sceenshots) with the right graphics card and drivers Linux RO runs great and looks great too. Plus the totally random crashes and freezes I've experienced with the windows version convinced me to stay playing it on my linux boot.
This was my experience on Windows; the game had a far higher frame rate (about double), but the input latency was horrilbe.

Anything that involved the keyboard and mouse was like playing in a pit of tar.

[Thrillem]

So basically almost everyone is using Linux as OS?

[Eyfura]

If you have actually no interest in linux, I'd say go with windows. It will be most likely the easiest way. I don't think just RO is reason enough for linux as it works well on windows also. Also if you seriously would like linux, pay attention of your new computer's gpu. Nvidia used to be better for linux, not sure though if that is the case anymore as I haven't been following.

I personally use linux, and have been using for last years as main system. I can say I'm happy with it. RO works well, not much complaints.

[DuoMaxwell]

Well Linux is free, but not compatible with every piece of hardware and most games aren't Linux compatible yet. but Linux is eaisier to maintain once you get it going.

Windows will cost you more unless you buy a prebuilt computer which comes with Windows already installed.

You can easily have both Linux and Windows installed on the same computer, just be sure to install Windows first to make setting up the dual boot system allot eaisier.

Linux can run some Windows only games via Wine, PlayOnLinux and CrossOver.

Furthermore Steam is supposed to be comming to Linux as well as Desura which is another Steam like service is already on Linux and has been for over a year now.

As for what Linux distro to use, personally I like Linux Mint Mate Edition, thoguh this may not be ideal for most people due to how the update system orks. You would likely be best served by using Ubuntu Linux and adding the Mate desktop sytem to the repositories.

[NotScias]

If you have actually no interest in linux, I'd say go with windows. It will be most likely the easiest way.

This.

Linux will require you to learn new things and change some old habits and your understanding of the system (which sadly most of people is totally unwilling to do).
If you aren't ready for it and only consider it as a free Windows, if you play mainstream games, use some professional video/image/sound editing or Microsoft programs (Photoshop, Office...), or you're just happy in your current environment, programs and don't want to bother with new things, just stay on Windows really.

RO might or might not perform better on Linux (in most of cases it won't), but it's not worth investing so much effort switching just for it.

And I say this as a happy Linux user since 6 years.

[PT_DaAr_PT]

If you only want to use Linux because people convinced you that RO runs faster on it, then common sense tells me to suggest you that you first try a Linux distribution out before you decide to completely switch to a different OS. Read Scias' post above mine just to be sure you're aware of the implications of switching operating systems.

With that said, you can buy a computer with Windows pre-installed and install Linux in a separate partition (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_partitioning); that will allow you to dual-boot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi_boot), as somebody already suggested. This gives you the option to use both Windows and Linux whenever you want. You'll have to re-boot every time you want to switch, though.

But before you go through all that trouble, you should try out Linux by burning a live cd (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_CD). You can even do that on your current computer. I would recommend doing this first so you don't get fucked in the process--you might not like Linux. Read post above mine again.

I would also recommend that you do some research before you try any of this, this can become quite complicated and troublesome for beginners. You should try to find a friend that understands Linux to help you out.

[andres81]

I can't compare with Windows because I only have Linux but since the last updates, I mean the so called "improvements of the graphic engine" the OpenGL mode of Regnum is no longer what it was.
Shadows on max distance don't work well, the highest render quality is not available, no normal antialiasing, water animation is ugly or even the water textures completely missing like in the new oasis near Samal and a lot of other issues.

[Cuchulainn]

if you buy a desktop computer with Windoze, I would suggest that you get one with Windows 7. I heard Windows 8 is not supposed to be a OS for desktop computers. And some programs do not work correctly in Windows 8 (such as VLC as example) or only in compatibility mode.

Another issue with Windows 8 is that it requires Secure Boot. Currently that would be a issue if you want to dual boot with Linux. Fedora 18 will be released in January, that's supposed to support Secure Boot though.

At home I only use Linux.

[DuoMaxwell]

This.

Linux will require you to learn new things and change some old habits and your understanding of the system (which sadly most of people is totally unwilling to do).
If you aren't ready for it and only consider it as a free Windows, if you play mainstream games, use some professional video/image/sound editing or Microsoft programs (Photoshop, Office...), or you're just happy in your current environment, programs and don't want to bother with new things, just stay on Windows really.

RO might or might not perform better on Linux (in most of cases it won't), but it's not worth investing so much effort switching just for it.

And I say this as a happy Linux user since 6 years.

Hence the beauty of live CDs and dual boots. Linux costs nothing to try, if Thrillem has used multiple OSs the shock isn't that bad.

Also hardware support isn't that bad, it's only the random wireless card, printer or scanner, whatever the brand spanking new-just came out mobos and GPUs or oddball "high end" sound card or NIC that gives trouble.

The brand new stuff usually gets sorted out by the next update cycle which is every 6 months for the popular distros like Ubuntu, Fedora and Mint.

Also, Valve has also found that their games get about a 20-25% increase in performance moving from DirectX on Windows to OpenGL on Linux without months of tweaking to make it work: http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/10/29/154207/valve-linux-better-than-windows-8-for-gaming?sdsrc=popbyskid

[kmdk]

As I am buying a new computer I would appreciate if someone could tell me what OS is better for playing ROL. Until now I have been playing on Windows Vista but as someone told me that Linux was better for this game I thought I better ask it in this forum.

And yes ,Linux was better for ro before this new build-in engine revamp...i got over 450 smooth fps on a Puppy Linux Live stick,but now is not anymore...

I have 2 MAC with 3 boot .

On MacBookPro(laptop):
-Mac os x Lion 1.7.4
-LInux Mandriva 2011.2(linux)
-Windows 7

On MacPro:
-Mac OS X 10.6.8
-Linux Ubuntu and Mandriva
-Windows 7

The point is :from my tests i log on windows and play Regnum just because DirectX code is by far better that OpenGL code.At least on ATI cards,both my macs have ati cards.

On MacBookPro:
-OS X Lion (OpenGl engine) -safe mode around 50 fps ,non-smooth
-Linux Mandriva -safe mode around 60 fps
-Windows 7 - around 80 fps smooth and with shader..have no idea wich one

On MacPro:
-Mac OS X Snow leopard -safe mode around 77 fps (WTF ?) non-smooth
-Ubuntu -safe modearound 80 fps
-Mandriva -safe mode around 120 fps
-Windows 7 -with shader around 210 fps

From last revamp of NG3D OpenGl is lack of performances.
Now at the moment ,DirectX at least in my situation is by far better than OpenGl.

This new revamp givet to some people better performance because it use build-in bechmark ,but not for me .Mac client crash if you use shaders and so works only in safe mode,and linux decreased a lots.In my case total fail.

[NotScias]

Hence the beauty of live CDs and dual boots. Linux costs nothing to try, if Thrillem has used multiple OSs the shock isn't that bad.

Yes but LiveCDs don't answer mid/long-term questions like : Will I be able to play the latest <insert_latest_aaa_game> ? Will my new <printer/soundcard/gpu...> work fine without configuration ? Will I be able to read and edit perfectly my <insert_proprietary_format> without headaches ?

I'm not saying it's not worth it to try it, but the user needs to have an interest doing it, needs to be curious and willing to learn new ways, change old habits about how to use an OS because Linux is totally different, no matter how mainstream distros try to make it easier for newcomers.
Same thing about Dualboot, you won't waste hours and several gigabytes just for the sake of running one crossplatform program or messing with Compiz's wobbly windows animation effect. It needs an interest, (real) curiosity being the first. If the user just doesn't care and expects a virus-free Windows he will just ends disappointed and become a genuine anti-linux troll afterwards.

Also, Valve has also found that their games get about a 20-25% increase in performance moving from DirectX on Windows to OpenGL on Linux without months of tweaking to make it work: http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/10/29/154207/valve-linux-better-than-windows-8-for-gaming?sdsrc=popbyskid

I know about it. But that's on a specific hardware (NVIDIA I guess), on an engine that has been deeply optimized for OpenGL (who knows it could have been room left to enhance their D3D backend) while closely working with GPU companies that optimized their drivers for that engine. No matter there's progress.
But besides that, the current Linux's graphical stack is terrible. Horribly complex, slow and outdated especially when we talk about X11 and Mesa.
About GPU drivers : Besides NVIDIA's proprietary ones that are decent enough but totally non-integrated with Linux's standards, the rest is between mediocre and broken. Proprietary ATI drivers are bugged, underperforming, lack many features, and support only recent GPUs. Older ATIs need to use open-source ones that are very underperforming, lack most of features and especially dynamic power-management.
So we have Intel left, and even if their open-source driver is the most complete one, Intel GPUs aren't fit for heavy 3D games at all.

Yes I don't deny there has been progress (yay I can finally play a video with a compositor running !), and will be, thanks to Valve urging ATI/NVIDIA to fix their blobs, but saying that gaming on Linux outperforms Windows is a lie in most of cases. Actually like many other say and I join them, RO performs worse on Linux, mainly because the OpenGL renderer of it isn't on par with the D3D one, but for people with badly supported GPUs using half-backed drivers like I mentioned above it will be even worse.

[Kyrottimus]

...but saying that gaming on Linux outperforms Windows is a lie in most of cases. Actually like many other say and I join them, RO performs worse on Linux, mainly because the OpenGL renderer of it isn't on par with the D3D one, but for people with badly supported GPUs using half-backed drivers like I mentioned above it will be even worse.

"Performs" is a very broad term. If you're talking raw FPS, that's one thing, though anything past 65 or 70fps usually goes beyond the refresh rate of the monitor (and the human eye) and I doubt anyone will notice anything past that.

While RO is obviously optimized for D3D, there are some benefits to playing in linux. For one, the input (controls) are far more responsive than on windows. Also, for systems with marginal RAM resources, the game will have an easier time managing ram if the OS isn't hogging a bunch of it.

This is obviously just an opinion, and different PCs, operating systems and software settings/drivers will change the performance dramatically.

For me, I'll sacrifice FPS for a more responsive game (keyboard/mouse inputs having less delay). And on my current computer, having tried windows (several times) vs linux, I only see about a 5-10fps increase and IMO the sluggishness of the controls on windows (and the random crashes) just simply isn't worth it.

[NotScias]

While RO is obviously optimized for D3D, there are some benefits to playing in linux. For one, the input (controls) are far more responsive than on windows.

There's also some Linux-specific quirks on RO aswell. Like crashes when changing workspace/maximizing or bugged fullscreen support.
I haven't played RO on Windows since years, but I didn't have more issues than playing it on Linux. Also this input issue must not be that bad for most of people to not switch on Linux and run into a load of other non-RO related issues just because of it.

Also, for systems with marginal RAM resources, the game will have an easier time managing ram if the OS isn't hogging a bunch of it.

This is obviously just an opinion, and different PCs, operating systems and software settings/drivers will change the performance dramatically.

Yes. But you can have bloated Linux environments aswell.
Example : now most of mainstream distros always have a Desktop Compositor enabled by default (Unity, Gnome Shell, KWin...), which, because of the awful state of X11 and the graphical stack, heavily drains a good share of FPS away in 3D apps. Hopefully Wayland will improve some things on this side but we're not there yet...

[kmdk]

"Performs" is a very broad term. If you're talking raw FPS, that's one thing, though anything past 65 or 70fps usually goes beyond the refresh rate of the monitor (and the human eye) and I doubt anyone will notice anything past that.



For me, I'll sacrifice FPS for a more responsive game (keyboard/mouse inputs having less delay). And on my current computer, having tried windows (several times) vs linux, I only see about a 5-10fps increase and IMO the sluggishness of the controls on windows (and the random crashes) just simply isn't worth it.

Agree with fps and human eyes.
At least for me i dont care how many fps are showed if game does not flickr when i turn camera.
Thats the issue that i have with my systems even show lets say 80 fps ..game is not smooth ,and camera flickr.
Thats horible for gameplay when you try to rotate and clik someone and in next frame just flickr instead of 30 degree to 80 degree,and you try to rotate camera back to target and instead of 50 degree jump/flickr again to 80 degree.
Thats the point refresh and rotate camera smooth ,at least for me is horible ,many time i die just because camera jumps instead of turn around smooth.
But your argument with 70-80 fps and human eye is correct one..now the question ,are the fps showed in the game correct or fake ?....
And thats the main issue on my systems ,OpenGL just flickr ,directx runs smooth.
I dont care about OS because i am a cross-platformer ,from 8 years i use linux,os x,and windows ,my issue is about how game runs in a certain coding.

[DuoMaxwell]

And thats the main issue on my systems ,OpenGL just flickr ,directx runs smooth.


Ever heard of Sync to vBlank? Turn on vBlank, it will cap your framerate at your montor's refreshrate removing the flicker as it tels the card to only produce frames that the monitor can actally display instead of it sending parts of different frames as the monitor scans down the single frame giving you bits of 2-3 frames that the card spat out while the monitor couldn't keep up.

"Performs" is a very broad term. If you're talking raw FPS, that's one thing, though anything past 65 or 70fps usually goes beyond the refresh rate of the monitor (and the human eye) and I doubt anyone will notice anything past that.

Just a side note. While you are right that past 60FPS you are beyond the ability of the current generation of VGA, DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort video connection standards to feed video to the monitor the human eye can actually see far more then that, as fighter pilots have been tested at 100FPS to be able to correctly identify the model of aircraft only displayed on a single frame.

Unfortunatly the next generation of DisplayPort, which while it will handle the new 4K video resolution standard it won't do anything to increase framerate.

Not like it wil help thoguh, outside of Apple, the industry has trended toward lower resolution, 4 years ago almost every laptop had the option of a 1920x1200 screen, now most come with 1366x768 as the only option... And it's not like there wheren't laptops that even higher resolutions then that, if you knew where to look you could get laptops with 3840x2400 res. They wheren't good for games as they could only do 24FPS, but they existed and the industry is now working backwards...

[DuoMaxwell]

I say the switch isn't much more painful then switching form 98SE to XP, XP to Vista or from Win7 to Win8. No matter what the OS, even revisions of the same OS you will have problems. Those moves had tons of driver problems, often times ones that would never be fixed or could never be fixed.


I'm not saying it's not worth it to try it, but the user needs to have an interest doing it, needs to be curious and willing to learn new ways, change old habits about how to use an OS because Linux is totally different, no matter how mainstream distros try to make it easier for newcomers.
Same thing about Dualboot, you won't waste hours and several gigabytes just for the sake of running one crossplatform program or messing with Compiz's wobbly windows animation effect. It needs an interest, (real) curiosity being the first. If the user just doesn't care and expects a virus-free Windows he will just ends disappointed and become a genuine anti-linux troll afterwards.

True enough, I'm different then most people since I learned MSDOS, Win 3.0, Apple IIe and Apple's System 6 in kindergarten and have built or rebuilt over a hundred computers since my first 286 when I was only 12 out of a few dead computers I had found on the street. I've used BeOS, OS/2, Solaris so I'm pretty well versed in just picking up a random OS and running with it.

Personally I've had no real trouble with Linux on most of the machines as I've been using it for a decade now and have been using it exclusively since 2006, I even use Debian on my old PPC Macs which only have the long dead OS X 10.4.11 and OS 9.2.2 on them to play the old Mac games I have which I have allot of since DRM was nonexistent on OS X for quite some time.

The biggest problems I've had are from laptops with really funky parts or the occasional printer that doesn't play nice. the GPU problems have actually mostly been with Intel which only has an OSS driver anyways, the reason is that they keep redoing their driver arch and when they do they stopped supporting GPUs that where used literally everywhere for years and where still being sold on new hardware only a year before on. which forced me to only have an 800x600 VESA driver.

The only other major ones where the odd SiS or S3 GPU or the 6 month window where the Gallium3D drivers didn't compile right on PPC which was fixed by using the 6 month old, but still supported version of the unofficial Ubuntu PPC build.

Configuration of the Opensource Gallium3D drivers for AMD/ATI or Nvidia on Ubuntu was as hard as adding the Xorg-Edgers "crack-pushers" PPA off Launchpad to Synaptic > running Synaptic and picking the Edgers repo from the origins list, hitting select all and apply. I do that since I have several cards from both AMD/ATI and Nvidia, never had a problem with system stability with it either. the OSS drivers now support OpenGL 3.0 and the most of the rest of the .1.2and .3 revisions with the last few pieces for 3.3 falling into place in the next few months. OpenGL4 will be more problematic as to claim full compatibility some features may not be able to be included in standard distros for fear of lawsuits on a few patent encumbered bits.

The Nvidia blob has actually gotten worse in recent years, taking quite some time to get Tesla GPUs supported while video playback is still an issue for the AMD blob has improved quite a bit since they do have a month to month release cycle. I'll stil stick with the OSS Gallium3D drivers though.


Yes. But you can have bloated Linux environments aswell.
Example : now most of mainstream distros always have a Desktop Compositor enabled by default (Unity, Gnome Shell, KWin...), which, because of the awful state of X11 and the graphical stack, heavily drains a good share of FPS away in 3D apps. Hopefully Wayland will improve some things on this side but we're not there yet...

Never hear of Mate, LXDE, XFCE, Trinity? They all get the job done without sacraficing any much or any functionality. Just because the distro has decided to use a craptacular DE like Unity, Plasma Active or Gnome-Shell doens't mean you can't swap it out in under 5 mins for something that is lean and mean requiring no more then a logout. Not even a reboot.

[kmdk]

Ever heard of Sync to vBlank? Turn on vBlank, it will cap your framerate at your montor's refreshrate removing the flicker as it tels the card to only produce frames that the monitor can actally display instead of it sending parts of different frames as the monitor scans down the single frame giving you bits of 2-3 frames that the card spat out while the monitor couldn't keep up.



Yes,i heard and does not work.
Now from a usual player perspective:

1.)Game worked fine before

2.)With other games as Assassins Creed II ,StarWars or Batman all of them are in OpenGl because i play them on mac ,i have no issue of rendering(i know they are offline games but no issue with rendering world details even on my macpro everything is at hight)

3.)Why this does not happens with DirectX ?

4.)Why shall as player to try to twick my pc to make a game to work and not works in natural habitat ?

Technicaly ,sound true that you say there but ,as player i have no time to stay and search solutions for this.I report them and i expect that programers to fix they own issue because for this they are payed.

Anyway ,this issues come out of the box when make a cross-platform game.

Before,long time a go when i was beginer in linux was cool to compile vga drivers,to compile thinks around and make them work faster and better.
Now i hate them ,i have no time to waste with compile and fix thinks around,i like box delivered think such as rpm or deb.

Now i am a lazy guy ,i like to make scripts,that why i like os x and linux,when i need i make a script that will make lots of my job.

Tryng many Linux distributions ,found out how game work and different build of them:

-Fedora ,best network protocol ,but need it to compile vga drivers.
-Debian good network protocol and compiled vga drivers worked cool.
-Ubuntu ,horrible network protocol ,even comes from debian ,seems think or some daemons stuck think in network card,vga drivers out of the box was good and runs smooths.
-Mandriva very good support for VGA drivers,tons of kernel builds with specific vga drivers and has support even for very old ati vga drivers ,good enaught network protocol since it use redhat/fedora one.

[andres81]

3.)Why this does not happens with DirectX ?

Because NGD is focussing on the DirectX code, they don't even recognize when the OpenGL mode of their engine fails so I guess this is just autogenerated and never tested. xD

[NotScias]

I say the switch isn't much more painful then switching form 98SE to XP, XP to Vista or from Win7 to Win8. No matter what the OS, even revisions of the same OS you will have problems. Those moves had tons of driver problems, often times ones that would never be fixed or could never be fixed.

Yes but the difference is that actually manufacturers do care much more about Windows and rarely about Linux. So drivers are available really shortly after or even before a new Windows release. Same for most of programs.
On Linux we had to wait for years until most of wifi drivers were finally stable and usable (remember the ndiswrapper shit era ?)...

Configuration of the Opensource Gallium3D drivers for AMD/ATI or Nvidia on Ubuntu was as hard as adding the Xorg-Edgers "crack-pushers" PPA off Launchpad to Synaptic > running Synaptic and picking the Edgers repo from the origins list, hitting select all and apply.

This may be trivial for you, or me, but that's something unknown for a long-time Windows-only user. That's what I'm talking about : this requires learning, time, reading many wikis, having already initied-friends nearby, etc... Not needed when you switch from a Windows to another Windows.
Also, xorg-edgers is a bleeding edge unstable repository. So that user could just get dropped in front of the TTY after the next update. Not really newbie friendly...

Never hear of Mate, LXDE, XFCE, Trinity? They all get the job done without sacraficing any much or any functionality. Just because the distro has decided to use a craptacular DE like Unity, Plasma Active or Gnome-Shell doens't mean you can't swap it out in under 5 mins for something that is lean and mean requiring no more then a logout. Not even a reboot.

Same as above. Trivial for already-initied Linux users but Windows-only users the concept of a Window manager or Desktop Environment is totally new and unknown.

Remember I'm not talking about people that are building computers since their kindergarten and already ran a dozen of different OSes, but about someone that seemingly never heard of Linux before and got someone that told him "Come to Linux your game will run twice as fast you will have no viruses and it's so much better and requires no learning."
I'm a long time Linux user and all for it, I am happy to see people interested in it and wish the market share will grow, but I can't bear the propaganda from the tux-evangelists that say that Linux is perfect and switching on it is as easy as double clicking Install on a LiveCD.
I just want them to be sure to know where they are going, the learning efforts they might have to do that may not be worth it if it's only about one program.

[DuoMaxwell]

You two claim to be Linux users yet are actively chasing someone away from trying it.

I'm not evangelizing I'm just stating the facts. I even warned early on about hardware compatibility and never once mentioned viruses.

I take it you guys have never set up a Windows computer thoguh, having to track down all of the drivers and software you need scattered over dozens of sites, ensuring that you have completely removed any trace of the old drivers or crapware installed by the OEMs just so you can get a system you won't have to baby half as much?

Driver update? Better hope you are on the mailing list as the new version may have come out months ago that has fixes for whatever games you are looking to play because nothing has a centralized updating system.

As for OS X, Apple's OpenGL stack is actually missing many features as they are building it themselves and up untill the death of Steve Jobs at the very least the company had absolutly no desire to add anything or tweak for gaming performance. I know, I remember the days where Aliens VS Predator 2 on my dual 800Mhz Quicksilver PowerMac with a vBIOS flashed x86 FireGL card to a Mac X800XL got litterally HALF the framerate as the equivilent hardware on Windows. Sure I could edit photos faster and edit nad transcode video faster then I could on Mandrake Linux or Windows XP at the time but gaming was strangely much slower then you'd expect.

So yeah, after moving at least 30 people in person to Linux over the years, having to do little more then tell them what software is equivilent to it's Windows counterpart and teaching them how to install software from the repos and putting the forum and IRC chats in their favorites I've have very few complaints.

[DuoMaxwell]

Before,long time a go when i was beginer in linux was cool to compile vga drivers,to compile thinks around and make them work faster and better.
Now i hate them ,i have no time to waste with compile and fix thinks around,i like box delivered think such as rpm or deb.

Who the hell compiles their own drivers? I just add the repo like a normal Linux user, not some sadistic Gentoo user. http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/ppa/xorg-edgers?dist=precise#

Simple 10 second step by step copy and paste instructions then fire up Synaptic and install updates galore.

[Tigerious]

[...]not some sadistic Gentoo user[...]

At least Gentoo don't have tainted & dirty kernel.

[DuoMaxwell]

At least Gentoo don't have tainted & dirty kernel.

And if you cared so much you wouldn't even be here since this is propritary software and to even play most games you have to use the patent encumbered S3TC since most of the time S2TC just doesn't cut it.

Crawl back into your basement and spend a week recompiling Libre Office to shave a tenth of a second off it's loading time...

[NotScias]

I take it you guys have never set up a Windows computer thoguh, having to track down all of the drivers and software you need scattered over dozens of sites, ensuring that you have completely removed any trace of the old drivers or crapware installed by the OEMs just so you can get a system you won't have to baby half as much?

Again the fact that Linux is more or less difficult to use is not the point. I'd even say the noadays mainstream distros are even simpler than Windows. The problem is that the OP like most of people have spent most of their computing life using Windows, learnt on Windows, so no matter how simple is the distro it's still a big change, breaking old habits and compatibility with most of Windows apps.

So yeah, after moving at least 30 people in person to Linux over the years, having to do little more then tell them what software is equivilent to it's Windows counterpart and teaching them how to install software from the repos and putting the forum and IRC chats in their favorites I've have very few complaints.

You two claim to be Linux users yet are actively chasing someone away from trying it.

No. I'm just trying to bring some light and objectivity, because there's 2 points that are totally absurd to me here :
- Installing a whole different (heavy) OS just for the sake of one (crossplatform) game that might or might not perform better anyways,
I repeat : Do you realise we advice someone to waste at least 15GB of disk space, install a whole different OS and a bootloader just for one fucking game that already runs natively on Windows and with absolutely no guarantee it will even run better ? Really ??!
- Giving no hint. Like if it was a routine. As easy as installing a normal program that requires no learning and with no downsides.

We just don't know enough about this person. Is him a hardcore gamer playing all the latest mainstream games ? Is him the only one using this computer ? Is him using a lot of Windows-only programs that have no counterpart in the Linux world ? Is him willing to learn new things, prepared to break some habits or he just doesn't care and wants things to work™ just like they do now ? etc...
In a lot of cases, Linux won't have any benefit for a person besides wasted time, space and additional headaches. I really much prefer (and did) make prepared and willing people discover and switch to Linux rather than blindly promote it and enforce it to every people that runs into a small issue not justifying switching to another OS.

Okay this costs nothing to run the LiveCD and try it, but please not only for the sake of one game, there must be some will or real interest behind at least...

And if you cared so much you wouldn't even be here since this is propritary software and to even play most games you have to use the patent encumbered S3TC since most of the time S2TC just doesn't cut it.

Crawl back into your basement and spend a week recompiling Libre Office to shave a tenth of a second off it's loading time...

Haha you made my day ! xD :thumb:

[Hollow-Ichigo]

Crawl back into your basement and spend a week recompiling Libre Office to shave a tenth of a second off it's loading time...

u fucking legend xD :D

[DuoMaxwell]

You do know that if you don't like it you can always just, yah know, make a GParted Live CD so you can resize the Linux partiton down to around 2Mb, giving all that space back to the Windows NTFS filesystem and reinstall the Windows Master Boot Record?

That and he was looking to buy a new box, 15Gb out of a 1-3Tb HDD, since thats what is cheap these days, with the size jumping up 500Gb every $5-10 in that size range is absolutly insignifigant.

You have any idea how much porn you'd have to download just to fill 1Tb, let alone 3Tb?

Education is a life long process, if the guy is willing to learn I'm willing to teach.

[Seher]

(remember the ndiswrapper shit era ?)

Wait, that era is actually over? :p (haven’t used wlan in a long long time)

So yeah, after moving at least 30 people in person to Linux over the years, having to do little more then tell them what software is equivilent to it's Windows counterpart and teaching them how to install software from the repos and putting the forum and IRC chats in their favorites I've have very few complaints.

Not only that, I really do think that a distribution like Ubuntu is FAR better for brain dead users than Windows. You can say what you want about that new software center (well, is new at all? haven’t used ubuntu myself in a long long time, and I only know synaptic xD) but it’s really easy to use and self explanatory.
I know many users who can’t install software on windows. Or who can but shouldn’t. Oh how many borked windows PCs I have seen… Something like Ubuntu is way better for them.

The problem is that the OP like most of people have spent most of their computing life using Windows, learnt on Windows, so no matter how simple is the distro it's still a big change, breaking old habits and compatibility with most of Windows apps.

Well, yes, although the change really isn’t that much of a bother.
But while the OP might have learned Windows, I just assume that he’s a nerd like us, and linux is better for nerds, too. :P Not that you have to use Gentoo or Arch, but getting the window manager you want and testing a few different ones out is quite satisfactory. And what’s with that hideous Windows task bar anyway? (Yes I hate KDE, too :3)
I fell in love with e17, by the way. :bounce:

As a gamer you’ll sadly still need Windows, yes. But in the era of SSDs, come on! Rebooting to the other system takes just some seconds. My Arch boots in about 3 seconds, lol! Never before have I noticed just how FUCKING LONG the bios takes. xD
I use Linux whenever possible, just to tell it the sites I’m surfing, same for steam when it’s ready. I even bother with wine, I just seem to have the worst luck ever there. When games finally run I still have to switch to Windows because the performance sucks (SCII .___.)

[71175]

And if you cared so much you wouldn't even be here since this is propritary software and to even play most games you have to use the patent encumbered S3TC since most of the time S2TC just doesn't cut it.

Crawl back into your basement and spend a week recompiling Libre Office to shave a tenth of a second off it's loading time...

Best. Post. Ever.

[S_N_I_P_E_R]

If you have an old windows key ie. XP or Vista then you can get Windows 8 for £25 with the upgrade (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/buy?ocid=GA8_O_WOL_SM_Meet_FPP_Null) option. The offer is valid till the end of Jan 2013 :-)

[DuoMaxwell]

Well if you are on XP you probably don't have the hardware to use Win8. But if you do you should get the update and just not use it till after the "End Of Life" date of XP, at which point will never see another security update.

If you have Win7, I would stick with that thoguh. Win8 is a POS. Try the public beta if you hadn't.