Considering Linux but a bit nervous

Linux Support
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I am just popping in for some advice, my sister has recently switched to a pretty much microsoft free computer setup and is loveing it and trying to get me to switch to open source. I agree with many of the principles, I don’t like the power microsoft have, I know enough biology to know the problems with homogenous populations and enough about computers to see the scary possibilities with massive viri …but…I game.

Is this an issue? wine seems to be compatible with most of the games I like to play (is it also Everquest 2 compatible anyone?) but my concern is that adding in another layer of programing to run them will slow down my computer - what are people’s experiences here?

Is there an open source OS (I understand there are many types or Dirstro) which is comparable in stability to XP and takes up less space/cpu/ram? It took a good while for XP to become stable and I find bugging out crazy irritating.

Basicly evil though it may be windows is like a comfy old pair of trainers to me, all worn in just how I like and familiar, Linux may be a pair of very technical and genuinely better pair of running shoes but my old trainers have worked fine for years and I’m not sure about changing. I also now know just about enough about XP and windows in general to be able to fix most problems that might pop up myself and am nervous about having to relearn it all for a new system so I am kinda looking for some info on that side as well. How easy is it to fix any bugs that might come up?

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hello first of all :smiley:

i am by no means a computer wizard but i do like gaming :smiley: this place is like a treasure chest theres always someone around to help. playing games on linux is mostly fine, you will need to do some typing to make it work but i normally ask ‘i dont know what the sudo to do’ :stuck_out_tongue: (poor joke there)

is everquest the only game you want to play? to check whats viable to play on wine i go to http://appdb.winehq.org/ unfortunatly i can not play football manager 2011 on linux
from my quick glance it has a silver rating which means somethings work something dont, but people are always fixing these things so i may of overlooked something. world of warcraft is gold so everything works. it just depends on the games and if what doesnt work can be fixed.

there is a second option of dual booting, from what i understand 2 hardrives, linux for everything but gaming and the other dedicated to your favourite computer games. i just wanted to jump in with my 2 pennies and to say it may be abit of a learning curve understanding how to use linux but after the 1st couple of weeks you start to realise how awesome it is.

i dont think it will slow down your computer unless its basic. but your gaming so your computer should be able to handle it, not that i know if using wine makes it work harder. its just making sure you can play the game without important components being missing. but searching on more forums you may find a niche group of people that also play everquest 2 on wine.

i hope my ramblings arent to confusing but the first step is the hardest but since i moved away from windows im much more happier with my computer. only more people supporting linux distros will make more games look at making the games linux compatible.

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Welcome to the forum…

Firstly the WineHQ rate Everquest2 as either Silver or Garbage:
http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application&iId=9400
yet some people say they have got it to work here:
http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=396323

Secondly WINE Is Not an Emulator, so there isn’t really an added layer of programming, certainly nothing as system resource crippling as an Anti-Virus/Malware application in Windows… which is why some people find some Windows games actually run faster in WINE on Linux.

That said, I’d set up a dual booter for the games you can’t run in WINE, or run better in Windows.

Running games well in WINE will also be hardware/driver dependant, so it may help us if you can give specifics about your hardware, specifically - graphics card, amount of RAM, and CPU.

Is there an open source OS (I understand there are many types or Dirstro) which is comparable in stability to XP and takes up less space/cpu/ram?
Erm... pretty much all of the Linux distro's... I'm not kidding... specially when it comes to stability.

OK, easy of use… solving Linux issues like installing drivers for obscure hardware, and configuring software to run in Wine, WILL be a steep learning curve, at least at first, but there are plenty of people willing to help… and once you get used to it a bit you will find most problems easier to solve than in Windows, at least there’s no “registry” :wink: , and because of the open source nature of most software there is usually good documentation.

Like most, I too came from the Windows world… bit of learning later… Best move I ever made, and I haven’t looked back since. :slight_smile:

But the choice is yours… may be an Idea to test drive Linux from a LiveCD or even better a LiveUSB with persistence before making up your mind.
http://linuxforums.org.uk/general-help-advice/help-me-get-started/msg37362/#msg37362
and
http://linuxforums.org.uk/general-discussion/just-looking-for-information/msg37002/#msg37002

Oh, and sorry Fulla but you don’t need 2 hard drives for a dual boot set up… at least 2 partitions maybe, unless you do a WUBI install (ie. install Ubuntu “inside” Windows).

If you want to find out more about WUBI, see here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/windows-installer
and
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide

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Well, Linux is about 20 years old now and getting stronger every day …

M$ is finished in the OS market and it knows it, which is why all the R&D is going into online apps, phones, zunes, xbox etc …

(and why Bill has cashed his shares in and bought Pharma shares instead)

If Linux wasn’t fundamentally “better” than Windows, honestly, would it still be here 20 years on ??

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Thanks for the replies guys, I will almost certainly be back soon with some more specific questions and some really stupid questions as soon as I have bought a new hard drive - my current one is kinda tiny (pirated from my onld computer when I built the new one, the next upgrade point) so I cant dual boot on it. I think I will go for dual boot to start to see how the games go.