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SoldierOfFilth

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Okay, so I have been a PC fan ever since I put my fingers on the keyboard of my parents KayPro, but in recent years I have become fed up with windows. Windows 7 is decent for an OS but my problem is with how resource intensive it is, and from what I understand, windows 8 is worse. I keep hearing things about how Linux is becoming more program friendly when it comes to gaming, so much to the extent that some independent developers are actually starting to apply hotfixes to some of their games to make them work with linux. So my question is this. Is what I am seeing and hearing true? If so, what else am I missing by not switching to Linux now?
 


I can answer that as I am at the moment dusting off cobwebs and re-acquainting myself with linux again. :)
I too am a gamer, and my computer is to me, my gaming platform of choice.

Now as to gaming on linux, the good news is that Steam now has a native client for linux and games are made to run natively on linux, such as Double Fine's Brutal Legend, Shadowrun Returns, and a few others.
However, devs, especially those who are crowd-funded (kickstarter) are made aware that if their games run on linux, more would donate. This was especially true for RSI's Star Citizen / Squadron 42.
In fact while funding was active, many made it known that they would increase their pledge (some even only pledge) if the game ran on linux.
And hence a linux version is being planned.

Now coming back to the present.
Gaming on Linux is still spotty at best. While you can run Steam-Windows on linux with Wine, I have recently done so, and ran Skyrim on linux, its by no means as satisfactory as playing it on windows. For one thing, there are clipping issues, and crashes happen on and off. Also, my ENB mods don't seem to work or rather work oddly if at all and I loose my Dolby surround sound, just getting stereo on Linux.

I am still intending to stick with my project to build a Linux gaming box (I use several hard drives each with pristine OSes, Linux and Windows, installed on each so that I can UEFI boot into whichever I want to at the time) to play *and support* Linux native games on steam.

Bottom line, AAA Gaming on Linux is in its infancy, actually more like gestation period. Windows still have a strangle hold on AAA titles until sheer numbers on Steam-Linux give devs a reason to develop for Linux natively.
 
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Thanks, I just read an article that was talking about how with the release of windows 8, more developers are looking to linux to begin developing games for. I really hope this takes off, windows as an operating system is good, but only if you keep buying better and better hardware. However from what I have read and seen on youtube videos it seems pretty routine to take an old machine, put linux on it, and breathe new life into it, because unlike windows, linux does not take up a third of your RAM just to operate.
 
Yeah. I'd suggest Linux Mint XFCE version for older systems. Its surprisingly very fast even on 6+ year old laptop.
But as I mentioned, if gaming is front and foremost, installing Linux won't help much with AAA titles.

I actually got EA's Origins to install on my current test system. :) But getting stuff to run or rather run well ... that's another thing.

My current PC is an i5 3.2ghz, Nvidia 760, 8gb ram with an Asus Xonar DX
 
Support for mainstream gaming has developed a lot in GNU/Linux, specially because of Valve. As mentioned, there's a native Steam client for us. Take a look at the titles available on http://store.steampowered.com/browse/linux/

No Linux OS can make an ideal gaming box yet. Proprietary video drivers aren't as polished as could possibly be, for instance, but this is a minor that can easily fade away, if Valve's prophecies of bringing the next-gen AAA universe to Linux come true.

Anyway, according to my experience, most Linux native games run smoother (better performance, although not always better graphics) than their Windows counterparts on the same machine.

The next generation of - hardcore - consoles feature APUs manufactured by AMD. They are basically personal computers on the hardware level, the only difference being that the unified graphics-central processor share the same 8GB DDR5 RAM, the sole, actual digital novelty for home users, but this architecture may be present in PCs soon. In the past generation, consoles beat up-to-date PCs, but now my gaming desktop containing 2+ years old hardware beat the console hype (both in official performance numbers and gameplay, not to mention level of detail on cutting-edge engines). Games will be more easily ported to PCs, let's hope most developers choose OpenGL over Direct3D. PS4 is intended to use OpenGL (or some variant), while XONE is going the other way around. AMD/ATI tends to be more Linux friendly than Nvidia and Intel, which have a long term relationship with Microsoft.

Linux uses OpenGL, so, hey, we kind of have Sony on our gaming front as a side effect (perhaps not a coincidence) and AMD/ATI also favorited OpenGL, enraging MS. The console wars are the only reason for Microsoft being so stubborn. Hopes are high for the future of Linux gaming anyway.

All I know is I can't wait to dump Windows for good. Hardcore gaming is the only reason I still have a DOS partition.

As to windows-user-friendly Linux distributions, LXDE ones like Lubuntu are among the most lightweight.
Puppy Linux is great too, its desktop environment and window manager are even lighter.
 
I appreciate all the good advice and help guys. When it comes to gaming I have turned to the indy game scene for most of my games, and Valve and Steam have done a lot of good things in the indy game scene to get it moving right along. Lack of computer resources is only part of the reason I have been thinking about switching over to linux. It seems to me that over the years windows has just got worse and worse and with each new release I feel like my ability to actually control my computer is being slowly but surely diminished. I don't want to feel like a tourist when I sit down at my computer. I want to be the captain of my own ship.
 
Oh you'll be a captain of your own boat with linux alright.
Or as I would describe it; "when you use Linux, you are Han Solo, and your PC, the Millennium Falcon. It'll demand tender loving care just to fly, and would even be compared to as junk by some, but its the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy."
 
SoldierOfFilth said:
I appreciate all the good advice and help guys. When it comes to gaming I have turned to the indy game scene for most of my games, and Valve and Steam have done a lot of good things in the indy game scene to get it moving right along. Lack of computer resources is only part of the reason I have been thinking about switching over to linux. It seems to me that over the years windows has just got worse and worse and with each new release I feel like my ability to actually control my computer is being slowly but surely diminished. I don't want to feel like a tourist when I sit down at my computer. I want to be the captain of my own ship.
Click to expand...

In case you're an indie gamer and no title you adore sticks to Windows, just make the jump to Linux.

Besides steam, you might wanna surf PlayDeb to get dozens of games easily.

Emulation of older consoles and DOS are also perfect, in my humble opinion.

Welcome beforehand to the wonderful world of open systems and never feel intimidated by the huffier of our overgrowing community :p
 
So I just got done installing Ubuntu and updating it. I also just put Steam on and downloaded Kerbal Space Program. I might need someone to help me pull the remains of my brain off the back wall and scoop it back into my cranium. My 3 year old Toshiba Qosmio has never run this good.
 
Linux handles media files so much better than Windows. Especially when it comes to the task of transcoding DVD video.

* Handbrake
* OGMRip
* AcidRip
* Arista Transcoder
* DVD95 Converter
* K3b
* K9copy
* Thoggen DVD Ripper
* Brasero
* vobcopy
* DVD::Rip

Just to name a few are all free ripper/transcoder programs available in most distros' repositories.

Linux currently does not recognize Digital Rights Management (DRM). It just sees data as data -- the way it ought to be.
 
If you installed the default Ubuntu for a ride, Unity is your shell. It's not as heavy as Windows but often gets bloated. Whenever you suspect Ubuntu is too slow for your taste, Lubuntu, Xubuntu and even Kubuntu (running eye-candy KDE) are lighter variants that will rock your boat (they usually install packages/applications faster than Ubuntu itself, as an example). XFCE, LXDE, E17 or even Gnome Classic distros are usually well equipped to do what you want, although there are more lightweight Desktop Environments than meet the eye. An interesting thing any Linux OS will bring you is almost no disk fragmentation because of its file system. Enjoy :)
 
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