What is the best linux distro for games?

Calman

Hi, I was checking out this site http://www.linuxcompatible.org/compat.php?cat=games&sort=All&idx=c and it says that Command and Conquer RA2 is compatible with linux and runs with "WineX". Now on knoppix there's no WineX but there is "WinE", I tried running it with this but it didn't work. So is knoppix not so good for games or what? And what's the best distro for them?

ssh

The nice thing about linux distros are that you can usually download and compile stuff to get anything working.

In reality, the distro you choose defines how much work this entails.

You can get a CVS version of WineX from http://www.transgaming.com, it gives a decent tutorial on getting CVS working, so don't be put off by it. WineX does work pretty well. BF1942 and Warcraft 3 are both extremely functional, I'd imagine C&CG is much the same.

WineX really works best if you have a tuned kernel along with (more importantly) a decent set of drivers for your graphics card. The Nvidia ones aren't too tricky to install, you can get them from their website.

If you want something that gets everything working out of the box, I hear Mandrake is pretty good. I've been using Debian too long now to give it a proper shot :-)

Calman

Thanx, I just joined the knoppix.net forum. I had a look at that site and followed through until it gave me a command to type to download the source for winex (I think), my question is how big is WineX?

Ronan|Raven

The precompiled package you can get is about 5megs odd, I havent dld the latest version of winex in a few months now. For the CVS method It should only take about 20 minutes tops on a 56k connection.

Gerry

I'd say gentoo would be your best bet for games, as you build the X server from scratch, and everything is bleeding edge. Need to know what you are at with gentoo though. I've had severe hassle with debian and X-servers. Its decided to install the X-server arseways ( didn't install most of the files ), so I had to bypass the package system and install X manually. Got opengl acceleration working for my crap ati mach64 in my laptop last night, after much tears, to find that it runs at about 0.5 fps. Glxgears is 3 times faster than software rendering... should be about 50 times faster: )

[CrimsonGhost]

Doesn't WineX cost money?

Also, the only game I've really tried to get working under linux so far was quake3, That worked a charm, just get the point release, 1.32b, run that, and then copy the baseq3 dir from my windows install and start it work.

Anyone know of other games that have linux patches that create executables which can then use the windows installed data files for a game?

Gerry

You can play quake and quake2 under linux. Theres a binary for Return to Castle Wolfenstein to get it running, same as quake3.

Calman

Gerry, I presume u mean get quake1 running without using WineX. How do u this? - keeping in mind that I'm a linux newbie and I'm using knoppix.

Gerry

Ok, best way to get it is the fuhquake client. You will need the pak files ( maps textures models etc ) from a standard quake install. An easy way to do this is to get small quake ( http://minds.may.ie/~philb/q.exe ) . Extract that. You may need to extract it on a windows box, then create an ordinary zip file because its a self extractor zip file. Then get the fuhquake linux client ( www.fuhquake.net ). Extract the fuhquake client to wherever your quakeworld folder is. If you don't have opengl accelerated drivers, you should run fuhquake.x11 or fuhquake.svga. Get this far and then report back with any problems.

[CrimsonGhost]

I set this up recently on my machine at home, so to save people some time here is what was required.

1. Download the Latest linux point release. 1.32b, DO NOT GET 1.32. There is a bug in it that means no mouse support. The 1.32b is available from ftp.idsoftware.com

2. After downloading the file, execute it on the command line. ./<filename>, you may need to chmod 700 it before running it. It will install the necessary stuff into /usr/local/games/quake3/ and create a symlink from /usr/local/bin/quake3 to the program.

3. Copy the baseq3 folder from a quake3 cd to the /usr/local/games/quake3/ folder. Or if you have a windows install copy from that. Or if you auto mount your windows drive then create a symlink to it.

4. Run quake3 from a command line, you'll need to be running X, and you'll probably want to have the latest video card drivers. I used Nvidia's linux drivers, a doddle to setup, and nicely documented too.

You can now connect to any 1.32 quake server and frag to your hearts content. I networked it with a windows box of my brothers and there were no problems.