Best Linux For Gaming????

[cMoAyRoItOe]

Hey Guys, i finally wanna do the switch cause Windows bugs me too much, but i got a huge prob, so many diff distros.

Heres what i need.

I need a distro thats mostly compatible with all the games and appz windows uses, (I.E. Counterstrike, SOF2, Battlefield 1942.... and such) i heard thers a program to make windows appz n games run on linux.

Also i need a Distro that has easily accesible driver sources for all my Hardware:

GF4 TI4400
Gigabyte 7VAXP Mobo
AC97 Audio
.....

And last i need it to work easy for Networking, i go to alot of LANs, so i gtta find out how to get it networked with other windows machines.

Can anyoen here help me find my match?

Thx

Yote

[SeanC]

For the compatibility I think any of the main stream ones are fine.

For the Windows apps you'll need to run Wine or a program called (I believe) Crossover Office or something similar.

For the games I believe the emulator for those is called WineX??

There's a lot of people here who could confirm that.

Sean

[cMoAyRoItOe]

i heard bout winx and wine and that sounds great, i was thinking something among the lines f Mandrake 9.2 or Redhat not sure bout which one tho.

Now where do i get drivers for Linux tho, like the Nvidia drivers and chipset drivers can i use the ones that r made for windows?
Or do i gtta find em for Linux.

And id like some feedback from Current Linux Users, i just want their oppinion on if its a good idea to switch for a Gamer.

I figure it run more stabil cause Linux wont use so many resources.

Also what about Virii, is Linux fairly immune to Virii? or would i still need a Antivirus app.

Thx for all yer help guys.

Yote

[brandon184]

Can't say I'm a Linux gamer... But I don't see why Linux can't be (or can't eventually be, for that matter) a great gaming OS.

http://www.transgaming.com/ is winex that you pay for that works with a lot of games.

saying that tho, linux still has a very long way in the gaming department and has a learning curve so you can't just dump windows overnight.


i suggest suse or mandrake and a very open mind with the desire to learn

[Creatures]

suse is good, and if you change to linux keep windows, there are too many things that only work in windows, but i hope that will change

BTW buy UT2K3 it has a linux installer and of course UT2K4 should have one to (i hope so)

Creatures

[nukes]

Umm, you can play some windows games with Linux via winex. Its $5 per month though. Linux itself doesn't have a problem with Virii, but if you're using Wine, it can catch them. If you are asking for the best distro for gaming, I'd say Gentoo. But don't try it until you've learnt your way around Linux. Go with Mandrake out of the ones you said. RH support is discontinued, and Mandrake has been much better suited to desktop use for a few releases now.
As for the drivers, NVidia publishes drivers for Linux, and they work very well. The AC97 sound will probably work. Could have told you for sure if you had said the chip itself rather than the codec.
The motherboard should also work. Mandrake will detect most hardware and set it up for you. Then all you need to do is download the NVidia drivers and FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS.
I'd advise you to dual boot for a bit, from the sounds of it you haven't quite got the idea about Linux. Whilst its great, it isn't for everyone, and many gamers end up dual booting for games. Linux is stable, but remember that Windows programs are often released with many bugs etc.
Anyway - by all means try it! You'll probably like it

[Redwolf]

You can also check out http://www.tuxgames.com for linux games ported to Windows, or check out http://www.icculus.org for free 'patches' to Linux, or on the state of Linux gaming.

[Neř]

i've heard that wine sometimes screws up graphics and sound.....
maybe you can just get WinXP instead of Linux......

-Neř

[budmanbr]

I agree with Neo.

If you want to play the lastest games, don't use Linux. Even there are some ports of games to Linux, Windows owns most of them.

Get WinXP and try Linux if you want learn about networking, programming, ... That is sad but that's the reality.