There do seem to be quite a few people on the boards that are using Linux at least part time, and I wouldn't mind a dedicated space for the topic but I'm not sure it is really all that viable. The Linux zones I've visited tend to be a bit inactive.

Keeping others in the loop on what games work is tough, tedious work that tends to rot rapidly, though I do try to post my experiences with any new release games I buy in their specific forums. That way I might save someone from taking a risk.


I'm currently running a slightly dated Mint install and a more dated SUSE 11.2? The most obnoxious thing about Linux for me the last few versions I've tried is that some (SUSE) take some reinstalling of software to get things like MP3 Support which is more of a legal thing than anything. It used to be a royal pain in the ass to get good graphic drivers installed (and screwing it up it is still one of the easies ways to trash an install) but the last couple of Mint installs I've used just have a popup that says "Hey there are better graphic drivers. You want them?" Yes please

I've had very little issues with drivers except WIFI adapter support is spotty, but there are adapters that work just fine. I have one I picked up at Walmart, plugged in and had it fire up like it was made for the thing. I prefer using a wire personally and I haven't had any issues with those.

Maybe you did not write what you meant to write, but I am not in agreement with it at all.

You also wrote that Solaris, BSD, etc. are Linux. That is both false and absurd.

You are correct in observing that Linux is not merely Ubuntu. But the converse is not so: Ubuntu, and any other operating system that runs the Linux kernel, is (a version of) Linux.

I read it as "Linux (and Solaris, BSD, etc.)" (meaning, anything with a toolchain roughly compatible with that of GNU), not as "Linux (meaning Solaris, BSD, etc.)".

Alas, you're forgetting "Distrubtions" and "Flavours" which are common terms used to distinguish between them. The version of Linux (which also has it's own unique and often hilarious code names) is denoted as 2.4.31 or 3.2.8. Version 2.6.25-rc2–2.6.25 is known as "Funky Weasel is Jiggy wit it" (moar)

edit: Thanks Miaghstir, your interpretation is correct. Perhaps I ought to be more clear :/

edit2: cleaned up this post to try avoid taking this thread any more offtopic

No, I am using the Linux version of DOSBox to run the game with. I just used Wine to run the windows based GOG installer for the game. Then I modified the GOG supplied .conf file and fired up dosbox referencing that file to run the game. It worked like a charm.

Tonight to give KDE a fair look unlike my first look at it I decided to read the documentation online for the Plasma desktop which I'm finding out has a lot of nice features and customization possibilities. It does have a little learning curve compared to Gnome 3 but not much really. I was just being too lazy to go read about it. Nobody rides for free as they say. You have to do some homework no matter what or who's system you want to use.

Anyway, I am going to fire up a couple live CDs tonight and play around with KDE. I may then need to go learn how to add it to my existing Linux Mint install which hopefully isn't too complicated. I remember something now I used to really like about SUSE Linux and that was the inclusion of multiple desktop environments all installed and ready to pick from by default if I recall correctly. As many here would probably know their default was KDE but a fair number of other choices besides just Gnome were all choosable when logging in and there was a couple of them I liked at the time.

It occured to me while reading the OP's post... I work in repairing computers, and the most common thing I see that causes the kind of random crashes, especially in the way the OP describes, is a failing hdd. Especially considering Unity UI isn't going to be held entirely in memory.

I'm no fan of Ubuntu, or Unity, which I've never used, but those crashes don't seem like something common to most users.

Run PC Check or some other hardware stress test on your HDD, OP. Bet you 10-to-1 it's a failing hdd.

I recommend looking over at https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KDE (ignore the arch linux sepecific information, which is usually just the installation as Arch doesn't alter the packages from upstream much)

You also remind me. With Linux there's plenty of reading material (documentation) and it's actually very helpful unlike Windows' "help pages". I recommend getting familiar with typing man <program name>. Easily one of the best resources for information.

Linux Mint 12 has a KDE edition, so it shouldn't be difficult to setup KDE, not sure how well it'd integrate though.

Sidenote: The Arch Wiki is perhaps extremely useful for almost any distribution as they use the upstream project. This simply means it's the main developers work without altering almost anything.. Arch doesn't add it's own artwork or code (sometimes they add patches). This makes the Wiki, besides the specific installation procedure, fairly agnostic.

For example, on KDE you might want to disable Nepomuk and Akonadi due to their resource hogging nature. Well the KDE section of ArchWiki can help you alleviate or disable them completely: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KDE#Nepomuk

PS: I'll stop being an ArchWiki fanboy. But I use it for every other distribution I use as well.

I've always used KDE. I'm not sure what Gnome3 has to offer but I've never quite like the minimalistic approach, which I believe is a good thing in many instances, but It just feels like KDE has a lot more going on and I've grown to like all my widgets.

I would highly recommend not adding it to your existing mint install. I don't know what version your running but I did just that to my mint install and there are things under the hood that aren't agreeing with one another. I still run it because I don't want to rock my boat, but themes don't work for all applications, and whatever mounts and unmounts file systems in Gnome is still running when I use KDE. Which means I had to unmount things using gnomes file browser, while making sure KDE isn't trying to do anything. I'm sure there are ways of fixing it but it is more probably more hassle than you want.

I can't say that will be your experience but I'm not going to try that one again anytime soon.

If you invested in a Netbook, that minimalist approach from Gnome turns out to be awesome. So if you ever get into that situation (or are helping somebody in said boat) go ahead and give it a shot.

If you invested in a netbook, Matchbox might be a more suitable alternative. At least for the (albeit quite old) EeePC 701, with its cramped 800x480 resolution (one that's by now only used for phones and a few cheap tablets, not computers).

The more common 1024x600 handles normal window managers and desktop environments slightly better, but forcing windows to full-screen isn't too bad of an idea even there as the resolution is still really far too cramped to manage multiple windows.

If you're very concerned with screen space you probably might want to look into a Tiling Window Manager such as: , [url=http://wmii.suckless.org/]wmii, , [url=http://i3wm.org/]i3, , [url=http://www.nongnu.org/stumpwm/]and, [url=http://www.nongnu.org/ratpoison/]more. However the learning curve is pretty hard and you might want to get cosy with the command line and scripting.

Heh.

Why duplicate something what is already on WineHQ AppDB?

I am rather fond of Backtrack as far as Debian-based distros are concerned :D.

It has such a lovely KDE window manager, boots up rather quick, I don't have to type in my password in order to do anything on the system.

It also runs really well on my shoddy netbook...except when I use Firefox which STILL manages to have memory leaks so big that you can drive a mack truck through them.

EDIT: even though BT is a penesting-distro, you can still run Wine apps on it and basically use it as a general purpose distro.

If you can't handle Ubuntu, you might try Fedora / Red Hat. The Yellowdog Update Manager makes everything nice and easy, so really any distribution supporting that should work fine. Plus, it's going to take some time. Like they say, all good things come to those who wait..