Recently I was struck by inability to run Alpha Centauri in Windows 11 24H2 and when looking for alternatives, I came upon tips to run in Linux. To my amazement, it runs indeed nicely but as with many linuxy things, it was easy to get into but took some effort to get perfect. I don't see recent threads about it so I thought I'll share my journey so it may help someone.

I got it running on Linux Mint which is a good pick overall, even if not most up-to-date when it comes to many components. You should be able to set it up on different distribution, just adapt instructions accordingly.

1. Installing SMAC
Frankly, the easiest way if you have the files at hand, is just copy them straight into your Linux filesystem.

If you need the to do clean install, you can use Lutris:
a) install using "sudo apt install lutris" command;
b) link it with GOG account;
c) install the game from Lutris UI, it will download it from GOG.

2. Installing Wine
If you don't have it, you need to install Wine layer to run EXEs in Linux. "sudo apt install wine" will be enough for this.

Note: For me both Proton, or "wine-ge" installed along with Lutris have the problem of hanging on edge scroll (endless scrolling).

3. Optional: Getting fonts right
By default SMAC will be playable but it will have many quirks when it comes to font display, things like slight shifts to font positioning and weird display of bold text.
To solve the first problem you can run the game with truetype:interpreter prefix - it's included in step #5.
To solve the second problem you need to install winetricks and corefonts package: "sudo apt install winetricks", then "winetricks corefonts".

4. Optional: Getting sound right
To solve intermittent pops and cracks in your SMAC sound you may follow this advice, it did the trick for me: www.gog.com/forum/sid_meier_s_alpha_centauri_/fix_for_static_sound.

5. Running the game
I made this script in the game folder, and ticked Properties > Permissions > Allow executing file as program: You can then make a link to this script on your desktop or programs menu with "Run in terminal?" option ticked.

Exchange "terranx.exe" to "terran.exe" for vanilla, or to "thinker.exe" if you use fantastic Thinker mod.

Please share your comments if you find any better approach!

As an alternative, you might want to give a try to ./play.it, that allows running Alpha Centauri on Linux using the original native Linux engine developed by Loki Entertainment.