Possibly switching to linux or ubuntu

[Sporadica]

Ok people, I am considering switching to linux or ubuntu, I am just wondering, if I swith to one of those OS' will I still be able to play games like GTA San Andreas? because I read the box and it says Windows 2000/XP/Vista Basic.

So essentially what I'm asking is will I be able to play the game and if I can't play it on linux could I dual boot or switch which OS I'm using? (say at the press of a button, not a big reinstall or something like that)

[Magus]

Ubuntu is Linux. Linux is a family of operating systems.

But that depends. Some games can work using Wine. And depends on other things, too.

And installing the video card driver is a headache by itself. Well, in my case it is.

[Sporadica]

Ubuntu is Linux. Linux is a family of operating systems.

But that depends. Some games can work using Wine. And depends on other things, too.

And installing the video card driver is a headache by itself. Well, in my case it is.

Do you use an open source software?

[SolarSolexis]

Yeah, you can dual boot. Download the Wubi installer. This way you don't have to order the CD or anything. On the boot menu, just choose "ubuntu" and it should load. It takes some getting used to. Not sure if Wine can play the game or not. Never tried.

[Magus]

Do you use an open source software?

Almost everything in Linux world is open source and free.

[Sporadica]

Almost everything in Linux world is open source and free.

I know, I'm just asking if you use it, and if you do how do you find it compared to Mac or Windows?

[TheMatrix]

Ok people, I am considering switching to linux or ubuntu, I am just wondering, if I swith to one of those OS' will I still be able to play games like GTA San Andreas? because I read the box and it says Windows 2000/XP/Vista Basic.
Like Faris said, Ubuntu is a distribution(aka "distro") of Linux(although Ubuntu is largely based on Debian). That seems to be a common misconception, yet there would be no Ubuntu without Linux in it.

So essentially what I'm asking is will I be able to play the game and if I can't play it on linux could I dual boot or switch which OS I'm using? (say at the press of a button, not a big reinstall or something like that)
You can choose your OS with a bootloader(such as GRUB (http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/)) at start-up.

Do you use an open source software?
Well yeah, a lot of software for Linux is open-source and free (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/philosophy.en.html), which is designed to not take away your rights. This means that you can legally and easily look at the code behind the software(if you want to) to see how the developers did certain things.

Oh, that reminds me of something. While the "Ubuntu software centre" provides a lot of useful software, some of the things just won't be there. For example, some really cool software must be compiled manually because the makers did not wish to maintain a .deb package. This is one of the places that new Linux users get really frustrated.
Remember that the makers of most Linux distros are volunteers, and therefore do not offer guaranteed support. If you want guaranteed support, you will have to pay for it by buying a professional Linux distribution. I have no idea if Canonical has that, but I know that Novell offers it for SLD (http://www.suse.com/products/desktop/), RedHat for RHDL (https://www.redhat.com/apps/store/desktop/), and plenty of others (http://www.linuxcentral.com/catalog/index.php3?cat[]=dist&subcat=1&id=C1C76JqgNLkCT)

Yeah, you can dual boot. Download the Wubi installer. This way you don't have to order the CD or anything.
You don't even have to order a CD. You can burn one yourself.


Possibly the most important thing to remember is that Linux is not Windows (http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm). If you go about believing that it is, you will quickly get frustrated and give up.

[SolarSolexis]

Oh yes, I forgot about burning a CD. To me, the Wubi installer seemed much easier. But it's whatever fits the person.

[avater159]

If u got a good computer why dont use VMware or a similar program that way u stay on linux and have windows running at the same time. I use it when pratice pen testing.

[Infidelitas]

Ok people, I am considering switching to linux or ubuntu, I am just wondering, if I swith to one of those OS' will I still be able to play games like GTA San Andreas? because I read the box and it says Windows 2000/XP/Vista Basic.

So essentially what I'm asking is will I be able to play the game and if I can't play it on linux could I dual boot or switch which OS I'm using? (say at the press of a button, not a big reinstall or something like that)

I thought installing a dual boot was going to be hard, but I was wrong. If I was you, I'd dual boot. Just in case you want to go back to Windows

[Ardalan]

I used many OSes (and currently i have dual boot windows 8-windows 7 machine)
And in my opinion,since you are not a professional, don't go to linux based Oses just for diversity
And if u really want to try linux,i suggest using kubuntu.it is much easier to work with than ubuntu and it is more beautiful.
By the way,you absolutly can't play games like gta on linux based OSes.(there are some apps that claim they can run windows games on linux.but these apps are too expensive and don't work as they should)

Hope it helped

[Magus]

I used many OSes (and currently i have dual boot windows 8-windows 7 machined in my opinion,since you are not a professional, don't go to linux based Oses just for diversity
And if u really want to try linux,i suggest using kubuntu.it is much easier to work with than ubuntu and it is more beautiful.
By the way,you absolutly can't play games like gta on linux based OSes.(there are some apps that claim they can run windows games on linux.but these apps are too expensive and don't work as they should)

Hope it helped

You don't need to be a professional to get a Linux system working.

I am not a pro in anything computer related and I know how to use Linux.

WineX and Wine does work with Windows games. Even high end games works with it.

You have to get the driver to work with your card in Linux, though.

[Ardalan]

By professional i meant a programmer
Really (in my opinion ofcourse) linux is not so good for normal use.especially if u've used windows before.but again it's my opinion(I even hate mac by the way)
About the games i sould say that ,windows (and console) games are written under ditect 3d api(graphically i mean),and linux doesn't support that api.linux use openGL wich Is much much weaker than direct3d.so technically you won't get the same perfomance as in windows since wine is only some kind of emulator(altough i appriciate the coding behind it)
And even some gamees won't even run becuase they don't support openGL.

The only thing I love about linux is that it can be used to hack websites much easier than windows :)

[TheMatrix]

About the games i sould say that ,windows (and console) games are written under ditect 3d api(graphically i mean),and linux doesn't support that api.
I'm sure you can find an open source clone somewhere.

linux use openGL wich Is much much weaker than direct3d.so technically you won't get the same perfomance as in windows since wine is only some kind of emulator(altough i appriciate the coding behind it)
Well that depends on what you define as "weak". Personally, OpenGL accomplishes the tasks I need it to, so to me, it is a strong library.

The only thing I love about linux is that it can be used to hack websites much easier than windows :)
Most of the tools you would use on Linux have already been ported to Windows.

[Ardalan]

I agree with u in most parts.
OpenGL IS a graphical api after all.but I don't think it can beused for windows games in linux
For normal use OpenGL is great as Direct3d

[Silicate Wielder]

Well though kubuntu is more user-friendly, ever since I installed the Restricted extras and did my updates, the only way I can install software is through terminal (which is very frustrating if the software your trying to install has a diffrent name in terminal). Kubuntu software center will just start with a blank window then crash and will give me an error that the complete program isn't there. but it depends on your computer. I suggest trying it by making a livedisk on your Flashdrive, or on a CD, then its a matter of plugging your flashdrive in and figuring out the key you need to press for the boot menu, Toshiba its usually F12, but on my HP laptop its the Escape key.