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Why are they running Windows? [...] The only real plus I can see would be DirectX.

And even DirectX is implemented for Linux (check out Transgaming, they even have a free (at least as in beer) CVS version which works fairly well for many games).

But even if DirectX didn't exist on Linux, I don't see the advantages of using Windows. With all the libs out there, it is not a big issue to develop cross-platform apps and games nowadays (think Quake). The GPL is also a non-issue for user-space programs. Copy-protection could also work fairly well in user space (the DMCA will protect it anyway, and the recent crack for the X-Box has shown that hardware DRM won't really help in the long run). Software licensing costs would be zero, and the geek-factor would be quite high.

What you are describing points to Mandrake not being ready for prime time. I too have an Nforce2 board and under gentoo, my onboard nic and sound work just fine. The sound is a version of the Intel ICH audio controller and is supported by the vanilla linux kernel. Mandrake is not detecting it or setting things up properly. Alsa supports the nforce audio more completely than the kernel drivers. My GeForce3 is fully supported too and plays games very well.

I can understand your frustration though, just point it in the proper direction and problems get solved much quicker. Many games now run fine in plain wine or winex. You could either pay for a winex subscription and get binary packages or compile the CVS version.

Also keep in mind the simple truth that you are free to not run linux. It is not as easy to find support for new hardware or run the newest software on and I understand that. I choose to run linux and still choose to run WinXP. I've seen several people put much more effort into whining about how bad linux is than it would take to learn how to properly configure an installation.

Give them some cash, as the binary versions are better than the source (they've got some propriatry stuff in there). Honestly, I paid a tiny sum about 6 months ago, and so far I've been able to play WCIII, Civ 3 and Counterstrike with no problems what-so-ever (then I've got Quake3 and Mutant Storm as native Linux binaries, but that's a different story).

Yes, official support would be nice, and it's a shame that only the likes of Carmack, UT developers and Bioware are willing to give us Linux gamers what we want, but the more noise we make, the more likely people like Blizzard are to take notice. They'd also start paying attention if TransGaming start posting profits of hundreds of thousands of dollars (so go pay them).

I've got Mandrake 9.1 running beside Windows2K Pro on an NForce2 MB with a GeForce 4 ti 4400 graphics card. The onboard NIC doesn't work in Linux. The Buolt in sound is iffy. The Nvidia board is not accelerated. Under Windows the NIC works, the sound is fine and the video is accelerated. Out of the flipping box. No bullshit. No recompiling. No problem.

Linux has come a LONG way since I first used it back in 1993. It's actually to a point where most people might have a chance of actually getting some use out of it. But be realistic. It's not ready for prime time yet.

Linux may be fine FOR YOU, but it's not for everyone. Quake, UT, AA and Tux Racer may be all the games you need, but not everyone likes such a limited selection.

You blind elitism is doing more to harm Linux than it is to help it.

I play Quake, Unreal Tournament, America's Army, etc. on Linux. Can't think of any better games that I'd want to play on Linux -- nor any that I can't.

Agreed! I just got GTA3 Vice City yesterday. It installs and runs under Linux no problem, using WineX 3.1!

I use WineX for my windows games.

Maybe if the drivers were better, more games would be released on Linux. More people might play games on Linux if the performance was higher, which leads to developers seeing an interest in Linux ports or more money going to WineX.

I'm actually the original writer of this story, however at the time of writing, I hadn't made an accounbt on /. yet (I'm such a lurker. ;)

Anyway, I see from the comments people are having trouble with the GART driver (Getting DRI to work with a Radeon, etc.) So I will now post some more information.

My setup is:

• Asus A7N8X
• Radeon 9700 Pro
• GART patch applied to vanilla 2.4.20 kernel with a fresh build
• fglrx 2.9.12
• XFree86 4.3.0

I've tested this configuration both on Gentoo and Debian Sid.

The DRI drivers do indeed work, as you can see here:

cthulu root # glxinfo
name of display: :0.0
display: :0 screen: 0
direct rendering: Yes

as well as here:
cthulu root # fglrxinfo
display: :0.0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Radeon 9700 Pro Athlon (3DNow!)
OpenGL version string: 1.3 (X4.3.0-2.9.12)

The fversion of FireGL drivers I am using are indeed 2.9.12 -- these are not currently available on ATI's website. This thread on transworld gaming's forums have links to tarballs for the FGLRX 2.9.12 drivers for both XF86 4.2 and 4.3. Dont mind that the thread actually says 2.9.8, the links are current.

Other than the updated drivers, I hadn't done anything special to get the GART driver and the R9700 to play nice together. However, it did take me 3 straight days of searching via google to figure out that the Kernel does not support AGP 3.0 in 2.4.x implementations, so the easiest workaround is to simply disable it in the bios as I mentioned in the story.

run fglrxconfig, generate your config file, restart X, you're good to go.

On another note, yes indeed -- if you read the new license carefully, the .diff file is released under the GPL. No, the net driver is not, nor do I believe the sound driver is either, but I may be mistaken. I really dont give a damn what liscense is used as long as my hardware works. :)

As for the patch to the radeon driver that supports AGP3.0, I'll have to check it out. Sounds interesting.

Oh, by the way:
cthulu root # glxgears
20234 frames in 5.0 seconds = 4046.800 FPS
23297 frames in 5.0 seconds = 4659.400 FPS
23300 frames in 5.0 seconds = 4660.000 FPS
23298 frames in 5.0 seconds = 4659.600 FPS

Hope this helps someone out there. :)

and as long the games are only developed for windows, there will never be a linux market for them.

I say there is already one.

I've been playing it with no problems. I think the likely cause of the excessively long delay to release is due to some good QA people at Bioware.
So far everything in the game has worked flawlessly. With this and ut2003 native linux clients, Tux finally can be a gamer.
I recommend downloading Gentoo's Unreal Tournament bootable CD if you want to demo native Linux gaming for some non-believers... Sorry, can't find a direct link... It's in their livecd folder...
Also I recommend transgaming for Windows games on Linux. Warcraft 3, Ghost Recon, Max Payne to name a few games that run under Winex3...
I hope more game development companies want my money, cuz from now on the only way their getting it is if the game has a native Linux client... Unless it's a ps2 game of course..

Win4Lin and VMware don't have 3d support - so most games are out.

Really? I was sure they have, at least VMware. Is there any reason they shouldn't support 3-D?

Lindows is just a linux distribution.

Lindows is not "just a Linux distribution." It is meant to be a cheap Windows substitution. Most of the people without technical knowledge are sure that Lindows runs everything which is written for Windows. We all know how it is in practice, but most of people don't.

Wine runs a few windows games on linux - but not many, and isn't a solution for most games.

Have you seen this list? I would say that 150 screenfuls of games is quite impressive, in my opinion.

Check out Transgaming. They support a variety of DirectX games, including some 3d games iirc. They do this through extending wine to support DirectX. What I don't know is if they feed changes back into the mainline Wine. I do know that CodeWeavers do, but they don't support DirectX...

On the other hand, the age old question is that if Windows emulation works SO well on Linux, then will there ever be a commercial market for native Linux apps? I'd rather see native ports of these various apps/games, and I hope emulation is simply a stopgap...

Well, stop being a cheapskate and sign up for Transgaming. Then you can run all those programs that require windows.

Codeweavers?

Transgaming?

This year, I decided to make the leap from dual-boot to linux only on my desktop (MS was wastin' my disk space). Of course, I had to have Counter-Strike, or I would've gone mad. I started off with plain-vanilla wine, but even with opengl configured perfectly, I couldnt get the fps I needed (my machine 866mhz p3 512mb ram, geforce2 32mb vid card). I got winex 2.x, which worked marginally better, but still not acceptable. When winex 3.0 came out, I snatched it up. My fps is decent now, but still not native-Windows quality. I guess the moral of the story is: specialized wines are better. I think it's terriffic that so many people/groups are utilizing the wine core, and optimizing it for whatever. Thanks to TransGaming and others.

Well, I thought they took paypal, but it looks like they do not. You can snail mail them money orders and such, though. From their subscription page:

Sign up for a TransGaming subscription at $5 per month, with a minimum three-month payment. Once you have created an account and logged in, you will need to choose your subscription period and make your initial payment. We accept most major credit cards, but at this time we do not accept debit cards or American Express. You can also pay by international certified check or money order for subscriptions of twelve months of more (US Dollars only); we will activate your account as soon as we receive it. If you would like to pay by gift certificate, please send the gift certificate number to support@transgaming.com and we will activate your account.

Please be sure that you have read the Installation FAQ list and other documentation on this site to ensure that your hardware and software meet the minimum system requirements for WineX. Also note that WineX is a work in progress and not all Windows games are supported.

That second part is important, too. One of the biggies is your video card has to be supported fully (with 3d) under Linux. I found out that my built-in radeon on my motherboard will not cut it as ATI has not (yet?) given the right info/drivers for it. Last I checked, NVidia cards were supported up to the latest with drivers (I think) from their site, and ATI drivers are available through Radeon 8500. There are open-source Radeon drivers and the Nvidia drivers are closed source (but regularly updated).

Winex is free as in beer if you are willing/able to compile from CVS. I was not able to do this trivially before, but I may have had other problems which are now more apparent under my current Linux Distro. Subscription gives you the right to vote for games you want and gets you easier-to-install binaries. Source-based distributions actually make it easier to compile from cvs, but they are not for everyone. Another option is to purchase one of the distributions which comes with Winex and a subscription.

My current favorite source based distribution is also supposed to make it easier to install the nvidia drivers, though nvidia's instructions for manually doing this seemed straightforward. I have not tried this yet, but it is looking more and more like that is what I will do to alleviate my 3d problem. I had planned to buy a beefy video card anyway.

I would also encourage you to get involved with LUGS in your area both by meeting with them when they have meetings and by participating in their mailing lists. These are excellent sources of information. You can also email me at rifter0x0000 at yahoo dot com if you want more ideas/advice/etc.

Ultimately we need more Linux resources on the net to help people, and people who use linux need to be a resource. I also think it is important that Linux users settle for nothing less than total functionality, in other words we should be able to use Linux for everything you would want to use a computer for. That is almost true now, with some caveats, but I want to puzzle out and eliminate the caveats. I think anyone who can code or write documentation should work on this goal as well.

I hope that you have good luck in trying linux. If it does not work for you at first, try try again and seek help. I tried many distributions befor eI settled on one I woudl like for my purposes, and then I changed my mind again :). But remmeber Linux == choice and if you don't like something about it, it is likel

Sure you can.

Erg. got bitten by the "take a night off cowboy!" message. It is a bad sign when /. tells you you are doing too much /.

1. Games. (Does GTA3* run on an alternative OS? How about Battlefield 1942* or Baldur's Gate*?

As a matter of fact, yes they do. Quite well, as it happens, if the reports are accurate.

And no, emulation is NOT an option)

And no, Winex is NOT an emulator.

2. College requirements. (College Intranet fails to work with non-IE browsers, they claim it's me. Otherwise I use Mozilla.)

Are you sure it's not? Did you ask what settings should be set in the browser for it to work? Did you faithfully copy all the settings down from an IE that works and replicate those settings in your Mozilla setup? Did you check the code on their site to see if they are just punking you because of your agent tag (which can be changed easily)?

3. Hardware support. (Linux appears to hate my onboard soundcard with a passion. Also, I don't have a clue how to make my digital camera work under Linux or wether or not it even CAN work (Kodak DX3500))

You may just need the right set of drivers for your onboard sound card. I found mine worked with alsa drivers but not oss (or is it the other way round?) and it had a lot to do with the chipset on the motherboard. Digging about gave me the answer. In the end, though, you may as well nab a soundblaster live, as it is better than anything onboard and supported in linux (and now that everyone wants the audigy, very cheap and easy to get).

Your camera is supported under gphoto, which is essentially what you use to make digicams work. I am looking into buying a digital camera soon myself.

4. Architecture bound. (afaik, Mac OS X doesn't work on x86. And even if it did, issue 1 still remains.)

Now your just not being fair. Switching OS arguments on us. I mean we were looking for an alternative that runs on your computer right? Anyhow, yes, Darwin, which is the core (kernel, etc) and unix userland of OSX, runs on x86. Apple decided not to keep going on their commercial x86 version, which died in beta, for various reasons of marketing and development cost. True, you don't get aqua, and you can't install OSX apps necessarily, but you can get X11 now, and run other things. Essentially it is a BSD. I find Linux far more usable though.

That's why. And sure, I'm a thief. Then again, it's just Microsoft.

Don't be a thief, man. Have pride in yourself! With just a little effort, you can break free of the Microsoft curse, and feel better about yourself knowing you no longer have to compromise your principles just to use your computer (which is essentially what any MS user with any principles is doing).

Erg. got bitten by the "take a night off cowboy!" message. It is a bad sign when /. tells you you are doing too much /.

1. Games. (Does GTA3* run on an alternative OS? How about Battlefield 1942* or Baldur's Gate*?

As a matter of fact, yes they do. Quite well, as it happens, if the reports are accurate.

And no, emulation is NOT an option)

And no, Winex is NOT an emulator.

2. College requirements. (College Intranet fails to work with non-IE browsers, they claim it's me. Otherwise I use Mozilla.)

Are you sure it's not? Did you ask what settings should be set in the browser for it to work? Did you faithfully copy all the settings down from an IE that works and replicate those settings in your Mozilla setup? Did you check the code on their site to see if they are just punking you because of your agent tag (which can be changed easily)?

3. Hardware support. (Linux appears to hate my onboard soundcard with a passion. Also, I don't have a clue how to make my digital camera work under Linux or wether or not it even CAN work (Kodak DX3500))

You may just need the right set of drivers for your onboard sound card. I found mine worked with alsa drivers but not oss (or is it the other way round?) and it had a lot to do with the chipset on the motherboard. Digging about gave me the answer. In the end, though, you may as well nab a soundblaster live, as it is better than anything onboard and supported in linux (and now that everyone wants the audigy, very cheap and easy to get).

Your camera is supported under gphoto, which is essentially what you use to make digicams work. I am looking into buying a digital camera soon myself.

4. Architecture bound. (afaik, Mac OS X doesn't work on x86. And even if it did, issue 1 still remains.)

Now your just not being fair. Switching OS arguments on us. I mean we were looking for an alternative that runs on your computer right? Anyhow, yes, Darwin, which is the core (kernel, etc) and unix userland of OSX, runs on x86. Apple decided not to keep going on their commercial x86 version, which died in beta, for various reasons of marketing and development cost. True, you don't get aqua, and you can't install OSX apps necessarily, but you can get X11 now, and run other things. Essentially it is a BSD. I find Linux far more usable though.

That's why. And sure, I'm a thief. Then again, it's just Microsoft.

Don't be a thief, man. Have pride in yourself! With just a little effort, you can break free of the Microsoft curse, and feel better about yourself knowing you no longer have to compromise your principles just to use your computer (which is essentially what any MS user with any principles is doing).

Erg. got bitten by the "take a night off cowboy!" message. It is a bad sign when /. tells you you are doing too much /.

1. Games. (Does GTA3* run on an alternative OS? How about Battlefield 1942* or Baldur's Gate*?

As a matter of fact, yes they do. Quite well, as it happens, if the reports are accurate.

And no, emulation is NOT an option)

And no, Winex is NOT an emulator.

2. College requirements. (College Intranet fails to work with non-IE browsers, they claim it's me. Otherwise I use Mozilla.)

Are you sure it's not? Did you ask what settings should be set in the browser for it to work? Did you faithfully copy all the settings down from an IE that works and replicate those settings in your Mozilla setup? Did you check the code on their site to see if they are just punking you because of your agent tag (which can be changed easily)?

3. Hardware support. (Linux appears to hate my onboard soundcard with a passion. Also, I don't have a clue how to make my digital camera work under Linux or wether or not it even CAN work (Kodak DX3500))

You may just need the right set of drivers for your onboard sound card. I found mine worked with alsa drivers but not oss (or is it the other way round?) and it had a lot to do with the chipset on the motherboard. Digging about gave me the answer. In the end, though, you may as well nab a soundblaster live, as it is better than anything onboard and supported in linux (and now that everyone wants the audigy, very cheap and easy to get).

Your camera is supported under gphoto, which is essentially what you use to make digicams work. I am looking into buying a digital camera soon myself.

4. Architecture bound. (afaik, Mac OS X doesn't work on x86. And even if it did, issue 1 still remains.)

Now your just not being fair. Switching OS arguments on us. I mean we were looking for an alternative that runs on your computer right? Anyhow, yes, Darwin, which is the core (kernel, etc) and unix userland of OSX, runs on x86. Apple decided not to keep going on their commercial x86 version, which died in beta, for various reasons of marketing and development cost. True, you don't get aqua, and you can't install OSX apps necessarily, but you can get X11 now, and run other things. Essentially it is a BSD. I find Linux far more usable though.

That's why. And sure, I'm a thief. Then again, it's just Microsoft.

Don't be a thief, man. Have pride in yourself! With just a little effort, you can break free of the Microsoft curse, and feel better about yourself knowing you no longer have to compromise your principles just to use your computer (which is essentially what any MS user with any principles is doing).

Erg. got bitten by the "take a night off cowboy!" message. It is a bad sign when /. tells you you are doing too much /.

1. Games. (Does GTA3* run on an alternative OS? How about Battlefield 1942* or Baldur's Gate*?

As a matter of fact, yes they do. Quite well, as it happens, if the reports are accurate.

And no, emulation is NOT an option)

And no, Winex is NOT an emulator.

2. College requirements. (College Intranet fails to work with non-IE browsers, they claim it's me. Otherwise I use Mozilla.)

Are you sure it's not? Did you ask what settings should be set in the browser for it to work? Did you faithfully copy all the settings down from an IE that works and replicate those settings in your Mozilla setup? Did you check the code on their site to see if they are just punking you because of your agent tag (which can be changed easily)?

3. Hardware support. (Linux appears to hate my onboard soundcard with a passion. Also, I don't have a clue how to make my digital camera work under Linux or wether or not it even CAN work (Kodak DX3500))

You may just need the right set of drivers for your onboard sound card. I found mine worked with alsa drivers but not oss (or is it the other way round?) and it had a lot to do with the chipset on the motherboard. Digging about gave me the answer. In the end, though, you may as well nab a soundblaster live, as it is better than anything onboard and supported in linux (and now that everyone wants the audigy, very cheap and easy to get).

Your camera is supported under gphoto, which is essentially what you use to make digicams work. I am looking into buying a digital camera soon myself.

4. Architecture bound. (afaik, Mac OS X doesn't work on x86. And even if it did, issue 1 still remains.)

Now your just not being fair. Switching OS arguments on us. I mean we were looking for an alternative that runs on your computer right? Anyhow, yes, Darwin, which is the core (kernel, etc) and unix userland of OSX, runs on x86. Apple decided not to keep going on their commercial x86 version, which died in beta, for various reasons of marketing and development cost. True, you don't get aqua, and you can't install OSX apps necessarily, but you can get X11 now, and run other things. Essentially it is a BSD. I find Linux far more usable though.

That's why. And sure, I'm a thief. Then again, it's just Microsoft.

Don't be a thief, man. Have pride in yourself! With just a little effort, you can break free of the Microsoft curse, and feel better about yourself knowing you no longer have to compromise your principles just to use your computer (which is essentially what any MS user with any principles is doing).

It's very sad that after 10 years, I can finally play the original Sam & Max: Hit the Road under Linux using an emulator that LucasArts doesn't approve of (ScummVM), yet now that they is releasing a new game and has the opportunity to support multiple platforms they're only offering it for Windows! *Sigh* I guess I'll just have to hope that someone at Icculus ports it, or WineX supports it...Does anybody know of a way to let LucasArts know that I'd like a Linux port?

Turbine's previous game, Asheron's Call 2, uses DirectX and not OpenGL (see system requirements). If this new game uses DirectX exclusively once more, then we won't see a linux (or mac) port of this game. Transgaming's WineX will be our only hope to play it on Linux.

What's different now?

Can I install Linux and be productive in less than 5 hours? Can I insert a CD and have the install routine work?

Are there any games yet?

Can I develop Windows applications from within Linux now? Or at least run VS or VS.NET?

for one thing you can check the AppDB at wine first to see if it runs (or transgaming)... then you can go out an buy it. and who wants a game console that you can only set up on one tv and if you change tvs you have to tell the console makers for permission

. sounds like a blast! where can i get my "game console" so i can begin raping my computer ;p

Published by LinuxOrbit.com April 28, 2003
by John Gowin, Linux Orbit Editor-in-chief

It seems just like yesterday I was cleaning up my office and realized I had a bunch of games I could no longer play because of my complete Linux conversion. Although I don't buy a lot of games, the ones I had represented a decent cash investment, and I didn't want them to completely go to waste. This led me to Transgaming's WineX. When I first subscribed to Transgaming's WineX 2.1 product last year, I was pleasantly surprised that nearly half of the games I had were supported to a degree. The games that did run ran pretty flawlessly. The games that didn't work had varying degrees of success, all just short of actually being able to play the game (the installers seemed to work). All of this we detailed in our review of WineX 2.1 last August.

With the release of WineX 3.0 from Transgaming on April 17th this year, it looked like it was time to revisit the wonderful world of Wine. This time around, Transgaming WineX 3.0 has some new tools as well as improvements in the number of games supported and gaming speeds. In this article, we're going to take a look at the new features of WineX 3.0, with a focus on their new GUI installer called Point2Play.

The software

If you're not familiar with the Transgaming WineX sales model, you have 3 choices. You can subscribe for $5 US per month, with a three month minimum subscription. You can also choose a longer subscription term, such as one year for $50 US (essentially 2 months for free). Transgaming also gives access to the CVS releases of WineX to subscribers and non-subscribers, but the copyright protection code needed to run most games is missing. They also offer no support to those who build WineX from source. Once you've subscribed, you'll find pre-built packages available for download in RPM, DEB and TGZ formats. If you're familiar with your Linux distribution, installing the package for your system should be a breeze. This time around, you'll need to install 2 packages however, one for WineX and one for the new GUI tool Point2Play. The instructions for installing both are on the downloads page at the Transgaming website (once you've created an account and logged in).

The hardware

Here is a quick overview of the hardware which we used to test WineX 3.0:

• 
  
• Generic 1.33 GHz AMD Athlon T-bird
• 512 MB RAM
• GeForce 2 MX graphics card with 32 MB RAM
• XFree86 4.2
• Latest NVidia driver

In our tests, we ran WineX 3.0 under Red Hat Linux 7.3, but according to the Transgaming web site, the latest Linux distributions should be fine, provided they support the following:

• 
  
• Linux Kernel 2.4 or higher. Stock Kernels recommended over RedHat 7.x/8.x kernels.
• XFree86 4.0 or higher (4.1 and above recommended)
• glibc 2.2 or higher
• Working hardware accelerated OpenGL video card

(In our previous review, we also tested WineX on a Gateway PII 400 with a Riva 128 video card. That system is currently occupied with a Debian dist-upgrade to Sid over a dialup line, but that is a different article altogether.)

Once we installed the necessary RPMS for Winex and Point2Play:

Point2Play-1.0-0.i386.rpm
winex3-3.0-1.i386.rpm

we were ready to start testing.

Editors Note: In our previous review of Transgaming's WineX, we covered a few technical notes for configuring XFree86 on your GNU/Linux system. I

Some of the NVidia drivers seem to run into problems in conjunction with WineX and some version of glibc. When I switched to Gentoo, using the 4191 NVidia drivers, with glibc 2.3.1 (not positive of that, though), WineX would segfault on me something awful, whenever it would try to enable the DirectX. Running installers worked fine, but games would just crash. Reading the support pages, I read the suggestion to roll back to the 3123 NVidia drivers. Worked like a charm.

Of course, nowadays, I seem to be able to run WineX 3.0, with the same version of glibc, and the 4363 drivers. So, I imagine someone somewhere has worked out a bug or two.

You can read them here.

The review appears to be slashdotted.

.:diatonic:.

Thank you for playing!

I can't believe this is news. This is like the biggest waste of money anyone can purchase. Why in the world would you spend $55 on this crap when you can buy Win4Lin for like $80? What a joke. This product is $40 over priced, at least!

Now, if you want to spend money on a good, decently priced product, head on over to Transgaming

Linux + WineX is a BIT unstable for Windows apps, right? Here's an idea. Why doesn't someone try to write a Windows 98 SE clone that sits on top of, oh, FreeDOS?

I couldn't be much help in such a project, as all I know is some BASIC, LOGO, and a little HTML. However, I think an open source Windows would be a great idea. Shoot, we could have LazyX, (BeatAroundThe)BushX, BushSound, BushVideo, etc.! Get it? Open source is to closed source as lazy is to active, and as beating around the bush is to being direct? Although, Bush needs eliminated (so did Saddam, but Bush needs eliminated too), so that might not be such a good idea.

Don't worry, Transgaming is tackling that too by bringing WineX to OSX.

Don't believe me? Look at their jobs page

(As of today, they are looking for a MacOS9 and OSX senior engineer)

Make no mistake, while Wine is getting damn good it is not perfect or even practical for all Windows software. Some software will probably never run under it, most will not run without some tweaking, so don't expect it to. OTOH, if you tried Wine even as late as a few months ago you might be surprised how things have changed. It all depends on what you 'need' to run.

Many of the main Wine sites have reviews of software and what works -- or how to get it to work. Keep in mind that if a comment is old, even a few weeks, it may not apply to the latest version of Wine. Usually this is a good thing, though some regressions do happen, so you might need a specific 'vintage' for a specific application.

That said, here's a good list;

1. Frank's Corner -- always deserves a mention

   The official Wine Application Database sponsored by Codeweavers

   Transgaming's WineX game list and search engine

   Wine Headquarters -- also sponsored by Codeweavers -- is the main Wine site and has the detailed and oft quoted FAQ-o-Matic

For more information, check the links on any of these sites.

Try Transgaming. I get a lot of games to run quite well under Linux.

try this if you haven't already.
battlefield 1942 has a working ratio of 3/5 more info about it here.

try this if you haven't already.
battlefield 1942 has a working ratio of 3/5 more info about it here.

for all your windows gaming needs under linux

the Linux Game Tome

everquest-killer for linux

build your own Battlefield 1942! using Crystal Space 3d on sourceforge

and of course Parsec - There Is No Safe Distance*TM*

The one area Linux really lags for me is games. I'm sorry to say but Windows does beat Linux here. Even with things like WineX things are still to patchy. I'm afraid that this isn't really going to help things.

Rus

"and watch them all load WineX [transgaming.com]?" .. and then complain that it doesn't work.

You could have chosen your reply a little more carefully. :)

and watch them all load WineX?

When my wife and I were getting married last Summer, we needed to make an insert to send out with our invitations. We used OO.o (it had just gone 1.0 when we were making our insert) and had a lot of difficulty with setting up text boxes for layout. In MS Office, you just insert a text box and stretch it out to the size you need using a marquee tool. Then you can set properties on that text box. If you don't want it to have a line around it, you select 'no line' from the line style of it's properties. Or you can change the background color of the text box, etc... In OO.o there was no functionality exactly like this. We finally figured out how to do what we wanted to do, but it was cumbersome and took a lot longer than it should have. In addition, it was also a lot less accurate. Fortunately, I have little need for an Office suite about 99% of the time.

I DO expect OO.o to get better and better as the development continues. However, I hope that the developers at OO.o eventually set up some kind of system (kind of like the folks at Transgaming) that allows people to vote on "most desired features". This way they can address the needs and desires of the users in a direct way.

You could use WineX to install the Windows client. Very nice product, and only $15 for a 3-month subscription to their service (basically support forums and access to the full version binaries).

Thanks for your wonderfully inciteful input, but the fact remains that one cannot legally play the new public domain GTA 1 without paying Micro$oft. Would you prefer the term "Microsoft Toll"?

Yes you can. It's called WineX. I was just doing it 5 minutes ago.

(P.S. The proper spelling is "insightful".)

MOO3 will run in Linux almost perfectly with WineX. Other than needing to change the cursor to 'system' in the options panel, the game works almost flawlessly for me.

Of course, WineX isn't free, ($5/month gives you binaries and voting rights to what should be worked on next), but I think it's worth it. There's also a bit a movement to get Transgaming to concentrate more on getting older classic games running in Linux, and for that hope alone, I'm behind TG.

The week, Transgaming (popular for allowing Linux users to play games normally meant for Windows) has annouced a new game inclusion to it's database: the long-anticipated Master of Orion 3. We talked with one of the transgaming developers. He said "Well, it was pretty tough getting this game to run, but after a few code tweaks, and a couple of changes to our latest veriosn, we were able to release the new version /just/ as many subscribers lost their three-month subscriptions... talk about timing!" The new version can be downloaded freely-- with your $15/per 3 month subscription. check outhttp://transgaming.com/who-the-hell-cares-about -GNU-lets-screw-the-bastards-who-we-got-the-code-f rom-and-not-return-code-back-to-the-non-X11-liscen ce-team.html for the details

As soon as more companies start making linux native binaries, then i'll start paying for games again. and hey, why not advertise it runs on linux (COUGH id COUGH)

...but I couldn't get 3DMark 2003 to run on my system.

Not much of a benchmark program if the thing won't even run properly.
Then again perhaps I just need to update my version of winex

From the Link:

"I got it running on Mandrake 8.2 / Enlightenment with standard WineX installation and zero configuration."

/me sighs

I'd hardly call that "out of the box". It's not a Linux port. It;'s hjust wizards over at TransGaming That did the work, not the folks that wrote MoO3.

O-Well. It sounds nice anyway... I guess...

P.S.
Yes, I'm a transgaming subscriber, it's just that this doesn't qualify as "out of the box" in my eyes.

And as an added bonus, the game actually runs on Linux right out of the box.

It's not that inconvenient, just run WC3 with WineX on your Linux box. A subscription to Transgaming, is cheaper than a license for WinXP too....

Anybody else notice on the list of companies that use MacroVision included TransGaming?

Is this to help with Windows product emulation, or something more nefariuos?

Garg