I have been told that linux is better for everything, so I want to try battlefield 2 and xfire, along with my sound card and wifi card...

Are any of these things possible?

You can download it here:

http://www.linux-gamers.net/module [...] toryid=841

"its a plugin for gaim, not the other way around"

:\

This is not true for any OS, no OS is better for everything (and I am not hesitant to admit that what you want to do, namely popular hardcore gaming, is not traditionally a strong area in Linux).

That being said, you can use WINE or Cedega to play Battlefield 2 on a Linux machine, if by xfire you mean the gaming-oriented IM client then you could either try using the GAIM plugin or try running the regular client under WINE or Cedega. As for the sound card and wifi, it completely depends on what hardware you have but it's generally a safe bet that if it's somewhat popular there's at least some rudimentary support for your hardware.

So I think it's safe to say windows = gaming, linux = not?

I wouldn't put as absolute as that, but generally speaking you are better off using Windows for popular gaming if you have to option of doing so. Pretty much every other area Linux is just as good if not better (server, engineering applications) than Windows.

Alas still true. There are a few game companies out there that are starting to make native Linux ports available but as you say gaming really is not the forte of Linux. The WINE or Cedega pointers are good ones but for a low stress games playing option Windows would be a better bet. It does pain me to say it too. But as you say its only one of the range of areas PC's have to cover.

@scarslilpyro
Personally (and this is just me) I'd say get a Wii and run Linux as your PC OS. Save yourelf a fotrune on Graphics cards and other hardware and still enjoy a safe stable PC experiennce. I've not been into computer games for years but the Wii might yet drag me back to the fold...

How would buying a Wii save me money?

The clasic model is that you get into PC gaiming and then get caught in the never ending upgrade cycle. A half decent graphics card costs more than a Wii.. That was the point.

If you already have some kick ass gaming rig then fair enough but I know a few people that made the switch to consoles to save money on PC hardware.

That's funny...people that upgrade non-stop I mean...I still have a 9600PRO, I've had it for about a year, it was $80, and I can get that $80 back from compusa if it "breaks"... the cards I'm looking at are only $130, which will max out the games I play...

The ATI card

The Nvidia card

I'm not sure which is better, the nvidia card has 1,000 memory clock, but only 8 pipes (which is double the pipes I have no so it would definitely be better) and the ATI card has 12 pipes but only 490 memory clock...

My whole rig was only $400 or so...but it's worth $1,200...got a lot of parts free...check my sig for my computer

lol.. seeing as I run a 64Mb Radeon 9200 I dont think I'm the right person to ask about graphics cards.

You make some good points. A kick ass rig is not needed to have fun. At the end of the day if you can afford one and it makes you happy then fine. My rig is just shy of 3 years old. I am seriously wondering when it will be that I upgrade. It does most things I want and I cant justify spending money for the bits it does not. One of these things is games. For the price of a half decent AGP card I can get a Wii and have some fun... And all without a bloody cooler fan!!

Dude, for the price of the Wii you can get a kick ass gaming rig, rofl.

Wonder how many Wii's it is to an 8800GTX at the min... :?:

Considering that I run Linux and that I would have to upgrade my card & OS (altrhough a downgrade really!) to play much more than tettris, the minimum upgrade I face to play half decent games would be ~150UKP and even then at low settings.

The OS is the real killer and even an OEM XP Home copy is half the price of a Wii :!:

Well that is considering you pay for it

That's assuming your happy to have a version with root kit pre installed...

Your right though. But personally I'm not going to jump through hoops just to get a copy of a crap OS. At the end of the days its personal choice. There is no right or wrong answer... Just what works for you.

To answer your previous question:


http://appdb.winehq.org/appbrowse.php?iCatId=2

http://transgaming.org/gamesdb/

http://transgaming.org/gamesdb/gam [...] me_id=3618

http://transgaming.org/gamesdb/gam [...] me_id=3984


Looks like BF2 is officially supported by Cedega ( the commercial version of WINE ).

Sorry FEAR does not work as far as I can determine.


The appsdb at winehq and the cedega / transgaming links are great for determining what is likely to run and what is not going to work.


As I have stated before, I strongly suggest you use the native Linux version of a game if one is available.


GL :-D

I'm new to Linux, but from what i've heard, BF on Linux w/out wine or cedega? Possible, but not practical and definitly not easy. Cedega is good, but its not free. IDK if wine is free, but i bet both of them take up valuable resources. If your a PC gamer, then I recommend running a dual boot btwn. your favorite Linux distro and XP, and use XP for gaming and Linux for everything else. I run the original CoD and it's expansion: UO on my acer notebook in XP, but other than that anything i can do in Windows, i can do in Linux 10 times more efficiently.

BTW, console systems are cool and all, but seriously, why install Linux? It just seems pointless to me, except for a random expirement due to boredom to see if you can actually run it w/out messing anything up.

And another thing, what pirated copy of XP performance?!

Personally, i would go with the Nvidia card, because it has more memory, and i've always preffered the Geforce cards to the Radeon ones. But i would also go with the Geforce b/c I'm an FPS multiplayer gamer, and really i dont need good graphics as much as i need to know exactly where the other guy is, and the more memory the video card has, the smoother and more accurate the game will be.