[cerveza_fiesta]

My wife put Ubuntu on her laptop awhile back, and despite my original resistance to the idea (hardcore windows apologist here folks...move along) I have warmed up to the free OS bigtime. Aside from NEVER CRASHING EVER EVER EVER....it has a neat little application that links you to a huge software database full of free-license software designed for linux system.

I was cruising the games section and they have everything in there from kings-quest style RPGs to top-down shooters to hotseat worms-style games to card games....it is truly an awesome little piece of win, included with an OS that basically personifies win.

Was playing lincity (simcity clone), Beneath a steel sky (kings quest-ish RPG), Reversi clone, minesweeper clone, and a Civilization clone.

Totally fun.

[Darkwatch]

One of my summer projects is to take my old laptop and turn into a linux platform.
I'm going for a Ubuntu and Chrome set up (I'll need to figure out virtualization first) and test them both out. I'll make sure to check out the games.

[cerveza_fiesta]

Forgot to mention there's a bunch of FPSs on there too, which is totally awesome...including a Quake clone. Cool!

If it's your main computer, you might want a windows dual-boot cause there's a few things ubuntu can't do yet.

Namely:

• Steam
• Other games with no Linux format...which is pretty much all of em.
• Printing - unless you're careful with your selection and make sure you can find a linux driver before you get a printer
• MS Office - I know there's openoffice, but it kinda sucks by comparison to good old MSOffice.
• Itunes - There are linux clones to run your ipod with DL'd music, but afaik there's no way to access Itunes store or access any DRM music you've purchased without.

And make sure you can get drivers for the particular laptop and all your associated hardware, like if the wireless modem is a PCMCIA card, you might have trouble.

The wife had no trouble since her lappy is relatively new and we were able to find a complete driver set for that model. Great for a multimedia station, but we still need my old computer for printing and stuff like that.

[alt146]

Steam is coming to linux shortly after it hits Mac if what the people who are smart enough to understand the code are saying is correct. Personally I've lost many hours playing Battle for Wesnoth, as well as the random arcade games that come by default. If you configure Wine properly you can play a whole bunch of windows games, but to be honest dual-booting is still easier.

DW, if there's nothing on your laptop that you really need I'd skip the virtualization and just jump straight to installing linux - the latest distros are pretty easy to install and there's plenty of guides to get things set up exactly the way you want. That and virtualisation can be pretty slow - you'll be amazed how much faster unix runs on old hardware. I ran ubuntu on an almost unusable (in windows) laptop for ages, until it eventually gave up the ghost due to a lightning strike. 90% of the drivers etc run properly straight away, although that last 10% can sometimes be a huge pain. If you plan on using the lappy for videos and music, then Mint Linux is slightly simpler than Ubuntu to set up for media. It's not difficult in Ubuntu, but a lot of people recommend Mint over Ubuntu as a first time disrto.

[cerveza_fiesta]

alt146, on 27 April 2010 - 08:06 PM, said:

Steam is coming to linux shortly after it hits Mac if what the people who are smart enough to understand the code are saying is correct. Personally I've lost many hours playing Battle for Wesnoth, as well as the random arcade games that come by default. If you configure Wine properly you can play a whole bunch of windows games, but to be honest dual-booting is still easier.

DW, if there's nothing on your laptop that you really need I'd skip the virtualization and just jump straight to installing linux - the latest distros are pretty easy to install and there's plenty of guides to get things set up exactly the way you want. That and virtualisation can be pretty slow - you'll be amazed how much faster unix runs on old hardware. I ran ubuntu on an almost unusable (in windows) laptop for ages, until it eventually gave up the ghost due to a lightning strike. 90% of the drivers etc run properly straight away, although that last 10% can sometimes be a huge pain. If you plan on using the lappy for videos and music, then Mint Linux is slightly simpler than Ubuntu to set up for media. It's not difficult in Ubuntu, but a lot of people recommend Mint over Ubuntu as a first time disrto.

found the story on techspot link

Nerdiest story I've ever read.

Still cool if true.