Xp to Linux migration help

[CompTIA_Rep]

Before you read: I know there is much resources out there, so please don't waste your time here if you dont want to.

I think the distribution I want to use is Ubuntu (but haven't really used any yet) and the basic requirements are security (folder level encryption).

I basically need to run old window's games, with a bandwidth monitor (real time graphs) in the background.
Is the Nvidia 8800 supported well by now?

I also use all the messenger programs... and are there any torrent programs you recomend (for legal downloads )?

Open office I got, and Im not sure what I need to do at this point.


! Does linux support SATA when installing?


Also: Recommend any Media center replacement software that works with hauppage? Keep in mind I have never installed anything on linux before.

Thanks for your time guys.

 

[linux_0]

Before you read: I know there is much resources out there, so please don't waste your time here if you dont want to.

I think the distribution I want to use is Ubuntu (but haven't really used any yet) and the basic requirements are security (folder level encryption).

I would suggest trying one of more Live CDs such as Knoppix for a preview and then installing both Ubuntu and Fedora 7 to play with.

I basically need to run old window's games, with a bandwidth monitor (real time graphs) in the background.

How much older? D3D or OpenGL? WINE and Cedega should be able to run at least some of the games you are interested in. There are other options as well.

Is the Nvidia 8800 supported well by now?

The 8800 is absolutely supported. There is a proprietary nVidia driver which works very well.

I also use all the messenger programs... and are there any torrent programs you recomend (for legal downloads )?

pidgin supports virtually all IM protocols so you're covered

There are many torrent clients for legal downloads.

Open office I got, and Im not sure what I need to do at this point.


! Does linux support SATA when installing?

Yes it certainly does and has worked for many years.

Also: Recommend any Media center replacement software that works with hauppage? Keep in mind I have never installed anything on linux before.

There are television viewers like tvtime, and full blown DVRs like MythTV. There's also MPlayer and VLC.

All of the above except maybe MythTV can be install very easily.


PM me if you have any other questions.

Good luck

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

Great! Those programs give me path to move to.
I am installing Fedora 7 since I can run Fedora 4 at work as well.
The games I want to run are based off Quake 3 (openGL?).

I guess the last migration problem I see, is how do you install stuff? Lol. I was told to use a program, but forgot which one.


Thanks again, that information is great help.

 

[linux_0]

You're in luck

The Quake engine uses openGL which is Linux friendly.

In fact there is a native Linux version of Quake!

I believe the native Linux version is on the Quake installation media along with instructions.


There are several ways to install stuff:

You can click on Applications -> Add / Remove software

or run any one of several graphical package management programs such as yumex, kyum, etc or run yum or rpm on the command line.

The graphical tools are very simple to use you click on a package and it is automatically installed for you in a matter of seconds.


Even the command line tools are quite simple to use. For example to install MPlayer, vlc, tvtime and pidgin you would install the livna RPM and run:

[cpp]
yum install mplayer vlc tvtime pidgin
[/cpp]

Fedora uses software repositories from which things are installed and livna is a 3rd party repository ( repo ) which offers additional software Fedora itself cannot provide for various reasons.

If you cannot find something in a repo, you can use rpm to install rpms from various sources that do not have a repo or install yourself from source ( this is rarely needed ).

I can walk you through the whole install process via PM if you want

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

Actually, its Sof2 (soldier of fortune 2). How do I go about installing it?

 

[linux_0]

There are reports it works with WINE.

http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iVersionId=1116

and Cedega

http://games.cedega.com/gamesdb/games/view.mhtml?game_id=2694


you can yum or rpm wine and run the setup program

[cpp]
wine setup.exe
[/cpp]

or you can purchase Cedega and run it using their GUI

good luck

 

[Zorak]

Hey, as far as the games are concerned, you should also check out some of the cool open-source FPS games like Sauerbraten : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauerbraten_%28game%29

and Warsow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsow
(relevant site links should be listed on these wiki pages)

and of course there are also commercial games that support Linux like Doom3/Quake4

also, if Sof2 officially supports linux, you can google "Sof2 linux installer" and you might find a .run file that will help you get everything up and running. Or at least, that is how it worked for me when I installed Quake3/Quake4/Doom3.

*sigh* maybe if we are really lucky then Blizzard will decide to throw in a linux port of StarCraft 2 After all, why should the Mac users be getting more love than the Linux users?

-Zorak

 

[linux_0]

Both look interesting, thanks for the links :d

Unfortunately I don't know if blizzard's new owners have any interest in open source

 

[Zorak]

Yeah, that may very well be the grim truth. However, I have, along with a couple of other people, expressed interest on the Battle.net forums in a native Linux version of StarCraft 2. Hopefully they will see at the very least that there is some interest in this and with a lot of luck (and maybe a miracle) they will decide to port it.

-Zorak

 

[linux_0]

If you get enough people to pledge to buy the linux version they might listen

One can hope....