Introduction

You might remember the first Linux hardware review 6 weeks ago , in which I had an in-depth look at the 3D-performance of NVIDIA's latest graphics cards under GNU/Linux. Back then I compared the Linux 3D scores to results generated under Microsoft's Windows98. It turned out that each of the NVIDIA cards scored about 10-20% lower frame rates under Linux than under Windows98. All in all the results were still rather impressive, proving that 3D gaming is most certainly possible under this 'archaic but free Hacker-OS ' as well.

GNU/Linux

Many people know that Linux is way beyond the stage of being an OS just for geeks. It has become a very respectable alternative to Microsoft's offerings and its installed base is growing at a very fast rate. Due to GNU's open source philosophy and its flexibility Linux has become the 'first-off' OS for new architectures like IA64 (Intel's Itanium) or x86-64 (AMD's Hammer). While Linux is big in networking, many people (including Linux users) seem to forget that even normal home users are nowadays running Linux-boxes for practically everything. Have a look at Loki's website to find out about Linux and computer gaming. You might be surprised ...