Best Linux utility/game/app?

[thermodynamic]

Ok, my Linux acquaintances, what is your favorite add-in or app or game for Linux?

Currently, my fave is UAE - the Amiga emulator.

There are also a number of OpenGL-based screensavers which are "killer apps" of their own.

Runnng Unreal Tournament (and UT 2003) and Quake 3 Arena are simply wonderful as well; I can ramp up the display res all the way (1600x1200) and still run faster than trying to run the same game under the same hardware on Windows at even smaller resolutions! As with "Return to Castle Wolfenstein", too...

[short bus president]

1. kpoker

the linux equivalent of windows solitaire for brainless time wasting.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. WHn it comes to apps...

Well, what do you need? There are so many of them.

Which Linux distro are you running?

[thermodynamic]

3. Well,

I primarily use SuSE Linux 8.2 but I also have Mandrake 9.1 from the latest LinuxFormat magazine and Red Hat 9, which I'll try out in time.

I love SuSE primarily because it gives the biggest bang for the least buck.

[T Roosevelt]

5. Fellow SuSE user!

I just installed v8.2 - trying to get away from the M$ machine. You'll have to share with me some of the important things a newcomer needs to know...

[thermodynamic]

6. How's it going so far?

I can tell you there are differences between the platforms, mostly security related. As far as the GUI goes, KDE is similar enough to Windows that it won't scare off newbies, but is different enough to not provoke any lawsuits. It also seems to run faster than Windows' explorer.

Ever check out the OpenGL screensavers in KDE? They're a blast! (GNOME has a couple of good ones as well, but KDE's got a better selection overall.)

One word of caution: Be very careful as to which file and folder permissions you change as you can ruin everything for all users except "root"'s. Even when setting the permissions back to their defaults, does everything not go back to how they were. I've found that certain folders need to be accessed by non-root accounts in order to work (namely my favorite games like Q3A, UT2003, Return to Castle Wolfenstein). I had opened up permissions to the wrong folders and, blammo, I ruined everything! But the only way to learn is to actually fiddle. So don't get discouraged if you have to reinstall the OS. Only one folder should really be opened up as such, but I forgot the name and I won't have my Linux box complete until Monday.

www.transgaming.com has WineX, which allows you to run DirectX games in Linux. It's not perfect, but it's a start and once you buy it you get a say as to what gets developed. I'm about to buy it so "No One Lives Forever 2" playability can be worked on.

[T Roosevelt]

7. I've just got up and running

Haven't even configured WINE yet. So far I haven't broken anything - just finding my way around. Using KDE, which is a nice transition interface from Windoze - somewhat familiar.

It's amazing though - the amount of software apps that got installed - under graphics:viewer there are 10 different ones. It will take forever just figuring out what's useful and what isn't.

Any advice on how to configure WINE? What to watch out for, etc...Also, what about installing various Win apps such as Office (I have '97)? Anything special I need to do?

[thermodynamic]

8. WINE

I had installed it from CD but decided to download the newest version from http://www.winehq.com/?page=download given the problems I had with Office 2k and Frontpage XP - look for "Regular Wine builds for SuSE 7.1 to 8.2. Maintained by Marcus Meißner", should be 3rd from bottom. Click on the link on the left and your FTP program will come up. wine-20030709-0.i586.rpm is the file you'll want to download. I won't be able to install it until Monday, though.

You'll probably be just fine with Office97 with the default installation.

I did download the 20030408 update of WINE from their website a few weeks ago and had problems installing it; resulting in me doing a reformat (again, I'm fairly new to Linux myself so I took the easy way out). I recall another component had to be downloaded from Microsoft's site to get it to download... but this new version may have resolved all the problems I had.

I also use win4lin, a windows emulator similar to vmware. I should use Wine and WineX when possible though. But win4lin has been helpful, particularly for my office apps. http://www.netraverse.com/products/win4lin50/ They just came out with version 5, I am using version 4... It looks like v5 will now allow limited use of DirectX applications, which is a nice improvement. Here is a list of the new version's features: http://www.netraverse.com/products/win4lin50/features.php

[markbark]

4. Frozen Bubble!

More addicting than Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips :P

Grab some Digital Crack @ www.frozen-bubble.org

100 levels of fun PLUS a level editor if you get bored


Don't say I didn't warn you! :evilgrin:


--MAB

[regnaD kciN]

9. How ironic!

Your favorite Linux program is one that makes it emulate the Amiga?

I installed WinUAE a few weeks ago, brought up Workbench 3.1 in a window, and called my wife to show her that, finally, the PC had a real reason to exist!

;-)