Linux for oldschool gaming

[Soarus]

Hello!

My question is if it is possible to use a linux distro for gaming, oldschool games (2002 and down) with about the same FPS and smoothness as Windows OS through wine. I'm on XP 32bit now but I've tried Ubuntu and I'm really comfortable with it. Reason why I want to switch to Linux from Windows is mostly because I prioritize security highly, and want to work more with hacking and learning the Linux OS system.

I got an Acer Extensa 5620. The sorts of game I'm gonna play is Morrowind, Diablo 2, DOSbox games like DOOM and Keen. Also... if anyone knows if there's an NES emulator to linux it would be great! (Sorry if my english grammar turns out to be poor, it's not my native language )

Thanks!

[fashizzlepop]

The wine website can give you a list on what games are known to work. It probably won't run as fast but if it runs really well under windows your hardware can probably run it fairly well through wine. Also, check out Steam for linux. It's coming along quite well.

[Soarus]

Thanks for the quick answer! I've never really used steam that much besides from when I played CS 1.6 a couple of years ago, but it seems i will be using it again if i really do start using Linux. Also wondering... Is it known to be many bugs using wine on Linux? And does it differ from comp to comp?

[-Ninjex-]

If you try and run it on linux, you can check out the program "Play on Linux" as well as what Fas mentioned; they handle a lot of the installing for games via wine. It makes some games easier to install if you are to have trouble on your own. The FPS could be high, it just depends on the game and your specs really.

[Soarus]

Big thanks for the advice! My FPS right now in morrowind is around minimum 35FPS. Would it be able to foretell the FPS I'd have through wine on Linux then? It seems unlikely it would drop under 20, would it?

[-Ninjex-]

Big thanks for the advice! My FPS right now in morrowind is around minimum 35FPS. Would it be able to foretell the FPS I'd have through wine on Linux then? It seems unlikely it would drop under 20, would it?

I'm sorry, I can not really tell you since I do not game often, or use windows.
What you can do though is install a linux distrobution onto a CD/USB and test it from there first.
This way you don't have to install Linux on your HDD not knowing if it will be good for you.

Best of luck,
- Ninjex

[Soarus]

I understand, no worries. I just installed XP yesterday from Win7, so it would not be so painful installing and testing Ubuntu on my HDD, only timewise. I'm actually burning Ubunto onto an CD right now, gonna install it and test it. Will post results later!