Gaming on a Linux

[Lance Uppercut]

Let it be known, I hate using Linux. You can't install anything without getting into the terminal and typing out all of this crap just to install it, and I wish there were just simple files I could click on and it will run. But, it's all I'm stuck with on my Eee at the moment.

So, are there any (hopefully free) good Linux games I can play on my Eee? And please hold my hand through the installation process, as I'm liable to break down completely and return to playing Team Fortress on my desktop.

[squirrelTactics]

break down completely and return to playing Team Fortress on my desktop.

Do this.

2short

[iHap]

It's simple. http://www.winehq.com/

Most games that run on OpenGL are Linux supported.

[muddi900]

or you can use cedega, a DX emulator for linux:
http://www.transgaming.com/

[KingGorilla]

Eee? No idea. I ran Gg and Hh for a bit. That screen would be brutal.

[Straximus]

Let it be known, I hate using Linux. You can't install anything without getting into the terminal and typing out all of this crap just to install it, and I wish there were just simple files I could click on and it will run. But, it's all I'm stuck with on my Eee at the moment.

Unless you are trying to compile something from source, you needn't use the command line to install anything. If you don't know your way around the GUI and go looking for help on pretty much any Linux task, you are going to find instructions on how to do it at the command line. Why? Because it's much easier for the person instructing you to cut and paste some text, than to tell you how to navigate a series of windows.

So, are there any (hopefully free) good Linux games I can play on my Eee? And please hold my hand through the installation process, as I'm liable to break down completely and return to playing Team Fortress on my desktop.

There's quite a bit out there, but my tastes tend to lean toward the commercial games. I'm not really sure what your Eee can handle though. I doubt it can push much in the way of 3D, so things like UT2004 and Quake 4 are probably out. Here's some good games that have demos (With easy installs - PM me if you need any help) you can grab:

Darwinia (http://www.introversion.co.uk/darwinia/downloads/demo_linux.html)
Galcon (http://www.imitationpickles.org/galcon/index.html)
Penny Arcade Adventures Ep1 (http://www.playgreenhouse.com/game/HOTHG-000001-01/)

Here's some free games I like you can find in the Ubuntu repos (Use Synaptic, or Add/Remove Programs):
Frozen Bubble
Abuse
Freeciv
Neverball (Like Super Monkey Ball)
Pingus (Lemmings-like game)
The Ur-Quan Masters
Tremulous (An interesting Team based FPS)

You can also find emulators in the repos:
ZSNES (SNES)
FCE Ultra (NES)
DOSBox (Great for old DOS based games)
ScummVM (For running old Lucasarts adventure games)

If you need help finding or installing any of that, give me a PM.

[MinorHero]

Why are you trying to play games on literally the most stripped down laptop on the market? If you wanted a gaming machine you should have bought... well really any other laptop then something from the ultra-mobile line.

Here's something you can play, browser games. Flash shall be your friend (when you can get it to work that is). Does the Eee PC distro not have a Red Carpet type app?

[Lance Uppercut]

Why are you trying to play games on literally the most stripped down laptop on the market? If you wanted a gaming machine you should have bought... well really any other laptop then something from the ultra-mobile line.

Here's something you can play, browser games. Flash shall be your friend (when you can get it to work that is). Does the Eee PC distro not have a Red Carpet type app?

I have no delusions about my Eee being a gaming machine. I bought it for school, something light that I can take with me to class. But I would like to play the odd game on it now and then.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try some out now.

[drobvice]

i don't own an Eee but if your up to it, you could install Ubuntu and go to getdeb (http://www.getdeb.net). They have a gaming section and I NEVER install from command line. Well, I do if I feel lazy and know the name of the package I want to install. They have versions of Ubuntu customized for the Eee, as I understand it, that is if you are willing to switch. Some of the screenshots I have seen for the new UI for the Eee look pretty sweet.

[Lance Uppercut]

I already have Ubuntu Eee installed. Xandros was a pain in the ass to work with.

edit: I tried Synaptic, and searched for ZSNES and a GBA emulator, and installed both. I have a shortcut for ZSNES, which works, but I don't seem to have one for the GBA emulator. Where'd it go?

edit edit: I can't seem to find Add/Remove Programs anywhere. Where is it? This (http://www.ubuntu-eee.com/) is the Ubuntu I'm using.

edit edit edit: Ok, Found the Add/Remove Programs thing. Tried the ZSNES emulator, but I have no sound. Installing Neverball and Neverputt right now.

[jeffbax]

There are a ton of graphical package managers out there. That said, anyone recommending he run wine on an EEE is fooling themselves... its an eee and not very powerful especially at running Windows binaries.

There are however, some good free games to be had such as Battle for Wesnoth, Shotgun Debugger, ... maybe Darwinia, probably Quake 3 will run.

[Straximus]

Whoever packaged the GBA emulator may not have packaged a shortcut with it. I think that's pretty sloppy, but it happens now and then. I'll help you make a shortcut in just a bit. Let's see if we can make sound work in ZSNES.

Rather than just throw out a command line you don't understand, I want to explain what's happening, so you know what's going on. If you don't care, skip to the next paragraph. ZSNES has a config file, much like an .INI file in windows that you can edit. We don't have to hand edit it, but if you'd like to take a look it's located in a hidden folder named .zsnes in your user folder. The filename is zsnesl.cfg. There is a line in there that by default reads: libAoDriver="auto" That line tells ZSNES to attempt to auto detect what audio driver to use. Since it isn't working, we need to specify what audio driver it should use.

Like I said you could edit it by hand, but there's a quicker way using the command line. Just run this command:
zsnes -ad sdl

That will launch ZSNES using the SDL audio driver. (That's the driver that works for me) If it works, great. ZSNES also just updated it's config file to always use SDL, so you don't have to do anything else.

If you find the 'sdl' driver doesn't work, here's a full list of driver options you can try with the 'zsnes -ad' command:

auto = Automatically select output
null = Null output
nas = NAS output
oss = OSS audio driver output
alsa = Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) output
esd = ESounD output
pulse = PulseAudio Output
arts = aRts output
sdl = Simple DirectMedia Layer output

[Straximus]

What GBA emu did you install? Was it Visualboy advance?

[Lance Uppercut]

I found the right package for the GBA emulator, and I tried the sound fix for ZSNES. Now, I have 2 new problems. ZSNES freezes whenever I exit the program, and my audio is crackly (not just for ZSNES, but for Neverball). What do I do?

Edit: What the hell? the audio and freezing magically resolved itself in ZSNES, but the crackly audio is still present in Neverball.

edit edit: VBA runs like ass.

[Straximus]

Okay, let's see if we can get that crackle to go away. Neverball and ZSNES are both using SDL for sound, so I'd like to see which SDL package is installed.

I'll avoid using the command line this time for your sake. Open Synaptic and search for "libsdl1.2debian-". You should get a list of about 7 packages, one of which is installed. My guess is that the installed package will be "libsdl1.2debian-alsa".

Only one of these can be installed at a time. If you install a different one, it will remove whichever is currently installed. That's fine. Just make a note of which one is installed right now so that you can go back if you need to.

I would try:
"libsdl1.2debian-all"
"libsdl1.2debian-alsa"
and "libsdl1.2debian-oss"

It's okay to try any of them, but those are likely your best bets. If nothing helps, I'd recommend returning to the default package.

Just a quick explanation of what we're trying: SDL is a sound API (like DirectSound). We are just telling it to send it's calls to different sound systems in Linux.

[Spectre-7]

As far as I'm aware, OSS is officially deprecated, and is emulated through ALSA on virtually all distributions for backwards compatibility reasons... so, I wouldn't jump to recommending OSS.

Also, aRTS is KDE specific, so unless you've got the KDE libraries installed, I would skip that one as well.

My $.02...

[jpublic]

Step 1: Get a USB CD Drive
Step 2: Install WinXP
Step 3: Game On.

[Straximus]

As far as I'm aware, OSS is officially deprecated, and is emulated through ALSA on virtually all distributions for backwards compatibility reasons... so, I wouldn't jump to recommending OSS.

Also, aRTS is KDE specific, so unless you've got the KDE libraries installed, I would skip that one as well.

My $.02...

I don't like recommending OSS either, but I've seen specific instances of SDL games in Ubuntu crackling with ALSA, but not OSS. :(

[Spectre-7]

I don't like recommending OSS either, but I've seen specific instances of SDL games in Ubuntu crackling with ALSA, but not OSS. :(

I'd like to elaborate on my position... Go with whatever works. ;)