So I decided to install Debian

[dragon xr]

Ive had Debian 6 installed as my main OS for about a week or so now, and so far the results are not what i expected...

the boot times are awesome, installation of packages via the apt-get function are amazing

and as usual with a Linux product everything runs fine until you hit the Microsoft Wall.. then its a mission to get the windows based program to work (namely games)

wine support Via Wine-HQ is extremely nice however i'm having issues getting certain games to run. trial and error seems to be the key.

although the "Leap" to a Linux OS seemed impossible, its really not that bad.
has the whole "build it your self" feel.

Is anyone else running a Linux box on gu? and if so what is it being used for?

ps. any tips on getting rift working would be a plus

[Lothar]

winetricks seems to be your answer WineHQ - Rift Live

[mepm]

why not just dual boot?

[MetalAttack]

why not just dual boot?

+1

[chad]

Avoid Wine and any emulation software package like the plague. There is no way in hell they're going to be able to replicate suttle win32 API behaviour.

Instead install VMware player, and install Windows XP pro and run it in shared mode. This way you can use all your old win32 programs and games.

[Aegis]

in other words, use Wine, don't touch VMware - don't go near XP, and DEFINITELY not shared mode.

[dragon xr]

in other words, use Wine, don't touch VMware - don't go near XP, and DEFINITELY not shared mode.

another reason why "STFU" was invented

Instead install VMware player, and install Windows XP pro and run it in shared mode. This way you can use all your old win32 programs and games

sounds like a plan, for now ill just keep plotting along and experimenting with Debian.

[Paul Johnson]

Ive had Debian 6 installed as my main OS for about a week or so now, and so far the results are not what i expected...

the boot times are awesome, installation of packages via the apt-get function are amazing

That's why I use it. That alone makes 90% of the software you might want to run a whole lot straightforward and simple to manage than Windows and it's wide myriad of inconsistent installers, and uninstallers that rarely remove everything it dropped. Apt Just Works(tm).

and as usual with a Linux product everything runs fine until you hit the Microsoft Wall.. then its a mission to get the windows based program to work (namely games)

wine support Via Wine-HQ is extremely nice however i'm having issues getting certain games to run. trial and error seems to be the key.

The Wine AppDB is a good starting place, though as you said, trial and error never hurts. PlayOnLinux is a good wine frontend that does most of the heavy lifting for you (like setting up different wine prefixes for each program so if you hose one, you can delete the whole prefix without taking out your other programs, etc).

although the "Leap" to a Linux OS seemed impossible, its really not that bad.
has the whole "build it your self" feel.

Is anyone else running a Linux box on gu? and if so what is it being used for?

I switched to Debian in 1997 when bo was the current release, never looked back. In fact, my original 1997 install has been upgraded repeatedly over the years thanks to apt, and I've simply just moved everything to a new drive and run lilo (before) or grub again now to reinstall the bootloader, and it just gets used to it's new environment. Trickiest upgrade was switching to amd64 from i386 without reinstalling. My day-to-day machine's install has even once lived on a 32-bit machine with 8GB of ram (yea, suck it, 32-bit windows and your 4GB limit).

ps. any tips on getting rift working would be a plus

Not specifically familiar with that game. Try PlayOnLinux and doublecheck the AppDB, some combination of the two might just get it working.

[Paul Johnson]

why not just dual boot?

Why pay the Microsoft tax if you don't have to?

[Paul Johnson]

Avoid Wine and any emulation software package like the plague. There is no way in hell they're going to be able to replicate suttle win32 API behaviour.

Instead install VMware player, and install Windows XP pro and run it in shared mode. This way you can use all your old win32 programs and games.

Wine isn't an emulator, it's a reimplementation of the win32/64 apis. VMWare is an emulator. You won't ever get native performance out of VMware, and while performance under wine may be hit or miss on software that goes for the obscure, undocumented calls, you'll often get better performance in Wine on Linux than you will in Windows for software that uses OpenGL. AutoCAD and any Grand Theft Auto game are notorious examples of software designed for Windows performing better under Wine.

[Paul Johnson]

Is anyone else running a Linux box on gu? and if so what is it being used for?

When I'm not mapping for OpenStreetMap, I've been nursing a crippling addiction to Nexuiz and Second Life. I use the Imprudence viewer for SL.

[dragon xr]

Wine isn't an emulator, it's a reimplementation of the win32/64 apis. VMWare is an emulator. .

WINE = Wine is not a emulator

well it seems you have made the dive into Linux many years ago...

my goal is to attempt to implement a full scale test network
a QOS box via KVM, web server, a mail gateway, managed Vlans and anything else i come across.

I'm hopeful that i will gain a full understanding of what a full scale network can and does support.

as i don't have the greatest amount of hardware, I have to use what resources i have thus the formatting of my main system.

now its just motivation to get my ass in gear and getting the systems online.

[Paul Johnson]

WINE = Wine is not a emulator

well it seems you have made the dive into Linux many years ago...

my goal is to attempt to implement a full scale test network
a QOS box via KVM, web server, a mail gateway, managed Vlans and anything else i come across.

Might consider breaking out some of those functions. I keep my desktop and my server (mail, http, OpenSimulator, WMS) separate for stability an resource distribution reasons. That said, my server, these days, is an IBM ThinkPad A32 stuffed in a desk drawer happily chugging along lid-closed.

Also means, I can play around with various drivers or games that might lock video hard without worrying about it taking out my server...

[Paul Johnson]

why not just dual boot?

...and deal with a real life GladDOS? Fuck that!

[dragon xr]

Might consider breaking out some of those functions.

I can play around with various drivers or games that might lock video hard without worrying about it taking out my server...

depends really, as i don't intend to play games during this period, and just study and learn something useful...

also ive given up attempting to get Rift going as i would be in the same boat if i had a windows box.
waisting time playing games and not gaining any type of life skills, plus i can always go back to gaming if i am that desprate