linux question
 

sup dudes and dudetts, well i was wondering if there is any linux that will run windows games? i wanted to use redhat or mandrake but somebody told me that the file extensions wont work at all. so i was wondering if there is another linux that supposrts windows extensions? and also has anybody tried lindows? one more thing i have a 40 gb in my comp and i was wondering about dual booting.

Some windows applications will work with a windows-compatibility layer under linux.

Look for the Wine project. There is a special games-version in development called WineX.

But there is no catch-all solution, generally windows applications will not run, (or run slower) under linux. Native applications are way better performance-wise.

File-extensions are handled differently under linux: they just indicate the file type as an assistance. Executables do not need the .exe / .com etc file extensions. File-extensions work fine, but more as a convenience to the user, not the system.
(it has other means of determining executability)

Edited for formatting

did a quick search for 'lindows' and found these --1-- --2-- --3-- threads just for starters

Re: linux question
 

Winex
does some directx stuff, but iirc it's not trivial to use.

Quote:

i wanted to use redhat or mandrake but somebody told me that the file extensions wont work at all. so i was wondering if there is another linux that supposrts windows extensions?

What do you mean by extensions?
Windows and Linux are different operating systems. For the most part they run completely different programs.

Quote:

one more thing i have a 40 gb in my comp and i was wondering about dual booting.

40gb should be plenty. you can run linux on 5-10 with tons of space.

First, you should definitely read the new notice at the top of this forum.

Regarding games, think of it this way. You don't expect to be able to run Windows games on Mac OS and vice-versa, and the same goes for Linux. However, there are ways to coax the games into running, through use of things such as WineX. But it's not something that doesn't require thought and it's not something that's inherently "easy" to do. They're different operating systems and, as such, act like different operating systems.

There are a few games that have been ported to Linux...NeverWinter Nights is one I know off the top of my head. I'm almost positive theres black and white, the Age of games, and a few others.

You can't expect games running through an emulator to run very well, but good luck.

WINE Is Not an Emulator (I love recursive acronyms :D). IIRC, it takes the API calls and converts them into something Linux can understand...or something like that. Forgive my termonology...I know what I mean, but I'm not sure how to call it as I'm not a programmer.

Dead on. WINE is an "alternate implementation of the Windows API". Emulators get sued, as reverse-engineering copyrighted works is illegal. Creating an alternate implementation of a published API, though, is totally fair game.

Try WineX if you really want to play Win games on linux.
I was never able to get Wine to work till I tried WineX. I was able to get HL, WC, DiabloII running well with little configuration. Pay for the subcription, it's well worth it.