I think it was the fact that Microsoft Windows felt restricting and lacking a lot of features and my low budget (no way am i going to pay over $200 for an operating system!) (Vista was the only thing in the stores at the time). I guess you could say, i got spoiled by KDE and open source software: the eye-candy, the customizability, the stability, security, et cetera. I've been with Ubuntu since, i think, 6.10, and with each new version that comes out, i'm loving it even more (i'm currently running 8.04 beta). The only games i play on my Linux machine are Call of Duty 4 and Warzone2100; only Warzone2100 runs natively, since it became open source (it was one of my favorite RTS games for the Playstation console). If people ever give up on their projects, they should give out the source code to the community, just like the creators of Warzone2100.


Don't install DirectX through WINE, that'll ruin WINE's own DirectX immitation DLLs (if any)! In order to have a better chance of playing games through WINE, you must first patch WINE with the 3dmark patch, which you can download at the WINE website. This makes WINE compile its "DirectX" DLLs for use for games. This is how i got Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare, to work. Deny any DirectX installation that comes with your games, or else it'll mess everything up. I remember letting CoD4's DirectX installation go through—i therefore was not able to play CoD4.

Thanks for that tip... I actually did try to install DX9.0c, before I saw this post of yours, but fortunately, it didn't install, some error with the M$ installer or something... I shall try that Merk3D patch, and report back... Not that I want to play many games, just these few logical games, that don't exist for linux yet (or I hadn't found them)...

I got very spoiled using linux, ability to do everything in an instant... I personally don't like using my mouse to click around, and so, everything is available to me through terminal... Schedule tasks and such with cron, install practically anything with apt-get or dpkg... My ADSL network is actually working on it's full speed now, not only 90% of it... Heck, I even got my old TV card to work in ubuntu...

I don't have special effects turned on, but when I tried them, I was playing with the rotating cube for 20 minutes like a craed child lol...

Anyways, those who say linux is hard to use, don't have a clue... I used linux a few years back, it was red Hat 6.0, and THAT was hard to use, nowadays, everything starts to be more and more acceptable for newbies... Heck, even my 53-year old mom and dad have learned to use Ubuntu, surf the web, play games, write emails, even install new stuff...

i remember tryin slackware way back in 2000 had it running on a p3 toshiba was mint! loved it these days im using a heavily customised version of gutsy ubuntu! also made my own distrobution of linux using LFS [linux from scratch] only command line at the moment but im working on it!

as with games for linux

try something called codega i can run oblivion and f.e.a.r on my machine with it just fine! ok its not free but a small one month subcription doesnt break the bank!

I moved to Linux because i was annoyed with Vista, i also liked the sounds of decreased chances of viruses (they were a pain in the lower regions).
My main reason for moving though was the fact that its so majorily simple to set-up and run a web server from your computer (not to mention secure I've managed to close off all my ports (for those who understand) including (somehow) port 80).
Also i was bored, nothing to do all the games i played had gotten boring and notepad was so simple it bored me (I'd heard about GEdit). So one very cold afternoon after blowing my computer with a hair dryer because it refused to start, i set about finding the Linux version for me, this was easy due to Linux's distribution finder, and after 5 or so minutes i was downloading PCLinuxOS, i wanted Ubuntu but that didn't like my screen resolution.

It's so simple to use and installing stuff is *insert word here* easy, after a week i had ton's of new games to play open office installed and a program to download music off you tube and then put them onto my ipod. I've recommended Linux to everyone and hope they take my advice!

I am a mac user, however the desktop (once i download the DVD iso) will be running edubuntu, a variation of ubuntu. For a while I dual-booted it. I liked it. My lil brother didn't. Then again he likes to play his games, nothing special, just sim city and sims and a few other ones.

Basically I'm tired of having to fix it. It keeps coming up with an error 'Cannot mount boot volume' at start up. The thing that annoys me, I can mount it in linux, about 4 different distros. Basically I have given up on windows on that computer. Edubuntu all the way, comes with openoffice, firefox, pidgin messenger as well as a stack of education related software. V.good

My old laptop has not given me trouble however, not like this desktop. My old laptop has given me other problems not covered by warranty, The lid broke a few months after i got it, because it was WAY too tight and snapped one of the bits its mounted on.

Sorry, I'm rambling.

There are a lot of games for linux, but it can also be unreliable so you have to be careful.

When I first switched over to Linux I used Ubuntu. Love at first sight! Worked out of the box with my old desktop and made it run like it was new. Now I have it installed on a removable hard drive so I can take my desktop with me. Windows was just getting too... well crappy.. I was tired of all the malfunctions and hardware incompatibility. Thank you Ubuntu!

The main reason I switched to linux is that performance on windows are really bad if compared with linux one.
On my KDE desktop I can work with 40 windows/tabs opened and all works perfectly.
(Mac os need a too expensive hardware - according to what it offers)

Of course there are a lot of reasons because I use only nix systems now:
- stability
- speed
- nice and high customizable desktop
- fancy 3d desktop with old hardware
- no need to cr*ck expensive programs (like office)
- virus menace near to zero
etc

I switched to linux to learn about computers/operating systems, but I found that I really liked the cutomizability of it. I use arch linux which is really lightweight; you only put on the things you need, nothing more, nothing less. I love this because I can have a faster, more stable system than Windows which is so BLOATED that I don't know what to do with it. I love having a choice of desktops with linux as well; it's tough going back to Windows and having to use everything the way it is and having little control.

Unlike some of the linux nuts here I have not converted, yet (rval and electriv) and so as long as XP works for me I don't think I be going to linux any time soon although I am putting in hours into it just to check it out and what not.