Seasoned Roamer Lokiron Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 Hi Everyone, I just installed Ubuntu on my laptop in the hope that it would run a bit smoother so I don't have to buy a new one. But a laptop without Avernum is kind of pointless. I am a complete newbie to Linux, so can anyone help me out here? ps. don't assume that I know anything.. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 The thing you are looking for is Wine, which allows you to run Windows programs in Linux. It's not bug-free yet, but it's pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasoned Roamer Lokiron Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 Thanks I'll try that out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Easygoing Eyebeast Dintiradan Posted January 21, 2009 Share Posted January 21, 2009 (Erm, I was halfway through this post before I thought about the fact that you might be using a Mac instead of a Windows laptop. What follows below assumes you're using Windows.) Hmmm. The short answer is maybe, but after a lot of work. As I see it, you have three options: Dual-boot Windows and Ubuntu on your laptop. That is, you partition your hard drive in half, keep Windows on one half and install Ubuntu on the other. I have dual-boot Vista/Ubuntu at home, but I don't know how difficult it is to partition your hard drive without wreaking existing data. I just bought a second hard drive and installed Linux on that. When you turn on your laptop, you'll be given the option of booting up Ubuntu or Windows. All you have to do is install Avernum 5 on the Windows partition. This is probably the best solution, allowing you to run Avernum 5 and any other Windows programs you want natively. However, you will have two operating systems installed on your hard drive (though only one will be running at a time). If space is an issue, this won't work. Also, as you said, you find Windows slow on your laptop, so this might also be a problem. On the other hand, the next two solutions will be slow ones as well. Look into running a virtual machine. I use VMWare Player at work. What you do is take an 'image' of one computer. Then, you can send that image to another computer, which may have a different OS, architecture, whatever. When you load the image, VMWare player acts as a virtual machine (hence the name), faking the underlying hardware and letting you run a Windows OS in a Linux environment. The downside of this is creating the image. VMWare Player can be downloaded without cost, but VMWare's program for creating images must be bought. It's possible that there are free programs available for creating images; I've never needed to look into them before. Also, running software on a virtual machine will always be slower than running the software natively. Not by a horrible amount, but still significant. The final option is to use Wine. I've never used Wine, so you're on your own on this one. Also, other people have tried to make older Spiderweb Software games work with WINE and failed. Maybe it's possible that the newer games and newer versions of Wine will work together, but don't keep your hopes up. EDIT: Thuryl's already directed you to Wine, I see. Hopefully that works out. To sum up my post and throw in my two cents: dual-boot if your computer is capable of it, and use Wine otherwise. Use a virtual machine as a last resort, and even then it's probably not worth it. Let us know how things turn out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasoned Roamer Lokiron Posted January 21, 2009 Author Share Posted January 21, 2009 Ok, I have installed Wine, but it seems unable to install Avernum. Is this because it is only able to run Windows applications and not install them? EDIT2: To answer my own question. I am a retard - I just had to right-click the .exe and choose Open with Wine, and then it installed just fine - I'll report back on the actual performance. EDIT3: Running it in WINE turns out to be very slow, so I think I'll just play Avernum on my stationary only.. EDIT: Some system information: I have switched a former windows machine to Ubuntu to increase performance - I am currently in the "demo" version, so windows is still in there somewhere. My harddisk has 27 GB (only 12 free), so space is very limited. I would prefer to be completely windows free, but who wants to lose compatibility? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Understated Ur-Drakon Earth Posted January 22, 2009 Share Posted January 22, 2009 A4-5 ran quite smoothly at my P3-500Mhz comp under Win XP so......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody Feo Takahari Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Incidentally, I vaguely recall a version of the original Avernum that ran on Linux--not with Wine, mind you, but as an actual Linux program. Are there any plans to do something similar with later games? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice Lilith Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 You're thinking of Exile 3 -- and all evidence indicates that it was just the Windows version with an old version of winelib spliced into it, so it basically ran the same as it would under Wine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody Vent Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 It's a suggestion a little weird, but older avernum have Mac OS versions that could probably be emulated in Sheepshaver. I have seen report of people that succeed to make it run in Unbuntu but it's not in English. Some links for the emulator: http://gwenole.beauchesne.info/en/projects/sheepshaver http://www.emaculation.com/ (check also the forums here) If you want attempt this weird road you can contact me by PM so I could send you some base files as some startup disk image of various Mac OS and other files. But that will be only for older Avernum, not the 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasoned Roamer Lokiron Posted January 23, 2009 Author Share Posted January 23, 2009 Thanks for all the ideas, but I don't think I'm gonna go through all of that trouble, since I still got WinXP on my stationary computer, and I would just have to toss the save files around all the time anyway. This IS supposed to be my all work no play computer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan jlsgaladriel Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Quote: It's a suggestion a little weird... Vent, are you French? (C'est une idée un peu bizarre...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody Feo Takahari Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Well, he does have a French keyboard, apparently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan jlsgaladriel Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Yep -- I'd asked the question before he posted that. I feel a little vindication for the time when France was minitel crazy -- they were these little ubiquitous terminal things, before most folks had cell phones -- and you could no longer find a printed phone book for love or money. Hardest thing *ever* on a public terminal with the keys in the wrong place -- from my anglo perspective, of course-- to navigate on the darned things. We're lucky we didn't cause plane crashes calling the tower at Orly airport, when all we wanted was the baggage department... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchling Cockatrice ex post slarto Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 I empathize with your minitel frustration. Good riddance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody Vent Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Yes I'm French from living, for origin it's more complicated. The minitel keyboard has nothing to do with standard french keyboard. Computers french keyboard exist a long time before and in fact the origin is typewriters keyboard, 1867. I'm surprise you guys don't know that. EDIT: And for the comments about keys not well placed that's quite hilarious when you know the origin of that and most probably that this is coming from some American. The placement has been choosed for each major country in order to slow down the typing because if it was too fast the first industrial typewriters had mechanical problems. Here come keyboards for US, French, Germany and probably few other languages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyshakk Koan jlsgaladriel Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Quote: And for the comments about keys not well placed... Now, now, I didn't say they weren't well-placed, I said that guessing which keys corresponded to which letters on an illegible public keyboard -- when I'm used to a qwerty keyboard -- was a nightmare on wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rotghroth Rhapsody Vent Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Well it's weird how I read it, I was probably a bit sensitive or didn't read with enough care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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