Over the course of this weekend, I managed to set up an old computer (with an i7 processor and GTX 1050 graphics card) as a gaming rig, running GNU+Linux. (It actually works, much to my satisfaction and surprise). It only took three attempts, since I couldn't get Manjaro (the supposed distribution that makes gaming on Linux easy) to boot, despite a clean install. Instead, I opted for Lubuntu.
How Does it Work?
From what I understand, the setup requires four things:
- Wine: A WINdows Emulator that translates Win32 API calls into Linux equivalents (although it's quite limited and buggy/hit-or-miss with anything newer than Win 9x applications).
- Proton: Like Wine, but better
- Vulkan: A graphics abstraction layer that sits between games and the graphics card, making the OS they run on largely irrelevant.
- Steam: The popular gaming platform from Valve
Does it Run Doom?
Yes, it does (both in DOS mode through DOSBox and the Steam "Doom I & II" launcher (which includes the Plutonia Experiment and a library of various mods made throughout the game's history). I haven't tried the various "Free Doom" options such as "Chocolate Doom", "Free Doom" and "PR Boom" as there's no need to, IMO.
It also runs Half-Life, which is good. I've yet to try other games in my Steam library, but I doubt I'll run into problems with them (or so I hope, anyway). I'm hoping that it will run the original Max Payne (although it's not available on Steam; I'll have to try get it from elsewhere).
After many years of trying, I can finally ditch Windows as I no longer have a use case for keeping it. Woot!
Update
Although I managed to download an ISO of Max Payne (from the Internet Archive, IIRC) and install it on Windows 2000 (running on a VM), I can't run it. The game complains that it needs to run on a "Direct X 8 capable display adaptor". I don't know what that means or how to fix it, since I installed DirectX 8 (although it apparently only works on Windows XP, which I don't think Max Payne supports) and changed the the colour bit depth from 256 colours to 32-bit "True Color". I assume I need to install additional drivers. I've yet to search the error message and find a fix (if there is one). I doubt I'll have any luck finding a Windows 2000 era PC for sale or that I'll be able to run Windows 2000 on modern hardware.
It's not a great loss, considering I've never played Max Payne and I have over a hundred games in my Steam library (most of which I have yet to play)! However, it is annoying that I can't play it through a VM. Oh well, so much for that.
