Gaming on Yellow Dog

[Clinton MacDonald]

Mr. Phunkie:

phunkie@phunkie.net wrote:
> My primary interest in using Yellow Dog is to finally do away with
> my Windows PC. I came across a Linux program called WineX, which
> will run Windows games on Linux. The I found Yellow Dog and figured,
> if YDL is a fully functioning Linux that works on Mac, shouldn't it
> run WineX and let me play PC games with full support for my video
> card?

As Dr. Hacker pointed out, you will probably not be able to run WINE 
(which stands for WINE Is Not an Emulator -- a hint as to its mechanism) 
on a PowerPC-based Mac anytime soon.

> I haven't tried it yet, I'm buying a new Mac in abotu 3 weeks and
> will do it then. Anyone have any experience with this? I really 
> would love for it to work so I can ditch the beige box...

How exciting -- even at my advanced age, I always get excited when I 
have convinced myself it is time to upgrade my Mac/PowerBook. Which Mac 
are you planning to buy, and why?

If you really are a gamer, you might want to keep that PC around for 
just this purpose -- or, better still, purchase a Playstation, or Xbox, 
or whatever the kids are running these days. Buying a new Mac for 
*gaming* is probably not a great investment, although there are some 
kick-ass games available:

<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2004/05/09/gamesreview/index.php?redirect=1084219873000>

On the other hand, if you really want to run Linux, think about putting 
Linux on that older beige PC. If it is running a Pentium or AMD chip of 
better than about 300 MHz, you will find that it is an excellent Linux 
box -- and it will even run WINE (even slower chips can be reasonable 
Linux boxes, if you cut back on the resource-intensive Window Managers). 
This won't make the beige box into a decent gaming machine, but it 
*will* make it into a decent workstation. Or, if you have an older 
PowerPC-based Mac kicking around, that would be a good candidate for 
Yellow Dog Linux.

What I am getting at is, buy a *new* Mac to run the Mac OS X operating 
system, which is quickly approaching greatness (in my opinion). Anything 
else would be a waste of money and of a great computer.

Just my two cents!

Best wishes,
Clint

-- 
Dr. Clinton C. MacDonald | <mailto:clint DOT macdonald AT sbcglobal DOT net>