Quick question about Linux Ubuntu

[Insurge]

I just want to know if i make a partition on drive C: for the OS Ubuntu, can I adjust it after I install ubuntu on the partition? Can I decrease how much space that partition has and add it to my current partition C:?

Also, do games run better on ubuntu since it uses less ram and has less startup programs (from what I heard)?

 

[xKodiakx]

I'm not sure about the resizing partition part... the game part it's "possible" depending on the game. It takes a LOT of effort to get any game to work except the few that are native to Linux (UT, and Quake)

You'll have more resources to give to the game, but things like DX and whatnot don't always play well with linux... since it's a Microsoft SDA

 

[trykael]

Ubuntu is not a "gaming" platform. As Kodiak said, you can usually get games to work, but sometimes it takes quite a bit of finagling. Usually, if you're primary use of your computer is for games, you're better off sticking with Windows.

If you want to try out Ubuntu, my suggestion would be to get a cheap, secondary harddrive and install Linux as a second OS. That way you can continue to use Windows while learning Linux.

 

[Insurge]

I have 2 hard drives in my dad's pc, ill steal one to run ubuntu on

Thanks for the replies

 

[Beta]

to add to the previous posters, i suggest getting more familiar with linux before trying to run every .exe under the tree. it takes a great deal of time to configure linux to your liking, which is a pain but it makes the system more personalized.

 

[Havegooda {A|R}]

You will have a VERY hard time getting any games to run. Good luck.

~Gooda~

 

[n00b-=Ketchup=-]

The fact that Ubuntu uses less system resources isnt going to make a game run any faster unless the game is maxing out your ram. This is because once your ram is full your system uses the swap file in windows and that slows things down. With games like TF2 and CS:S, or DoD:S, 2 Gigabytes is more than enough to run with in windows, even windows vista,.

The main thing you'll notice is a decrease in load times, but nothing will change as far as the actual performance of your machine on the given game.

As these guys have said Linux is difficult to work with most games, it wasnt really made for games, but it DOES work, and there are plenty of Walk-throughs for specific games on the Ubuntu forums.

The format partition sizes-------
No you cant resize a partition without ruining any files contained within said partition.(unless theres some magical program that i dont know about yet.)
And in order to add a partition to your existing C: your going to need 1 of 2 things
1. If your existing partition doesnt use ALL of your disk, then you can simply stick a second partition in the remaining disk space and your good to go, but i imagine its using 95-98% of it already.
2. Reformat the disk and put a few partitions on it.

---------------------

If your going to get another disk just for Ubuntu, dont limit yourself with a crappy old one, get a decent one at a local Computer store and make sure to put 3 or 4 partitions on it when you first format it so that you can try different variations of linux and windows.

 

[Ghola]

(unless theres some magical program that i dont know about yet.)

Norton Partition Magic can resize just about any partition without damage to the files in the partition.

 

[n00b-=Ketchup=-]

LOL it had magic right in the name=P

well the last time i really messed around with partitions in depth i was a little younger, but regardless,
the rest of my post should be alright=D

 

[Insurge]

Thanks ketchup.

I don't like Norton

 

[gamblor]

If you download the normal ubuntu CD from ubuntu.com, you can just run it as a live cd. This means that it runs entirely from memory and the cd. There's no need to install anything and it doesn't even touch your hard drive (that is, unless you manually mount it). Once you reboot all of your changes are lost, but it's a good way to to try out a Linux distribution before you decide to install it on the hard drive. Also, don't try gaming while running from a live cd...the performance just won't be there.

If you can't get a second drive in the system then just run the Ubuntu installer. It will automatically detect Windows and it will give you a little slider during the install to decide how much space to allocate to Ubuntu and how much to give to Windows. Just drag it until you set the amount of space you want for each. It will install grub into your MBR by default, but it will also automatically edit the menu.lst file for you, so that it dual boots Ubuntu and Windows.

Everyone else is right though, don't install Linux because you think it is going to be a good gaming platform. Most games are built specifically for Windows, so it takes a large amount of tweaking and installing to get things to work on Linux. I was able to successfully get the orange box working on Ubuntu. Here is a how-to I wrote if you're interested. Note however that installing the nvidia driver in the latest release of Ubuntu is much easier than the instructions in this readme.

http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=151354

P.S. AIX also allows the ability to change the size of filesystems (it allows you to increase anyway, never decrease), even while they are mounted! Then again, no one in their right mind runs AIX at home as their main desktop rig. Makes a good server OS though.