i tried to post on that old cedega thread, but it was too old. anyways, the list of games there are the list of games supported right? but what if i want to play games not in that list, will i still be able to play it? and will i be able to use mic office? I think i'm beginning to see the dark side of WIN. How bout the media players and your programs like Nero or Cyberlink... will they work?
I dont know what list you are referring to, but here is the Cedega (Transgaming game database). You can search through the game listings by the title alphabetically. The game being listed DOES NOT mean that it is supported. When you click on a game title, you will be shown the rating of playability. If the game is supported officially by cedega, you will see an "*" (minus the "'s) beside the title of the game. Even if a game is not supported, it does not mean it will not run well. For the record though, I have had a good experience with cedega and their program has run almost every game that I've been interested in. Those that it doesn't run, I just live without... linux is well worth it. As for MS Office, it will not run natively in linux, I'd imagine it would run in Wine (the original emulator that spawned Cedega). And its possible that it would run in cedega. But unless you are set on using MS office in particular, a progam called open office that has its own file extension, plus it supports .doc format and LOTS of others. Open Office includes a few other programs that make it just as powerful as MS office (ie: presentation program, etc). It also works very well. You should definetly give it a shot before trying to emulate MS office... you may be very pleasantly surprised. Once again, programs like Nero and Cyberlink would have to emulate to work because they are Windows<tm> native. Linux has its own alternatives to these programs though, that are completely free and work just as well if not better. For Nero, K3b. For Cyberlink, Xine. These are not the only alternatives, but they are, IMO, the best. If there are other programs that you are concerned about being able to replace, just ask, and I'm sure that someone will be happy to help you by giving you the name of the equivalent program in linux. Hope this has helped! -Fred
When you make the switch, its best to keep proprietary software to a minimum (e.g. cyberlink), unless you want to play games. Use openoffice instead of MS Office, use the free media players instead of cyberlink. Programs running under windows emulation like WINE will not have direct access to hardware as they might do in Windows, so some functionality will not be there. E.g. Nero won't work under emulation (not burning discs anyway). K3b is just as good though. As Fred said, even if a game isn't listed, it may still be playable under Cedega. Never tried using Cedeega to run office though.
i hate open office with a passion, but besides that, thanks for the replies! OH, one more question, is cedega free?
No cedega isn't free. Its $5 a month for the subscription, the minimum is 3 months. So the price is $15 total. Within those 3 months you can have updates, and after that you can stop and just use the version you have or continue with the subscription. Why do you hate openoffice?
The best way to run MS Office in Linux is with Crossover Office. It's non-free, but not expensive. Otherwise, I recommend OpenOffice.org which is MS-Office compatible and totally free. Also, it runs natively on Linux, UNIX, Windows, Mac and others. As for Nero and PowerDVD, there is free software that is equivilent. If you really, really like Nero and want to run it on Linux, there's a Linux version available from Ahead. However, K3b is an excellent burner, is free, and comes with Linux. As for PowerDVD, I watch my DVD's in Xine which has more features anyway. All other video formats I play in the excellent Mplayer. Try them, I think you'll like 'em.
ok, i have to give kudos to open office for the amount of files it supports and its compatibility, but office gets all the points for user friendliness right? alright, one more question, will i be able to run sata hd on linux?
Well, actually I have to use both suites on a regular basis and I'd have to say OOo is the more user-friendly of the two. The options and tools are layed out in the menus in a way which makes sense, where in MS Office it seems really random. Otherwise, the two suites are extremely similar as far as look & feel are concerned. Just make sure you're using the latest version of OpenOffice.org; older versions aren't nearly as good. Yep.
User friendlyness is such a relative term. You are used to using the menus and features of MS Office, so naturally you would think that it is more user friendly. What if you had used OpenOffice? I think you would find MS Office difficult to use. You know where certain features of the appliaction are, probably from school as many people do. You'll never see what alternative software can do if you don't put in the effort to learn new things. Unlearn what you have learned (Yoda), and see that OpenOffice, although a little slow, is very powerful. Unless you class the damn paperclip as being user friendly then no.
i have a question about the cedega thing so if i buy cedega for three months it will work fine with the games i have i just have to re-puchase it to play new games because of the updates, i've always been confused on how that works, pretty much the only things holding me back from linux
I wish that was the case, but that's not necessarily so. Pretty much, the more the game / program relies on strange, obscure, or obsolete aspects of Windows buried deep within the API (or on the fringes of it), the less likely it'll work in Cedega. The reverse is also true; the more standard the code base, the more likely it'll work well in Cedega. A good example is with engines like the Doom3/Quake4 engine. It was built specifically to be cross-platform, so even if it's compiled for Windows, chances are it'll run flawlessly in Linux under Cedega. (Incidentally, there is a native version of Doom3 for Linux, so Cedega is not needed for that title. But "Prey" is a Windows-only game which was built on the D3/Q4 engine, and it works flawlessly).
