Q about linux

djcrisp

hi i have a small netbook tht is getting out of date. its just not working fast enough to do the things im trying to do which is mostly games. ive pretty much tweaked my pc as good as i can without overclocking.

1: im wondering if linux is less demanding on my computers resources as xp and if so how great of an impact can i expect

2:will games be harder to get working on it

3:pretty much with the idea of getting my games to run better is linux even worth considering

4: ive seen tht its possable to run both xp and linux on the same computer,so if all the above questions look good for wat my purpose is..wat r the steps ill need to take to getting started. will i need any extra programs, drivers, updates.

thx for taking the time to help

mfillpot

1. Some of the lightweight linux distros are lighter than X with respect to resources.

2. You would have to use playonlinux, wine or another application layer application to attempt to play windows games in linux. However since they would not be native on Linux do not expect them to work great or in some cases even work.

3. See #2

4. You can setup the computer as a dual boot system by shrinking the windows partition and installing a linux distro in the usused space, it is quite straight-forward and the installer should include nearly all drivers necessary unless you have cheap parts which may not have drivers available.

djcrisp

thx man..well let me give you a little more info

im mostly trying to run minecraft which is able to run on linux from what ive heard...see im working on my own server and even after hours of reading and tweaking and boosters, im still haveing issues so sence ive heard linux is less demanding on my computer id figure id explore it as an option

ok say i have an external HD, can i just formatt it and run linux off it and duel boot off that?

mfillpot

There are plenty of guides that will direct you to install and run a Linux based distro from an external hard drive, but be aware that the speed through usB is not as fast as an internal IDE or data drive.

As for minecraft it runs very well on Linux providing that you have java installed, the only precaution is that the app is very resource hungry and demands most of the CPU cycles and RAM, so on an older computer it may be a bit laggy.