I'm looking to build a retro PC using hardware from the Windows 98/XP era, and I want to run a Linux distribution on it. My question is: if I use a Linux distro that's tailored for older hardware, will I be able to play classic PC games like Diablo 1 and 2, Half-Life 1 and 2, and Halo CE/Halo 2? I've heard about running games through Wine—is this similar to how they would work on Windows XP? Any insights would be great!
5 Answers
I started my Linux journey back in 2003, and back then, Wine's support for games was pretty hit-or-miss. You might get a few of your games working, but be prepared for a bit of a challenge. You could check the WineHQ website archives to see what support was like for those specific titles back in the day.
Make sure to consider a 64-bit build since most user-friendly distros are starting to drop 32-bit support altogether. Tiny Core is an option, but be prepared for a learning curve.
I recently installed AntiX on a couple of old laptops, and I'm currently trying out Q4OS. The GUI reminds me a lot of Win98 or XP! Wine is usually easy to install in AntiX and tends to work fine, but Windows 95/98 games can be hit-or-miss. You might even want to set up a virtual machine for better compatibility.
This sounds like an interesting project! I tried running Halo from Steam on Linux Mint with a Xeon processor, and I finished Halo 2, but it did push my processor to its limits. Just be cautious; my GPU rarely went above 48% usage. But remember, I was using the digital versions and not the physical discs.
Definitely an experiment! I'd suggest checking out Lutris; it can help with managing different Wine versions for your games. I had a bit of a struggle getting Diablo to work a few years ago—I got a black screen at the menu, but I could still play. If your computer is older, avoid heavy Steam usage; it might not handle it well.
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