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See the Installation FAQ on TransGaming's site for the latest on which cards work great and which have problems. The software requirements are:

Getting WineX 2.0

You'll have to go to the TransGaming Technologies Web site to get WineX 2.0, though its predecessor is available built into the Mandrake Linux 8.1 Gaming Edition. Once there, you have two options, but I recommend that you sign up for the TransGamer Club for $5 a month, at a minimum of $15 -- doing so gives you access to the pre-packaged binaries rather than having to deal with the source code, and it supports the company. Even if you're just signing up to get WineX 2.0 and cancel this is a good deal.

Once you've signed up for the club, you can download TransGaming products in a variety of pre-built packages:

What's different

The WINE project itself is a free and open quasi-emulator of Microsoft Windows 3.x, 9x, and NT that enables Unix users to run a growing variety of Microsoft Windows programs. WineX, however, is specifically built for Linux, and has a focus on game technology -- which tends to push the envelope in using special operating system-specific features such as DirectX.

WineX 1.0 was first announced in October 2001, when TransGaming Technologies started working with MandrakeSoft to build the Mandrake Linux Gaming Edition. Back then, WineX 1.0 subscribers got:

Of course, there were many interim additions between the main versions, but we don't want to get too lost in history here. WineX 2.0 adds a variety of features onto the original WineX that vastly improves the list of working games:

See TransGaming Technologies' Web site for the full improvement and feature listings, and the list of supported games. You'll want to make sure that the game(s) you want to play are on the list and ranked at a 4 or 5 before you even start this journey, unless you want to contribute by adding a game to the list and trying to get it properly supported.

Installing and configuring WineX 2.0

Once you've got the proper package type, just su to root and install it as is appropriate with your package manager. The RPM installed without a single complaint on my SuSE 7.3 system. That's pretty much it. Installing WineX 2.0 is the easy part! It's the games that can get tricky.

It's important before proceeding that you go to the TransGaming Technologies Web site and read through both the FAQ and Forum associated with the particular game(s) you're interested in installing. Each game has its own unique issues with WineX 2.0 and particular hardware types, and there are variations on the basic installation instructions from game to game as well.

Installing Diablo 2 on Linux with WineX 2.0

Diablo 2 is listed among the games best supported by WineX 2.0 (ranked at 5). Because I just so happen to have that game lying around, I figured that was a good place to start. After locating the Installation FAQ in TransGaming's Support section, I found the handy instructions, so I put the Diablo II install disk into the CD-ROM drive, mounted the CD-ROM onto the filesystem with the GUI mount shortcut, and then in a terminal window typed winex Setup.exe ... oops, I got an odd error that it couldn't find a particular library. After digging through the Diablo II-specific forum, I saw that the error message itself actually has an error in it. Amusing.

Turns out for Diablo II, I had to type winex /mnt/cdrom/Install.exe before my system was happy. Because this is a review, I went for the gusto and the full install. I have no problem with the copy protection (I'm a good citizen, I own my copy of Diablo II, so I have a valid CD key). Linux makes things interesting with all the CD swapping that has to be done for a full Diablo II installation, because I had to unmount and mount each time I swap CDs.

Ironically, my test Linux box is the same machine I originally installed Diablo II on in Windows, and the installation took just as long here as I remember it taking then. I got the Play window, but that wouldn't work here, so I closed it, and it turned out that hidden behind the Play window was a dialog box to test my video. That's fine, and I passed with flying colors and a few clicks and black screens. I chose the 3D mode of course, and the configuration seemed to be done.

Playing Diablo II on Linux with WineX 2.0 in 3D

Back to the Installation FAQ, and the Diablo II Play CD -- be sure to have the Play CD in the CD-ROM drive when you try to start this game in WineX 2.0, or the program just exits with no errors. I changed directories from where I installed the RPM to TransGaming_Drive/Program Files/Diablo II, and then typed winex Game.exe to start Diablo II. It eventually came up ... let's just say that this machine is a 450MHz, and you should really listen to the TransGaming folks' recommendation of a machine 500MHz or faster! The movie played fine but the game was jerky and unplayable, sometimes taking five seconds or more to react to a movement of the mouse. But, I noticed that the FAQ lists problems with the ATI Rage 128, so it could just be my test machine.

So, I went over to my actual desktop box (running Red Hat 7.2) and went through the same installation process, and everything worked exactly as I detailed it earlier -- except the install was much faster because the CD-ROM drive is twice the speed of the first. I changed to the proper directory and type winex Game.exe -- same error as before, which I got around again by typing winex /mnt/cdrom/Game.exe. It took a good 30 seconds or so before anything actually happened, and then I got a window with the Diablo II opening movie. The movie was fine again, a little jerky here and there in the video, but the audio was smooth. Once the game started, it was slow enough to be unplayable again, but this time I was using a Guillemot Xentor 32 video card (this is also a PIII 450Mz). The game audio was fine. The video and mouse were terrible.

Giving Diablo II one more try, in 2D

I decided to give Diablo II another chance, and so I wiped the previous installation and went with a single player install, and 2D graphics. Doing so easily doubled the play speed, bringing me from having to wait for my mouse pointer to move to a mostly smooth playing experience. The game still took a good 30 seconds to start, though.

Saving a game and returning to where you left off worked flawlessly. The background shading for shop and inventory items based on whether you can use them or not, and if they're magical or not, worked fine. The overlay map worked, as did the in-game mouseovers for creatures, hidden items, and even the shortcut bar at the bottom. I could even use my preferred tactic of playing with the map overlay on most of the time (I have no sense of game direction!) without problems.

Entering a dungeon was seamless. Combat worked fine, though sometimes there was a pause while approaching the monsters -- I seem to remember having this same problem in Windows. Quests also worked, which is very important in a game like Diablo II. The game did crash on me once or twice even with this setup, though, taking my whole machine with it, but not with a cause I could easily replicate.

Other experiments

There are enough games on the list that I actually had a couple more to try before I was through. I installed SimCity 2000, which had a ranking of 2 out of 5, and while the installation was flawless, actually getting the sucker to run wasn't going to happen. It managed to start and gave me the function menus, but it's hard to play with a simulated city if there's no window with land to build it on.

So, I gave up on that one, decided to be adventurous and try the 0-ranked Asheron's Call. As you might imagine, that one wouldn't even install, but I did get a partial welcome screen with an install button. I may be an optimist, but that doesn't qualify as my glass being half full.

Next, I pulled out an old one that's not even on the list: RISK. The InstallShield support was great, I managed to get it installed up until a crash at the end -- at least it didn't take my whole machine with it.

Wrapping up

I'm not going to review WineX 2.0 against any of the games that didn't have the ranking of 5, as I don't think that's fair, so I'll stick with WineX 2.0 and Diablo II. While my Linux boxes are 50MHz short of the minimum recommended speed, that's really not a significant difference -- and the machines have the required 128MB of RAM. For a game such as Diablo II, I think the 500MHz minimum with 3D acceleration is overly optimistic, especially when I got the same performance with two different video cards, but the 2D performance is just fine.

To my unrefined eye I really don't see much of a difference between the two (I'd need to put them side by side), especially since there was no telling how smooth the animation was in the 3D version with the speed problems I had. My major worry now is that I'd forgotten how much fun Diablo II was, but I don't have much time for games!

I don't feel I can give WineX 2.0 too high a score, though, until TransGaming gets its documentation better organized. I had to dig around far too much to find the information I needed, and some of the answers were incomplete, or conflicting.

Product: WineX 2.0
Manufacturer: TransGaming Technologies
Availability: Now
Price: $15

Ratings (out of 5 stars) :
Features: 4
Speed: 3
Value: 4
Usability: 3
Overall: 3.5

Dee-Ann LeBlanc has been writing about computers since 1994, when she did her first computer book. Since then, she's written 10 books, more than 30 articles, a number of courses, and 12 presentations (which she also presented), with most of these works involving Linux. Her latest book is "Linux Routing" from New Riders, and you can find out more at http://www.Dee-AnnLeBlanc.com/.