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any Linux users here?


TimKerbin

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I have 16GB of installed RAM (with about the same amount of virtual RAM), and 2GB of dedicated video RAM. I've often thought about setting up a dual-boot system with KSP running exclusively under Linux on its own partition or drive. I've read that KSP runs better under Linux and is able to utilise more if not all of the installed memory. Are there any Linux KSP users on here who could verify this? Do you still get memory crashes? Is it still limited to using 3.5GB of available RAM before it crashes? Which version of Linux do you recommend for KSP?

I tried the 64-bit version of KSP a while ago, but it seemed too unstable; I don't know if it's been improved since. I've also tried the '-forceopengl' command switch - it seemed to work a little better but was still glitchy. I suppose I could go back to vanilla KSP, but once you start using mods (I have 21 installed) that add so much more to the game you find it hard to go back. Besides, I have more than enough RAM, I shouldn't have to! Blasted Windows! It's so annoying when your PC far exceeds all specifications for a game yet your stupid OS's architecture ties your hands and prevents you from fully exploiting your PC's power.

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Good heavens, that's a meaty PC you have (at least compared to mine it is)! Personally, I don't find unmodded KSP crashy at all. I use 64 bit Linux Mint on a PC with 6GB of RAM, AMD Phenom 9500 Quad-Core Processor (4420.11 bogomips) and an Nvidia graphics card with 256MB of video RAM and a 540Mhz GPU. It's a refurbed PC, old kit. Oh, I use Xfce as my desktop, in case that matters. With mods, it depends very much on the individual mods and sometimes the combination of mods you use that causes crashes. For instance, I;ve used Firespitter before without problems, but when I tried using it alongside MKS and visual enhancement mods, it seemed to be Firespitter that was causing crashiness (the others simply slowed things down). I'm not saying there's anything wrong with Firespitter, mind, just that in combination with the other mods I was using then my PC wasn;t a happy bunny :-( Your mileage may vary. Good luck!

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I run Xubuntu (use to run Ubuntu, but switched over for better customizability over the desktop) On my HP 2 in 1. I use it for school and only put KSP on it since it was steam+linux supported, so no need for dealing with wine. It can run the game fairly smoothly if the part count stays below roughly 100 lol.

x64 i5-4210U CPU @ 1.70GHZ 6GB ram

Personally I feel a tiny bit of performance boost compared to running KSP for a limited time in windows 8.1 But the effects aren't much. The fact I have intel graphics makes even smaller craft hurt.

I never had the game crash, or had any instability in my short games of KSP. So when it comes to a limited, non-gaming setup Linux or windows really wont do much.

Considering your much more capable stats I would say Linux would help, if there isn't any issues with your more advance specs in the first place. I have been contemplating dual booting my main gaming computer with Linux just for the lolz. If you willing to debug thru linux your probable better off trying and seeing what happens than losing out on using all that ram.

Windows 64-bit was just plain unstable, modded or not modded it wasn't worth it. I am curious how stable the next 64-bit version will be. Its less of a Squad issue and more of a Unity issue. I remember playing with only kerbal engineer and getting multiple crashes per hour. I switched back to 32-bit and getting few to no crashes or bugs in general.

I recommend Linux Mint for robustness if you want a KSP linux boot. Or go with a lighter Distro like Xubuntu to really make the most use of the ram lol. (Really just not normal Ubuntu, the Desktop Manager sucks up more juice)

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I run Xubuntu (use to run Ubuntu, but switched over for better customizability over the desktop) On my HP 2 in 1. I use it for school and only put KSP on it since it was steam+linux supported, so no need for dealing with wine. It can run the game fairly smoothly if the part count stays below roughly 100 lol.

x64 i5-4210U CPU @ 1.70GHZ 6GB ram

Personally I feel a tiny bit of performance boost compared to running KSP for a limited time in windows 8.1 But the effects aren't much. The fact I have intel graphics makes even smaller craft hurt. I never had the game crash, or had any instability in my short games of KSP. So when it comes to a limited, non-gaming setup Linux or windows really wont do much.

Considering your much more capable stats I would say Linux would help, if there isn't any issues with your more advance specs in the first place. I have been contemplating dual booting my main gaming computer with Linux just for the lolz. If you willing to debug thru linux your probable better off trying and seeing what happens than losing out on using all that ram.

Windows 64-bit was just plain unstable, modded or not modded it wasn't worth it. I am curious how stable the next 64-bit version will be. Its less of a Squad issue and more of a Unity issue. I remember playing with only kerbal engineer and getting multiple crashes per hour. I switched back to 32-bit and getting few to no crashes or bugs in general.

I recommend Linux Mint for robustness if you want a KSP linux boot. Or go with a lighter Distro like Xubuntu to really make the most use of the ram lol. (Really just not normal Ubuntu, the Desktop Manager sucks up more juice)

To be honest, I've never dual-boot before and the only OS I've ever used is Windows. But recently I downloaded Ubuntu, burned it to a boot DVD and tried to run KSP (the Linux version, obviously) under that...but nothing happened. I kept getting error messages, like something was missing. I didn't understand what it was saying. I'm still a noob when it comes to running alternative OSs. So is Ubuntu a form of Linux? If so I don't understand why the Linux version of KSP wouldn't work. I guess I need to read up more on how to use Linux/Ubuntu!

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Xubuntu user here and I'd recommend that over Mint as a few players have had issues with Mint's drivers recently.

There's one bug that can cause issues with KSP x64 on Linux, but that's easily fixed and my Linux thread has instructions on doing it (which I will tidy up when time permits).

KSP can run better, though it helps if you have an Nvidia graphics card, and a dual boot would let you run both Linux and Windows so you wont lose anything.

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Xubuntu user here and I'd recommend that over Mint as a few players have had issues with Mint's drivers recently.

There's one bug that can cause issues with KSP x64 on Linux, but that's easily fixed and my Linux thread has instructions on doing it (which I will tidy up when time permits).

KSP can run better, though it helps if you have an Nvidia graphics card, and a dual boot would let you run both Linux and Windows so you wont lose anything.

I have 2x1GB AMD cards connected with SLi. Anyway, I guess I'll have to experiment. Thanks for all the help :D

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I've been playing KSP exclusively on Linux since 0.23, usually the 64-bit version. Crashes have been rare in my experience, there are no memory usage limits with KSP.x86_64.

Currently my distro is Xubuntu, it's a good once to choose I reckon.

Mind you, I've been using Linux as my main OS for a decade. It's a big step to install Linux just for KSP, especially with the next KSP update expected in late October/early November with stable 64-bit for Windows.

I suggest you run the game from the command line, that way you'll see any errors it spits out.

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Tim: Error messages... I'm not surprised, running off a DVD. Probably the program wants to write config data to your home folder, but can't because it's read-only on a DVD.

As an intermediate step before dual-booting I'd recommend installing Virtualbox and installing Ubuntu into a virtual machine that you create using that. (Sounds difficult, but it shouldn't be if you take it slowly and read what's on the screen.) You have plenty of RAM, which is the main thing you need with virtual machines. The virtual machine will need about 30 to 50 gigabytes of your disk (one large file as far as Windows knows or cares).

To answer your question: yes, Ubuntu is a kind of Linux -- the "standard" one for home users at this point. (If there is such a thing as a "Standard" in Linux...)There are lots of re-mixes of Linux, called distributions or 'distros' for short. Ubuntu is one distro; Xubuntu is a sub-flavor of it that uses a GUI at about the Windows XP level (no search box in the start menu). Linux Mint is a separate distro despite being based on Ubuntu and completely compatible with it, and with a GUI (a choice of GUIs) that most people find more comfortable than vanilla Ubuntu's.

Edited by manaiaK
remove a bad 's'.
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I'd just like to add that Xubuntu has the excellent Whisker menu now so start menu search is a thing :)

Yeah you won't get KSP to run directly with a live CD, most live CD's anyway and certainly not Mint or Ubuntu, as the live session is really just for trying it out, and it'd need installing properly in order to work for games.

I've not been able to get KSP to work to a playable level in a VM yet, but linuxgurugamer managed to do it in Fedora, but I did get KSP to start in Puppy linux (which can install a proper gfx driver even though it's run from a CD or usb stick, it saves all changes to a persistent file, yes even back to the cd it's on), so if the patcher is fixed, Puppy or Fatdog (64bit Puppy) could be a good way for Windows users to run KSP without any installing or dual booting, it'd just need the patcher rolled in and some simple instructions to get set up.

Also this probably should be in Space Lounge as it's not about KSP directly, but about operating systems, moving!

Edited by sal_vager
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To be honest, I've never dual-boot before and the only OS I've ever used is Windows. But recently I downloaded Ubuntu, burned it to a boot DVD and tried to run KSP (the Linux version, obviously) under that...but nothing happened. I kept getting error messages, like something was missing. I didn't understand what it was saying. I'm still a noob when it comes to running alternative OSs. So is Ubuntu a form of Linux? If so I don't understand why the Linux version of KSP wouldn't work. I guess I need to read up more on how to use Linux/Ubuntu!

A quick guess is did you partition out the drive and actually install Ubuntu to your hard drive. You can run most Linux Distros from the boot disk to check things out, but this doesn't install it unless you tell it to do so. I don't know if KSP would work without actually starting it from an installed OS. I also have to ask did you run it from Steam (easiest, more or less runs out of the box) or by itself. In which case you need to jump through some hoops. The error messages, and where they come up would be the most important. It could be an OS issue or KSP issue. I don't know from what you told me.

Linux is the OS. Ubuntu is a type of Linux, think of Windows 10 being a type of Windows, but Windows 10 is the OS. Unlike Windows versions, which all come out Linearly (XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10) Linux has multiple different version running around the world at the same time. Since its free to distribute for the most part, people make their own versions, thus multiple people = multiple versions. Its all based off the same sort of structure, so the underlying way the system is running is the same, even if it doesn't look the same.

Ultimately its not plug and play when it comes to Ubuntu or any Linux distribution (Xubuntu is being mentioned a lot in the thread)

There's this thread which has A LOT of info on how to get Linux going for KSP. I went the easy route and just ran it from steam, which offers some games with Linux support. So getting it to run was the same as windows, get steam, download game, and run. No problems.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/92231-The-Linux-Thread!

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I have an SSD with Windows and I've installed Linux on a partition on the HDD. I have KSP installed there, it works and there are no memory crashes...

But I hardly ever use it because everything else that's not on the Internet, I have it in Windows instead of Linux, so I just boot directly to Windows and do everything there.

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