January 26, 2000 Web posted at: 12:36 p.m. EST (1736 GMT) by Rawn Shah

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(IDG) -- Now that real commercial-quality games are starting to appear for Linux, it's about time that Linux system vendors gave us a comparable system on which to play them.

Some vendors are stepping up with half-hearted attempts, but appear more interested in keeping the price down than offering a game system with punch. However, gamers are willing to fork out some dollars if they feel that they'll get excellent gameplay in return. The Penguin Computing Gaming System will definitely deliver for these customers.

At $1,995, the Gaming System comes well equipped, with a 500 MHz Athlon processor, 128 MB of RAM, a 3Dfx Voodoo3 3000 card, a Sound Blaster PCI 128 card, Yamaha YST-MS50 speakers, a Toshiba 40x CD-ROM, an Intel 10/100 Mbps Ethernet card, a Gravis Blackhawk digital joystick, several leading games for Linux, and several thick books of documentation. The system does not come with a monitor, but Penguin offers a variety of ViewSonic models to choose from, starting at an additional $420 for a 17-inch model. We tested this system on a 17-inch Sony Trinitron monitor.

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This is the high end of gaming on Linux systems. The graphics card is one of the best currently available, and the sound card hits the limits of Linux's audio capabilities. 128 MB is sufficient memory for most Linux games now available, and all the rest of the features promise proper game play as well. At the same time, this system exhibits features that even makes it great for use at work, if you are so inclined.

Installation ennui

Penguin shipped us a replacement video card and an additional fan to add to the system, but it was still ineffective. We finally managed to get it working, but only in an open area of the room with both side panels removed to increase ventilation. Of course, no one expects to run a computer in that condition, so Penguin sent us a replacement system that exhibited none of the problems.

The 3Dfx Voodoo3 card handles both two- and three-dimensional graphics in a single AGP2x card (unlike some its predecessors) and thus meets all the needs for a video card. There is a TV-out option next to the VGA interface in case you want to hook the system up to a TV instead of a monitor, but very few people do that.

The system comes with 16 MB of video memory, the better to store textures for three-dimensional games. Although there are cards like the Matrox G400 that support up to 32 MB, 16 MB is fine for most gameplay, and only the most graphically intensive three-dimensional games today make use of 32 MB.

It would have been nice to have had the Voodoo3 3500 card instead, though. That card also supports TV input, so that you can watch cable while on the system, but the drivers for it are not yet available. I can't wait until the Voodoo4 and Voodoo5 come out, together with full Linux support.

The joystick unfortunately does not yet have a use in Linux. So far, there are no Linux games that use /dev/js0 to communicate with a joystick; thus, it will remain ineffectual until the game developers get with the program. The only thing I could do was run a test program to actually prove that the drivers were installed and that the joystick directions and buttons worked. The first game that will work with the joystick will most likely be Heavy Gear 2 from Loki Software.

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Fusion audio primers

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With the number of fans in the system -- I counted four -- I would have expected background noise to be much louder than it turned out to be. If you place the system under your desk, you won't notice it much when the audio is not on.

The audio card and speakers create an immersive environment for game playing. While playing Heretic II, I was spooked on several occasions by sounds around my character. The 100-watt bass speaker is more than sufficient send a rumble through your bones, although the two side speakers seem weak on tones near the high end, giving them a sort of hollow sound. You will notice this when playing audio CDs, but it won't matter as much in game play.

Although the Sound Blaster PCI 128 does support Creative Labs' Environmental Audio Extensions (EAX) for three-dimensional audio, support for this is not yet available for Linux. EAX and A3D from Aureal bring a new dimension in sound to the Windows environment, and this is one place where Linux still lags. In any case, to truly experience three-dimensional audio -- that is, to get real audio perspective from anywhere in the room -- you would need four speakers rather than the two that come with this system.

Sadly, this machine is missing a modem. There is a decent Ethernet card, which works great if you have a cable modem or DSL connection, but a basic modem would be appreciated by many. You can add a US Robotics 56K internal modem for an extra $128, but that seems rather expensive to me. For $80, I got an external modem that also happens to be less technically problematic than an internal one under Linux.

The system comes preinstalled with all the applications and games, so the user can quickly boot up the machine and start playing. There are quick instructions on how to configure elements such as the XFree86 environment and the network connection, and how to add user accounts, so that you can get right down to business. It will take you less than ten minutes to go from opening the box to playing a mission on Quake II.

There are literally thousands of pages of documentation included with the package, in case you need any other installation help. In addition to the basic Red Hat books, Penguin Computing also includes the complete set of documentation from the Linux Documentation Project -- in multiple languages. Although you can get all this for free over the Internet, it is useful to have it at hand in easily-to-read printed form.

When it comes to technical support, I got a response by phone even during the post-Christmas season, all the way up to New Year's Eve, when most companies close down. Furthermore, I got answers straight from the person who originally put the system together. As noted, in the troubles that I had with the first machine, on several occasions Penguin shipped components almost immediately.

Software fun

I tried out a number of the games on the system and was definitely pleased. Civilization plays smoother on this machine than on my 350 MHz AMD box. Quake II and Myth II ran well at maximum three-dimensional quality. I even installed and ran Quake III and Heretic II (sorry, these don't come with the system) and got sucked into them. This was also my first trial of Unreal Tournament, and I can't wait to get my hands on the full release for Linux. The gameplay was almost impossibly fast; this is deathmatching to the limit. For Internet play, I appreciate the network card. On the LAN, I could host a Quake III server on one machine and play against friends on several stations. The real fun comes with the net connection through my DSL line.

In addition to the games, the package comes with plenty of freeware and open source software, including StarOffice, Gimp, Emacs, Mutt, Ical, Netscape, etc. When you take a break from game playing, you can browse the full extent of the Internet, and perhaps even do some work. You also get a boxed copy of the Red Hat 6.1 distribution, complete with manuals, although the system comes preinstalled for you.

The extreme gamer might want to try running Windows games through the emulation software from VMware. This system has enough memory and processing power while running Windows 98 within the emulated PC to allow you to play your Windows games as well. It will be slower than a full machine, but it beats having to reboot each time to play a Windows game. My only wish is for more memory.

Fun that's worth it

To really appreciate Penguin's help in putting together the system and software, imagine building a comparable system by yourself. Unless you anticipate the cooling issues, the needed drivers, and so on, you'll likely end up with expensive and time-consuming fixes. You may save some dollars, but still end up without the excellent technical support from Penguin.

If you crave a no-nonsense game station in the Linux environment, without having to be a guru, this is the machine you want.