# Cataclysm on linux
**URL:** https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769
**Category:** The Bunker
**Created:** [August 20, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769 "2013-08-20T14:48:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@youtoo](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/youtoo)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/1 "2013-08-20T14:48:41Z")
I briefly saw a lets play that claimed the game has more features when run on linux. is this true? just asking first. if it does, Ill try it in a linux VM.
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### Author:  [@PiotraperPL](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/PiotraperPL)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2013, 3:30pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/2 "2013-08-20T15:30:48Z")
> [@youtoo](#):
>
> I briefly saw a lets play that claimed the game has more features when run on linux. is this true? just asking first. if it does, Ill try it in a linux VM.
That would be strange if that was true.
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### Author:  [@CIB](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CIB)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/3 "2013-08-20T15:52:46Z")
No, that’s not true. Both versions have the same features.
Granted, some mods might only compile on one or the other, but usually that’s a matter of not having provided the relevant build files, which is easily fixed.
Also, there are much better terminal emulators for linux, which matters a lot if you’re playing the curses version.
Lastly, the linux kernel has grown to be inherently better than that of windows, which in my experience means you _will_ get more out of your hardware with a customized linux distro instead of, say, windows 7. But that’s just begging to start a flamewar, so do take it as my humble opinion.
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### Author:  [@kevin.granade](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kevin.granade)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/4 "2013-08-20T16:35:18Z")
Animation used to not work on windows (vehicles moving, portal animation, rain, hit animations, bullets), and the input handling is different, but not significantly so I think.
One feature linux has is auto-sizing the view window to fit your terminal, you have to set it manually on windows.
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### Author:  [@CIB](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/CIB)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/5 "2013-08-20T16:42:34Z")
> [@Kevin Granade](#):
>
> Animation used to not work on windows (vehicles moving, portal animation, rain, hit animations, bullets), and the input handling is different, but not significantly so I think.
Yikes. Input handling should be the same on SDL windows/linux though.
> One feature linux has is auto-sizing the view window to fit your terminal, you have to set it manually on windows.
Hm, possibly, though doesn’t cataclysm run in curses on cygwin?
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### Author:  [@i2amroy](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/i2amroy)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/6 "2013-08-20T19:50:30Z")
Yeah, if you run it on Cygwin it functions identical to the linux build.
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### Author:  [@DG123](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/DG123)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2013, 8:25pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/7 "2013-08-20T20:25:17Z")
I’m a bit confused about this “Cygwin” thing.
What’s the point of it? Isn’t it just something to make Windows look like Linux? That’s what was suggested when I looked it up.
My old version of Cataclysm works perfectly well run on its own from an exe file, so why does DDA need running through a confusing extra interface?
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### Author:  [@kevin.granade](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kevin.granade)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/8 "2013-08-20T20:49:51Z")
The general answer is that Cygwin is effectively the opposite of WINE, where WINE implements Windows APIs on linux as a compatability layer, Cygwin implements UNIX/Linux API on Windows as a compatability layer.
Cataclysm supports it because some people prefer to use it, and there is almost no development overhead in supporting it since it’s nearly identical to the main platform, linux.
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### Author:  [@DG123](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/DG123)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2013, 10:25pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/9 "2013-08-20T22:25:46Z")
But what I’m asking is why DDA won’t just run natively in Windows without issues? Earlier versions did.
Or does it? It seemed the guide I found for installing the game said you NEEDED to use one of a couple of odd sounding installation methods, as opposed to them being optional.
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### Author:  [@xLemor](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/xLemor)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/10 "2013-08-20T22:28:26Z")
There is versions for windows you can use like the SDL one on the mainpage (pre compiled).
Using cygwin on windows was really slow for me before i switched to a full linux installation.
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### Author:  [@DG123](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/DG123)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2013, 11:24pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/11 "2013-08-20T23:24:44Z")
AH. Thank goodness for that. I was dreading trying to use the less direct methods of installing it.
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### Author:  [@drake1storm](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/drake1storm)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/12 "2013-08-21T03:31:27Z")
If you really want to try out the linux version, install virtualbox and run ubuntu inside of your windows.
I’m just waiting for a meme of this.
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### Author:  [@xLemor](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/xLemor)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2013, 3:50am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/13 "2013-08-21T03:50:32Z")
Or he could make a live cd on a usb thumb drive and install cdda on it. Its really simple to do and just as fast.
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### Author:  [@kevin.granade](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kevin.granade)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/14 "2013-08-21T16:44:26Z")
Both versions marked Windows are native windows applications. You should be able to just download and run them.
With the GDI version, we still have a abstraction layer (Catacurses), because Windows doesn’t have a terminal library that’s decent, but it’s inside the game instead of something you have to install. with SDL-text, it uses SDL for rendering everything and it’s a proper Windows program. The upcoming SDL-tiles build will also be a proper native windows program.
In the past Catacurses had some performance issues, which is part of the reason people recommended installing the Linux version on Cygwin or a VM, or more recently using the windows SDL build. The really bad performance issues are sorted out now, and Teseng (the author of Catacurses) has a new version he’s working on integrating that he says is much, much faster still (faster than the SDL version).
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### Author:  [@GlyphGryph](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/GlyphGryph)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/15 "2013-08-21T18:15:46Z")
Moving forward, I suspect Catacurses will become the standard for non-graphical distributions on both systems, while the SDL versions will carry the standard for players who prefer tiles. Although I actually wouldn’t mind them being packaged together as a single download with different executables at some point.
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### Author:  [@kevin.granade](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kevin.granade)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2013, 6:35pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/cataclysm-on-linux/2769/16 "2013-08-21T18:35:28Z")
Can you clarify what you mean by “on both systems”? I’m sure you don’t mean running catacurses on linux, but that’s the only thing that seems to fit.