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[milo christiansen]

For the next few day I am stuck with a rather crappy laptop running Linux. No dedicated mouse, no gamepad, just the laptop.

Are there any good games that can:
A) Run on Linux or WINE (with a minimum of fuss and bother)
B) Work well with a truncated (no number pad) keyboard and touchpad
C) Use minimal resources (so it will work on something with really low specs)

I tried a copy of Terraria I had flying around and it worked OK (under WINE), but it was kinda slow and I couldn't stand trying to play with a touchpad.
Factorio has control issues.
Minecraft has control issues.
I generally dislike roguelikes, and the ones I do like would be torture with this keyboard.
Back when this machine ran Windows 8 I would play Overlord on it sometimes, but only with a game controller (which I did not bring with me).

Any suggestions?

[wierd]

Here is what I have currently installed on the crouton chroot of my chromebook. (dual core 1.6ghz intel, with 2gb RAM, hosted on an SD card. I think this is the very definition of low end)

System Shock 2 (with newdark update and rebirth mod installed)
Diablo II LoD
Starcraft II
Warcraft II BNE
OpenMW (runs native on linux, but runs kinda sluggishly on this system. Generally playable though.)
Tropico 2
Total Annihilation (A classic RTS)
Wizardry 8

They all work reasonably well.

If you dont have an intel chip in your linux laptop though, and are using ARM, you will need something like Exagear desktop to get half-ass intel emulation in order to host a proper wine instance. That is buyware.

The game era you are looking for is cira 2005-ish.  Just about anything from that era should run fine on low end systems like this, even with WINE.

[milo christiansen]

Oh man! I never even thought about Total Annihilation!

I have the game and all expansions as ready to go disk images or as an archived preinstalled copy that I just unpack and run... Oh. It's at home on my NAS. I think I know where I can get a copy though.

For some reason I have never played the CORE campaign (despite playing the ARM campaign several times), maybe it's time to rectify that lack... Thanks!

[feelotraveller]

Looks like you're sorted.

I was going to suggest King of Dragon Pass (using WINE).  Either the original version from GOG or Steam (mobile compatible) version.  Couple of oddities like needing to quit to reload from main screen (you don't save scum do you ) or xrandr to reset system resolution (or play in 640x480) for the GOG version at least.  But very low resources, no real need for mouse/numberpad and easy to install.  Plus lots of fun.

Quick edit: Or you could go open source like OTTD.

[milo christiansen]

TA is already at the edge of what I am willing to do with a touchpad, OTTD is a game too far

[Aoi]

Anything in the fields of interactive fiction, visual novels, most point-and-click adventure games (a la Sierra or LucasArts), RPG Maker based...

Most of those worked in WINE last time I was on a Linux system.

[Oneir]

Look into PlayOnLinux -- it has a bunch of wine configs + assorted fixes for a lot of more popular games (I got Skyrim running on my own craptop with only a little more hair-pulling than if it had Windows; Fallout 3 and New Vegas worked after substantial hair-pulling). It can even run Windows Steam which isn't flawless by any stretch, but works at least half the time for older/lower spec games.

[pisskop]

i guess i shall bookmark this, although i dont think I'll play anything

if its but a few days why play anything?

[milo christiansen]

if its but a few days why play anything?

Because I am about to go stark raving mad from boredom?

I can't really work on anything (it's all on my NAS at home), I can't play most of my games (most require too many resources plus the installers are all at home on my NAS). All I can really do is read crap on the internet, and that gets old fast.

TA seems to work fine, so that's what I'll do (I can't get the unofficial patch to install, but it's not worth messing with. I'll just play vanilla, the patch can wait till I get home).

Man, I wish I had brought my mouse...

[Persus13]

Fairly certain FTL has a linux version. Its one of my games I go to when I just have a touchpad.

[milo christiansen]

FTL would probably work great (if I didn't hate it so much). For some reason FTL just rubs me the wrong way. It's fun at first, but it quickly becomes "die and retry", with your chance of "die" determined by things outside of your control. No thanks.

This isn't really the place for an anti-roguelike rant, so I won't go on...

[sambojin]

OpenTyrian? Even with just a keyboard it works fine, and should relieve some frustration through sheer firepower.

Dosbox'ing Master of Magic or Civ1/2 would kill off some time as well. Limited mouse stuff needed. Dosbox Pyro22 while you're at it.

Then I can really only suggest emulators. M.U.L.E and Pirates! on NES are great timekillers.

[Draxis]

Freeorion and Freeciv are great and low-resource, though awkward with a touchpad.  If you're into shmups all the Touhou games work great under Wine, and there are always the native Linux ones like xKobo.  Mouseless rhythm games like IIDX/Lunatic Rave 2 or Sound Voltex/K-ShootMania would also work.  And, of course, there's Dwarf Fortress - which becomes extremely resource expensive but should be fine for a few days.

[milo christiansen]

OpenTyrian is pretty good! Simple controls, low resources.

Anyway, suddenly we a going home several days early due to weather concerns... Not sure if I am happy or not. On one hand I will be back to the land of no internet, on the other I will be back with my powerful desktop machine and all my games/work...

Thank you to everyone who suggested games, they helped me get passed some really boring moments!

[wierd]

OpenTyrian? Even with just a keyboard it works fine, and should relieve some frustration through sheer firepower.

Dosbox'ing Master of Magic or Civ1/2 would kill off some time as well. Limited mouse stuff needed. Dosbox Pyro22 while you're at it.

Then I can really only suggest emulators. M.U.L.E and Pirates! on NES are great timekillers.

If he is getting dosbox, get pirates gold. Same basic game, better music, better graphics. Keyboard controls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKNK3SW4-O8