If you're new to Linux or new to C64 Emulation, you will not find it nearly as easy as downloading WinVICE for Windows and getting it to run quickly and hassle-free.  Hard-core Linux guys may puff up their cheeks and grumble in disapproval at my mentioning this, but just as I don't review unintuitive games here, I won't throw you into Linux C64 Emulation without fair warning.  I've been using computers since my first VIC-20 in the early 1980's, and it was still not easy or intuitive to get VICE up and running without any hiccups with the distributions I was using. 

That said, getting it running can be quite rewarding if you're up for learning new things, and once you have over 20,000 C64 programs at your fingertips from sites like GB64.com you'll overcome one glaring flaw with Linux for gamers --- a general lack of games when compared to Windows.  And if you're a true fan of Open Source and things that are Free in general, you can always narrow your search to Public Domain and Unpublished games - and open the door completely to all of them if you are a believer in the idea of "Abandonware".

First off, there are a few things you need to know about Linux in general if you've been thinking of making the switch. 

Pick your distribution, and pick it well if getting C64 gaming working painlessly is important to you.  I recommend OpenSUSE or RedHat  because I found OpenSUSE .rpm's (packaged files for install) of WinVICE and Frodo that both worked.  Strangely, while Ubuntu makes claims to being the "easiest to use" Linux, and comes with VICE as an option to install right on the install CD/DVD, it includes an older version of VICE that lacks essential components needed to run.  It sort of defeats the purpose of having it there as an installable option in the first place when you need to look around the web for components; components that are included in a much easier to install .rpm download you can find for OpenSUSE, for instance.  If there was an easier way to get Ubuntu's VICE fully working, or an easy to download and install a package, I missed it. 

It's important to note that if the distribution you choose (because you think a certain distro has a "cool name") has no pre-packaged VICE out there, prepare yourself for some pain in getting it to run.  More about that later.

If you are a die-hard Ubuntu fan, in a nutshell you need to perform steps such as downloading, extracting and copying the 1541, chargen, kernal, and basic files from the web to ~/.vice/C64 on your system.  With the latest version of VICE in a downloadable .rpm for OpenSUSE11, however, you can skip that headache and use a 2.x version of fully working VICE instead of a 1.x version in Ubuntu that's missing files.  By the time you read this, there may be a simple way to get 2.x running in Ubuntu, so feel free to post it in the comments for others!

You will need to learn how to type commands.  It may seem old-school and a bother if you grew up with Windows and have a quick mouse hand, but there are advantages to typing commands that you'll learn later if you master Linux. 

Bring up the "terminal" tool in your GUI menu.  Something that looks like an MS-DOS style prompt will pop up in a window.  Use the "ls" command to show what directory you are in, and used "cd" plus the name of the directory to change directory to get where you need to be, like "cd bin".

Don't even think about downloading VICE directly from the VICE website.  Unless you are a Linux expert and your idea of fun is spending an afternoon in "dependency hell", don't try to compile VICE from source.  Find an .rpm or similar package of pre-compiled files for you to click and install.  It still won't be as easy as clicking and running x64.exe after downloading WinVICE, but it will save you from pulling your hair out if someone else has done most of the work for you.

Do a "full" install of your distribution when you install Linux.  You don't want to be missing any critical OS files when you attempt to install VICE (or Frodo) later.

Locations and commands of importance:

usr/bin - where RPM installed files typically go.  RPM is short for "Redhat Package Manager" - and is also used by OpenSUSE as well as other distributions of Linux.

usr/local - where programs compiled from source end up.  You will need to know this if you intend to install Frodo from source.  I found Frodo easy to install, but lacking features included in VICE.  Frodo is best if all you need is a simple C64 emulator to simulate turning on a C64 and playing around.  I've not found it suitable for gaming when compared to VICE.

rpm -ql vice     This command shows where the VICE emulator files were installed if you used a .rpm file to install.

The VICE RPM from a repository: http://rpmfind.net/linux/rpm2html/search.php?query=vice

For 32-bit OpenSUSE 10 (or SLES 11, the version I used), I found the best, easiest to install and run VICE program here:

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Emulators/openSUSE_10.3/i586/

The actual RPM is: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Emulators/openSUSE_10.3/i586/vice-2.0-2.1.i586.rpm

Again, this is only if you have installed a recent version of OpenSUSE or SLES close to SUSE 10. 

Once you have VICE installed, the actual name of the command you need to run, again by typing it in a terminal window, is x64.  This is similar to the x64.exe file in Windows.  You'll want to type a file name as well in that same line unless you just want to mess around with an emulated C64 with nothing on it. 

To run a downloaded Computer History quiz, download the C64 program file from the "Latif" link HERE

Drag and drop the zip file into usr/bin  (you don't need to extract the files)

Type in the command line:

x64 "COMPHIST_16901_02.zip"

This is the equivalent to autoattaching and running a .d64 or .t64 file in WinVICE.

You should see your Linux version of VICE pop up and run in a window, and can give three cheers!  Click around on the open window to pull up VICE menus for other options.  There's no "toolbar" as in WinVICE, but the options are there.

As I wrote, getting a C64 emulator to work in Linux is not a simple download and click affair.  You'll need to familiarize yourself with Linux and its quirks and charms before you get things working easily.

But once you get the hang of it, you'll be running and playing Commodore 64 programs on your free, Open Source OS, and that's a reward in itself!