I enjoyed reading Mr. Rahmat's Column on Open Source Hardware, but laugh at the notion that Linux can make any impact on the gaming community. I love Linux, but the gaming community isnt ready TO SUPPORT IT! When is EA and the rest going to port BF1942, UT, GTA and the rest over to the Linux platform for us players? Never from what I can tell. And until they do its hard to justify leaving Microsoft.

Who's UR daddy?

I run linux, support open source, and run alot of games (mostly big titles) without any problem on my penguin. More companies are building ports and installers for the games we play as time goes on and in the future, as I feel was the authors original intent, we'll be seen alot more "backyard" game programmers operating as a community and developing games that we can all enjoy. I agree that it is disappointing that I can't run some of the cool Windows games, but what made PC computing "sexy" to me was how most of the games were customizable (sp?). I think that open source gaming will grant a whole new level of customization cosmetic or functional. When people truely want that power, thats when it will start to take off. After that, the hardware industry will have alot more development worries than just a few thousand programmers pushing for advancement.

If only the linux community could make an impact on game pricing..

I dont know about that. But I am sure that including them in the pool of active customers would boost delivery volume significantly.

Who's UR daddy?

I doubt that. Most keen gamers that use Linux have a Windows box, or Wine-X or whatever anyway. I suspect the same would apply to Mac users too.

<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i>

acctually ut2003 and the original (i dont have it but am pretty sure) do run on linux.

Out of the box? Tell me more...

Who's UR daddy?

I couldnt tell you the specifics, being that i dont have linux running, but i do have ut2003 and know people that run it on linux. I think the installer is on disc 3 (couldnt tell you any more than that, i dont know the specifics of how linux installers work)

UT, Quake 3 Arena, UT2K3 are all supported in Linux for server application. Also, if you get Quake 3 windows version you can download the playable linux version for free from their website if you register your product. I also know that during a couple of distros earlier this year before UT2K3 came out, they had a running demo that came packaged with new released distros of linux. I assume there is a working copy out there now.
Despite the lack of support at the current time for games in a linux environment I believe that games will continue to migrate as usage of Linux as a core operating system grows. As for me, I love the fact that I can have my Linux UT Server up and running all the time with 8-16 people playing on it only using 5% of the CPU...it's just so efficient for both bandwidth and CPU usage. I mean, how many windows users can say they have an ftp server, UT server, Neverwinter Nights server, and NOLF server all running at the same time and are still able to surf the net at 2.9 megabits/sec ? Linux server application rewlz

<font color=blue>Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals... except the weasel. </font color=blue>
<font color=green>Homer Simpson</font color=green>

TKS
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by tks on 08/08/03 05:11 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

At least ID usually have Linux ports...

Dev

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I am unsure what you mean. Can you expand on that thought?

Screw the S.C.O.!!

I think he's referring to ID Software sometimes having a Linux version of their games.

<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i>

Of course. How silly. Too much beer.

I am glad ID Software is supportive of The Revolution. Perhaps they will set an example for the rest.

Screw the S.C.O.!!

Hopefully. Others have come and gone, but probably it was a timing issue. A year from now, I expect the Linux gaming market to be commercially viable without resorting to WineX and similar. The catch is that you really need to build a game to be portable - something many games houses will need to learn.

<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i>

You are not the first commentator to mention WineX. Does it work worth a darn? My IT associates scoff at the Mac-Windows emulators, and so I have low expectations for the same in Linux.

Screw the S.C.O.!!

Honesty, I can't say - I've not used it, at least not for gaming. It seems ok for some apps, but I've always had problems with installers and assorted small bugs. Still, if you're paying for it through transgaming, it's reasonable to expect things to work.

The Mac-Windows emulators are emulating a whole PC, while Wine and co are "only" translating Windows API calls. The speed isn't reduced the way it is with Mac-Windows emulators. Having said that, I actually think the Mac-Windows emulators do a pretty good job.

<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i>

Okay. I guess there is only one way to find out, then. Try it myself. Which Linux->Windows emulator would you recommend? And is it required during the installation as well? (That could get hairy)

Screw the S.C.O.!!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by jrybon on 08/28/03 09:58 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

For gaming, probably WineX is the one to try first. You can either download source from their site, or pay the dollars.

<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i>

Linux gaming will never be mainstream, since Linux will never be mainstream. Linux biggest qualities are it's biggest flaws too. Everything is too fragmented. You have QT, GTK, KDE, tons of desktop, without standardization, linux won't leave the server market. I M$ did someting well, is imposing a standard. Without a standard everyone agrees, ( at least for a default installation ) linux won't go anywhere. It's a shame but think about it.

I know what you're saying, but I disagree. Yes, I've thought about it.

Linux has long since left the server market. It's in serious use in the embedded area, and is gaining ground in the professional workstation market taking over from the traditional workstation Unices.

Standards have been in place for a few years. There is of course the FHS and United Linux was a good idea too - shame about Caldera/SCO throwing a spanner in the works there, but the mainstream distros are aware of the issue and have made efforts to be compatible.

The KDE and Gnome camps have been working together to some degree, but as you know, they are just libraries and frameworks. RedHat demostrated with Blue Curve that they can play nicely with each other.

IMO, most users don't much care about standardisation as long as their desktop looks pretty and they can install and use their apps easily. Vendors releasing (supported) binary applications target a specific version of Linux, usually a RedHat release, as their minimum version. I don't see this as being much different to a Windows application vendor specifying Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 as their minimum version.

You will never get <i>everyone</i> agreeing to standard due to specialist distros having special needs, but the mainstream distros already have - more or less. I've heard the argument about fragmentation before, and while it's right when you look at all of the components out there, if you look at a default distro installation, or at something like Ximian Desktop, you can see it as a whole working together.

If you wanted to, you could view Windows in the same light - you can get LiteStep for Windows if you want, you can change the appearance of the XP desktop, there's a bunch of browser, office suites, email apps, whatever, but most folks go with the MS supplied defaults. If you apply the same to a Linux distro, what's the difference? Sounds like you're a little overwhelmed by the choices out there.

<i>Knock Knock, Neo</i>

I have to agree with poorboy. As useres become more computer savvy, and linux becomes more user friendly, you'll start to see it on more desktops. I don't think linux will be on half of all computers, or anything, but it will certainly be on more. I wish that I hadn't taken so long to get linux.

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Your arrogance is boring!