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Does Linux Have a 'Demo' Scene?

Posted by Cliff on from the searching-for-the-right-subculture dept.

BigWhale asks: "I used to follow things that were happening on the Old School demo scenes a few years ago, then after a failed hard disk, I moved on and lost track. So, for old times sake I started poking around a little bit. What's happening with the scene, is it still alive? Indeed it is. Coding style is much different with DirectX, and hardware accelerated demos, but I'm 100% Linux oriented right now and I want to start a Linux Demo project. SDL by Loki Games is pretty neat, but is this the only thing that one could use to write a demo, what about ClanLib? How is with the sound support, I know about Midas and MikMod, is there anything else? I checked www.scene.org and there is one link there regarding Linux, but it's not working. So my question to /. is where would an old school demo coder, that wants to work with Linux, look for resources or scene hangouts?" I've watched demos [?] (small multimedia shorts) on just about everything from the Amiga Desktop to DOS and now Windows, does Linux have a similar subculture?

14 comments

  1. I use GDK and esd.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Although I am by no means "old school".

    Sound abstraction (esd) isn't really necessary on *nix, though. Just use ioctl() on /dev/dsp to set the freq (see sys/soundcard.h) then write your data there.
    1. Re:I use GDK and esd.... by Howie · · Score: 1

      as long as * expands only to 'li' and changes the existing i to a u, though, isn't it?

      are /dev/dsp ioctl's really portable across systems (e.g. sparc audio or iris audio?) - if they are, cool, but it doesn't sound right to me (no pun intended)

      --
      "don't fall into the fallacy of believing that Perl can solve social problems. Maybe Perl 6 can, but that's a ways off"
  2. Re:Demo developpement by Knos · · Score: 1

    no monsieur joshua, you are the person on crack here! and please remove that hopefully!

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    may u!sh 2 sm!le at dz!z bad nn.!m!tat!ion
  3. Demo developpement by Knos · · Score: 1
    If I can say something about the subject it is:

    1- you are on Linux, don't let the hardcore coders convince you that you should do everything. You have to take all the power from your Os, and taking profit of the huge offer of libraries on linux is its ownly strength really. -in demo dev-

    2- don't do a coder only project. Demos nowadays are more and more turning towards quality art and what you need here is a concept, a design, an idea, and a group of talented persons to help you. (music+gfx)

    3- Create!

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    may u!sh 2 sm!le at dz!z bad nn.!m!tat!ion
    1. Re:Demo developpement by jdigital · · Score: 1

      1- you are on Crack

      2- don't date a coder.

      3- procreate!

      jdigital.
      (hopefully linux demo will be out for dreamhack2k)

      --
      :wq ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
  4. Re:feed me, seymour by Knos · · Score: 1

    This is all very well but screensavers!=demos. I know that Skal/bomb did a few graphics hacks for xscreensaver, but a demo is much more than a unique, silent, screen.

    --
    . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .
    may u!sh 2 sm!le at dz!z bad nn.!m!tat!ion
  5. Re:feed me, seymour by Knos · · Score: 1

    And to this i reply we are more in need on linux of demos than screensavers atm :)

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    . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .
    may u!sh 2 sm!le at dz!z bad nn.!m!tat!ion
  6. Well... by King+of+the+World · · Score: 1
    ...no, no it doesn't.

    (there might be the odd snap crack pop in XLib but most demo programmers I know have goals of tiny executables and SVGA.. not dozens of libraries and XLib. My associate is doing something ontop of GGI which i'm told is a lot better. An Amiga 500 could do something equally impressive, though).

    --
    --Giving to trolls for the benefit of us all
  7. Linux Demoscene by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    I suggest you check out http://linuxscn.planet-d.net. They've got links to some demos, intros, and "tinys" (short demo parts). Often , the source code is also available!

  8. feed me, seymour by Jamie+Zawinski · · Score: 2


    xscreensaver wants you!

    1. Re:feed me, seymour by Jamie+Zawinski · · Score: 2

      This is all very well but screensavers!=demos. I know that Skal/bomb did a few graphics hacks for xscreensaver, but a demo is much more than a unique, silent, screen.

      So the difference between a ``demo'' and a ``screensaver'' is that the former makes noise and the latter doesn't?

      That's nonsense. There is no difference: they are both eye candy. Show me a ``demo'' and I'll show you a program I want to use as a screen saver.

    2. Re:feed me, seymour by booch · · Score: 2

      I think JWZ was saying that if he creates a demo, he could contribute it to be used in xscreensaver. I don't think that he was implying that xscreensaver hacks are great demos, although I would say that many of them are pretty good mini-demos.

      --
      Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
  9. In need of? by booch · · Score: 2

    I really don't think we need either. Besides, I just said that if he writes a demo, it could be used as a screensaver. So I was encouraging him to write a demo and submit it to xscreensaver.

    --
    Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.
  10. #demoscene on OPN by dan_bethe · · Score: 2

    Join channel #demoscene on the Open Projects Network. Try the servers irc.openprojects.net, irc.us.openprojects.net, or irc.linux.com.

    ===