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3D Desktops for Linux?

Posted by Cliff on from the moving-out-of-the-plane dept.

Ryn asks: "I've been looking around for a nice and easy to use 3D desktop/window manager for Linux, and the choice seems to be extremely limited. 3dwm seems to be more of an application framework than anything else. On the Windows side, there are applications like rooms3d and my favorite, 3dtop. Are there any Linux apps like these?"

5 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I've seen the future, and it is Doom. Good doom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Doom as a tool for system administration

  2. Try Berlin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.berlin-consortium.org/

  3. Re:Cool! by Howie · · Score: 3, Informative

    SGI were doing it in at least 1993 - Filesystem Navigator (fsn) was available for free for the SGI Indigo. It's the thing with all the little cubes and spotlights for navigating files that you see in Jurassic Park.

    More recently, there has been a plain-X11 version of a similar thing, but with really nicely done labelling, and good speed (no GL). I wish I could remember what it was called though! I think it was French.

    --
    "don't fall into the fallacy of believing that Perl can solve social problems. Maybe Perl 6 can, but that's a ways off"
  4. Re:I've seen the future, and it is Doom. Good doom by DJK · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well, it was actually DooM which was modified.

    I took what Dennis (the original author) did and improved upon it with the sourceforge project psdoom.

    Unfortunately, I have had very little time to work on it in the past year and a half or so. :-( I'll try to eventually put the rest of my modifications on sourceforge (mostly updates to the tcl/tk frontend and an update to a more recent XDoom source base). I don't have access to my new code right now, though, so it may be some time before that happens.

    WRT Quake, I *was* contacted by someone who pointed me towards the QuakeForge project (quakeforge.net) with a suggestion to make psQuake, but I knew that I didn't have the time to invest in learning Quake code, too.

  5. Re:3D input device by Rui+del-Negro · · Score: 2, Informative

    B&W is essentially a 2D game. Everything happens at ground level. It's also a terribly boring game, but that's a different matter.

    I agree Homeworld / Cataclysm have the best 3D interface out there (you *can* make your ships attack from above, actually), and I also agree that to make full use of a 3D "desktop" you need a 3D input device.

    But it would be rather strange to use a "power-glove" outside the screen to move things that are inside the screen (I know, people do that with the mouse, but they're not looking at the mouse - it's harder to ignore your hand when you're moving it in 3D space in front of you).

    I think 3D environments will only become really useful when we manage to put high-resolution displays in eyeglasses, or project the image directly into the eyes. When that happens you'll actually be able to put your (computer-generated) folders on top of your (real) desk. :)

    RMN
    ~~~