UT2003 LiveCD

ztc writes "Gentoo has added a Unreal Tournament 2003 demo to a version of their Linux-based LiveCD. It has up-to-date nvidia graphics drivers, sound drivers, network drivers, etc. on the CD ready-to-play. LiveCDs have always been a great way to sway potential Linux-converts, but this should really impress them! You can download the iso here." A sneaky way to promote Gentoo. I like it.

Comments

FTP mirrors

[mortis_aeturnus]

Gatech Sunsite.dk Norweigen Mirror Another Norweigen Mirror

Answer

[Mustang Matt]

LiveCD is a standalone bootable CD that you can pop in most newer computers, boot up and play the game.

Re:ATI Cards

[jvmatthe]

Epic made the call to only support the newer nVidia cards in the demo

This is false. To cut down on traffic over the AGP bus, Epic used texture compression. Specifically, they used S3TC/DXTC, which is supported by every major, modern 3D video driver on Windows (i.e. their target audience). This extension is currently supported by only two drivers on Linux: the ones from NVIDIA and the ones from Xi Graphics. The XiG drivers support the Radeon cards, but are pay-to-use drivers. However a time-limited demo is available for free. (The server must be restarted every 25-30 minutes or so, in the demo, as I understand it. Buy the real thing, and you get unlimited use, naturally.)

Epic has also said they're working with ATI and PowerVR (makers of the Kyro cards) to improve the binary-only drivers that each of those companies provides for their cards under Linux. If and when these drivers are released, they will be free-as-in-beer.

Again: it is the failing of the drivers under Linux to support a required extension, not Epic. Without that extension, performance would be terrible, so it isn't an option of just turning it off.