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QWCD Quake Bootable Linux CD Released

Posted by simoniker on from the nice-and-fraggy dept.

Ozh writes "QuakeWorld players will want to try this interesting light Penguin-powered 'live distro' : QWCD provides a ready-to-frag nothing-to-install QuakeWorld installation, playable from the bootable CD. It includes popular Quake clients FuhQuake and MWQCL, comes with an up-to-date Kernel, and every piece of software a player should need (ATI and nVidia drivers, internet connexion and browser, IRC client...). Has Quaking at the office ever been easier?"

5 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Now the question is... by cjpez · · Score: 2, Interesting
    You can buy them from ID Software if you don't mind paying fucking $20 or more for it. ID's pricing really pisses me off for their older stuff. I mean, yes, Quake was a great game, but $20? And that's for them to ship you a physical CD of the thing. If you want just a little digital download of the thing, it's an extra five bucks! That makes no sense at all. Also note that Quake 3 only costs $20 as well.

    Also notice how Wolfenstein 3D is $20, but for only $5 more you can get Return to Castle Wolfenstein. WTF? That's one hell of a $5 bill.

    --
    Al Qaeda has ninjas!
  2. I thought by stienman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Since Emacs is an OS, why don't they port quake to it, and then make a boot CD out of that? Quake under Emacs should only be a 2-3 line script anyway.

    -Adam

  3. Re:more! by Jahf · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So load the games off CD with an option to install locally.

    A number of folks still don't have 3D working on their Linux box, so it is a convenience for them. If you are one of those who take the time to get it all working, use the copy option to get better speed.

    I admit that having to reboot to play a game can be annoying (it's been awhile since that was a common practice), but it makes a good option. Plus, if done right and the game is small enough, you could have a bootable Linux version -and- an installable Windows version on the same disk.

    Take for instance Neverwinter Nights ... the big difference between the two platforms (Linux/Windows) is in the executables, which are fairly small. We know you can get a bootable Linux gaming distro into about 30MB. Make it a bootable Linux CD but -also- have a Windows installable executable on it (and a copy option to copy the Linux binaries down to disk). Put all of the data on the other disks if you need more space (or on a DVD but I don't think that is quite to the pervasive level yet).

    If the developer takes the time to create a multiplatform game, then they can be guaranteed of shipping an OS that meets their dependencies while also giving options for you to use it in your native OS installation.

    --
    It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
  4. Game OS? by Fiz+Ocelot · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This just gave me an idea. What if game devs were to do this, like a customized operating system for their game? It could be just like this, stripped down bare bones, just enough to run the game very well.

    It sounds cool from a pure performance stand point, but of course you'd be missing a lot too. None of your custom configs and other programs etc. But just performance wise, it could be awsome.? Well overall it would be inconvenient, yet another crazy idea.

    1. Re:Game OS? by Fiz+Ocelot · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Technically yes it's what a console is, but I'm just talking about PC games. As in a particular developer, lets say Epic made a linux distro called Unreal OS. Or ID made DoomX. A custom distro on a developer/game basis instead of how it is with a console.

      It might make for an interesting project for fun.