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QuakeII Coming to BeOS
Adrian Ziemkowski from Benews.com wrote in to plug
a story that the Be/Quaker subset of you will enjoy: QuakeII on BeOS. Screen
shots and other comments. Glide accelerated on Voodoo2 cards.
Free upgrade for current Q2 owners.
Isnt Quake III scheduled for release?
Anyway, how many people use Be as their single OS?
It's a nice demo I guess, but I wouldn't play Quake in a window. Quake should be immersive, it needs to be full screen.
Anyway, now I *really* want to try Be.
And check out the URL:
http://www.benews.com/story?ID=666
666? Hmm, I think I understand it now.
The article # @ beos news is 666. :)
I use Be as my main OS at home... i only boot to windows for gmaes.. hopefully soon I won't even have to do that. I have no need for linux anymore...in fact im trying to get a refund from RedHat for my unused RH5.2 CDs... seems like they're no more welcoming of refunds than M$ ;-)
...and oh baby is it fast.
Yeah, we e-mailed Be about that; it seems odd, but it could be they took the screenshots at full-screen and wanted to show the Be desktop, so people knew what OS it was. That would seem odd considering R4.1 has Glide wrappers to do Glide-in-a-Window type thing, (a la WinGlide) but it's feasible.
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If you want to check it out for yourself, anyone in the area should go sprint over to Intel's P3 demo day/conference: Be's showing it off on some nice new P3 systems.
Jamie Wilkinson
BeNews Editor
(and owner of the lost
Why not? If they port it, will there be a free upgrade?
Quake and Quake II both have linux versions, as does Quake World, and all three have hardware accelerated versions.
Well, it's a Voodoo2 they are using. And a Voodoo2 does NOT draw into a window. Or more correctly, it does not draw correctly into another cards window. And that's how Voodoos are traditionally used, in combination with a normal 2d card.
However, BeOS could probably just run the whole desktop on the Voodoo2 display. A 2d card wouldn't even be required. If they use the Voodoo in that way it definitly could render into a window.
Using the Voodoo like that isn't very good for display quality and resoltion of your desktop though, or for the 2d speed.
It's enough to make me wonder about the real purpose for certain European countries coming together... :)
VoodooII rendering in a window seems also a bit weird.
Yes, I know about the render-on-V2, then-copy-it-over-to-main-video-mem trick, but it is never as fast as full-screen rendering.
It's a doctored picture. What, you weren't actualy trusting Be to be honest, were you?
http://www.beoscentral.com/comments.pl?id=02.17.99 .4.2$4$
LOL :)
Woohoo! Another brainwashed Be-user. Pervasive multi-threading is a buzzword. If your application isn't multithreaded an extra processor will not help that much. And believe me, just compiling your program on BeOS doesn't make it multi-threading automatically. An extra processor *will* make the overall performance better, but that counts for any SMP aware OS (except maybe NT :)
Look beyond the Be-hype..
Believe it or not, Mr. Negative, it is possible
for the crowd at Be to work on more than one thing
at once. Not all of the employees were working on
Pentium 3 / Hardware OpenGL / Quake2. Some were
actually -- GASP! -- working on more hardware support!
I can't stand people that complain about the lack
of hardware support on BeOS whenever they hear
about cool new (non-hardware-support-related) things.
I know it must be hard to believe, but some people
actually think BeOS needs more software before
they'll switch to it! I for one need better FTP
support, pcAnywhere support, financial software,
and GAMES before I can commit to BeOS full time.
Quake2 is a step in that direction, as I play it
often.
-thomas
--
"You can't please many of the people most of the time." --Me
Well, I'm pretty sure the server code will scale to multiple processors (except on Win 98 of course), so 1000+ player deathmatches might be conceivable w/ enough network bandwidth. Whether the rendering will be multi-threaded remains to be seen.
The BeOS makes threading fairly easy, and the OS services themselves take good advantage of multi-CPUs, but non-threaded apps can't magically become threaded (well... let's leave it at that for now).
Anybody know where to get this? Or is it
only available for PPC?
I use it @home and work. People say I'm nuts, but
if I have windows specific things, I just start up VNC. I love using that OS, and will continue to use it for a long time. Y2k Be will be a real choice for power users.
Once you become a BeOS user, there is no going back. KDE is a fucking joke, compared to the Be desktop. IMHO, ofcourse...
Nope. That's really a plain, old VooDoo2 rendering into a window. Be's graphics architecture allows programmers to DMA directly between PCI/AGP cards, so the frames never touch main memory...Kinda like a software passthrough cable. Hehe.
;) when it comes down to being a versatile networking platform. Which is what I'm sure a lot of /.'ers are interested in...but not all of us...so...peace, and stuff. (;
Seriously, I wish there was a good way to clear up some of you folks impressions of Be...On one hand, you have these clueless dittoheads spouting "multiprocessing", "journaling file system" and "multimedia" (they do mean well...;), and on the other hand you have Unix-folksen playing typical paranoid neophobes. Be's architecture is great (...and if you want details, go read some of the Kernel Kit section of the Be Book...very enlightening), but its _not-UNIX_ (hehe
"Hey, why not switch to Linux?"
;-(
To me, Linux is just like Windows. They both
have there merits (yes even Windows), and they
both have their cons. Lots of software is
available for both (pcAnywhere is available on Linux?)
But BeOS is a leap into the next century. I'm sure
you've seen all the buzzwords: 64-bit journaling
file-system, OO/C++ system API, pervasive multi-
threading, SMP out the wazoo, clean/integrated UI,
replication technology, and so much more. When I'm
feeling up for a little unix romance, I open up
the Terminal and get it on with bash! Now that the
x86 version of Be uses ELF format, getting the
good linux apps is not too difficult.
When I want to setup a really good network server,
I'll use Linux. When I want a really cool day-to-day
OS, I use BeOS.
When I'm at work, I use Windows. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
-thomas
For Christ's sake - this wasn't even a press release, just a couple of screenshots for a couple of fan websites clamoring for them.
Remember this was a _real live demo_ at Intel's big Pentium III unveiling. People were actually playing Quake, no just taking screen shots. The real media saw the real thing and could report on it if they wish.
- N
The Pentium III isn't officially launched so who the hell cares? Yeah you can buy one but can you get an SSE/KNI optimized version of DirectX and OpenGL ICD's right now?
GLQuake[world] and GL Quake II have been out for a long time now. I play Quake II on my Voodoo2 under Linux all the time and it works just fine.
I want xlogo!
Read Carmack's old plans. He tried using 2 CPU's and it was a lot slower, he made modifications and got it to be as fast as 1 CPU. Essentially he has scrapped it for now.
I'd rather have TNT power for 3d apps
I wonder if the person who stole it had any clue what was in the box? None of my neighbors would have the slightest idea.
I WANT REWT SEWPER YEWSER AKSESS AND 500 GIRLIEZ ON MAH LEENUX BAWX
After watchign that UPS dood drive up,and having all this wonderful time with my linux. I decided to say, "I'm gonna f*ck him over on his birthday. So happy birthday!!! If ya want it back, just break down the guy's door next to you, that's me.
What are you, gay??? You don't habve 8 processors. If you do, you a rich fool. There ain't no way you need that much. Also, don't ue the msg board to brag or bloat ur stupid shit
Yeah, in fact you can see where the Quake III image was pasted, there's a faint outline around it.
Was a bit disappointed to see this, actually. What's the deal here, are Be doing an MS-video type demonstration?
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Posted by Soco:
On my system once I pop open the About box from the Deskbar, the uptime does not change in real time. Its just an about box. As for the time on the deskbar,
mine has said 3:45 for about about 3 hours now. The
replicant that does time has died and is no longer updating.
Besides, I think Be's demoed the version of Q2 for people as a way to show off their OpenGL libraries.
They've said they were using Q2 to test their accelerated opengl...
Posted by Soco:
.plan files he's more pro Rhapsody) but Apple's barely ahead of be on this front...
Yeah but now that be has their 3d acceleration developing rather quickly, it shouldn't be long before Q3 is also released on BeOS. I would venture to guess that i'll probably be on BeOS shortly after its released everywhere else. Id has cooperated quite nicely with Be for sometime, giving them all their source for both of the Quakes. John Carmack's not exactly Pro-BeOS, (from his comments in his
Posted by DonR:
Are you looking at R3 compatability, or R4? R4 has a lot more scsi support, including adaptec cards. It also supports the TNT out of the box (via "experimental" drivers on the cd). Not sure about the Yamaha sound card, but the voodoo2 will be supported in R4.1. Check out www.befunk.com for more hardware compatability information.
Posted by Wayne Steele:
The ONLY operating system I use at home is BeOS. At work, all of our servers are Linux (recently converted from NT) and our desktops are [puke] Windows 98 [puke some more].
Like Linux, BeOS is orders of magnitude better than any Microsoft OS. And since my primary interest in computing is software development, I am very attracted to the BeOS OO API.
Now that you've got some background, I'd like to get something off my chest...
I've been personally following and using Linux for several years. Over that time, I've seen the OS improve tremendously and I'm quite impressed with what the GNU/OSS developers have achieved. My only complaint has to do with the growing number of arrogant zealots entrenched in the Linux-using community.
You see, back when Linux was just getting its start, there were vast armies of Windows trolls spreading FUD and ill-informed, less-than-flattering information about anything non-Microsoft. These armies continue their work to this day, and I fear too many Linux users are using the same tactic towards anything non-Linux.
I, for one, respect an honest, well-researched opinion even when it differs from my own. What I don't appreciate is people dissing something they've never seen or tried for themselves. This applies not only to Windows vs. Linux vs. BSD vs. BeOS, but to things like C vs. C++, GNOME vs. KDE, or Red Hat vs. SuSE.
So who cares if the Quake II port for BeOS is late? Since gaming isn't my bag, I don't care at all. What I do care about is supporting individuals and companies who strive to make computing better for everyone. Be, Inc. is one of those companies.
Posted by Wayne Steele:
The uptime refreshes on my system.
Posted by Wayne Steele:
;-)
Damn you guys are paranoid!
As a matter of fact, the pictures ARE doctored. The guy who posted them admits it and explains why over at...
http://www.beoscentral.com/
No worries!
Posted by Wayne Steele:
From what I understand, they render on the 3Dfx card and then copy the contents from the 3Dfx framebuffer to a window on the 2D card. There is a performance hit for this trick, but you can always switch to full-screen mode for maximum speed.
It is explained in the article.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
And before you accuse me of not trying Linux, I have tried Linux again and again from kernel 0.9x (an SLS distro) all the wat to RedHat 5.0, as well as FreeBSD, HP/UX, Solaris, and IBM AIX. I hate them all.
Boobies never hurt anyone. - Sherry Glaser.
MY FUCKIN copy of BeOS came today and like 10 FUCKING MINUTES at the front door, someone fucking ripped it off! i am BEYOND pissed, ESPECIALLY b/c its my birthday today...it may be a neighbor so i'm gonna grill his ass when i see him
---------------------------------
HotsOS home http://hotsos.8m.com/
...how are they getting VooDoo2 acceleration in a window . . . and will it work with SLI?
This sig left unintentionally blank.
A killer app for BeOS. :)
I was being fasicious... ;>
That said, Be's OpenGL might allow, say, transformations to be done on a different processor than the game logic is running on. It depends on how it was written.
--
Need undo/redo for your free software app? See Libundo
Great now if only Be would support any of th hardware in my machine.
onboard adaptec scsi not detected,
Riva TNT not supported, voodoo2 not supported,
Yamaha PCI sound card not supported.
So one more game that I can play just as well
if not better on win98 isn't going to get me to
try Be again.
God, this shows how much the average Slashdot reeader actually understands about what they speak... seems to always come out real strong when BeOS gets mentioned.
In any case, highly pervasive multithreading is the target for Be apps BUT nothin to prevent you (and in faavt many reasons to need) one large thread. BeOS still breaks down driver calls, etc., into tiny, highly prioritzed threads, but it doesnt have the smarts to take a straight port of the source and spit out a highly scaleable app.
Not to be said that it couldnt done, but would likely require major rewrites to be more Be-like...
If things were that easy, we'd all be building Beowolf clusters and our software would majically restructure itself as neede (unless thats what TransMeta is working on...)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but for anything to run on Be, doesn't it have to support the "pervasive multithreading" Be touts?
If I'm right, and I think I am, that means you could have Quake II running on 8+ processors.
No lag here.
--
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
If you look atq uake_large2
a ke_large
http://www.benews.com/features/quake/img/?file=
And: http://www.benews.com/features/quake/img/?file=qu
The time in the lower right hand side, and the uptime on the two systems is EXCATLY the same. Anyone know what that is?
Elwood
http://www.benews.com/story/?ID=670
They talk about why the picts looks funny. Question answered.
I am looking forwad to more info about how the Be version of Quake will be DLable....
Elwood
Tim Self, VP Developer Relations of Be, Inc. said;
Pentium III's new high performance instructions in conjunction with our flexible approach... .
How the hell does a Pentium 3 get CREDIT for running Quake on Be? Notice Be does not reccomend anywhere on their suggested systems pages... NON-INTEL PC's. I won't even dig up the PowerPC issue, even though they still sell but not support that version.
I despise puppets as much as who pulls the strings. At least Red Hat could take an Intel investment without compromising their integrety and licking Intel's face like some scrawny lapdog..
You guys missed the coolest part about the story:
"You might also notice that Be, Inc. has Voodoo2 powered Glide drawing in a Window."
Uh... Isn't that the SHIT? Voodoo power for your 3D apps? See what I'm saying?
-David
riva tnt is supported, the experimental drivers work just fine. I have a an SB pci128 (es1370 chipset i think, which is what the yamaha uses) and it works just fine with the downloaded drivers.
-lx
Those other 7 processors would be handling other threads. Q[1|2|3] is a single threaded app so more processors doesn't equate to more performance.
The good news for those w/ multi-processor boxes is that the other stuff your BeOS is doing while you're playing Quake isn't reduced to a crawl.
Someone port X to Linux, and Emacs and Netscape and Ultima Online.......
for once a developer is running ahead of schedule. initial reports for the quake 2 beos port stated that it wouldn't be released until r5. now i'm REALLY getting excited for the r4.1 patch..