Really, I see no problem with the current system. It works well, and is totally modular. You never really even have to recompile your standard, vanilla kernel.
But hey. This new system should be given a chance, I suppose, though I see no use for it personally. I would prefer that it wasn't forced upon me in 2.5.
I think that it will be great that as a community, we will be able to improve this software... Even better is that we can *include* it in Linux distributions.
This gives everyone access to an excellent 3D tool. My biggest hope is that the UI becomes a little bit easier to use.
This tool could revolutionize cross-platform 3D graphics design.
It can be adjusted. I originally turned off the antialiasing for 12 pt and below (like with Windows), but found that I was just too used to the antialiasing.
It is too blurry for some people, which has also been a complaint about OS X, but it really doesn't take too long to adapt to it.
It takes a few minutes, but you can extract the contents of all of them at the same time by using "cabextract *.cab/destination" or something like that. It takes a minutes or two for them all to extract. Than, just copy all of the ttf files (*ttf) out of that directory to your TTF destination.
It sounds like a pain, but really isn't that difficult. It is a lot faster than it sounds, really.
It can via the RENDER extension, with proper hardware accelleration. This was just implemented in 4.x though, I believe.
Here's some info...
http://www.xfree86.org/~keithp/render/ http://w ww.xfree86.org/~keithp/render/protocol.htm l
You don't want to be using it in remote display mode though. It slows it down quite significantly.
Once again, this requires an *accellerator*! This hardware must also support the render extension. All modern cards do this, and it works perfectly in X.
KDE's standard fonts look good with MS's Arial. Times New Roman is good for web browsing. Opera works well with the same fonts as used in the Windows version, but you need to tweak the font sizes a bit.
It's a bit of trouble, but works nicely on the Linux desktop. Until we can come up with some great GPLed TTFs, then this is the best that we've got.
Make sure it is Windows 98 though. I think that new EULA tells you that you can't do this stuff with newer Windows releases.:) J/K
If ALSA also doesn't do what you want, www.opensound.com has AWESOME commercial drivers that can mix over 50 PCM streams at one time, real time, with low CPU utilization. It works just like directsound.
Plus, SDL is cross-platform and does most of what DirectX does, using open standards and OpenGL for 3D accelleration.
What? How can it get any harder than the KDE printer configurator? It is butt-simple. Just choose your model, a driver, and that's it. You can even print over an NT netowork to a shared SMB printer without any problems.
I don't see why anyone insists that it isn't fast though. It is just as fast, if not faster than Windows, as far as I have seen.
Perhaps people should stop running it with framebuffer drivers, and maybe they could see how fast it is. Use drivers for a *real* accellerator, and you will see its speed.
I play games on it, and it is faster than the same games were in Windows. I play movies, and with accelleration, it is faster than accellerated Windows video. My images and windows render and move in real-time with hardware accelleration; it's also very fast.
I fail to understand how high cost, closed source, and less reliability isn't a "real reason". Perhaps you can't understand this concept and that is why you insist that you must berate Linux enthusiasts, who often have legitimate reasons for using the OS.
It isn't always about hating Microsoft or their products... But that is always a plus.
The only reason that I haven't switched to OGG is because my entire collection is R3-mix 128 LAME encoded MP3s. I have trouble topping the quality.
Ogg is great for smaller, higher quality files when compared to MP3. But when you get to large file sizes for each format, then it doesn't really matter to me. When portable OGG vorbis players show up, then I'll make the switch (I don't care for Thomson's royalties on MP3). But until then, it's LAME VBR MP3s for the most crisp, compact sound possible, and the greatest flexibility.
It's probably a DivX file. Besides, mplayer and Xine can play almost anything nowadays. If your Linux box has good video accelleration, it can be done with no load on your CPU. Plays back just as nicely (sometimes better) as Windows with most codecs.
Some games, like Grim Fandango try to forcefully make you use Direct X 5. A way around it is to run an alternate binary that is in the program's directory, which forces the game to start anyway.
Other games have difficulty even if they don't complain about your version. From crash problems, to general failures in running. Sometimes these are just problems with running on new NT based machines. The compatibility layer updates fix this. Other times, it is incompatibility with newer versions of DirectX.
Just because Microsoft claims that it is fully backward compatible with older versions does not mean that it really is. Besides, the compatibility is only as good as the app that was written for it. If a game requires an older version, that is probably because something wasn't coded right in the first place.
Wine is not a virtual machine. It is a library that translates Win32 calls to native Linux calls. VMWare is a virtual machine- A PC Emulator for the PC. Virtual PC is an x86 PC Emulator for the Mac.
You also have to buy Windows along with VMWare. Wine is a compatibility layer... Free, open libraries that are designed to run native Windows code. VMWare, if I am not mistaken, emulates a virtual machine on which you can run an OS within an OS. Wine is quite different, as it is just a wrapper that translates Win32 calls to native Linux calls. Wine doesn't require Windows at all, but some applications run better if they can use the native Windows DLLs instead of the Wine libs. But it is getting better. Wine libraries are getting more efficient and accurate every day.
The only major problems that I have had when installing games with WINE is due to the copy protected CDs. Many of them tend to puke out when using WineHQ's WINE. Transgaming apparently has some closed code (e.g. Safedisk) that they have licensed to alleviate that problem. That is at least what I have heard. I may be wrong.
Older games and most standard Windows programs have always installed nicely for me though.
The biggest problem with sound in Linux is the lack of a standard, CPU powered mixing system. Windows has this in DirectX. A lot of driver developers are unwilling to do this in Linux.
Many years ago, soundcard manufacturers started hardcoding mixers on a DSP level. The SB Live, for instance, can automatically mix streams of audio that access the/dev/dsp device. After this card was designed, DirectSound got big, and hardware manufacturers took a "winmodem" approach to things. Most modern soundcards do not actually mix audio on a chip level. It is usually done by the CPU, via DirectX. Some DSP chips accellerate this, just like videocards do to 3D graphics. It is a similar concept.
By rejecting the idea of a good, software mixer, I think that we alienate people who want to use Linux, and they can get frustrated by simple things, like sound device conflicts. Certain daemons like aRts and ESD can help this, but they are not given enough priority by the kernel to perform these operations, even if you set them to real-time. This has been my experience, at least. Plus, another problem arises... You actually have to write software to take advantage of aRtsd, or ESD. You can't just make it play standard audio to the DSP device, or else you have conflicts.
I was kinda torn with something... I was sick of aRtsd's latency problems. I was sick of not being able to take full advantage of my Santa Cruz, which was pretty powerful in Windows. It was like having a Winmodem. I checked out the drivers from www.opensound.com. I was happy to find that they offered a demo version of the drivers, that was fully functional. Installation was a snap. Just run a binary, and let it do the rest. The most amazing thing was its superior sound mixing, and its mixer! I was actually playing 3 instances of different MP3s at one time, while my messaging client was playing sounds too. A look at/dev/sndstat showed that there were multiple devices playing audio over *virtual* DSP devices without a hitch! The rear and center audio channels also worked with my 5.1 speaker system, and I could also spatialize audio to the front and rear. I bought the drivers, for a pretty low price, and I have never been happier. Over 50 programs can access the DSP at one time, even if they are hardcoded to/dev/dsp. The Drivers automatically route the audio to a virtual device, as DirectSound does. It all also real time too.
In the way of USB, I haven't had any major problems. Most joysticks work perfectly by means of the HID (Human Interface Device) module in the kernel. It works pretty much the same way as a Windows USB joystick does. The only issue is that on sime distributions, you have to do a little configuring of the joystick device... Set a symlink or two, and set some permissions. That makes things abit more difficult, if you want non-root users to be able to use it. Heck, right now, I am even using a real PSX pad on my Linux box.
Just like in Windows, if you have proper video and sound drivers, then it is pretty simple. Otherwise, you are in trouble.
That's all it takes, really. If you can install video drivers, and sound drivers, then you've already overcome the only major obstacle. Many distributions, like Suse, Mandrake, and Lycoris, do all of this for you anyways.
I've found that Linux works wonderfully as a gaming platform. OpenGL apps are perfect, assuming you have drivers. nVidia, PowerVR, Matrox, and even some ATi cards have good 3D acceleration in Linux.
Sound options are pretty good too. The default kernel drivers work well, especially with cars that have built-in hardware mixers, like the SB Live cards, and some Yamaha products. The ALSA project also has good drivers for some cards. If you want extra functionality, it is worth it to pick up some commercial drivers from www.opensound.com. I use these with my Santa Cruz, and have control over the front, and rear DSPs. I can spatialize my audio with my KDE mixer. The drivers also have a DirectSound-style mixer, which mixes audio in real-time, and routes it to the DSP. This is truely real-time too, not like aRts, which claims to be real-time, but is still very latent. The OpenSound driver is a real, kernel level module, with real-time priority. It can also mix over 50 audio streams at one time, if you pay for the "Virtual Mixer Pro" upgrade. Plus, even the basic mixer will route hardcoded audio that tries to access/dev/dsp to a Virtual Mixer device. All of this can normally be done for $25-$50, depending on the hardware and options that you want. It is worth it if you value excellent sound. Odds are than all AC-97 compliant sound chips will work with these 4-Front opensound.com drivers. I really advocate 4-Front as a provider for sound drivers. Their tech support is top notch, and they offer a great product, availble for most Unix platforms.
With proper video and sound drivers, things like SDL make it really easy to run games in Linux. MESA 3D provides for great OpenGL acceleration, and is very fast and pretty.
Now, if only game companies would get on those ports! I am ready to buy.
That is not "insightful". It is totally false. Many Linux users *pay* for their distributions. Many *pay* for commercial software.
GPL advocates aren't any different than Windows users, when it comes to playing games. Most of them are willing to pay for commercial software, as long as it is of high quality. As a matter of fact, I'm willing to bet that there is a whole lot more illegitimate gaming on the Windows side. I've known LOTS of Windows users that refuse to pay for any of their software.
For the record, I've paid for the following on my Linux box in the last few months:
Slackware 8.1 Lycoris Mandrake Return to Castle Wolfenstein Q3A OpenSound.com sound drivers Two Opera licenses
And I'm getting ready to buy a bunch of games from Tux Games. Neverwinter Nights is on my list. Perhaps if there was more software available, then Linux users would be buying more. The point is that there isn't as much right now, and most of what is available is GPL. We use, and advocate good GPL software because often, it is better than the commericial alternatives. But right now, the commercial games still have it. There aren't many GPL games that can match the amount of money and manpower that go into these big, commercial projects. Good, advanced GPL games are showing up, but not at the rate of commercial games.
Did it ever occur to you that some people love GNU/Linux, not because it is free, but because it is the best, most powerful x86 alternative to Windows? Maybe that doesn't make sense to you. How much have you paid for software lately?
There will be a market for Linux games. It just needs to be given a chance. Hardware drivers are very stable in Linux, and things like SDL make it really easy to write cross platform games. Linux's OpenGL implementation also seems faster than on Windows. It is growing as an OS, and getting more users. You don't really think that they all want to miss out on these games, do you?
You don't have double loss of quality. It was already taken out when the file was stripped of the things that you don't hear when it is a raw PCM file. You do lose a bit- it is the nature of the algorithm, but it is not even close to "double loss of quality".
Well, there is nothing wrong with living in the desert, I suppose.:) That seems like an incredibly hot environment for a PC, though. 130 F degrees? You must need a liquid cooler for that thing.
Underclocking a newer, faster CPU is not going to make a substantial difference in the heat that it produces. The odds are, that you won't normally be producing full load on the CPU anyway, so underclocking it, even by lowering it by 1 GHz is probably just silly.
Basically, you can compile a program, producing full load at 1.4 GHz, or full load at 2.8 GHz. Either way, the CPU will get hot. What is better: a few degrees for a shorter period of time, or a marginally lower temp for a much longer period of time? These CPUs are designed for hight temps. Unless you live in an oven, then they will operate just fine. This reminds me of the silly posts of people that claim that they need to aim fans on their open computer cases. It is just really rediculous.
It just makes little sense to lower the clock speed of your CPU, unless you have stability problems. No modern CPU gets that hot that you need to drop its clock speed. Even the standard K7 Athlon is fine at 60C-70C.
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KDE 3 does this via it's configurator with the current kernel/module system.
Here's a screenshot.
Really, I see no problem with the current system. It works well, and is totally modular. You never really even have to recompile your standard, vanilla kernel.
But hey. This new system should be given a chance, I suppose, though I see no use for it personally. I would prefer that it wasn't forced upon me in 2.5.
I think that it will be great that as a community, we will be able to improve this software... Even better is that we can *include* it in Linux distributions.
This gives everyone access to an excellent 3D tool. My biggest hope is that the UI becomes a little bit easier to use.
This tool could revolutionize cross-platform 3D graphics design.
It can be adjusted. I originally turned off the antialiasing for 12 pt and below (like with Windows), but found that I was just too used to the antialiasing.
It is too blurry for some people, which has also been a complaint about OS X, but it really doesn't take too long to adapt to it.
It's a matter of preference, though.
It takes a few minutes, but you can extract the contents of all of them at the same time by using "cabextract *.cab /destination" or something like that. It takes a minutes or two for them all to extract. Than, just copy all of the ttf files (*ttf) out of that directory to your TTF destination.
It sounds like a pain, but really isn't that difficult. It is a lot faster than it sounds, really.
It can via the RENDER extension, with proper hardware accelleration. This was just implemented in 4.x though, I believe.
w ww.xfree86.org/~keithp/render/protocol.htm l
Here's some info...
http://www.xfree86.org/~keithp/render/
http://
You don't want to be using it in remote display mode though. It slows it down quite significantly.
Once again, this requires an *accellerator*! This hardware must also support the render extension. All modern cards do this, and it works perfectly in X.
There is one good use for that old Windows 98 CD. Download CabExtract and rip those beautiful Windows TTFs right off of your disk.
:) J/K
Then, your fonts can look like this.
KDE's standard fonts look good with MS's Arial. Times New Roman is good for web browsing. Opera works well with the same fonts as used in the Windows version, but you need to tweak the font sizes a bit.
It's a bit of trouble, but works nicely on the Linux desktop. Until we can come up with some great GPLed TTFs, then this is the best that we've got.
Make sure it is Windows 98 though. I think that new EULA tells you that you can't do this stuff with newer Windows releases.
If ALSA also doesn't do what you want, www.opensound.com has AWESOME commercial drivers that can mix over 50 PCM streams at one time, real time, with low CPU utilization. It works just like directsound.
Plus, SDL is cross-platform and does most of what DirectX does, using open standards and OpenGL for 3D accelleration.
What? How can it get any harder than the KDE printer configurator? It is butt-simple. Just choose your model, a driver, and that's it. You can even print over an NT netowork to a shared SMB printer without any problems.
All of my 3D- games, OpenGL stuff is actually faster in Linux. I use great drivers. Maybe these other guys are using framebuffer drivers?
I don't see why anyone insists that it isn't fast though. It is just as fast, if not faster than Windows, as far as I have seen.
Perhaps people should stop running it with framebuffer drivers, and maybe they could see how fast it is. Use drivers for a *real* accellerator, and you will see its speed.
I play games on it, and it is faster than the same games were in Windows. I play movies, and with accelleration, it is faster than accellerated Windows video. My images and windows render and move in real-time with hardware accelleration; it's also very fast.
I fail to understand how high cost, closed source, and less reliability isn't a "real reason". Perhaps you can't understand this concept and that is why you insist that you must berate Linux enthusiasts, who often have legitimate reasons for using the OS.
It isn't always about hating Microsoft or their products... But that is always a plus.
The only reason that I haven't switched to OGG is because my entire collection is R3-mix 128 LAME encoded MP3s. I have trouble topping the quality.
Ogg is great for smaller, higher quality files when compared to MP3. But when you get to large file sizes for each format, then it doesn't really matter to me. When portable OGG vorbis players show up, then I'll make the switch (I don't care for Thomson's royalties on MP3). But until then, it's LAME VBR MP3s for the most crisp, compact sound possible, and the greatest flexibility.
It's probably a DivX file. Besides, mplayer and Xine can play almost anything nowadays. If your Linux box has good video accelleration, it can be done with no load on your CPU. Plays back just as nicely (sometimes better) as Windows with most codecs.
And I must say that it is well worth importing. Shenmue 2 EU was one of the best games that I have ever played. It was truely an epic.
Some games, like Grim Fandango try to forcefully make you use Direct X 5. A way around it is to run an alternate binary that is in the program's directory, which forces the game to start anyway.
Other games have difficulty even if they don't complain about your version. From crash problems, to general failures in running. Sometimes these are just problems with running on new NT based machines. The compatibility layer updates fix this. Other times, it is incompatibility with newer versions of DirectX.
Just because Microsoft claims that it is fully backward compatible with older versions does not mean that it really is. Besides, the compatibility is only as good as the app that was written for it. If a game requires an older version, that is probably because something wasn't coded right in the first place.
Wine is not a virtual machine. It is a library that translates Win32 calls to native Linux calls. VMWare is a virtual machine- A PC Emulator for the PC. Virtual PC is an x86 PC Emulator for the Mac.
You also have to buy Windows along with VMWare. Wine is a compatibility layer... Free, open libraries that are designed to run native Windows code. VMWare, if I am not mistaken, emulates a virtual machine on which you can run an OS within an OS. Wine is quite different, as it is just a wrapper that translates Win32 calls to native Linux calls. Wine doesn't require Windows at all, but some applications run better if they can use the native Windows DLLs instead of the Wine libs. But it is getting better. Wine libraries are getting more efficient and accurate every day.
The only major problems that I have had when installing games with WINE is due to the copy protected CDs. Many of them tend to puke out when using WineHQ's WINE. Transgaming apparently has some closed code (e.g. Safedisk) that they have licensed to alleviate that problem. That is at least what I have heard. I may be wrong.
Older games and most standard Windows programs have always installed nicely for me though.
The biggest problem with sound in Linux is the lack of a standard, CPU powered mixing system. Windows has this in DirectX. A lot of driver developers are unwilling to do this in Linux.
/dev/dsp device. After this card was designed, DirectSound got big, and hardware manufacturers took a "winmodem" approach to things. Most modern soundcards do not actually mix audio on a chip level. It is usually done by the CPU, via DirectX. Some DSP chips accellerate this, just like videocards do to 3D graphics. It is a similar concept.
/dev/sndstat showed that there were multiple devices playing audio over *virtual* DSP devices without a hitch! The rear and center audio channels also worked with my 5.1 speaker system, and I could also spatialize audio to the front and rear. I bought the drivers, for a pretty low price, and I have never been happier. Over 50 programs can access the DSP at one time, even if they are hardcoded to /dev/dsp. The Drivers automatically route the audio to a virtual device, as DirectSound does. It all also real time too.
Many years ago, soundcard manufacturers started hardcoding mixers on a DSP level. The SB Live, for instance, can automatically mix streams of audio that access the
By rejecting the idea of a good, software mixer, I think that we alienate people who want to use Linux, and they can get frustrated by simple things, like sound device conflicts. Certain daemons like aRts and ESD can help this, but they are not given enough priority by the kernel to perform these operations, even if you set them to real-time. This has been my experience, at least. Plus, another problem arises... You actually have to write software to take advantage of aRtsd, or ESD. You can't just make it play standard audio to the DSP device, or else you have conflicts.
I was kinda torn with something... I was sick of aRtsd's latency problems. I was sick of not being able to take full advantage of my Santa Cruz, which was pretty powerful in Windows. It was like having a Winmodem. I checked out the drivers from www.opensound.com. I was happy to find that they offered a demo version of the drivers, that was fully functional. Installation was a snap. Just run a binary, and let it do the rest. The most amazing thing was its superior sound mixing, and its mixer! I was actually playing 3 instances of different MP3s at one time, while my messaging client was playing sounds too. A look at
In the way of USB, I haven't had any major problems. Most joysticks work perfectly by means of the HID (Human Interface Device) module in the kernel. It works pretty much the same way as a Windows USB joystick does. The only issue is that on sime distributions, you have to do a little configuring of the joystick device... Set a symlink or two, and set some permissions. That makes things abit more difficult, if you want non-root users to be able to use it. Heck, right now, I am even using a real PSX pad on my Linux box.
Just like in Windows, if you have proper video and sound drivers, then it is pretty simple. Otherwise, you are in trouble.
That's all it takes, really. If you can install video drivers, and sound drivers, then you've already overcome the only major obstacle. Many distributions, like Suse, Mandrake, and Lycoris, do all of this for you anyways.
I've found that Linux works wonderfully as a gaming platform. OpenGL apps are perfect, assuming you have drivers. nVidia, PowerVR, Matrox, and even some ATi cards have good 3D acceleration in Linux.
/dev/dsp to a Virtual Mixer device. All of this can normally be done for $25-$50, depending on the hardware and options that you want. It is worth it if you value excellent sound. Odds are than all AC-97 compliant sound chips will work with these 4-Front opensound.com drivers. I really advocate 4-Front as a provider for sound drivers. Their tech support is top notch, and they offer a great product, availble for most Unix platforms.
Sound options are pretty good too. The default kernel drivers work well, especially with cars that have built-in hardware mixers, like the SB Live cards, and some Yamaha products. The ALSA project also has good drivers for some cards. If you want extra functionality, it is worth it to pick up some commercial drivers from www.opensound.com. I use these with my Santa Cruz, and have control over the front, and rear DSPs. I can spatialize my audio with my KDE mixer. The drivers also have a DirectSound-style mixer, which mixes audio in real-time, and routes it to the DSP. This is truely real-time too, not like aRts, which claims to be real-time, but is still very latent. The OpenSound driver is a real, kernel level module, with real-time priority. It can also mix over 50 audio streams at one time, if you pay for the "Virtual Mixer Pro" upgrade. Plus, even the basic mixer will route hardcoded audio that tries to access
With proper video and sound drivers, things like SDL make it really easy to run games in Linux. MESA 3D provides for great OpenGL acceleration, and is very fast and pretty.
Now, if only game companies would get on those ports! I am ready to buy.
That is not "insightful". It is totally false. Many Linux users *pay* for their distributions. Many *pay* for commercial software.
GPL advocates aren't any different than Windows users, when it comes to playing games. Most of them are willing to pay for commercial software, as long as it is of high quality. As a matter of fact, I'm willing to bet that there is a whole lot more illegitimate gaming on the Windows side. I've known LOTS of Windows users that refuse to pay for any of their software.
For the record, I've paid for the following on my Linux box in the last few months:
Slackware 8.1
Lycoris
Mandrake
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Q3A
OpenSound.com sound drivers
Two Opera licenses
And I'm getting ready to buy a bunch of games from Tux Games. Neverwinter Nights is on my list. Perhaps if there was more software available, then Linux users would be buying more. The point is that there isn't as much right now, and most of what is available is GPL. We use, and advocate good GPL software because often, it is better than the commericial alternatives. But right now, the commercial games still have it. There aren't many GPL games that can match the amount of money and manpower that go into these big, commercial projects. Good, advanced GPL games are showing up, but not at the rate of commercial games.
Did it ever occur to you that some people love GNU/Linux, not because it is free, but because it is the best, most powerful x86 alternative to Windows? Maybe that doesn't make sense to you. How much have you paid for software lately?
There will be a market for Linux games. It just needs to be given a chance. Hardware drivers are very stable in Linux, and things like SDL make it really easy to write cross platform games. Linux's OpenGL implementation also seems faster than on Windows. It is growing as an OS, and getting more users. You don't really think that they all want to miss out on these games, do you?
You don't have double loss of quality. It was already taken out when the file was stripped of the things that you don't hear when it is a raw PCM file. You do lose a bit- it is the nature of the algorithm, but it is not even close to "double loss of quality".
Well, there is nothing wrong with living in the desert, I suppose. :) That seems like an incredibly hot environment for a PC, though. 130 F degrees? You must need a liquid cooler for that thing.
Underclocking a newer, faster CPU is not going to make a substantial difference in the heat that it produces. The odds are, that you won't normally be producing full load on the CPU anyway, so underclocking it, even by lowering it by 1 GHz is probably just silly.
Basically, you can compile a program, producing full load at 1.4 GHz, or full load at 2.8 GHz. Either way, the CPU will get hot. What is better: a few degrees for a shorter period of time, or a marginally lower temp for a much longer period of time? These CPUs are designed for hight temps. Unless you live in an oven, then they will operate just fine. This reminds me of the silly posts of people that claim that they need to aim fans on their open computer cases. It is just really rediculous.
It just makes little sense to lower the clock speed of your CPU, unless you have stability problems. No modern CPU gets that hot that you need to drop its clock speed. Even the standard K7 Athlon is fine at 60C-70C.