Now there's a system which had some fundamental strengths, buried in a mediocre implementation. It really needed the release of another 2-3 genres to straighten it out, and then a revamp/polish on the Fantasy system (Mythus).
It was a lot of fun, but it was released early. They had started to clean it up, but the TSR lawsuit pretty much killed it just as it was starting to get straightened out.
Rough start, good game, great core mechanics, but bad books, bad luck, and bad timing.
Bah. She has a nice smile, a good sense of humor, and likes playing games. And if one were in a relationship for a few decades, that's a hell of a lot more important than whether or not she looks like Jessica Alba right this minute.
She looks emminently huggable, and I wouldn't turn her down for a date. She strikes me as fun to be around, and besides, she plays WoW. A lot. And cracks jokes. A lot, it seems. And she was really nice the one time I did meet her.
(OK, she could use a little cosmetic dental work, but that's the majority of people anyways, and it's not that expensive... and her smile is so cheery it doesn't really matter.)
Ryan is a super-busy person, with a decent number of ports under his belt and a lot of contracts already on the table. However, he does seem to be a touchstone, of sorts, of modern porting efforts.
I assume that, since there's a Mac version, there's an OpenGL renderer for it (looking at the webside, it looks like it's 3D). That should ease the porting effort a bit.
Depending on what you're aiming for, exactly, you could also potentially contract with Linux Game Publishing (http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/) or one of its developers (like me -- I did the Majesty port, for one).
Off the record, the game codebase is pretty clean since we had already ported it over the Mac. i.e. I believe they got the "Mac-n-Trans" codebase. (Trans = Translation, or localized.)
Correct. That's what made building it for PPC practical.
Did they start porting it straight away? Can anyone give an idea of the average time taken to port a game to linux? (just curious)
The LGP port did not begin until Q2 2002, and the work was primarily done in a "second job" situation. That would lead me to call it roughly three man-months (including the beta), but longer calendar-wise simply because I was working around a day job, too.
Even the original port to be done by Tribsoft was started some time after the release of the original game (but, iirc, before the release of the expansion).
That was Tribsoft's port. The rights were purchased (or optioned, or something) by LGP in January of 2002, after it was pretty clear that Tribsoft was out of the picture. (IIRC, Tribsoft only ever released JA2, but had announced Majesty and Europa Universalis.)
SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) is an excellent API for the graphics and input portions. It's even cross-platform, using DirectX 7 under Win95/98 and GDI under WinNT 4. Not to mention Linux (X, X/MIT-SHM, SVGAlib, AAlib, fbcon, ggi), Be, Mac, etc.
It's the 3D stuff. Sure, linux.3dfx.com has a fairly easy step-by-step for the various Voodoo cards, and both nVidi a and the Utah-GLX crew have come a loooong way towards making it easier.
Still, they all practically require recompiles (kernel modules, or in the case of Utah-GLX -- grab the CVS copy and compile the whole thing, then patch your kernel, if you want decent performance). That is a little daunting to Joe average.
Mind you, you only need the investment for Q3, HG2, Heretic2, SoF, and UT (or the older Q1, Q2, or Kingpin), but it's still significantly harder than the equivalent setup under Windows.
Note: I really like Utah-GLX. It makes the G400 in my work box hum and do good things. I also think that the state of 3D hardware under Linux has come a REALLY LONG WAY in the past year. It's where Windows was the first time I tried to get a 3D app running hardware-accelerated (say, 1.5 years ago, or so). We have a ways to go. We have come a really long way. We're getting there.
We will be there for John Q. Average. Just not right this minute.
Also: there have been attempts to bundle known-good versions of Mesa (HG2, Q3A), but that has proben problematic -- after all, just 'cause it works for Q3A doesn't mean it really *is* a good version of Mesa for, say, HG2 which stresses Mesa quite differently.
We've come a long way, baby, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement...
Netscape 6 is the first product to come out that the general public would care about and the author was clearly not impressed by it.
Not sure I'd agree there. I'd argue that the GIMP was a consumer-level/ordinary user application long before Mozilla was open sourced. It's good, solid, fast, and does a whole bunch of stuff very well. Without it, my wife's machine would be running Windows. Yay GIMP! =)
The GIMP, when it comes to color pre-press work, isn't on par with Photoshop as one cannot (iirc, I haven't kept up with GIMP for a few months) tweak inking settings, set-up duotones, etc. --- these are very important features and, agreeably, it needs to be addressed in the Gimp.
My wife does a lot of color correcting for a custom printing setup at her work (Mac, Photoshop, and some really awesome Canon color copiers/printers), and she states that the GIMP is definitely not in the same league as Photoshop is in that particular area.
However, that may primarily be because the GIMP works internally on an RGB color model and has limited support for everything else. Part of the hassle, however, are the color patents (Pan-Tone leaps to mind immediately), which means that setting up a "guaranteed" result via one of the standard color palettes is simply not possible in the GIMP.
On the other hand, as she has explored the GIMP at home, she has commented that there are several areas where the GIMP shines relative to Photoshop -- tear-off menus, remappable keys, the plethora of plug-ins, customizability (I've started hacking the plug-ins at her request, actually). So, she's been doing her personal compositions, experiments, and real work in the GIMP at home, and then taking it in to work as a TIFF and color correcting it there, as needed.
If we had a good (and stable) printer setup at home (chintzy ink jet for now), she could learn the specifics of that printer and adjust for it using the GIMP. On the other hand, she couldn't map it to Pan-Tone and pass it off to a print shop and be able to expect the results to be what she wants.
She describes the differences now as being "Photoshop for presswork, GIMP for usability". Wow. Quite a turnaround from the first time she used it (0.99 series). We're running the latest developers (non-CVS) release -- 1.1.19.
Of course, whatever ruling he passes, MS will likely appeal. Oh well.
Yup. Microsoft has already signalled that they will definitely appeal.
What surprises me, though, is that they are continuing to be as uncompromising as they have always been. They didn't abide by the original consent decree, they got dragged into court, they got all sorts of nasty things plastered all over about them, and they keep fighting?
Even if they appeal, a lot of damage has been done to their reputation. Not necessarily from a "gee, they're bad" point of view, but that little chink in the armor of perceived invulnerability.
That is to say, they have done a lousy job of maintaining the public relations necessary to stay in the "invincible" spot. (Compare that to the investigation of Intel -- hey, you haven't heard much about that one, now have you?)
The status of "monopoly" has already been stated as a Finding of Fact. Those facts are practically indisputable, even in the court of appeals. And given their solidity, the findings of law will have to have really large holes in them in order to have a chance of overturning on appeal.
But that's not the point. The point is that public perception is gradually shifting. Microsoft is still regarded as a powerful, large, and profitable company. On the other hand, the tendrils of doubt are snaking their way into the minds of anyone who follows the news at all.
Will Microsoft collapse? Not bloody likely! Will the perception of their advancing into new markets (servers, embedded systems) be seen as "inevitable"? Not nearly as much as they once were.
The desktop OS playing field is very, very tilted in their favor. On the other hand, the scrutiny has been enough to stunt their advance somewhat, and a drawn-out appeals process will only help.
(Which is why it continues to amaze me that leveller heads haven't prevailed, and they continue to fight this in a very, very public fashion.)
So, let me get this straight -- gaming under Linux is so unimportant from your point of view that you are not willing to support the gaming scene, because it isn't already as good as/better than the Windows gaming scene?
RANT ON
Linux games are improving by leaps and bounds. I mean, there are what, 10? 12? commercial titles out now! More just around the corner! (SC3000, SOF, SMAC, Terminus, NWN, Descent 3, Anarchy Online)
But you are one of the people who is so impatient that they can't be bothered to support Linux gaming!
If we don't buy the Linux games, they won't continue making them! If you care about Linux as a gaming platform, buy the games that are important to you. I'm serious. If you don't, then you haven't voted for the platform. In fact, if you buy the Windows version, you are continuing to fund the continued dominance of games under Windows and actively undercutting Linux gaming.
Geez. It's like the people who couldn't wait TWO DAYS to get Quake 3, so they bought the Windows version then whined that Loki wouldn't immediately give them the Linux version. C'mon, folks. Actively taking money away from the Linux game companies hurts the commercial game scene under Linux.
THIS IS THE REASON THAT IT'S SO HARD TO GET COMPANIES TO PORT!
I mean, if you're gonna buy it anyways, why port, right?
Write Xatrix if you bought Kingpin because there's a Linux client. Ditto for Epic and Unreal Tournament. But more importantlybuy the Linux ports if you want to see more Linux games. No money == no reason to port.
RANT OFF
The future of Linux gaming is bright, but only if the Linux community supports it.
(BTW, the above comments really don't apply to the free software games, a la freeciv, Tux:AQFH, Pingus, etc., which rule and should be developed too.)
Currently available/within a week of shipping titles: Quake 1, Quake 2, Quake 3: Arena, Civilization: Call to Power, Myth 2: Soulblighter, Railroad Tycoon 2: Gold Edition, Eric's Ultimate Solitaire, Heretic 2, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, Heavy Gear ][ (shipping this Friday, I think), Hopkins: FBI, Krilo, Kingpin (download client), Unreal Tournament (download client)
That's funny, I received my Q3A (Linux!) CD within a few days of the Windows release, and I've been cheerfully fraggin' away (when I could drag myself out of Heroes3, anyways) since.
I also have my nice, shiny tin box, and I've seen it on the shelves in Electronics Boutiques nationwide (both locally, and in the Pittsburgh airport this afternoon -- 2 tins!).
If all you can find is the demo, you aren't looking very hard.
was one of the beta testers for HG2 and I have to say that Loki did a GREAT job getting this game to Linux.
Seconded.
However, if anyone is considering purchasing this game make sure you have Mesa-supported 3D acceleration first! The current (3.3.x) nVidia drivers are not up to the task, but the Matrox and 3Dfx cards have been quite successful.
(Boring, standard joysticks are fairly easy to configure, too. Got me a cheap-o $10 joystick, and d/led the current driver. Did the insmod, and it Just Worked. I was quite impressed.)
If they were following how large games were, they would of ported Diablo, Baldurs Gate, Starcraft, Unreal Tournament.
Actually, UT has already been ported, it's loads of fun to play, and plays better on my Linux box at home than my NT box at work. (Interestingly, you can even play most of the Unreal levels using UT under Linux.)
The rest are Blizzard games, as already noted, and Blizzard has been quite reluctant to allow ports of their games until the sales results of other games justify it.
Semi-apropos, there was a piece on Morning Edition this morning about pig cells for dopamine production (as opposed to human fetal cells) to help patients with Parkinson's. However, the results, while remarkable in a couple cases, were not consistent enough to be encouraging.
Now, if they could clone pigs that grew more human-like brain tissue, it would hold the potential for curing Parkinson's altogether. (Wait, doesn't this tie in to the human genome story, too?)
There was a discussion on one of the Loki newsgroups regarding this. No numbers were released =( However, it's known that the number 2,000 was low-ball for CTP, but how much higher it was is purely speculative.
The favored rumor was that the top two titles were in the 50,000 - 80,000 range.
I don't know anything about the actual state, though... (read loki.misc for the thread, look for "So, how are things going?")
Nope. The TNT drivers that compile with XFree86 are under the XFree86 license, the Mesa component is GPL'd.
On further investigation, you may be correct that the glx.o may be provided with the other material. Hard to tell, because there's not much direction provided with it (and it looks like it needs to be untarr'd over an existing XF86 install).
Please prove that wrong. I'd like to think better of them, but my experience to date has been pretty doggone negative. Sad, too, because the card performs very well and looks very nice under NT.
Ya know, I didn't think I'd like it. But, the beta very much proved me wrong. It's a surprisingly fun game (surprisingly in that I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it).
Loki's done a good job with it. I'm looking forward to getting the full release, if only so that I have a manual;-)
It seems nvidia Source for XFree86 3.3.5 is already available
Perhaps, but where's the GLX.o module source?
The 2D specs for the nVidia cards have been available for quite a while. It's the lack of Free/OpenSource Software for the 3D part that is the sticking point.
3Dfx Open Sourced glide, released specs on their card, and it's all folded nicely into Mesa. Matrox is being handled by the UtahGLX group, who are doing quite a job with the specs.
nVidia has released special binary-only versions of the 3D module. Not quite sure why, other than it made it impossible to get my TNT2 working (grrr). So, I bought a Voodoo3, and I'll be buying other cards that have drivers with source (for 2D and 3D) as I purchase new machines.
I don't care how good the TNT looks -- if I can't upgrade the other software on my machine without breaking the card support, I don't want their cards.
IIRC, id did the port, not Loki. Loki is distributing Q3.
A fairer question might be "How difficult was it to port the Heretic 2 and/or the Heavy Gear 2 code, and did it take very long?" After all, they are two accelerated titles that Loki has ported, although the latter is still in beta.
Slashdot Mirror
I guess that means they beat us to Super Tensile Solids, and will now be able to do orbital insertions as needed...
"In one moment, Earth; in the next, heaven." -- Academecian Prokhor Zakharov, For I Have Tasted The Fruit
They missed out on several I know of, including Majesty.
Loki's ports: Civilization: Call to Power, Myth 2, Railroad Tycoon 2 (Gold Edition), Eric's Ultimate Solitaire, Heretic 2, Heroes of Might & Magic 3, Heavy Gear 2, Soldier of Fortune, Descent 3, SimCity 3000, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Tribes 2, Kohan, Mindrover, Rune, Heavy Metal: Fakk 2, Postal 2.
Loki also temporarily maintained Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament, and was involved in the original qeradiant to gtkradiant port.
Also, the port of Deus Ex was close to complete but wasn't able to be gotten out the door before the implosion.
Mmmmm.....
Dangerous Journeys.....
Now there's a system which had some fundamental strengths, buried in a mediocre implementation. It really needed the release of another 2-3 genres to straighten it out, and then a revamp/polish on the Fantasy system (Mythus).
It was a lot of fun, but it was released early. They had started to clean it up, but the TSR lawsuit pretty much killed it just as it was starting to get straightened out.
Rough start, good game, great core mechanics, but bad books, bad luck, and bad timing.
Bah. She has a nice smile, a good sense of humor, and likes playing games. And if one were in a relationship for a few decades, that's a hell of a lot more important than whether or not she looks like Jessica Alba right this minute.
She looks emminently huggable, and I wouldn't turn her down for a date. She strikes me as fun to be around, and besides, she plays WoW. A lot. And cracks jokes. A lot, it seems. And she was really nice the one time I did meet her.
(OK, she could use a little cosmetic dental work, but that's the majority of people anyways, and it's not that expensive... and her smile is so cheery it doesn't really matter.)
Ryan is a super-busy person, with a decent number of ports under his belt and a lot of contracts already on the table. However, he does seem to be a touchstone, of sorts, of modern porting efforts.
I assume that, since there's a Mac version, there's an OpenGL renderer for it (looking at the webside, it looks like it's 3D). That should ease the porting effort a bit.
Depending on what you're aiming for, exactly, you could also potentially contract with Linux Game Publishing (http://www.linuxgamepublishing.com/) or one of its developers (like me -- I did the Majesty port, for one).
Correct. That's what made building it for PPC practical.
The LGP port did not begin until Q2 2002, and the work was primarily done in a "second job" situation. That would lead me to call it roughly three man-months (including the beta), but longer calendar-wise simply because I was working around a day job, too.
Even the original port to be done by Tribsoft was started some time after the release of the original game (but, iirc, before the release of the expansion).
That was Tribsoft's port. The rights were purchased (or optioned, or something) by LGP in January of 2002, after it was pretty clear that Tribsoft was out of the picture. (IIRC, Tribsoft only ever released JA2, but had announced Majesty and Europa Universalis.)
SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) is an excellent API for the graphics and input portions. It's even cross-platform, using DirectX 7 under Win95/98 and GDI under WinNT 4. Not to mention Linux (X, X/MIT-SHM, SVGAlib, AAlib, fbcon, ggi), Be, Mac, etc.
FWIW, it's what Loki uses for their ports.
Coupled with OpenAL (used in HG2, SMAC, SC3K, SoF, and Descent3), it's solving real-world problems now.
The API's are there, and maturing quickly. Feel free to use them :-)
If you can't get help from the Tech Support folks via phone, e-mail support@lokigames.com.
I haven't had any real problems with X 3.3.x and my Voodoo3 at home. In fact, Myth2, GLQuake, Q2, Q3, HG2, UT, Kingpin, and SoF all run just fine =)
So, where is the difficulty?
It's the 3D stuff. Sure, linux.3dfx.com has a fairly easy step-by-step for the various Voodoo cards, and both nVidi a and the Utah-GLX crew have come a loooong way towards making it easier.
Still, they all practically require recompiles (kernel modules, or in the case of Utah-GLX -- grab the CVS copy and compile the whole thing, then patch your kernel, if you want decent performance). That is a little daunting to Joe average.
Mind you, you only need the investment for Q3, HG2, Heretic2, SoF, and UT (or the older Q1, Q2, or Kingpin), but it's still significantly harder than the equivalent setup under Windows.
Note: I really like Utah-GLX. It makes the G400 in my work box hum and do good things. I also think that the state of 3D hardware under Linux has come a REALLY LONG WAY in the past year. It's where Windows was the first time I tried to get a 3D app running hardware-accelerated (say, 1.5 years ago, or so). We have a ways to go. We have come a really long way. We're getting there.
We will be there for John Q. Average. Just not right this minute.
Also: there have been attempts to bundle known-good versions of Mesa (HG2, Q3A), but that has proben problematic -- after all, just 'cause it works for Q3A doesn't mean it really *is* a good version of Mesa for, say, HG2 which stresses Mesa quite differently.
We've come a long way, baby, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement...
Netscape 6 is the first product to come out that the general public would care about and the author was clearly not impressed by it.
Not sure I'd agree there. I'd argue that the GIMP was a consumer-level/ordinary user application long before Mozilla was open sourced. It's good, solid, fast, and does a whole bunch of stuff very well. Without it, my wife's machine would be running Windows. Yay GIMP! =)
And yes, it really does have a Windows version.
The GIMP, when it comes to color pre-press work, isn't on par with Photoshop as one cannot (iirc, I haven't kept up with GIMP for a few months) tweak inking settings, set-up duotones, etc. --- these are very important features and, agreeably, it needs to be addressed in the Gimp.
My wife does a lot of color correcting for a custom printing setup at her work (Mac, Photoshop, and some really awesome Canon color copiers/printers), and she states that the GIMP is definitely not in the same league as Photoshop is in that particular area.
However, that may primarily be because the GIMP works internally on an RGB color model and has limited support for everything else. Part of the hassle, however, are the color patents (Pan-Tone leaps to mind immediately), which means that setting up a "guaranteed" result via one of the standard color palettes is simply not possible in the GIMP.
On the other hand, as she has explored the GIMP at home, she has commented that there are several areas where the GIMP shines relative to Photoshop -- tear-off menus, remappable keys, the plethora of plug-ins, customizability (I've started hacking the plug-ins at her request, actually). So, she's been doing her personal compositions, experiments, and real work in the GIMP at home, and then taking it in to work as a TIFF and color correcting it there, as needed.
If we had a good (and stable) printer setup at home (chintzy ink jet for now), she could learn the specifics of that printer and adjust for it using the GIMP. On the other hand, she couldn't map it to Pan-Tone and pass it off to a print shop and be able to expect the results to be what she wants.
She describes the differences now as being "Photoshop for presswork, GIMP for usability". Wow. Quite a turnaround from the first time she used it (0.99 series). We're running the latest developers (non-CVS) release -- 1.1.19.
Of course, whatever ruling he passes, MS will likely appeal. Oh well.
Yup. Microsoft has already signalled that they will definitely appeal.
What surprises me, though, is that they are continuing to be as uncompromising as they have always been. They didn't abide by the original consent decree, they got dragged into court, they got all sorts of nasty things plastered all over about them, and they keep fighting?
Even if they appeal, a lot of damage has been done to their reputation. Not necessarily from a "gee, they're bad" point of view, but that little chink in the armor of perceived invulnerability.
That is to say, they have done a lousy job of maintaining the public relations necessary to stay in the "invincible" spot. (Compare that to the investigation of Intel -- hey, you haven't heard much about that one, now have you?)
The status of "monopoly" has already been stated as a Finding of Fact. Those facts are practically indisputable, even in the court of appeals. And given their solidity, the findings of law will have to have really large holes in them in order to have a chance of overturning on appeal.
But that's not the point. The point is that public perception is gradually shifting. Microsoft is still regarded as a powerful, large, and profitable company. On the other hand, the tendrils of doubt are snaking their way into the minds of anyone who follows the news at all.
Will Microsoft collapse? Not bloody likely! Will the perception of their advancing into new markets (servers, embedded systems) be seen as "inevitable"? Not nearly as much as they once were.
The desktop OS playing field is very, very tilted in their favor. On the other hand, the scrutiny has been enough to stunt their advance somewhat, and a drawn-out appeals process will only help.
(Which is why it continues to amaze me that leveller heads haven't prevailed, and they continue to fight this in a very, very public fashion.)
So, let me get this straight -- gaming under Linux is so unimportant from your point of view that you are not willing to support the gaming scene, because it isn't already as good as/better than the Windows gaming scene?
RANT ON
Linux games are improving by leaps and bounds. I mean, there are what, 10? 12? commercial titles out now! More just around the corner! (SC3000, SOF, SMAC, Terminus, NWN, Descent 3, Anarchy Online)
But you are one of the people who is so impatient that they can't be bothered to support Linux gaming!
If we don't buy the Linux games, they won't continue making them! If you care about Linux as a gaming platform, buy the games that are important to you. I'm serious. If you don't, then you haven't voted for the platform. In fact, if you buy the Windows version, you are continuing to fund the continued dominance of games under Windows and actively undercutting Linux gaming.
Geez. It's like the people who couldn't wait TWO DAYS to get Quake 3, so they bought the Windows version then whined that Loki wouldn't immediately give them the Linux version. C'mon, folks. Actively taking money away from the Linux game companies hurts the commercial game scene under Linux.
THIS IS THE REASON THAT IT'S SO HARD TO GET COMPANIES TO PORT!
I mean, if you're gonna buy it anyways, why port, right?
Write Xatrix if you bought Kingpin because there's a Linux client. Ditto for Epic and Unreal Tournament. But more importantly buy the Linux ports if you want to see more Linux games. No money == no reason to port.
RANT OFF
The future of Linux gaming is bright, but only if the Linux community supports it.
(BTW, the above comments really don't apply to the free software games, a la freeciv, Tux:AQFH, Pingus, etc., which rule and should be developed too.)
Currently available/within a week of shipping titles: Quake 1, Quake 2, Quake 3: Arena, Civilization: Call to Power, Myth 2: Soulblighter, Railroad Tycoon 2: Gold Edition, Eric's Ultimate Solitaire, Heretic 2, Heroes of Might and Magic 3, Heavy Gear ][ (shipping this Friday, I think), Hopkins: FBI, Krilo, Kingpin (download client), Unreal Tournament (download client)
That's funny, I received my Q3A (Linux!) CD within a few days of the Windows release, and I've been cheerfully fraggin' away (when I could drag myself out of Heroes3, anyways) since.
I also have my nice, shiny tin box, and I've seen it on the shelves in Electronics Boutiques nationwide (both locally, and in the Pittsburgh airport this afternoon -- 2 tins!).
If all you can find is the demo, you aren't looking very hard.
was one of the beta testers for HG2 and I have to say that Loki did a GREAT job getting this game to Linux.
Seconded.
However, if anyone is considering purchasing this game make sure you have Mesa-supported 3D acceleration first! The current (3.3.x) nVidia drivers are not up to the task, but the Matrox and 3Dfx cards have been quite successful.
(Boring, standard joysticks are fairly easy to configure, too. Got me a cheap-o $10 joystick, and d/led the current driver. Did the insmod, and it Just Worked. I was quite impressed.)
If they were following how large games were, they would of ported Diablo, Baldurs Gate, Starcraft, Unreal Tournament.
Actually, UT has already been ported, it's loads of fun to play, and plays better on my Linux box at home than my NT box at work. (Interestingly, you can even play most of the Unreal levels using UT under Linux.)
The rest are Blizzard games, as already noted, and Blizzard has been quite reluctant to allow ports of their games until the sales results of other games justify it.
Semi-apropos, there was a piece on Morning Edition this morning about pig cells for dopamine production (as opposed to human fetal cells) to help patients with Parkinson's. However, the results, while remarkable in a couple cases, were not consistent enough to be encouraging.
Now, if they could clone pigs that grew more human-like brain tissue, it would hold the potential for curing Parkinson's altogether. (Wait, doesn't this tie in to the human genome story, too?)
There was a discussion on one of the Loki newsgroups regarding this. No numbers were released =( However, it's known that the number 2,000 was low-ball for CTP, but how much higher it was is purely speculative.
The favored rumor was that the top two titles were in the 50,000 - 80,000 range.
I don't know anything about the actual state, though... (read loki.misc for the thread, look for "So, how are things going?")
Nope. The TNT drivers that compile with XFree86 are under the XFree86 license, the Mesa component is GPL'd.
On further investigation, you may be correct that the glx.o may be provided with the other material. Hard to tell, because there's not much direction provided with it (and it looks like it needs to be untarr'd over an existing XF86 install).
However, the current indications are that the future for nVidia is closed driver stuff -- read the report at LinuxGames or check out the interview with Scott Draeker (or this response and the subsequent thread).
Please prove that wrong. I'd like to think better of them, but my experience to date has been pretty doggone negative. Sad, too, because the card performs very well and looks very nice under NT.
Ya know, I didn't think I'd like it. But, the beta very much proved me wrong. It's a surprisingly fun game (surprisingly in that I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it).
Loki's done a good job with it. I'm looking forward to getting the full release, if only so that I have a manual ;-)
It seems nvidia Source for XFree86 3.3.5 is already available
Perhaps, but where's the GLX.o module source?
The 2D specs for the nVidia cards have been available for quite a while. It's the lack of Free/OpenSource Software for the 3D part that is the sticking point.
3Dfx Open Sourced glide, released specs on their card, and it's all folded nicely into Mesa. Matrox is being handled by the UtahGLX group, who are doing quite a job with the specs.
nVidia has released special binary-only versions of the 3D module. Not quite sure why, other than it made it impossible to get my TNT2 working (grrr). So, I bought a Voodoo3, and I'll be buying other cards that have drivers with source (for 2D and 3D) as I purchase new machines.
I don't care how good the TNT looks -- if I can't upgrade the other software on my machine without breaking the card support, I don't want their cards.
IIRC, id did the port, not Loki. Loki is distributing Q3.
A fairer question might be "How difficult was it to port the Heretic 2 and/or the Heavy Gear 2 code, and did it take very long?" After all, they are two accelerated titles that Loki has ported, although the latter is still in beta.