Linux gettin better and better

[Gargamella]

Hi guys,i am an unexpert linux user,a linux tourist :grin: , i think that in few years there have been great improvements, and it's extremly developed linux about graphics, but i think the real revolution will begin when hardware and gaming firms will start producing hardware and softw not only studied for MS windows (or Apple) and adapted later with drivers also for linux, in facts i think that linux developers are doing wonderfull things about software...but a too important thing i hope will be to have automatic compatibility with hardware (at least more than now,even if already improved).

By now i can't refuse totally Windows and even if Ubuntu is lovely i still need windows to use Macromedia Flash or to play for exemple Enemy territory (my graphic card doesn't work for games on linux)

So if you are going to ask me: why do you write that?

i already ask you: i had nothing to do :-D

(i am joking, i am waiting for interesting replies)

Andrea

[jcrnan]

well, the bad thing is that linux probably wont get the support from hardware manufacturers and commercial companies untill linux gets big enough, wich it wont get unless its preinstalled on pcs commonly in normal shops. Wich it wont be because microsoft has a stranglehold on that.

[Gargamella]

yeas i agree, i think it is much more than a crime

[Rackerz]

Linux needs to show in some way that is it capable of competing with Windows and can run games just as well before it's even considered in the gaming industry. The other problem is most games use DirectX and not openGL and now that DirectX 10 is nearing release it's going to become even more difficult for openGL to catch up and be able to compete.

[maniacmusician]

one way to achieve that for linux, is to use the media. If you openly say "hey, microsoft; I challenge you. This OS is better than windows" in a big media way, it will get peoples' attention. what i mean by that is, go around to news stations pitching this story "Sensational! An up and coming OS outperforms Microsoft's Windows on every level. Combined with the fishy news about the upcoming Microsft Vista, blah blah blah" But you would need demo computers. Same exact models, one with windows and one with linux.

Could you get a news station to pitch that story? maybe. But probably not. If you're dedicated I guess, what the hell. Got nothing to lose.

[jcrnan]

maniacmusician: Microsoft has more money to use on PR then Ubuntu has.

[Gargamella]

Yes but i think we have to make the machine start.
No matter what has MS, i hope to live enough to see this software revolution

[raublekick]

one way to achieve that for linux, is to use the media. If you openly say "hey, microsoft; I challenge you. This OS is better than windows" in a big media way, it will get peoples' attention. what i mean by that is, go around to news stations pitching this story "Sensational! An up and coming OS outperforms Microsoft's Windows on every level. Combined with the fishy news about the upcoming Microsft Vista, blah blah blah" But you would need demo computers. Same exact models, one with windows and one with linux.

Could you get a news station to pitch that story? maybe. But probably not. If you're dedicated I guess, what the hell. Got nothing to lose.

The media (except for Linux ads) can't really run a news story about one OS being better than another. They could do some sort of consumer report and objectively compare them, but can't say "NEWSFLASH! Microsoft sucks, Linux rules" because that is subjective. I don't think it would even be good for Linux at this point, because as great as Linux is, can it really back that claim up? Linux works much better than Windows for some people. But Windows is guaranteed to work at a standard level for almost all people, regardless of hardware. Linux can't say the same, but that is somewhat from a lack of support from hardware companies and not Linux itself.

In the past year Linux has become so much better, more so than it has advanced in the past. This is very good for everyone, but it's certainly not to the point where Linux is definitely, without a doubt, better than Windows.

[ade234uk]

I thought OSX used OpenGL for games. If OSX uses OpenGL why cant games be ported to linux?

Do BSD Darwin and Linux have the same file structure?

[seuaniu]

I thought OSX used OpenGL for games. If OSX uses OpenGL why cant games be ported to linux?

Do BSD Darwin and Linux have the same file structure?


Many games that run on OSX can be ported to linux, but its more difficult that one might initially think. OSX and Linux have very different graphics subsystems, ie OSX does not (by default) use X to display its gui. Opengl would be the easy part for developers to port.

Not to mention, just in case i'm totally wrong about the display mechanism, how many games do you see running on a mac, compared to windows? They are just about in the same boat that we are.

Personally, I have a PS2, and I prefer to game from my couch and not from my desk, so it doesn't bother me too much.