Quote: And you wonder why more people don't game on Linux?!

which is the reason why close source sux major balls. in open source this boils down to:

./configure --prefix=/path/to/where/it/should/go && make && make install

this is even easier than any crap installer you can get on windows but like stated, closed source defies all those things.

@andrewk3652:
might be the problem. best would be him posting the XF86Config. also try out using glxgears and see what frame rates they give. if they are poor then your config is definitly off.

My XF86Config-4 and glxgears outputs:

20378 frames in 5.0 seconds = 4075.600 FPS21918 frames in 5.0 seconds = 4383.600 FPS21154 frames in 5.0 seconds = 4230.800 FPS

The drivers do work, they're just quite slow.. Well, atleast UT2004 Demo doesn't run as smoothly at 800x600 as it does on Windows at 1024x768.

this is rather strange stuff. i get 1800 FPS with my machine and can run doom3 demo/ut2k4 demo well without any choking or other problems.

you said ut2k4 demo runs not 'smooth'. what exactly is the problem? does the FPS rate fluctuate? or does it continously choke?

Just tested how much the FPS was in the UT2004 demo. The average FPS was between 15-25 mostly around the lower end (tested on the onslaught map). 800x600 and 32 bits. It just runs like the graphics card is three years older..

I work in systems developmente about 14 years now and the hardest rule to learn was:

"You can program the best system, maybe it can do everything fine and execute all the proceses the client asked for. But if the client doesn't like your interface, then it will always be a bad system."

So, interface is 50% of the work in a system.

And thats the problem with Linux. Nobody with enough knowledge will argue its a bad OS. But the problem is that we usually forget that IT and CS people is just a minor percentage of the human population and funny enough is only a portion of that tiny fraction who defends the Linux OS so bravely.

Linux people forget thet the world is full of people who just dont know how to recompile the kernel. Kids that just want to click an icon and play the latest games. Grandmothers that want to browse for a recipe withouth having to install a RPM. Guys and girls that only want to hear music withouth having to look and compile the latest music driver. Businessman that want to carry his presentation and dont worry about his office suite compatibility issues. Ask them to recompile the kernel and latest driver please...

I use Linux at work. Our servers are running Linux we have Oracle, Apache, tomcat and PHP servers running. And it does a great job, but when I come to my house... forget it... I just want to make my life easier not to think I'm still at work.

I have chosen DX and VisualC++ for game development. They fit my programming style. I'm not ashamed to say that I dont care about the tiny fraction of Linux users that will or won't play my game. I prefer to develop a good game in a massive gaming platform like Windows and reach as many users as possible... and anyway... every Linux user also has a Windows instalation just to play Windows games so maybe they will play it anyway...

Luck!
Guimo

and with that way of dealing with the situation nothing will change. nothing against you. everybody can chose the way he wants to work.

Quote: Original post by RPTD
which is the reason why close source sux major balls. in open source this boils down to:

./configure --prefix=/path/to/where/it/should/go && make && make install

this is even easier than any crap installer you can get on windows

The hell it is.

Arlind Fines: Sure it is. A typical driver installation on Windows:

Click next a bunch of times, periodically check if you want to do a typical or custom install, where do you want the installation path, etc. To a new user, this is overwhelming information.


But to the previous poster, I agree somewhat. Tell any typical user of Windows that they need to update their system to the latest drivers (and explain why there is potential that this actually cause a problem that is not their fault), tell them to update antivirus, tell them that the game won't work because the video drivers they have are out of date, etc. All of this is frustrating too.

At the same time, there are anecdotal stories about people bringing their grandparants a computer with Linux preinstalled. They got used to it just fine.

So it can't be argued that Linux doesn't have as nice of an interface as Windows, because it has been argued that Windows has a pretty messed up interface too. One obstacle may be that people are so used to a Windows-mentality ("problem? reboot!") that to move to Linux is a jarring experience. KDE and Gnome helps somewhat in this regard since the desktop looks similar enough.

Driver installation is different. With Linux, external modules have to be made for your kernel. Drivers are a sys admin function. With Windows, you install using a binary, just like you install a program, which anyone can do with their home system. Most Windows users use an account with administrator access, whereas with Linux you're encouraged to create user accounts with reduced functionality.

Nvidia's installer on Linux is very good at bridging that gap.

I use fluxbox and Firefox. My girlfriend figured them out within minutes. The interface makes sense to her, and she didn't freak out about it being too different or "broken." Granted, not everyone will do that, but the interface to a web browser isn't going to be so amazingly different that people are going to freak out about it. Using Linux as a desktop OS is easy enough. Gaim, Firefox, OOo, xmms, and other applications all have similar interfaces to their Windows counterparts, and end-users shouldn't even notice a difference, especially when using something like KDE with the WinXP theme.

But driver installation and other administrative tasks still require access that most users don't realize they've always needed. Windows wasn't a multiuser OS for a long time, so you were always the equivalent of root. Even with WinXP, most users run with root-like privileges. Of course Linux is going to be strange!

But when it comes to interface, I don't think it is any different than sitting a long-time Windows user in front of a Mac. It's a different philosophy and it will take some getting used to, but it doesn't mean that the Mac has a bad interface.

And actually, going on that about driver installation, how many non-technical users install their own video cards? I don't know many non-technical gamers, but do they actually pay Best Buy or someone to do it for them (assuming they don't have technical friends themselves)?

Quote: Original post by GBGames
Arlind

[rolleyes]

Quote:

Fines: Sure it is. A typical driver installation on Windows:

Click next a bunch of times, periodically check if you want to do a typical or custom install, where do you want the installation path, etc. To a new user, this is overwhelming information.

Merely clicking Next a couple of times will leave you with a working installation. That's what makes it infinitely superior to a cryptic command line - there is absolutely no discovery built into the command line.