Thread: Linux and openGL : should something be done ?

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    Unhappy Linux and openGL : should something be done ?

    with the Linux platform becoming more and more easier to use for the desktop user (home users) , and with larger number of home user software being written to Linux ,it is obvious that Linux is becoming closer to readiness as a mainstream OS for home users.

    however , it is obvious to the observer that the Linux platform lacks - so far - the vast majority of PC games ,largely (among other factors as i understood) due to the large adoption of DirectX over OpenGL by the game manufacturers .

    is this a concern for the Linux community ? should the community do something about it ? if so what can we do ?

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    Officially An Architect brewbuck's Avatar
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    As long as Linux is ideology-driven, it will NEVER be appropriate for widespread home use. No matter what sort of technologies it is based on.
    Code:
    //try
    //{
    	if (a) do { f( b); } while(1);
    	else   do { f(!b); } while(1);
    //}

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    ... kermit's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by brewbuck View Post
    As long as Linux is ideology-driven, it will NEVER be appropriate for widespread home use. No matter what sort of technologies it is based on.
    Would you be willing to elaborate on what you mean by this?

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    Registered User carrotcake1029's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kermit View Post
    Would you be willing to elaborate on what you mean by this?
    I think he might be getting at the fact that out of the box linux never does exactly what you want it to do. You are responsible for setting up/customizing things how you want them.

    Then once the day a linux distro comes along that people say are ready for the mainstream populace, linux junkies will say that it's not a true linux OS.

    You know how much heat Ubuntu gets?

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    ... kermit's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by carrotcake1029 View Post
    I think he might be getting at the fact that out of the box linux never does exactly what you want it to do. You are responsible for setting up/customizing things how you want them.

    Then once the day a linux distro comes along that people say are ready for the mainstream populace, linux junkies will say that it's not a true linux OS.

    You know how much heat Ubuntu gets?
    Yeah, that makes sense, and I tend to agree that it is this way. I do think it is silly for people to think that way about a Linux distro that works 'out of the box' though. Anyway, I will stop now - I have already deleted an off-topic rant about this.

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    Woof, woof! zacs7's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by carrotcake1029 View Post

    You know how much heat Ubuntu gets?
    And a lot of that is warranted. The biggest being going against the intended use of tools (i.e. sudo), or removing the ability to log in as root.

    There is a reason why support for games is lacking on Linux, and it has a lot to do with commercial support / partnerships. If your studio is a Microsoft partner, you're not going to gain much by supporting Linux (even if you were allowed).
    Last edited by zacs7; 07-05-2010 at 06:04 PM.

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    spurious conceit MK27's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by brewbuck View Post
    As long as Linux is ideology-driven, it will NEVER be appropriate for widespread home use.
    Just wanted to remark that while I have little interest in linux's "appropriateness for widespread home use" this is a logically incoherent statement. In so far as linux is "ideology-driven" (I agree), I have yet to hear of any OS which is not "ideology-driven" (of course, the ideologies involved are vastly different) or even of the possibility for someone to create such a thing. If the ideology at it's center had "widespread home use" as #1 goal then why could it not achieve such a distinction?

    Quote Originally Posted by docesam View Post
    however , it is obvious to the observer that the Linux platform lacks - so far - the vast majority of PC games ,largely (among other factors as i understood) due to the large adoption of DirectX over OpenGL by the game manufacturers .

    is this a concern for the Linux community ? should the community do something about it ? if so what can we do ?
    This gets to the ideolog(ies) involved. If we wanted to discuss things in terms of market economics, it should be pointed out that the money to be made with linux is mostly in the realm of internet servers -- where in fact it has market dominance (linux/apache accounts for 60%+ of all internet servers internationally*).

    It does not take too many brains to recognize that what makes a good server platform has very little to do with what makes a good gaming platform.

    The immediate reason that the gaming industry has avoided openGL and linux is that these present some complications with regard to the licensing and distribution of closed source software,** which (rightly or wrongly) the gaming industry is fully committed to. So I would say the onus is actually on the gaming industry, as ideologically driven, to change, and not on the linux community. However, I doubt they (or anybody else) actually cares: linux is fine and dandy; the Final Destination franchise is fine and dandy. Just, completely separately. What's the problem with that?

    As a long term linux user, I see absolutely ZERO need to make any adjustment at all in order to attract gamers to the platform. No offence, but this has much more potential to ruin a great thing than it does to improve it. There is already a very successful, "widespread home use" platform for playing video games. It's called Microsoft Windows. There are also a whole collection of console platforms. Nintendo, AFAICT, has not expressed any interest in penetrating the server or super-computing market. Why would they?

    * and, I read recently, 95%+ of super-computing platforms.
    ** I think this is what brewbuck meant by "ideology", altho he phrases in such a way as to make it sound like the closed source world is not also ideology driven, which it clearly is (and there is no reason for anyone to deny or refute that, AFAICT this ideology is explicit and happily endorsed by all involved, kind of like FOSS).
    Last edited by MK27; 07-06-2010 at 10:17 AM.
    C programming resources:
    GNU C Function and Macro Index -- glibc reference manual
    The C Book -- nice online learner guide
    Current ISO draft standard
    CCAN -- new CPAN like open source library repository
    3 (different) GNU debugger tutorials: #1 -- #2 -- #3
    cpwiki -- our wiki on sourceforge

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    I think there are several things with Linux going on here.
    1). DirectX useage, as you said.
    2) proprietary 3d video card drivers needed for some 3d cards is a big part of the reason linux is not ready out of the box on some systems.
    3) The whole proprietary software eco-system, endlessly modifiable free games are very compelling from a user perspective, from a developer prespective, perhaps not so much.
    4) Not as many games for things like Macintosh either, just being a minority platform means less games.

    A few more reasons I think that work against games on Linux
    1) dependancy hunt - anyone who has ever tried to much compling of games on Linux should know what I mean.
    2) no central community of Linux game devs, each game has its own community, but there isn't like one central location you go to find other developers.
    3) no real place for newbies to start without getting endlessly flamed and trolled, particularly in the development aspect of it, no real mentoring, just flaming and lol.

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