Sunday, May 7, 2000

Linux Installation How-To -- 1:47 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

PlanetQuake has a four page article in their Tech Tips column on installing and setting up Linux, primarily to run Quake 2. He gives a run down on a number of Linux distributions, one of which I take exception to:

1) RedHat - Used to be great, now it's slow, bloated, and breaks way too easily. Using this one is a Bad Idea.

Of course, he doesn't back up that statement with anything. What makes it intrinsically "slow" or "break too easily" is beyond me.

While the article is moderately helpful and would give a beginning introduction into Linux, it will not replace a good beginner's book by any means (I like Learning Red Hat Linux myself). I also would suggest that you not follow his limited instructions for partitioning your drive. He doesn't explain very well why he does what he does. Even though I do use Linux, I'm not sure I understand what he's doing.

Of course, if you have an NVIDIA card and you want to use the new XFree 4.0 drivers, you might want to check out my little article on my adventures installing them.

J.t.Qbe offers words of wisdom (or whatever): I'm not sure that the article is even moderately helpful as far as installing Linux goes. Yikes! If you're new to Linux, you have to go out and buy a book. You just have to. "Running Linux" is the classic, though light on installation instructions. Most distributions have decent install manuals in their boxed sets. Some distributions really are easier to install than Window$, but in general you really need some guidance if you're new.

Speaking of distributions, the choice is something of a religious issue. A.T., you started with Red Hat and you're a fan. I started with Slackware and still like it best (I use Slack7 on my workstation at work). I've used many of the popular distributions, so FWIW here's what I think:

I don't know that Red Hat can really be considered "bloated", but it does seem to break easily lately. My RH6 install broke last fall and it was just easier to get rid of it. I do like Mandrake better than Red Hat--it does seem more current and more stable. If you're going to use the term "bloated", try a full install of SuSE--7.5 GB is the minimum required for SuSE 6.3! It has a LOT of software, though. Caldera and Storm are nice systems, though the "free" version of Storm is more a limited capability demo. And I think Slackware is the best: a lean, mean Linux machine!

The hard drive technique he describes is used for drives over 8GB and with an older version of LILO. All but the most current LILO can't boot partitions over 1024 cylinders, which works out to 8GB on many large drives today. If your Linux partition is past that 8GB limit, you have to have a small boot partition under that limit which LILO can use to boot your system. It's kind of a pain, and the latest LILO does fix that problem.

I hope that this guy's gaming info is more useful than his installation info. It's serviceable, but just barely.

Q3A V1.17 Source Released -- 1:39 pm CST, Update by The Master

Robert Duffy updated his .plan with word that the Q3A version 1.17 source code has been released. There aren't many changes, but it is recommended you go get it

Update! There's a source diff posted online over on PlanetQuake3.Net.

Microsoft Concessions -- 1:16 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Microsoft is writing a reply to the U.S. Department of Justice's plan to break up the company. Among the more interesting offerings from M$ is this:

Under the proposal, Microsoft would be required to provide open, timely and complete access to the parts of the Windows operating system code used by independent software companies to design their software applications to run on Windows.

Note that "open," "timely," and "complete" are not defined in the article. It seems clear that M$ is not about to make Windows open-source. This quote made me laugh:

"The DOJ plan bans the addition of any significant new end user features to Windows for up to 10 years," one of the Microsoft lobbying documents states. "The DOJ plan would effectively reduce Windows to a small core of low-level functionality that performs only the most basic operations."

Read: the DoJ won't let us bloat up Windows any more! Is there anyone who actually thinks that Windows couldn't use a little deflating? The core of M$'s argument is that the DoJ plan would stifle innovation. I guess they would know. Thanks Slashdot.

History Today -- 1:21 am CST, Update by The Master

• 1847: AMA (American Medical Association) is founded.
• 1915: The British passenger liner Lusitania is torpedoed off the Irish coast. Nearly 1,200 people lost their lives.
• 1939: The Rome-Berlin Axis is formed as an alliance between Italy and Germany.
• 1945: Germany signs an unconditional surrender to Allied forces. In addition, the 100-ton TNT test detonation for the Trinity nuclear test was done on this date.
• 1963: The U.S. launches the Telstar II communications sattelite.

Saturday, May 6, 2000

Half-Life Announcements -- 2:05 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

As you may have noticed on other gaming sites, Valve has issued a number of press releases recently about forthcoming updates and additions to Half-Life. That's all fine and good, but they seem to be donning their prophets hats. All of these announcements are saying that this is going to be released sometime in the future. I can see why a company would want to do this with a new product, but I don't understand the onslaught of press releases for patches to an existing product.

Don't get me wrong, it all seems very cool. But tell me when it actually is out, not weeks and weeks in advance. OK, I feel better now.

Gonna Meet My Hero -- 12:32 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Today, I'm finally going to get a chance to meet my hero, Number 9, Mr. Hockey himself, THE Red Wing, Gordie Howe. He's going to be at the U.S. National Junior 'A' hockey championship tonight and I've got tickets. I'm going to have him sign my copy of his autobiography, And Howe!, and hopefully my #9 Red Wings jersey too. As if that weren't enough, the Green Bay Gamblers are going to be playing for the national title!

Game Servers Down -- 11:28 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Due to circumstances beyond my control, the EZ-Net game servers are all down and will be for the foreseeable future. That is why I have removed the Game Servers link on the nav bar. Sorry for any inconvenience. If the situation changes at all, you'll hear about it here first.

History Today -- 12:41 am CST, Update by The Master

• 1861: Arkansas seceeds from the Union.
• 1889: Paris Exposition opens with it's Eiffel Tower-the tallest man-made structure at the time.
• 1935: The Works Progress Administration (WPA) begins operations-this is one of the programs enplaced by FDR to generate jobs during the Great Depression.
• 1937: The German zepplin Hindenburg catches fire and explodes over Lakehurst, NJ, killing 35 of it's 97 passengers and a Navy crewman on the ground.
• 1942: American surrender of Corregidor. 15,000 American and Filipino soldiers are captured.
• 1954: Roger Bannister conquers the 4-minute mile with a time of 3:594.

Graeme Devine .plan Update -- 12:26 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

id's Graeme Devine updated his .plan with some news of OS support in the forthcoming Quake III: Team Arena.

The mission pack CD will actually have builds for Mac, Linux and Win32. We'll see if we can stick some OS/X action in there as well.

Past Two Days' News

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