The Linux.uk Community Forum

This is the same forum software that I just installed for Funky Bear Pie.

Or at least, they look similar. The old forum just didn't cut it, so I decided to tell Arthur (FBP leader) to make use of the free web hosting he got with the TF2 server. He agreed, then he told me to do it. When I was recommended to use SMF, I didn't imagine I would get forum software than I'd used before.

P.S. When Steam and Source come to linux, expect an influx of former PC-users after I yell at them all to "Get a real OS" then realise I still have no idea how to fix linux should it break.
P.S.S. Interestingly, the server that our web host is stored on runs linux, not unix as I'd imagine. Though I can't find out what flavour of linux.

With guest star, Doctor Norton!

Troubled Windows (Os Tan)

My favourite lines were:

- Fix it with a composed face!

- It's true . . . it was always bad . . . is it a secret?

- It's more painful than reading a book!

My own 404 help topic is 404'ing on me.

EDIT: And this happens all the time, as in, I have never seen the content of these pages.

http://forum.linux.co.uk/general-discussion/ram-and-dual-cpu%27s/
http://forum.linux.co.uk/general-discussion/i%27m-a-linux-newbie/

I jsut assumed they were locked or blocked topics, for whatever reason they may have been . . .

I've noticed I ask a lot of questions, most of which don't warrent a new topic, so I made this topic.
(Currently dual-booting 7 (64bit) & Ubuntu Studio (64bit) on a 4GB Intel Core 2 Duo machine with D-link wireless & an 8800.)

- First, Wine.
I know it's been explained to me before, but I still didn't quite get it. How do I fully switch from latest version to stable version? (and visa versa for future reference.) I've tried just using the Ubuntu Software centre, but it somehow doesn't fully remove either, so I'm left with a stable version that won't run itself, and a latest version that won't run the programs I want to run (Steam, specifically that chat feature & the Touhou games).

- Second, Firefox add-ons.
At the moment, I have the download status bar, Java, various adobe things & Foxit reader on 7 (used to have No-script & Foxy proxy for security in XP, but I don't really know how they work and now no-script is getting annoying & after turning Foxy proxy on, nothing worked) and on Ubuntu I only have a flash player & a pdf reader.
What does everyone recomend for Linux and (if I may ask) Windows?

I recently got into recording & modeling, which has drawn my attention to Ubuntu Studio. I was assuming I'd just be able to add the extra programs & other features to my current Ubuntu 9.10, but apparently not. However, installing another OS on this computer needs some planning first, and I've become a little lost.

I have a desktop with one 500GB hard disk in it, a 64 bit 2 core CPU (core2duo), with 4GB RAM & a 1GB 8800 GPU.
I'd been dual booting Windows 7 & Ubuntu 9.10 for a few months, until I got a wireless card. Once I finally got it online (which took a while), I found Windows hadn't been activated, and it was well beyond 30 days after installation, so it decided to lock itself, meaning I couldn't install the new wireless driver. I managed to get Windows do a fresh install over itself & start over (I moved anything of interest to my Ubuntu partition). However, it also removed GRUB, so I had no way of getting to Ubuntu, and therefore the Internet (I had downloaded the beta Win7x64 driver, but I saved it to my home folder in Ubuntu, which windows can't touch ¬¬). With no way to call for help online, I decided to reinstall Ubuntu again on a tiny partition, just to get GRUB to boot. Now I have some 13 OS's to choose from at startup from previous Ubuntu updates (where the automatically selected one is the tiny partition) and my whole hard drive is a mess:

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/166/screenshot5k.png

Seems to be my currently used Ubuntu partition.

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/4447/screenshot6k.png

My Windows 7 partition. Also some other Linux partition . . . not sure what it's for . . .

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/8538/screenshot7bo.png

Presumably, the tiny Ubuntu partition I installed to get GRUB to work. Seems to have a broken link to my home folder.

First of all, for those who don't know, Steam is the biggest (and probably only significant) online games publisher. You buy games on their online store (or register them with the Product key that came with the disk) and they get added to your account, which you can then play on any computer with internet access, provided you're willing to download them, of course. ;p
It's developed & run by Valve and is great for gamers & developers as it's often cheaper than street stores and it also gives a MUCH bigger profit share back to developers). Valve is a game developing company that was founded by two ex-Microsoft employees and are the makers of Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Portal, Left4Dead and the engine they're based off, Source. Naturally, as Gabe Noel & Robin Walker (the founders) were formally core Microsoft developers, their games used DirectX and Steam was just a glorified Internet Explorer. But . . .

http://forums.nom-nom-nom.us/topic/4698-steam-on-mac-is-official/

http://store.steampowered.com/news/3569/

QuoteLeading Gaming Service Expands to Mac Platform

Valve announced today it will bring Steam, Valve's gaming service, and Source, Valve's gaming engine, to the Mac.

Steam and Valve's library of games including Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series will be available in April.

"As we transition from entertainment as a product to entertainment as a service, customers and developers need open, high-quality Internet clients," said Gabe Newell, President of Valve. "The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services."

"Our Steam partners, who are delivering over a thousand games to 25 million Steam clients, are very excited about adding support for the Mac," said Jason Holtman, Director of Business Development at Valve. "Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge. For example, Steam Play, in combination with the Steam Cloud, allows a gamer playing on their work PC to go home and pick up playing the same game at the same point on their home Mac. We expect most developers and publishers to take advantage of Steam Play."

"We looked at a variety of methods to get our games onto the Mac and in the end decided to go with native versions rather than emulation," said John Cook, Director of Steam Development. "The inclusion of WebKit into Steam, and of OpenGL into Source gives us a lot of flexibility in how we move these technologies forward. We are treating the Mac as a tier-1 platform so all of our future games will release simultaneously on Windows, Mac, and the Xbox 360. Updates for the Mac will be available simultaneously with the Windows updates. Furthermore, Mac and Windows players will be part of the same multiplayer universe, sharing servers, lobbies, and so forth. We fully support a heterogeneous mix of servers and clients. The first Mac Steam client will be the new generation currently in beta testing on Windows."

Portal 2 will be Valve's first simultaneous release for Mac and Windows. "Checking in code produces a PC build and Mac build at the same time, automatically, so the two platforms are perfectly in lock-step," said Josh Weier, Portal 2 Project Lead. "We're always playing a native version on the Mac right alongside the PC. This makes it very easy for us and for anyone using Source to do game development for the Mac."

Support for the Mac in Source and Steamworks is available to third parties immediately. Interested developers should contact Jason Holtman at [email protected].

The key points that struck me were:
- The new Steam uses the same engine (/base/core/whateveritscalled) as Safari & Chrome.
- Valve have opted for porting rather than emulation.
- Mac games will be maintained as equally as their Windows counterparts.
- The Source engine is getting an OpenGL makeover.

All this is making me wondering where this leaves Linux Gaming. With Steam now using Safari/Chrome's technology & Source becoming OpenGL based, surely this will make them 10 times easier to emulate with wine, or even fully port.
Many of you guys know more about the technical side of this than I do, what do you guys think this means for Linux, gaming & porting?