15 replies to this topic

[Computerrock]

IF I so happen to feel the need to switch my operating system to Linux, what would be the most ideal Linux system for game development?

[.oisyn]

Windows

[Computerrock]

LOL,
But seriously, windows is too slow, Linux dosn't seem to slow down with time near so fast as windows does

[fireside]

The ideal system is the one with the biggest repository so you don't have to waste time compiling -- Ubuntu. Eclipse is probably a good IDE if you decide to not use the command line. Most people will have Window's systems so you'll still probably need to keep Windows to compile on it also. It ends up being pretty questionable if it's worth it if you make games, but at least you'll be making cross platform games and you can post on the Linux Game Tome to get a few extra downloads.

[poita]

What exactly are you finding slow in Windows for game development?

If it's just the operating system in general, have you tried just doing a run-of-the-mill cleanup (turning things off in msconfig startup etc.) If so then maybe you could try just reinstalling Windows and only installing what you need.

If you absolutely 100% must use Linux though, use Ubuntu as it will be the least painful.

[Sol_HSA]

Oh, and make sure you have a compatible video card.

[geon]

I've been using Ubuntu for almost a year now. It's great!

Sure, I don't do game development, so I can't tell exactly how that would work out.

For the moments when I actually need windows (Photoshop), I have a win2k install in VirtualBox. I highly recommend it.

[alphadog]

Ubuntu is a good one for a desktop OS. Fedora is likewise pretty good; it just isn't the darling of the media for whatever reason, probably because Red Hat's focus is enterprise. After a hiatus away from Linux for the past two years, I recently came back into The Fold and tried Ubuntu, but had issues in the the installer wouldn't recognize my SATA DVD-ROM drive. Ended up with Fedora for that reason.

Pick one of those two distros; they'll usually have up-to-date repositories of software, which is both the best and worst thing about Linux: dealing with the picayune differences between distributions.

As for game development, Linux is currently a bit... well... not dead, but certainly not as easy as in Windows, unfortunately. First, those picayunes rear their ugly head in a bigger way when developing games. Second, the market is still dominated by techies who don't play a lot of games, although the gaining desktop share should help that. Third, IMNSHO, the libraries are not as available or documented as in Windows. It hit a peak a while back (2000-ish), with some game shops like Loki trying to create a market, but that died somehow. As a counterpoint, it is certain to pick up pace again as Linux makes gains on the desktop.

As for Windows being too slow, being a "jack-of-all-trades" OS comes with a cost, and it does a lot behind the scenes, but can be trimmed down. Lots of services, program launchers (TSRs really) and updaters chew up memory and CPU cycles. You'd be surprised what a good pass on Process Explorer + Autoruns can do for you, when coupled with Blackviper's guide tips too.

[poita]

Quote

tried Ubuntu, but had issues in the the installer wouldn't recognize my SATA DVD-ROM drive. Ended up with Fedora for that reason.

Heh, exact opposite of me. Tried Fedora, and the installer couldn't find drivers for my DVD drive, but Ubuntu did.

[alphadog]

Gotta love Linux...

I loved the sweet irony that the Ubuntu installer, loaded from my SATA DVD drive, could not detect my SATA DVD drive. That was a special moment...

[poita]

alphadog said:

Gotta love Linux... :)

I loved the sweet irony that the Ubuntu installer, loaded from my SATA DVD drive, could not detect my SATA DVD drive. That was a special moment...

Yep, same here :)

[phresnel]

fireside said:

the biggest repository

Hmm, but my repository is bigger than yours. I run Debian :D (20k+ packages, the next release will come on 5 DVDs).

To be honest, I started with SUSE once. While it was fancy and is great for beginners (like Ubuntu is), I switched to Debian soon, because I liked their Free Software Guidelines, and I loved their gigantic Software Repository. A disadvantage is of course their big release periods, though with "Testing" everything is great and up-to-date enough for me. I use it for some years now, and never re-installed the OS (and that after 2-3 Major Updates).

poita said:

What exactly are you finding slow in Windows for game development?

I guess he was talking about Windows Rot.

[geon]

alphadog said:

As for game development, Linux is currently a bit... well... not dead, but certainly not as easy as in Windows, unfortunately. First, those picayunes rear their ugly head in a bigger way when developing games. Second, the market is still dominated by techies who don't play a lot of games, although the gaining desktop share should help that. Third, IMNSHO, the libraries are not as available or documented as in Windows. It hit a peak a while back (2000-ish), with some game shops like Loki trying to create a market, but that died somehow. As a counterpoint, it is certain to pick up pace again as Linux makes gains on the desktop.

Uhm. Nothing would stoop you from doing cross-platform development. Releasing a game (or anything, really) for Linux only would be plain stupid.

The techie domination in the Linux community combined with the OSS aspect means the system is optimized for developers. (Hope you like Emacs and the terminal... :-)

[monjardin]

Hey, why touch emacs when you can use vim?!? ;)

[alphadog]

Oh, noes! Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!

I suppose it's inevitable when talking about the Linux toolchains that a) an emacs vs. vi debate emerges, an Eclipse vs NetBeans emerges, c) CLI vs. GUI, and d) the "Best" distro get asked. We've already covered d), we've started up a). So far, so good...

Okay, here goes another classic Linux debate: "Hey, it's not Linux! It's GNU/Linux! Show respect!"

[geon]

Actually, Code::Blocks seems pretty nice. Haven't used it that much, though.