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Unity 5.5 beta released for Linux, the first release from a unified codebase

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The day has finally arrived! The Linux developers at Unity have shipped their first build of the Linux Unity editor that is from a unified codebase.

From the release announcement:

QuoteThis is an important milestone!
Not only is this the first beta build for Unity 5.5, but the first Linux editor build shipped from a unified codebase with mainline Unity. That may not sound exciting, but it has a lot of exciting implications. It means that, instead of starting with vanilla Unity and piling thousands of custom changes on top, all of our changes now live in the Unity mainline, where they can be constantly punished by our automated test suites across all of our platforms, and where all of our developers across Unity can easily fix, refactor, and extend Linux editor code alongside everything else.


What's in this new Unity editor version?
- 5.5.0b1
- Unity now uses the OpenGL core rendering backend. This means that your development environment must support OpenGL core profile 3.2 or later.
- Experimental iOS project deployment support
- Fix crash on entering play mode in VR-enabled projects
- Fix moving undocked editor windows by dragging the titlebar

The Linux Unity developers are also still hard at work on integrating SDL with Unity:

Today on the #unity3d #linux #SDL migration: Fixed copy/paste and got hardware cursors working again. Tomorrow: Multi-Monitor support.

— Na'Tosha Bard (@natosha_bard) August 31, 2016


This is really, really great news and I'm really pleased the Unity developers were able to reach this milestone. Hopefully this will make Linux a more enticing option to develop on if Unity on Linux is progressing so well.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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18 comments
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dmantione Sep 1, 2016
Yes, it is really important, because strengthens the position of Linux as a game development platform, not just gaming platform. And the platform that is used for development also sees the first releases, so this is a step towards more day one releases or early access for Linux.

Of course, only if developers like to develop on Linux, but then again... Linux is a true paradise for developers.
Eike Sep 1, 2016
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Very good news! They are showing continuous progress!
Liam Dawe Sep 1, 2016
Post updated with a tweet from a Unity dev.
Beamboom Sep 1, 2016
Wow, this is major. It firmly places Unity as THE framework for multi plat game development.

The time is here to jump on this bandwagon.
liju Sep 1, 2016
Amazing. Thank You to the Unity team. You are game changers!
natewardawg Sep 1, 2016
Yes, great job by them! I know they were getting a little bit of flak for the lack of bug fixes in the editor, but they made it known that this is what they were doing instead, which to me was quite obviously a far better use of their time! :)

Thanks Levi, Na'Tosha and everyone else who has helped with the Linux editor :)
rustybroomhandle Sep 1, 2016
I've developing with Unity on Linux exclusively for a while now, and it has just been getting better and better.

And some spam for you :) - this is my entry for last weekend's Ludum Dare A bit rough (I had a major case of the lazies), but 100% made on Linux.


Last edited by rustybroomhandle on 1 September 2016 at 1:43 pm UTC
Zambzz Sep 1, 2016
Big godotengine fan here, will never use unity, but its nice to see they are finally getting their act together.
natewardawg Sep 1, 2016
Quoting: ZambzzBig godotengine fan here, will never use unity, but its nice to see they are finally getting their act together.

I've used Godot and even made some code contributions to it, but haven't been able to actually switch to it due to ongoing projects. But, especially now that they're going to implement C# support very soon (and some of these projects are coming to an end), I hope to switch completely from Unity to it :)


Last edited by natewardawg on 1 September 2016 at 3:32 pm UTC
wolfyrion Sep 1, 2016
Quoting: natewardawg
Quoting: ZambzzBig godotengine fan here, will never use unity, but its nice to see they are finally getting their act together.

I've used Godot and even made some code contributions to it, but haven't been able to actually switch to it due to ongoing projects. But, especially now that they're going to implement C# support very soon (and some of these projects are coming to an end), I hope to switch completely from Unity to it :)

I am learning C++ from scratch because of the Unreal Engine but I thought that Unity and other gaming engines were mostly using C++... I guess I Was wrong :|
I searched and found that Unity is using C# or Javascript and not C++...why?

Now I Am a bit confused, Which Language is the best for gaming development?
Which Language will benefit me most?

Learning C++ is a bit hard but is ok atm.
but really I cant imagine myself that I have to learn Java as well...
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