Latest Comments by kneekoo
The Linux-powered games console the Ataribox has become the Atari VCS
20 Mar 2018 at 1:03 am UTC Likes: 1
20 Mar 2018 at 1:03 am UTC Likes: 1
Wow, just hours after I mentioned the Ataribox in the Ion Maiden thread, we get this news. :D Cool! I hope it will be a great console/Linux PC.
Ion Maiden, a new 3D Realms FPS has launched in Early Access with Linux support
19 Mar 2018 at 1:09 pm UTC
19 Mar 2018 at 1:09 pm UTC
Games requiring more than 3GB of RAM per process benefit from the 64-bit architecture, and this has become the case for more and more AAA titles in recent years. But plenty of games and apps out there can easily live in the 32-bit world, and Ion Maiden should fit here very well. So I hope we'll have this option.
Ion Maiden, a new 3D Realms FPS has launched in Early Access with Linux support
19 Mar 2018 at 12:34 pm UTC
19 Mar 2018 at 12:34 pm UTC
Asking for 32-bit support for everything under the sun is of course not the point. But Ion Maiden fits more in the retro world than the modern one. That's why it makes perfect sense to have 32-bit builds. Even the original Crysis is a 32-bit game, so I'm sure there's no technical reason for Ion Maiden to be 64-bit only, especially considering EDuke32 is already 32-bit compatible.
Ion Maiden, a new 3D Realms FPS has launched in Early Access with Linux support
19 Mar 2018 at 11:14 am UTC Likes: 1
19 Mar 2018 at 11:14 am UTC Likes: 1
Samsai, you're so wrong, it's painful. Would you kill all the gaming consoles and the old PCs just because they're old? There are many platforms that still have users and developers. Here's a short list:
- Color Computer still has an active community [External Link], a lot of resources [External Link], new development [External Link], their ongoing CoCoFESTs [External Link], podcasts [External Link], and even CoCoTALK [External Link] - a talk show about the Tandy Color Computer.
- AtariAge [External Link] brings together Atari fans and developers in periodic events, their forums [External Link] are packed with tens of thousands of discussions, so no wonder the AtariBox [External Link] is still in development - because there's a huge active fan base that would welcome it if it's done right.
- The Spectrum world also has a huge community, and the new ZX Spectrum Next [External Link] is an awesome PC that can handle old and new code as well.
Now the x86 PCs shouldn't be treated any different. There are tons of software that work great on them, and especially for gamers it's great to experience retro games on old platforms, which is why we can easily find PC restoration projects on YouTube and other places, from LGR [External Link] and the 8-Bit Guy [External Link], to various others.
Apart from the historic and retro coolness I mentioned here, there are new PCs with 2-4GB of RAM which are better off with a 32-bit OS because their 64-bit counterparts would require more RAM for the very same activities. Here's an article I wrote on DistroWatch: 32-bit support prematurely obsoleted [External Link].
The graph you posted here is just as useful as the DistroWatch ranking. Most people don't know how to properly choose technology, so the usage is irrelevant because it's terribly flawed.
- Color Computer still has an active community [External Link], a lot of resources [External Link], new development [External Link], their ongoing CoCoFESTs [External Link], podcasts [External Link], and even CoCoTALK [External Link] - a talk show about the Tandy Color Computer.
- AtariAge [External Link] brings together Atari fans and developers in periodic events, their forums [External Link] are packed with tens of thousands of discussions, so no wonder the AtariBox [External Link] is still in development - because there's a huge active fan base that would welcome it if it's done right.
- The Spectrum world also has a huge community, and the new ZX Spectrum Next [External Link] is an awesome PC that can handle old and new code as well.
Now the x86 PCs shouldn't be treated any different. There are tons of software that work great on them, and especially for gamers it's great to experience retro games on old platforms, which is why we can easily find PC restoration projects on YouTube and other places, from LGR [External Link] and the 8-Bit Guy [External Link], to various others.
Apart from the historic and retro coolness I mentioned here, there are new PCs with 2-4GB of RAM which are better off with a 32-bit OS because their 64-bit counterparts would require more RAM for the very same activities. Here's an article I wrote on DistroWatch: 32-bit support prematurely obsoleted [External Link].
The graph you posted here is just as useful as the DistroWatch ranking. Most people don't know how to properly choose technology, so the usage is irrelevant because it's terribly flawed.
Ion Maiden, a new 3D Realms FPS has launched in Early Access with Linux support
19 Mar 2018 at 9:02 am UTC
19 Mar 2018 at 9:02 am UTC
Oh well, if you read the whole thread you probably noticed my recent posts and why I think 32-builds could prove to be useful in more than one way.
Ion Maiden, a new 3D Realms FPS has launched in Early Access with Linux support
19 Mar 2018 at 8:49 am UTC
19 Mar 2018 at 8:49 am UTC
Read my previous posts (page 12).
Ion Maiden, a new 3D Realms FPS has launched in Early Access with Linux support
18 Mar 2018 at 11:52 pm UTC
18 Mar 2018 at 11:52 pm UTC
They are clearly not aiming for running the game on such old hardware, but some valuable feedback coming from people having it could help the game's optimizations. And the easiest way to enable this kind of testing is by having 32-bit builds. Who knows where it leads? :D
Ion Maiden, a new 3D Realms FPS has launched in Early Access with Linux support
18 Mar 2018 at 11:31 pm UTC
18 Mar 2018 at 11:31 pm UTC
I mentioned our old computers, and most of them are 32-bit. I'm sure you can easily imagine an old P4 CPU like Willamette, Northwood and even the first batch of Prescott (not its later "E0" revision) having 2GB-4GB of RAM and a 256MB/512MB graphics card - because hard-core gamers had those back in the day. So going back to an old gaming rig with Ion Maiden would be sweet.
A few of my earlier questions were partially covered by the following interview, but it would still be great to know the game runs (and further evolves) on older hardware. :)
View video on youtube.com
A few of my earlier questions were partially covered by the following interview, but it would still be great to know the game runs (and further evolves) on older hardware. :)
View video on youtube.com
Ion Maiden, a new 3D Realms FPS has launched in Early Access with Linux support
18 Mar 2018 at 9:22 pm UTC
18 Mar 2018 at 9:22 pm UTC
Almost 3 weeks have passed since this news popped out. I wonder what's the lowest spec PC used to play Ion Maiden in a decent manner. And considering the developers keep shooting for performance improvements, I wonder if there's any structured way and place to go to report the findings of running Ion Maiden on gradually slower PCs.
Not that there should be a point in trying to run the game on an old Pentium II, but it would be seriously cool if you could do that, at lower resolution, with a Voodoo graphics accelerator or something pushed as far as the technology can offer for that period of hardware possibilities. Or maybe a Pentium III with 256MB of RAM? It's still insanely far below the 2GB of RAM minimum requirement, but it would be cool to know exactly what's the lowest hardware and software requirement possible, because many people still have some old PCs catching dust, and reviving them for a new retro game would add more greatness to the feeling.
Now with Build being so CPU-intensive and Ion Maiden having much larger sprites and other we're probably better off running Ion Maiden on a reasonably good Pentium 4 with a decent graphics card, but I still wonder why DirectX 11 is a requirement. For instance, both the GeForce 8600 GT and Radeon HD 4670 are DirectX 10 cards. But wouldn't DirectX 9 be enough? That goes way back to the Windows 98 era, up to Windows XP, and I bet there still are some old and crusty PCs that sit around doing nothing with Windows XP on them. :P Firing up those oldies with a modern game would be awesome.
So what kind of PCs have you people tried Ion Maiden on so far?
Oh, and the 64-bit requirement seems a bit funny for a game based on EDuke32. :D We do have 32-bit builds, so why not a 32-bit Ion Maiden? At least at some point in the future. Is 64-bit really required for a 256-color palette retro game?
Not that there should be a point in trying to run the game on an old Pentium II, but it would be seriously cool if you could do that, at lower resolution, with a Voodoo graphics accelerator or something pushed as far as the technology can offer for that period of hardware possibilities. Or maybe a Pentium III with 256MB of RAM? It's still insanely far below the 2GB of RAM minimum requirement, but it would be cool to know exactly what's the lowest hardware and software requirement possible, because many people still have some old PCs catching dust, and reviving them for a new retro game would add more greatness to the feeling.
Now with Build being so CPU-intensive and Ion Maiden having much larger sprites and other we're probably better off running Ion Maiden on a reasonably good Pentium 4 with a decent graphics card, but I still wonder why DirectX 11 is a requirement. For instance, both the GeForce 8600 GT and Radeon HD 4670 are DirectX 10 cards. But wouldn't DirectX 9 be enough? That goes way back to the Windows 98 era, up to Windows XP, and I bet there still are some old and crusty PCs that sit around doing nothing with Windows XP on them. :P Firing up those oldies with a modern game would be awesome.
So what kind of PCs have you people tried Ion Maiden on so far?
Oh, and the 64-bit requirement seems a bit funny for a game based on EDuke32. :D We do have 32-bit builds, so why not a 32-bit Ion Maiden? At least at some point in the future. Is 64-bit really required for a 256-color palette retro game?
Ion Maiden, a new 3D Realms FPS has launched in Early Access with Linux support
4 Mar 2018 at 1:46 pm UTC
4 Mar 2018 at 1:46 pm UTC
Interesting, I didn't expect fresh news [External Link] about the Duke Nukem For(n)ever issues. :P So maybe some time in the future we'll see a proper Duke Nukem 3D successor.