[plug] Oh Well

[Craig Ringer]

> If there are gamers on Linux who'd like to "gee whizz" them with bf1942 on Wine, or Quake3 running network games (using your own computer I guess) that'd be cool too.

Hmm... there are a fair number of games that run natively under linux 
now, including:

	- Neverwinter Nights (flawless on my machine)
	- Unreal Tournament 2003 (flawless, pretty, too bad the game is so 
pointless).
	- Quake 3 (haven't tried, but I hear it runs perfectly and often 
out-performs the 'doze version on the same PC)

I've only tried the top two, and only with NVidia drivers. When I tried 
it the README warned that ATI's cards were not supported, and don't even 
bother with anything else. Don't know about NWN, but I would be 
surprised if it ran on any of the std XFree86 GL drivers.

Actually, NWN runs more stably under linux than Windows, according to 
experience on the household LAN. Wonder if there's a demo for linux....

Unfortunately, I work late Wednesday, so I won't be able to demo anything.

BTW, it might be an idea to provide some extra info on linux, what can 
be done easily with current distros, and can't presently be done with it 
- in a newbie computer-illiterate accessable way. Assumptions (but this 
program runs under windows, why won't it work now?!?) are dangerous things.

Can do:
	- basic but useable thru excellent apps to do most tasks
	- minimal to perfect file-format compatability depending on app
	- run stabily even after adding/removing lots of software
	- generally safe from virus threats (but should still be kept up-to-date)

Not so good to just can't do:
	- use it with all hardware
	- run most 'doze programs
	- practical home DV work
	- some sound work
	- perfect MS document compatability
	- serious photo work a-la Photoshop
		(an aside: no, the GIMP doesn't cut it, though its a good program 
indeed and has the potential to. No/poor CMYK, few real-time previews 
for eg unsharp mask, no ICC profiling, etc)

It can be far worse to promise people a lot and then have them feel you 
haven't delivered than to be up-front about potential issues and have 
them go "sure, that's less than ideal but /this/ rocks".

Craig Ringer