Skid,
I was in Jack's shoes until a few days/months ago (depending on how you define "was"), so please forgive this posting here (or email me if you want it nuked and I'll gladly replace it with the familiar "." - this is presumably better than nuking the whole (otherwise useful) thread - which I hope is still useful given info like that below <g>.
One Eyed Jack,
I'd email you if you had one listed, but in lieu of that:
Around a year ago, I'd have heartily agreed with you (really: big arm-lifting toasts of ale to your health and everything <g>). I tried installing Linux (first Red Hat, and later Fedora Core, then Ubuntu 5.04). And while I could get the basic stuff installed, it didn't do me much good, because I wanted to do BlitzMax.
Ubuntu 5.04 seemed the best, since I could install the needed libraries (or whatever they're called). Yeah, I know that having to drop to a CLI terminal and hammer out commands is so 1980's, but that's just part of Linux. I don't defend it (it seems kind of retarded, to be honest), and I don't embrace it (though it's kind of a throwback to the fondly-remembered, CLI-based DOS that I grew up on in the 1980s).
Whatever. It is what it IS. What bugged me about 8-12 months ago was that there was no way to get accelerated 2D-in-3D graphics for BMax as I could with Windows XP and OSX 10.3. I tried every graphic way, but no go - and each unsuccessful try crashed my Linux desktop and requiring a reinstall - and I ended up HATING LINUX!!! So, I DO know what you mean. I gave up on Linux then.
But then I tried Ubuntu 5.10 a couple of days ago along with the Wiki Radeon instructions above. And through a fusion of those docs and my own computer knowledge (plus a little guesswork), I was able to get Ubuntu 5.10 running with decent 2D-in-3D graphics (for BlitzMax 1.20). I admit that it was nowhere as easy as was Windows/MacOS, but I could puzzle my way through it with trial-and-error: expect mistakes and retries.
Now, I'm not a converted Linux-head. I still can't believe how complex it is to get a "simple" distro like Ubuntu running compared to WinXP/OSX. But I can say that Ubuntu 5.10 is the easiest Linux that I've tried, including accelerated graphics (which work with BlitzMax for the first time).
So, if you're still interested, please just take that limited info with the big grain of salt that it (unfortunately) still requires. If you still find Linux to be too much trouble, I certainly won't argue: I found it too much trouble in the past, so I can certainly understand. I just happened to find Ubuntu 5.10 to finally match my clarity needs for installing (and perhaps get lucky there).
I was in Jack's shoes until a few days/months ago (depending on how you define "was"), so please forgive this posting here (or email me if you want it nuked and I'll gladly replace it with the familiar "." - this is presumably better than nuking the whole (otherwise useful) thread - which I hope is still useful given info like that below <g>.
One Eyed Jack,
I'd email you if you had one listed, but in lieu of that:
Around a year ago, I'd have heartily agreed with you (really: big arm-lifting toasts of ale to your health and everything <g>). I tried installing Linux (first Red Hat, and later Fedora Core, then Ubuntu 5.04). And while I could get the basic stuff installed, it didn't do me much good, because I wanted to do BlitzMax.
Ubuntu 5.04 seemed the best, since I could install the needed libraries (or whatever they're called). Yeah, I know that having to drop to a CLI terminal and hammer out commands is so 1980's, but that's just part of Linux. I don't defend it (it seems kind of retarded, to be honest), and I don't embrace it (though it's kind of a throwback to the fondly-remembered, CLI-based DOS that I grew up on in the 1980s).
Whatever. It is what it IS. What bugged me about 8-12 months ago was that there was no way to get accelerated 2D-in-3D graphics for BMax as I could with Windows XP and OSX 10.3. I tried every graphic way, but no go - and each unsuccessful try crashed my Linux desktop and requiring a reinstall - and I ended up HATING LINUX!!! So, I DO know what you mean. I gave up on Linux then.
But then I tried Ubuntu 5.10 a couple of days ago along with the Wiki Radeon instructions above. And through a fusion of those docs and my own computer knowledge (plus a little guesswork), I was able to get Ubuntu 5.10 running with decent 2D-in-3D graphics (for BlitzMax 1.20). I admit that it was nowhere as easy as was Windows/MacOS, but I could puzzle my way through it with trial-and-error: expect mistakes and retries.
Now, I'm not a converted Linux-head. I still can't believe how complex it is to get a "simple" distro like Ubuntu running compared to WinXP/OSX. But I can say that Ubuntu 5.10 is the easiest Linux that I've tried, including accelerated graphics (which work with BlitzMax for the first time).
So, if you're still interested, please just take that limited info with the big grain of salt that it (unfortunately) still requires. If you still find Linux to be too much trouble, I certainly won't argue: I found it too much trouble in the past, so I can certainly understand. I just happened to find Ubuntu 5.10 to finally match my clarity needs for installing (and perhaps get lucky there).