Version 0.96 of Gizmo3D Posted Tuesday, February 29 15:55 by kornel
Anders sends word that Version 0.96 of Gizmo3D is now available at http://www.linux3d.net/gizmo3d/
Version 0.96 contains bug and speedup fixes. Support for AMD 3DNow is added. Perfomer,OpenFlight and VRML97 loaders are in progress.
We are looking for help with loaders, demos, plugins etc.
Let us now if you are interested...
mailto: anders@linux3d.net
Cache article Posted Tuesday, February 29 14:38 by kornel
Jason Kennedy of 3DGN fired an email saying that he has a short article posted that will explain the purpose of cache to the un-initiated user. People who aren't yet entirely knowledable and want to learn can benefit from this article. here is a blurb:
"For around the past decade, cache has been improving the lives of computer users every where. No, I'm not talking about the hiding spaces you put your CDs with pirated games burned on to them or even the towns in Illinois and Oklahoma; I'm talking about the small and very fast RAM that is such an important part of your computer. The ironic part is that most users have either never heard the word before or have no idea what it is. The following will help you to realize the importance of, as well as the operation of cache. "
TuxRacer v0.10 released Posted Monday, February 28 12:16 by dropn
Saw over at freshmeat.net that the first public version of the opengl Tux Racer(v0.10) is available. Check out the Tux Racer website for more info...
PowerTweak Linux v0.1.8 Posted Saturday, February 26 21:50 by dropn
Powertweak-Linux v0.1.8 has been released. Powertweak is a tool for tweaking various parts of the operating system to work better with your specific hardware.
FireGL1 and Linux Posted Saturday, February 26 16:36 by kornel
S3 at the CeBit demonstrates how its FireGL1 professional OpenGL board can perform under Linux. AFAIR, FireGL1 is the only member of the high-end class that supports 3D accelration under Linux. For the moment, a beta version of the Linux driver is available. Full version is to be released in April.
Developed in-house by S3's professional graphics division, a beta 3D Linux driver for the Fire GL1(TM) accelerator is available for download at www.firegl.com. The final 3D Linux driver is expected to be available online by April 2000. This new driver includes an implementation of OpenGLŪ, also an industry open standard, as a 3D API which lays the groundwork for developers to create 2D and 3D applications for the Linux community.
Read the PR for the full story.
Life after AGP 4x Posted Saturday, February 26 16:32 by kornel
An initiative to create a new bus, a successor to the AGP 4x, was announced by Intel and several mainstream 3D hardware manufacturers. The specs for the new bus will be presented at the IDF 'Fall 2000.
Source: FiringSquad
V4 and V5 status Posted Saturday, February 26 16:24 by kornel
Brian Burke sent in an email about the status of the Voodoo4 and Voodoo5 boards following the Cebit showcase. Here it is:
Following the showing of the VSA-100 based products at Cebit, there have been a lot of questions about the status of the Voodoo4 and Voodoo5 boards. The alpha VSA-100 product we showed at Cebit had a few problems that were caused by a faulty process in the manufacturing of the silicon. The processing flaw manifested itself in many areas, including issues with clock frequencies and RAMDAC quality. The problem has been rectified.
3dfx is very encouraged by the state of our first silicon, known as A0 silicon, which was used on the products shown at Cebit. It is not unusual for first silicon to have a few minor issues. The excellent state of this initial silicon is very encouraging, and none of the minor problems that have been discovered and address have delayed the shipments of the Voodoo4 and Voodoo5 products.
We have placed orders for production silicon already. Our software development is right on track. We are on the same release schedule as when the VSA-100 product was introduced at Comdex, which we stated would be in the Spring. That product will include all the features that have been promised. It will deliver real time, full scene anti aliasing. It will support dazzling cinematic effects via our t-buffer. It will feature 32-bit color depth, SLI implementations and astronomical fill rates. Despite the outstanding state of this first silicon, the boards used in the Cebit demonstrations do not represent production silicon. Shortly after GDC, we expect to be demonstrating Voodoo4 and Voodoo5 boards that are much closer to production quality.
BB
PR Manager
3dfx, Inc.
QuakeLives attempts to defy GPL Posted Wednesday, February 23 19:15 by dropn
Saw at quake3world.com, quakelives.com was attempting to release the next version of software in binaries only, openly breaking the Quake GPL. Read John Carmack's .plan for info. The binaries were removed. The download agreement might still be there.
site update Posted Wednesday, February 23 13:41 by kornel
Sorry, the HTTP server is having problems.
GigaPixel Giga3D Architecture Posted Wednesday, February 23 3:47 by kornel
Ryan Brucks at 3dgn published an amazing article on the GigaPixel Architecture. If you don't know, the GigaPixel graphics chipset will be used in Microsoft's upcoming X-Box console so if you wanna know why it was chosen instead of the GeForce 256 chipset, read ahead.
Netscape Communicator 4.72 available Posted Wednesday, February 23 2:51 by kornel
I saw over at LinuxToday that Netscape Communicator 4.72 is available for download in two flavors.
Linux-glibc22 Communicator
Linux-glibc22 Navigator Stand Alone
ATI Rage Pro and Q3 Point release 1.16j Posted Tuesday, February 22 19:05 by kornel
Let there be light! Some great news for you Rage Pro owners. I just got an email from Gareth Hughes, one of the primary developers of the Utah-GLX ATI Rage Pro driver regarding a bit of news about the latest beta point release for Quake 3. So without any further delays please read on:
Previously, the Linux build of Quake 3 did not include the Rage Pro
workarounds such as the special translucent smoke texture and other
approximations. Carmack had originally informed me that these weren't
included as there wasn't a Linux Rage Pro driver at the time. I fired off
an email to Zoid yesterday asking if these workarounds could be included in
the current point release, and sure enought the 1.16j patch enables these
fixes.
So, those of you with all forms of ATI Rage Pro chips (including the laptop
chipsets such as the Rage Pro LT and Mobility) can now play Quake 3 under
Linux without having to suffer from opaque smoke trails and other visual
artifacts. And yes, the Utah-GLX driver will give you timedemo scores that
are as good as or better than the current Windows drivers.
Thanks to Carmack, Zoid and Robert Duffy for resolving this problem so
quickly.
-- Gareth
MS-Monopoly Posted Tuesday, February 22 17:17 by kornel
Ok, boys and girls this is no way 3D or gaming related, however you should check this out if you want a good laugh.
Linux Opposing Force update Posted Tuesday, February 22 16:53 by kornel
If you checked the .plan files in the left menu you might have seen that Patrick Dupree updated his .plan with a status update on the Linux dedicated server version of Half-Life: Opposing Force.
A while back we talked about releasing a Linux dedicated server version of Half Life: Opposing Force. I wanted to post an update on how that's going. We've had the "port" done for quite a while now and it's been tested and works just great. The only problem is that, since we're a commercial add-on, we need to put WON net support into the Linux dedicated server. This is turning out to be a harder to deal with issue than I originally anticipated. Some changes to the WON libraries since we released Opposing Force, plus the basic differences between the Windows and Linux versions have been delaying the Linux dedicated server.
I'm still working on the Linux version when I can and I would like to get it released ASAP, but unfortunately I have to resolve these WON issues before I can get any farther.
On the brighter side of things, it looks like Sierra has dropped the price of Opposing Force. The product description on their web page store has it listed at $29.95, and the current weekend ad flyer for Best Buy has it listed for $24.99.
New Glide drivers from 3dfx Posted Tuesday, February 22 15:39 by kornel
I saw on linux.3dfx.com that they released new Glide drivers for their Voodoo2, Voodoo Banshee, and Voodoo3. "Voodoo Graphics and Voodoo Rush should follow shortly." These releases are for use with the stand alone (non-DRI) based drivers. These drivers should be used in conjunction with XFree86 3.x and they do not work with the DRI/XFree86 4.0 based drivers.
Voodoo2 Glide_V2-2.53-5.i386.rpm and Glide_V2-2.53-5.i386.glibc2.0.rpm:
Fixes a shutdown bug in Glide. This should improve shutdown stability
http://linux.3dfx.com/open_source/download/voodoo2.htm
Banshee, Voodoo3 Glide_V3-2.60-14.i386.rpm and Glide_V2-2.60-14.i386.glibc2.0.rpm:
Fixes a shutdown bug in Glide. This should improve shutdown stability.
http://linux.3dfx.com/open_source/download/voodoo3_banshee.htm
Glide_SDK-2.2-11.i386.rpm:
Banshee, Voodoo3
http://linux.3dfx.com/open_source/download/voodoo3_banshee.htm
Voodoo2
http://linux.3dfx.com/open_source/download/voodoo2.htm
3Dfx and IDF: no V5 showcase Posted Tuesday, February 22 15:27 by kornel
Just got an email from Brian Burke of 3Dfx stating that 3dfx won't be showing off their Voodoo5 at IDF this year. Here is the PR:
3dfx announced last week that they were scheduled to demo the Voodoo5 board at the "Driving Content for Modern Graphics" presentation at IDF. Due to a miscommunication between Intel and 3dfx, this demonstration was cancelled. In fairness to the other presenters on the panel, Intel asked 3dfx to forgo the schedule demonstration. While 3dfx was fully prepared to do the demonstration, we did honor this request from Intel.
The Voodoo5 was demonstrated at MacWorld Tokyo on the Macintosh platform as scheduled last week. It is also on display at Cebit in Hanover, Germany this week on both the Macintosh and PC platforms.
"3dfx was excited about having the IDF panel discussion be part of the public debut of our new VSA-100 based Voodoo5 product," noted Scott Sellers of 3dfx Interactive.
"We had the unusual opportunity to be able to debut our new products at three major events, almost simultaneously. Unfortunately, that debut is now limited to Mac World, in Tokyo and Cebit in Germany."
"It was strictly an issue of fairness, and allowing each panelist to demonstrate their products would change the nature of the discussion", added Kurt Sehnert, Strategic Marketing Manager, Desktop Products Group (DPG) for Intel."
3dfx Interactive will be showing the VSA-100 based Voodoo 4 and Voodoo5 products at the upcoming Games Developers Conference held from March 9-12 in San Jose.
BB
PR Manager
3dfx, Inc.
XFree86 3.9.18 is available Posted Tuesday, February 22 11:56 by kornel
I saw on the The XFree86 Project's site that the source of the fourth (and final) pre-4.0 snapshot of XFree86 is now available for download. Also stated on the site is the expected release date for the final version which is due out in March 2000.
Quake III Point Release Posted Tuesday, February 22 11:30 by kornel
A new version of the Quake III Point Release is out. This is version 116j Beta. Note that you need version 116h Beta and then this executable on top.
Quake 3 v116j Beta for Linux
Changes in version 116j:
-Zombie/Ghost unpure clients no longer remain connected.
-Recursive File System error corrected when running mods with logfile set to 1
-The Auto-download rate is controlled by 'sv_maxRate', specify this value in bytes per second. The maximum band rate caps out around 25K per second.
Source: PlanetQuake
First release of Blocks: A 3D Tetris LookALike Posted Tuesday, February 22 10:50 by kornel
Jorrit Tyberghein sent word that he has the first version of Blocks, the 3D Tetris LookALike using the Crystal Space 3D Engine available for download. This proggy can run on Linux, Windows, OS/2, BeOS, DOS, Macintosh, NextStep, OpenStep, FreeBSD, SGI, Solaris, ( you name it )... The source of Blocks is included with recent versions of CS (0.15r002 which is going to be released soon or a recent CVS snapshot).
A linux executable for software or OpenGL rendering can be downloaded from http://crystal.linuxgames.com. Other executables for other operating systems will follow soon.
SuSE 6.3: A First Look Posted Tuesday, February 22 2:53 by kornel
Bill, from CPUReview wrote in to let us know about his SuSE 6.3 review. According to Bill, it is his biggest Linux review to date; it's almost an installation guide :-) A must see, a must read so settle down, grab a beer and check it out here.
Some other fine articles from Bill:
Distributions at War
Slackware 4.0 review
Mandrake 6.0 review
OpenLinux 2.2 review
RedHat 6.0 review
ATI Further Supports Linux Posted Monday, February 21 21:48 by kornel
ATI, the company who was unfriendly to Linux some time ago and dead silent to our emails and letters L3D has sent out requesting information, has been giving information to the Utah GLX project for a little while, and now have announced in a press release the development of a video SDK to take advantage of their hardware's MPEG playback capabilities. Here is a little extract of the PR:
(...)This announcement also confirms ATI's pursuit to become the Linux community's Number One graphics vendor. It builds on the company's earlier announcement of official support for the Linux OS, and release of development information for ATI's products. With release of the VHA Software Development Kit for MPEG-2 and DVD playback, ATI now offers the industry's most complete and robust product support for the Linux operating system. Initiatives are underway for Linux development in ATI's set-top products. (...)``ATI is committed to the advancement of Linux, and offering high quality video playback is the next major step forward,'' said Henry Quan, vice president of corporate marketing, ATI. ``We are enabling the Linux community to take advantage of our industry-leading video playback technology, which is the key missing link in developing full multimedia support for ATI.(...)
You can read the entire PR here.
P.S.: I am working on the ATI section here on L3D. It will be up soon.
ABit enters Linux distribution business Posted Monday, February 21 10:58 by armin
Motherboard maker ABit, known for their overclocking-friendly motherboards and their dual-Celeron SMP board BP6 in particular, are entering the Linux distribution business.
On their Gentus website they offer a customized Linux distribution that is tuned to run out of the box with their motherboard products. Check it out.
Site update Posted Saturday, February 19 13:28 by kornel
I am in the process of revamping the site so you will see a couple of changes during the following weeks. And updates will be regular following the redesign.
Lack of updates Posted Tuesday, February 15 9:31 by armin
Sorry for the recent lack of updates. Both Kornel and I seem to have caught a spell of the busies. If you'd like to become a regular news poster on L3D, please drop me a line.