[lug] Gaming under Linux

[McIllece, Matthew W]

If you're at a VC as any user, you can also start games that require X by
just doing an "xinit" or "xinit -- -bpp 16" if your game requires 16
bits/pixel.  Once the xterm comes up, just execute the game from there.
You'll never have to worry about game/window-manager conflicts if you start
your games this way.  I don't use the window managers much, so I start all
my games via aliases to script files that do the xinit and exec'ing of the
game with my game customization parameters (e.g. set fov 110).  I also seem
to get higher frame rates this way as compared to when a window manager is
running.

> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 08:36:09 -0700
> From: Jeff S Howell <howeljs at louisville.stortek.com>
> Organization: EDS UNIX Support
> To: BLUG <lug at lug.boulder.co.us>
> Subject: [lug] Gaming under Linux
> Reply-To: lug at lug.boulder.co.us
> 
> In an earlier post I reported that Quake3 was running far slower under
> Linux than Windows.
> Just wanted to post an update. Got it fixed. As you may know, Quake3
> runs under X. I user GNOME/Enlightenment for my desktop under X. On a
> Celeron 450 w/ 64M RAM. All my normal Apps scream right along. What I
> determined was that after Q3 was running, the SWAP was growing a lot. I
> don't have enough RAM for GNOME/E and Q3 all to play well together.
> 
> I fixed it by making a new account on the box and making a ~/.xinitrc
> for that user that only calls an xterm when X is brought up. No window
> manager. Quake3 has all the memory it needs and I'm pulling 60-80
> frames/sec at 800x600.
>