Best Linux distro for Torque dev?

#1 The best advice right now:

1) Take your machine you want to develop on.
2) Try installing a distro
3) See if it
3a) installs,
3b) supports your hardware,
3c) builds torque,
3d) Doesn't make you want to pound nails into your face
4) If it doesn't satisfy your criteria ,try another distro.

If you're close except for "builds torque", then that may be a good distro for you. If torque doesn't build, try posting here, there's a lot of linux experts about.

There's lots of distros out there, all of the modern ones all do basically the same stuff. In the end, if you're new to linux, there's a lot less heartache to just trying a different distro than trying to make your wireless card work on a distro that doesn't support it out of the box.

I'd suggest you try Ubuntu, Fedora, and SuSE aka Novell first.

Gary (-;

#2 I agree with Gary completly, I've been using Linux for a bunch of things during the years and if I may add to his advice:
Don't listen to all those "leet" linux user out there who will tell you to use this or that bleeding-edge-compile-every-last-piece-of-software distro just because you'll learn linux better.

You will undoubtedly end up battling the OS rather than developing the next cool Torque-based game.

Allow yourself be a "noob" and my bet is you'll actually enjoy the Linux Experience (TM) alot sooner :)

Ooh, and do not install it on a "production" machine the first couple of times... That is a sure ticket to loss of very important data :)

#3 And not to make this sound like too much of a mutual backpatting session, I gotta agree with Jorgen on the whole thing about not installing a distro designed to run from scratch and build everything.

It's just more effort than necessary; with RedHat you pop in the CD and clicky the onscreen buttons. For gentoo you get to read lots of docs, edit lots of config files, leave your machine building itself for a day... only to spend more time configuring stuff, and then settling down to the fact that your sound card will never work properly.

Gary (-;

#4 Just for the sake of conversation, I have Ubuntu up running and compiled Torque all in about 2 - 3 hours, I had a small issue with the video card. But it didn't take long to fix.

#5 I used Ubuntu for all my TGE-L 1.4.2 work.. also used for TSTPro and Constructor dev as well

#6 I use Debian and have had only one issue with the openal libraries. There is some c++ wrapper it installs and that hoses stuff up. If you use Debian make sure you remove the c++ wrapper as it causes Torque to crash if it gets compiled in. Now, I have used Linux for nearly 7 years so stuff that is non-issue to me may be a pain for a new person. Having installed Ubuntu at work I would say it would be fine as well.

#7 I use ubuntu , torque and compilation worked at the first install.

Before that I used fedora, mandrake => always a lot of issues with installation and library and compilation and ...

#8 Thanks for all the advice! :-)

I'm going to start with Ubuntu, it looks like the easiest one to test with and looks simple enough for even me to deal with (lol)!

Now to figure out how to install it to dual-boot on my machine.. wish me luck!

#9 To be honest the only issue that I met with torque on liunx is the lack of debugging tool like codeweaver or torsion for windows.

Due to that I am obliged to come back to windows in order to debug my script.

on linux I try to use jedit , but it does not work correctly. There is a debugging gui in torque but i don't know how to use it ....

#10 Slackware 11 due out soon.

slackware is good because it uses old stable software.
so no new x no new 2.6.x kernel.
hehehe..

this means that 98% of your stuff will work out of the box. (wireless will need some work)
and after setup if all your hardware is configured and working and you can run x that should be good.

currently I have built the new X and the latest kernel 2.6.17.11
both are working great.

#11 I have to disagree a bit.
Yes finding a "distro" that works is a good idea, however WAY to many distro's work ok and still have big time problems with TGE.
Doing that repeatedly is like banging your head into a wall repeatedly, i.e. it doesn't make a whole hell of alot of sense.
I am successfully using Kubuntu for my dev work, and it's Noob friendly enough that I would let my mother install it on her own computer.

I recommend Kubuntu (Ubuntu uses Gnome which is PITA if your used to a windoze environment, Kubuntu uses KDE which is much more natural for a windoze user to get the hang of, otherwise the 2 distros are the same) for developing Linux client binaries on. The dedicated server OTOH runs just fine an everything I've ever tried and I have tried most distros. That said I still recommend Gentoo for a game server once you feel ready to entire the l33t linux club :)

Regards,
Dreamer

#12 Heh Gentoo elite?

a guy showed up here at work running gentoo, couldnt get his net working I had to jump on there and hack it up for him.
(no dhcp)
you dont need to be elite to run Gentoo.

you need to be elite to pwn Slackware tho :)

but as Dreamer said, ubunto types seem to be the friendliest.
I personally despise kde, it is so big and bloated with stuff I will never use. :)

I like enlightenment but to get the newest one you need to cvs it.


Linux is User Friendly, its just carefull how it picks it's friends.

#13

Quote:a guy showed up here at work running gentoo, couldnt get his net working I had to jump on there and hack it up for him.
(no dhcp)
you dont need to be elite to run Gentoo.

If "a guy" can't work out how to set up a network card, and you have to "hack it up for him", you're "elite", and your distro requires more hardcore knowlege than Joe Blow has. Joe Blow needs to pick a more friendly distro.

I've been using slackware as my personal desktop for many years now, but I don't recommend it to new people anymore. There was a time when no distros "just worked" and my personal experience was that there was less bloodshed in making slackware work than fixing most other distros. This is no longer the case.


Getting torque building and running on one linux box, of your choosing, is easy. The trick is making it run on multiple distros from the same distributed binary. And that's something that should be near the back of your mind until you have something to actually distribute.

In eight months, when you have a game you wish to distribute, you need to analyse your market *then*, work out which distros your compiled product needs to run on, and start sacrificing chickens to the linker gods, probably with the help of forumites here. Don't worry about it until you have an actual game and you're winding up to ship it.


On the topic of user interfaces:
Gnome and KDE both suck, as does enlightenment or any other window manager predicated on making X a usable interface. Linux isn't windows, and you shouldn't expect it to be.

Pick something that looks good on your screen, and learn to use it. If it does stuff you don't like, log out, click a different Desktop Manager/Window Manager that came in the box, and try that one. Rinse repeat until you find one you like.

Gary (-;

PS I'm saying this as a sysadmin and developer at a company where we support... well, many versions of many distributions, and seven separate unix variants [of which Linux is only one]. We've been through a lot of support heartache, and I'm just making suggestions based on my personal experience. Gentoo may be right for someone completely new, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it's probably not.

#14 Woot! Another which distro is better flamewar!
/me puts on flame proof suit!
My Distro iz teh r0xx0rz!

#15 I hear the XNA distro was da bomb!
/ducks and runs away..

#16 Hoho Badguy, discussing the "leetnes" of different distros is quite entertaining :)
I installed slackware for the first time in -94/-95, hated it ever since (my personal view) mostly due to lack of hardware support (which has become much better ofcourse) but I never found Slack very complicated to use. Infact, slack has always focused on linux-standards and upholding the "rules" of old-school linux users.

Gentoo has been my main distro for the last 4~5 years so I'm pretty comfortable using it. Setting up network support is trivial once you get around learning how but that goes for slackware too.

I wouldn't call Gentoo any less "l337" than Slack; most times when it comes to both distros, what seems to constitute "leetness" is the skill of searching for information and actually apply that knowledge.
Still, we rant on about differences in opinion and argue over details. No distro is different in that respect.

In the end, neither Gentoo nor Slackware requiers much elitism to use.
I personally like Gentoo for it's marvellous community that is very friendly and helps out both noobs and pros and every time a friend asks I try to pitch Gentoo.
But for an absolute beginner, I'd stick with the recommendations of Gary

#17 @Dreamer,

How dare you toss out that craptastic distro! shame on you!

#18 I say pick whatever distro works for you. Simple. They all have their advantages/disadvantages. Many of them have a Live CD version. Pop it in & give it a go to see if it looks right for you. As for Linspire, it works well enough for me Ron. Just as Slackware did for me since version 4.

#19 Bah!
I tried linspire and well it was crap hence the nickname.. CRAPTASTIC ;-P
yes, it works but man it (for me) it utter crap

-Ron

#20 Personally, I'd stick with Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu. They are rediculously easy to get around in and they are debian-based. No matter your choice, I'd stick with a debian-ish linux. It's so widely used that finding help with one thing or another will usually be quite easy.

I'd avoid gentoo tho, unless you want to develop Linux. ;)