Monday, June 5, 2000

Linux Gaming -- 11:06 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

GameSpot has a very nice (and very long) article on the past, present, and future of playing games under Linux. As I recounted in my installing the NVIDIA XFree86 4.0 drivers article, setting up your system for gaming under Linux can still be harrowing. Once XFree86 4.0 gets in the major Linux distributions and Creative Labs gets its OpenAL audio drivers out, Linux will be a viable platform for gaming. Then I will be one step closer to nuking Windows off my hard disk forever. And then I'm gonna laugh. Thanks Slashdot.

Pondering the Imponderable -- 1:22 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Greetings from sunny Minnesota! I am very thankful that my inlaws will soon have a PIII because this only Win3.x system is REALLY slow. Guess I'm jaded. Anyway, if you don't understand my comment in today's history section, you have to watch the first episode of the fourth series of Monty Python. Then everything will be clear. More news when the real computer comes in. Is that the U.P.S. guy?

The Master comments: Sucks to be you A.T. :-) Then again, when I update from my parent's place, I've got to use a WebTV machine. Doh. BTW: When I get that history DB done, I hope you realize I'm keeping your comment. Heh.

UPDATE! 11:00 P.M. The computer did arrive, so I spent the late afternoon and evening installing the hardware and a bunch of software. A couple of points:

• Why in the world would IBM use a video card that only has a digital output? Now there's an adapter on the back of the card, adding about 2-3 inches to the depth of the case. Nice. Not.
• This is my first experience with Microsoft not sending the full Windows CD but only an emergency disk. What a PITA when you are looking for drivers.
• I'd like to that my inlaw's ISP for being so responsive to my tech support questions. Not. I couldn't get through to them. Good thing I know a thing or two about Windows DUN or we'd be SOL.
• IBM also didn't install any of the software they ordered, which came without any manuals.

I'm glad I was here to set everything up for them, but I'm beginning to understand why techs charge $50/hour or more for this. But my inlaws are buying tickets for us to go to the Eric Idle show. That and they buy me good beer (Summit IPA and Extra Pale Ale).

Ukraine to Shutdown Chernobyl -- 1:15 pm CST, Update by The Master

According to Yahoo! News, Ukraine Announces Chernobyl Closure Date of December 15, which will perminantly shut down the site of the worst nuclear reactor accident in history.

BTW: If anyone knows how I can get a copy of the National Geographic TV show with the investigation of the damaged reactor by robots, I'd really appeciate an email. Also, I'd appreciate an email if anyone can direct me to a good book on the accident, or one on Three-Mile Island.

id Announces Doom -- 1:03 pm CST, Update by The Master

Blue has received a formal announcement of the as-yet unnamed DOOM game under development over at id. It doesn't have any details than John Carmack's .plan (story), but it's for-real (tm) now folks :-)

Some More Sin -- 9:08 am CST, Update by The Master

I've been playing Sin over the weekend (story), and WOW! what a game :-) When I first got this thing shortly after release it was just awful, crashing and GPFing, and generally being very unstable. I patched that sucker and it's been a wild ride. I'm bummed that I'm coming to the end, but heck, it's gotta end sometime. For those who crow about Half-Life, Sin would have at LEAST been it's equal if it had been released as bug-free as HL was. If you can find Sin cheap on a store shelf-pick it up-it's a great game.

History today -- 8:41 am CST, Update by The Master

• 1783: Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier launched the first sustained, manned flight when their hot-air balloon, dubbed a "globe aerostatique," rose an estimated 1,500 feet and flew 7,500 feet at Annonay, France.
  
  A.T. Hun comments: That night, the Montgolfier brothers had a really good wash.
  
  
• 1794: Congress passed the Neutrality Act, prohibiting Americans from enlisting in the service of a foreign power.
• 1884: Civil War hero Gen. William T. Sherman refused the Republican presidential nomination, saying, "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected."
• 1917: Approximately 10 million American men began registering for the draft in World War I.
• 1933: United States went off the gold standard.
• 1940: Battle of France began in World War II.
• 1945: The Allied Control Commission took control of Germany, dividing it into four occupation zones.
• 1947: Secretary of State George C. Marshall, speaking at Harvard University, outlined an aid program for Europe that became known as the Marshall Plan.
• 1967: The Six Day War between Israel and Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon began.
• 1968: Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated after claiming victory in California's Democratic presidential primary. Gunman Sirhan Bishara Sirhan was immediately arrested.
• 1975: Egypt reopened the Suez Canal to international shipping, eight years after it was closed because of the 1967 war with Israel.
• 1976: 11 people died when the Teton Dam in Idaho burst.

Sunday, June 4, 2000

New Q3F Beta -- 11:04 pm CST, Update by The Master

There's a new beta version 1d of Q3F over on the Q3F homepage. For details on what's new-check here.

Deus Ex has gone RC 1! -- 7:17 pm CST, Update by The Master

According to PlanetUnreal, Release Candidate 1 of Deus Ex has been released to testing at Eidos. This is VERY good news! I'm looking forward to this game.

Does anyone else find it ironic that the last game started by Ion Storm is going to be the third one released?

History today -- 11:00 am CST, Update by The Master

• 1939: The SS St. Louis, carrying more than 900 Jewish refugees from Germany, was turned away from the Florida coast.
• 1940: Allied forces completed the military evacuation from Dunkirk, France. Winston Churchill makes his "We Shall Fight on the Beaches" speech to the House of Commons.
• 1942: The Battle of Midway began during WW II.
• 1944: U.S. 5th Army began liberating Rome.
• 1954: French and Vietnamese officials initialed treaties in Paris according "complete independence" to Vietnam.
• 1986: Jonathan Jay Pollard, a former Navy intelligence analyst, pleaded guilty to spying for Israel. (He is serving a life prison term.)
• 1989: Possibly thousands of people died as Chinese army troops stormed Beijing to crush a pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square.
• 1998: A federal judge sentenced Terry Nichols to life in prison for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.

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