Linux Demos? 13
Sits asks: "Every year my univerisity's computer society hopes to entice new students to join by running a computer display. Last year we ran Q3 test on a Win98 system, but this year we would like to demo something running on Linux. Does anyone know of a flashy way to demonstrate Linux to regular people? Does Linux have an active demo scene and if so would a display of those be appealing to non-technical users?"
Try OpenGL demos... (Score:2)
Geeez, if only Future Crew was still around today! Is there an Assembly 2000 ?
Above all, stay away from VGAlib demos, you don't want to scare people away, do you?!
try the performer demos (Score:2)
Performer can be found at http://www.sgi.com/software/performer/linux.html
You also mentioned quake3 in your question, this demo is also workable in linux and if you have the full version you could demo some of the more impressive mods.
For linux-specific demos though, I would recomend the performer demos.
Aaron Bryden
just an idea... (Score:2)
//rdj
the linux demo scene / demo scene link (Score:2)
linuxscn.planet-d.net [planet-d.net]
you can find there some nice linux demos and other infos about linux demos.
What do you want your users to use Linux for? (Score:1)
Having worked as a tech person in a marketing department, (i.e., I had to write all the damn demos) I can tell you that flashy does not always sell. It may draw a crowd, but it won't always convince people.
If the purpose of the demo is to get regular people to say "Hey, Linux is cool" and walk away, then an OpenGL screen-saver-like thing is fine.
But if you want people to think about USING Linux, then you have to think about what kinds of applications they use. Quake is a good idea -- people play games, and it'll draw people in. But then show off StarOffice or WP, Netscape, and maybe The Gimp or CorelDraw, because that's what people actually use. And then pitch them about the cost, get someone in the crowd to use the apps, so that they see for themselves that it's easy to use.
Remember, regular people care not about their OS -- for them, the computer is simply a tool, not a political statement.
Drink some wine (Score:2)
depends on target group really. (Score:2)
1. Research on the web (NetScape and Mozilla)
2. Email either using hotmail or POP3 etc. (take your pick, i kinda like what i saw with the Helix code ppl.. though there is always mail in emacs:)
3. Then of course there is the IM's requirements most ppl seem to have. So there is Licq, and GnomeICU, and any AOL client. You could also just show the ICQ java client to ease the transfer from windows boxes.
4. Word Processing... here is where it can be a great sell, or get ugly. StarOffice. Some ppl like it a lot, others cant stop complaining about speed. Corel has its suite which i think works just fine for almost anything that most ppl do.
5. Games, here is where windows can get by you, but for demo sake you can show Quake, UT, and a ton of other games.. BSD style ones on console ? ?
6. REAL MULTI-USER OS : there are a ton of things you can show here. in windows (98 or 2000) only one person can really use the computer at one time. (I know about 'runas' it just dont cut it). I mean being able to work remotely is something that would be of great value for a lot of ppl, you just have to demo this well.
7. NO MORE FREAKING REBOOTS everytime you install any program. something i did once to just show thing was to install a bunch of software together on many windows on many desktops (Virtual desktops, hahaha, missing in windoz...) and well not just normal stuff, i mean throw on UT, Quake3, StarOffice, and a bunch of stuff on together... switch the desktops.. and then use them without rebooting. Then again you better have a good computer to demo with!
well just my thoughts, i mean there is always xscreensaver in case you are lazy
All of the above. (Score:3)
No new demos to add, but some ideas if you have time (and $$$) to make it work.
Get a graphics card with multipul monitor support (or several cards). On one have a full screen linux demo running. On anouther have Wine (see someone else's post) running something, with some obvious unix things on screen. Maybe visit and get a mac program running too (There is an open source version, but i've never played with it). Mame is anouther neat thing to run (have some game with a good looping demo). The gameboy (vgb), nintendo (ines, snes9x), sega (mastergear), 2600 (stella), atari-800, apple// (prodosemu?), and so on. [ardi.com]
In other words by not limited yourself to linux you open up a large scene. Just make sure some linux native stuff is running, and you have enough CPU power to do everything.
check libsdl.org (Score:1)
See the stuff on the homepage. SDL stands for the Simple Direct media Layer, and is sortof like DirectX but on (Linux | *BSD | Amiga | MacOS | Win32 | am I missing any more?). There have been several demos coded for it. The iXalance stuff is my fav so far... (great music too) [www.libsdl.orglibsdl]
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Re:check libsdl.org (Score:1)
Sorry I barfed the link tag. I should be here [libsdl.org].
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Macintosh Emulator (Score:2)
What you were thinking of is Basilisk II. [uni-mainz.de] Of course, as with any Mac emulator, you need a (preferebly legal) ROM image to run it. Basilisk will take any 512k or greater ROM, and I think it has to be 32-bit clean (so SE/30 or earlier is out).
Oh, I think you dropped this, </a>
Re:Try OpenGL demos... (Score:1)
Linux Demo (Score:1)