Linux Quake HOWTO: Introduction

1. Introduction

Quake, QuakeWorld and Quake II are tremendously popular 3D action games developed by id Software.

If you're not familiar with the Quake games, there are better places than this HOWTO to learn about the basics. See section Other Sources of Information below for a list of some of these better places.

This document assumes you have Linux for the Intel platform up and running, and in some cases the X Window System as well. X is not required to run these games, but it's a nice way to test a basic installation. If you are not running X, you may safely skip over any references to it.

Sections of this document that were updated in the last revision have a ** after the section heading. Sections updated in the revision prior to the last are marked with a ++.

1.1 Feedback,Comments, Corrections

This document certainly does not contain everything there is to know about Linux Quake. With your help, though, we can bring it closer to that ideal. We want this HOWTO to be as complete and accurate as possible, so if you notice mistakes or omissions, please bring them to our attention.

Questions, comments, or corrections should be sent to Bob Zimbinski ( bobz@mr.net) or Mike Hallock ( mikeh@medina.net). Constructive criticism is welcome. Flames are not.

1.2 Other Formats of This Document

This document is available in a variety of different formats. Far more than is necessary, actually. You can find them at http://www.linuxquake.com/howto/other-formats.

ASCII text
ASCII text with backspace-overstrikes , suitable for viewing with man(1)
HTML all zipped up and ready to be dropped into your web site
Postscript
PRC for viewing on your Palm Pilot with Aportis Doc
SGML
LaTeX
All of the above are also available in a single convenient package

1.3 Acknowledgments

The original version of this document was written by Brett A.Thomas (quark@baz.com) and Mike Hallock (mikeh@medina.net). Bob Zimbinski (bobz@mr.net) rewrote and expanded the original document prior to its initial public release.

Special thanks to the following people for bringing us Quake for Linux:

John Carmack and the rest of id Software for these great games.
Dave 'Zoid' Kirsch (zoid@idsoftware.com) for the Linux ports.
Dave Taylor (ddt@crack.com) for starting this whole wacky Linux port business.
Daryll Strauss (daryll@harlot.rb.ca.us) for the Linux glide ports.
Brian Paul (brianp@elastic.avid.com) for the Mesa graphics library.
David Bucciarelli ( tech.hmw@plus.it) for the Mesa/glide driver.

Thanks to the following people for contributions to this Howto:

Mike Brunson ( brunson@l3.net) for the vid_restart tip.
Joey Hess ( joey@kite.ml.org) for info on running svga & gl games from X
Joe S. ( jszabo@eden.rutgers.edu) for a steaming pile of suggestions
Brad Lambert ( bradl@dial.pipex.com) for the -noudp reminder.
agx ( gguenthe@iris.rz.uni-konstanz.de) for Quake installation info and pointing out QIPX.
Derrik Pates ( dmp8309@silver.sdsmt.edu) for making me think about security.
Michael Dwyer ( michael_dwyer@mwiworks.com) for the "OS considerations" ideas.
Derek Simkowiak ( dereks@kd-dev.com) for the Quake I CD installation procedure.
sunstorm ( sunstorm@glasscity.net) Quake Mission Pack 2 information.
Neil Marshall ( marshall@pssnet.com) for screen info.
Serberus ( serberus@clarion.co.uk) for Vispatch pointer.
Andrew Chase ( fixy@fixy.org) for the GLQuake "POSSIBLE SCAN CODE ERROR" fix.