About

live.linuX-gamers.net is a Linux gaming live distribution: "boot 'n play"

Notice

We urgently need more HTTP/FTP mirrors. While we do prefer torrents, some people might need to use HTTP/FTP for various reasons. If you can provide at least a 100Mbit mirror, please contact sh<--at-->lutzhaase<--dot-->com

News

• 2009-06-18: files for release 0.9.5 are online
• 2009-06-17: added and updated lots of packages
• 2008-09-26: iso file of release 0.9.4 is online
• 2008-09-14: modified the page for better support of packages
• 2008-09-14: added a bunch of packages
• 2008-09-02: added DVD-Cover made by Uwe Reithuber
• 2008-09-02: game packages added: Teeworlds 0.4.3, Openarena 0.8.0, World of Padman 1.2
• 2008-09-02: mastering environment updated to base of 0.9.4 release
• 2008-08-26: the project shipit.linuX-gamers.net has been started
• 2008-07-25: added mirror for version 0.9.3 - thanks to fastspeedtest.com
• 2008-06-17: updated the games list for release 0.9.3 (linuxtag2008-release)
• 2008-06-16: custom mastering environment, package specifiaction and one example package published
• 2008-06-11: version 0.9.3 (linuxtag2008-release) published.

History

The project live.linuX-gamers.net was founded with the idea to present Linux games at the LinuxTag exhibition in a novel way. A collection of games should be shown to directly run from DVD without the user in need to know about Linux or care about his system. After some intense brainstorming sessions the team decided to create and publish this DVD as a live distribution project. Thus an additional and very difficult problem had to be solved: The DVD should run on every x86 PC out there.

At the very beginning the team was split up into two groups. The first group was meant to create a live DVD based on any existing live distribution and to include games appropriate for younger players. The second group should create a live distribution from scratch, designed for high performance 3d games.

Unfortunately the first team dedicated to the family suited games failed in finding a good live distribution which could be taken to create a base system fitting our ideas. But luckily the second team was successful. They created a live DVD based on Arch Linux.

In 2009, the live.linuX-gamers project was taken over by Sven-Hendrik Haase who will continue to maintain the project for the time to come. Many games have been added since the last release and many issues were resolved. The original idea of creating two distributions - one with family-friendly game and one with high-performance games - was finally accomplished as well.

Future

On the Linuxtag 2007 exhibition it turned out, that this live DVD is a big success and we got a lot of very possitive responses. So we are currently planning the next steps of this project.

For the time after 1.0 we've got a much bigger vision, where this project is going to lead to,.. so stay tuned!

One of the main goals can already be announced: "Try to take over the world" (tm) pinky and the brain ;)

Screenshot

This is what you will be presented with when you have booted up the live medium. On the bottom (depending on version) you will find a panel to directly start the games.
Right clicking in the background opens a menu containing some more tools.

Hardware requirements

Your PC must at least meet these requirements:

• i686-capable architecture
• 512 MB ram
• videocard with 3d acceleration

Note: If the computer you try live.linuX-gamers out on is older than 6 years, you should try the CD (Lite) version as it contains mostly games suited for older computers.

Features

The current version is a developement release, version 0.9.5. Features are:

• top free native Linux games!
• most of the games have a multiplayer mode!
• high performance video card drivers
• proprietary NVIDIA drivers for GeForce2 MX and better (up to GeForce GTX 295 included)
• proprietary ATI driver for Radeon HD 2400 and better (up to Radeon HD 4890 included)
• open source drivers with 3D acceleration for many other video cards
• harddisk is not touched!
• nothing needs to be configured, everything is done automatically
• networking is configured using dhcp server (network manager included)
• FREE!!!!

Bugs

Known issues of the current releasee:

• some games go out-of-range for some screens
• one some sound cards, sound may fail or give static noise
• insufficient testing on ATI and Intel graphics cards
• two games can be started at the same time, potentially causing performance problems

If you find a bug, please mail a problem description to: sh<--AT-->lutzhaase<--DOT-->com

Changelog

v0.9.5 (linuxtag2009-release):

• many major issues fixed
• added video driver auto-detection fall-back method
• added lots of games
• added basic user applications (chatting, volume panel, network manager, web browser)
• updated drivers, kernel (2.6.29!) and base
• new compression algorithm allows for more games to fit on each medium

v0.9.4 (uninachtbasel2008-release):

• kernel and driver updates
• basic harddisk installation support added
• rudimentary Installscript added
  (for testers only - /opt/bin/hddinstall, INSTALLATION WILL DESTROY ALL DATA ON HARDDISK)
• minor bugfixes

v0.9.3 (linuxtag2008-release):

• base and mastering environment rebuilt to support custom mastering
• easy network configuration GUI
• support for chipsets of recent boards
• easy display setup GUI
• video settings saved to usbstick

v0.9.2:

• fixed bug with fglrx driver
• speed up of reading data from dvd
• added game ufo:ai

v0.9.1:

• added games: Blobby2, Foobillard, gl-117, Neverball, Wesnoth, Warzone2100
• removed RTCW:ET and TC:E due to licensing issues
• NVIDA driver can be easily installed when the video card was not detected correctly
• speedup of reading data from DVD