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Latest Comments by Hamish
Block Quake is basically Quake made into LEGO
28 April 2022 at 2:45 am UTC Likes: 6

Quoting: LinuxerUmm what is a .pak file?
Okay, now I feel old.

Ion Fury: Aftershock expansion gets delayed with no set date now
24 March 2022 at 6:33 pm UTC Likes: 4

Quoting: VoidpointUnforeseen delays have pushed back the release beyond our initial projections, but we're committed to not sacrificing quality in order to hit any specific deadline.
*insert Duke Nukem Forever joke here*

Building a Retro Linux Gaming Computer - Part 12: In Tremendous Pain
20 March 2022 at 6:41 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: HamishThere was a mod for Blood II: The Chosen called "Limbloss" that functioned in much the same way but was a lot less elaborate.
Just as a little expansion on this, the Limbloss mod like so many others for Blood II was actually about restoring a feature cut during the game's tortured development:

  • Complex death scene system allows players to blow off limbs and body parts dynamically adding infinite variety to the already tons of death scenes that will exist.
Source: https://www.blood-wiki.org/index.php?title=File:Blood-2-Poster-Back.jpg

Sounds very much like what GHOUL actually delivered a few years later.

Building a Retro Linux Gaming Computer - Part 7: The Arena Eternal
17 March 2022 at 4:13 am UTC Likes: 2

So going through an old backup I came across this screenshot I took the day I got the Quake III Arena Linux demo to finally launch a couple of months after I switched to using Fedora Core 4 full time:


Turns out it was the day before my thirteenth birthday.

Double Fine say Psychonauts 2 for Linux and macOS still coming
15 March 2022 at 6:01 pm UTC

I would say I should play through the first game again, but since I am still back to using the exact same graphics card that I was using when the Linux port first came out, it might be better to wait for when I can upgrade again.

I did make it through the Meat Circus but it was a struggle. And the PC version tones it down apparently.

Building a Retro Linux Gaming Computer - Part 16: We Are All Doomed
15 March 2022 at 5:58 pm UTC

As an addendum, while I was able to get FM synthesis working just fine on the MediaVision Pro AudioSpectrum 16 SCSI which was what I needed for the article, digital audio playback had mixed results. Reading up on the issue it appears that the main problem is the lack of a -5V rail on my ATX power supply as opposed to an AT, something that can be mitigated with something like the Voltage Blaster:
https://www.philscomputerlab.com/voltage-blaster--5v.html

I also had the persistent popping sound consistent with having an incongruous clock chip on the motherboard, which could be addressed by using the sound card's internal clock instead. Considering the card was left in a barn loft for close to twenty years it is remarkable how well preserved it is other than a bit of oxidation on or near the mounting bracket. I have gone back to using the SoundBlaster 16 as my sound card in Dianoga but the PAS16 could be a good fit for an older AT computer.

Building a Retro Linux Gaming Computer - Part 16: We Are All Doomed
14 March 2022 at 11:36 pm UTC Likes: 5

Quoting: GuestGreat read in the series as always, and looking forward to more (as always)!
I should say that things are likely going to slow down a bit from here as spring is on the horizon, my livestock are going to start calving and lambing by the end of the month, and I have set myself up to play something other than a familiar action game I can burn through over a couple days.

More will come, but not every Monday like it has been for the last seven weeks. Thanks for the kind words.

Building a Retro Linux Gaming Computer - Part 16: We Are All Doomed
14 March 2022 at 6:30 pm UTC Likes: 4

All of the RPM packages used can be downloaded here:
https://icculus.org/~hamish/dianoga/LxDoom-LinuxHeretic-RPM-Packages.tar

The official Red Hat Linux 7.3 documentation for setting up sound cards can be read here:
http://archive.download.redhat.com/pub/redhat/linux/7.3/en/doc/RH-DOCS/rhl-gsg-en-7.3/s1-fun-sndconfig.html

An article on early Linux sound card support by Jeff Tranter for Linux Journal can be read here:
https://www.linuxjournal.com/article/2793

And here is how I configured the MediaVision Pro AudioSpectrum 16 SCSI on Linux:
Select Pro Audio Spectrum/Studio 16, Logitech SoundMan 16 in Red Hat sndconfig with the following settings:
I/0: 0x388      IRQ: 7      DMA: 3

Once configured also select AdLib in sndconfig for OPL-3 playback.

Building a Retro Linux Gaming Computer - Part 14: Return to Na Pali
28 February 2022 at 10:56 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: PenglingI didn't switch to Linux until 2008, but was watching from the sidelines during much of the time-period that these pieces cover ... so it's both a nostalgic read and a fascinating look at how things were from the other side that I desperately wanted to be on at the time!
Honestly my own experience was not that different, as I was not able to switch to using Linux full time until 2007 due to school related commitments. But I still grew up reading and messing about with Linux in various forms so these articles are kind of exploration of all that I learned for me was well.