Ubuntu(1) ¿Why Ubuntu?

Gnu

+Linux

 

          Hello, today I'm going to start with the first writing into the operating system installation and setting up series.

          I have chosen Linux to work, and from all the Linux distributions i have chosen Ubuntu 10.10; Why Linux? and why Ubuntu? for the first question the answer is simple, it's a free operating system , stable, very easy to upgrade and update, and although I want to make the project compatible with Windows and i will compile the Client in Windows later, i must stick to my Rule nº1 to develop the Game.

        The second answer is more complicated, i have used a few operating systems in my live, I started with MS-DOS 4.0, then 5.0,6.0, windows 3.0, 3.1 Windows 95, 98 Me , NT 4, 2000, XP , Vista 7, .net server 2003, Solaris 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10, but even if i count all them it's nothing compared with the Linux world: there are so many distributions(distros) that you can get lost easily ... , i started with Slackware (year 97-98), then Red Hat , Suse , Knoppix, Debian, and finally Ubuntu... from every distro i have used from one version (slackware) to many (Suse, Red Hat, Ubuntu), when i first started with Slackware Linux it was not designed for the final user, not at all! , if i wanted to use a CD i had to manually mount it, (and unmount it when i wanted to eject it), it took me about 4 hours to configure my video card, and when i tried to set up my modem to configure a Dial-Up connection to Internet i finally quit, it wasn't until i bought Suse Linux 6.4 on a box (yes i bought a Linux distro) when i really had the opportunity to use Linux, it was much more "user-friendly" , it was easy to set up the drivers for the system and i got connected to Internet in minutes, and today Internet means everything speaking about computing, but even then i had the feeling that "something is missing", something that got filled with Ubuntu:

• Ubuntu is made to simplify things, not to make them more complicated, from the installation process to the user interface, if you want, you don't have to use the terminal (no more bash and derivatives sir!).
• It's quite user-friendly, very configurable and a real alternative to other OS's that aren't free.
• You can install a complete system , ready to navigate into Internet, work with office documents , everything in a single CD, and that's really important for me, i remember the time i was using suse 6.4, it came with 6cds! and the problem was not which packages to install, but which ones you shouldn't!, today it's much more easier.
• Today most of the operating systems are bloated: , Vista and "7" need a core duo or athlon x2 with 2gb ram to "start"  (guess why Intel has a prototype of processor with 80 cores?) , mac OS X snow leopard needs ... a MAC(even more expensive) and what about Linux? D.S.L. works with a 486DX with 16MB Ram, OK!, but if you go to gnome most of the distros think in the user in the same way Microsoft does: if the user can't install the os, he should buy a new computer, I'm writing this blog with a net-book: atom processor and 1gb ram, Ubuntu runs smoothly on it.

I think i have given a few good reasons to use Ubuntu, but of course many people won't like it, people should be free to think the way they like ...
 
       So after all the chat , let's start downloading it, let's go to http://www.ubuntu.com, then push the "Download Ubuntu" button and then "Start Download",  and save the file ubuntu-10.10-desktop-i386.iso to your hard disk, now you just have to burn the iso image to a blank CD: now you are ready to start installing the system.
      In the next post we will see how to install and set it up.

THE RULES

All the games have rules, mine's are:

1. I will only use free software for my project, it's not I'm against the companies that sell software, it's that i want to make my project accessible to everybody, so my OS is a Linux sistem (Ubuntu), my IDE (code::blocks) my tools (gimp, open office, etc), my database (mysql), everything must be free , but i'm not "narrow minded", i want to make my project compatible with others OSs like Windows  (in fact i suppose it will be compatible to any OS with c++ compiler and SDL port).
2. I will do the project alone, it's just something i want to make since long, long time ago, it doesn't mean i refuse help, i know that i will need it in the graphics and sound, so at least at the beginning i'll be using free tile graphics, and of course i will accept it when i start with coding.. but i want to make it by my own resources. 
3. I have 1 year to complete the development, at least to have a working client and the server and database online (at least to have something playable working).
4. I will post all the ideas and portions of code or pseudo-code of everything, the objective is not just accomplish my goal but to help other people to make their dreams come true.

My game, my rules

And thats all for now!

The design

For the programmers and for all the people that are just curious, my mmorpg it's gonna be a 2D view rpg, my programming language c++ , my graphic library libsdl, networking with sdl_net and my database mysql, my development computer is a linux computer but i want to make it as portable as possible so the client will work in Linux and Windows at least. I'm going to start with the client, when i get it to show what i want to see on the screen i will put the database online, finally i'll get with the core networker program.

I'm an army of one so my objective is not making things looking perfect, but making them to work so don't expect WOW , I'll be posting pictures and my thoughts about the development.

In the beginning...

It all starts with simple ideas: sometimes you want to make big things, sometimes you just want to achieve objectives like and old project:

I'm a Programmer I've always liked computers even when i didn't had one; I've worked, played ,repaired and assembled them;  sometimes i love them sometimes i have really hated them, but always , always i wanted to make a big project with them and in my life i  have learned enought to realize that "i can do it!", so here i am, telling to all the people that want to listen and myself too that i'm starting the project not in X time, but NOW.

Finally here's my project: an MMORPG, it doesn't looks very impressive,  i know today you have thousands of them around, but i want to make mine, it's an old project I've played around over and over but now i feel ready to begin, i have the tools , the history, the design , and the faith..

It all Starts one day, and for me the day is Today.