this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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90's Linux gaming was a lot of Freeciv, Doom, Quake 3, and Tux Racer.
Wine really didn't work for shit for AT LEAST another decade, and even then, didn't really really work for a further decade after that. It took a very very long time for Wine to get to where it is now with Proton and playing basically everything that doesn't need a rootkit to run.
As for finding Linux games, I could just go to Microcenter. They had a whole shelf full of Linux software ranging from distros, to games, to commercial office suites, to just random shit that looked like it was boxed up in some guy's garage and contained just... stuff. I miss being able to buy software in big shiny boxes, though :(
I think you may have made the same mistake that I did. Freeciv and DOOM are mid-90’s but Tux Racer did not appear until 2000 and Quake 3 did not come to Linux until even later.
What I remember as 90’s Linux gaming is probably from the early 2000’s.
Check-out the “Top 10” at the end of 2000:
https://edition.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/12/20/linux.games.idg/index.html
I remember playing Q3 at home before graduating high school, and that appears possible (though barely), but uh, it maaay have been on Windows at that point since I did swap between Linux and Windows.
My brain just kinda lumped it in to the '90s games on Linux' group, I guess.
Not an American but, other than the odd actual Linux distribution ( like Red Hat ), I do not think I ever saw boxed Linux software for sale. That sounds amazing.
I mean, you could order things like WordPerfect I guess. But I never saw it on a shelf.
I mean, it wasn't a shockingly large amount of software or anything, but they always had a good selection of software.
The store opened here in like 1993 or 1994, and they always had a full selection of OSes and software for them: Dos, Windows, OS/2, Linux, BeOS, and so on.
Still open and still a cool place, but mostly just computer hardware bits and a section full of games and maker stuff now and not really any more software.