From: aneubach@risc.uni-linz.ac.at (Andreas Neubacher) Subject: Software for Linux (Was: Re: Raytracer for LINUX???) Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1993 11:55:53 GMT
In article <1lnvn3INNcqa@sbusol.rz.uni-sb.de>, thin@sbustd.rz.uni-sb.de (Thomas In der Rieden) writes:
> Hi everybody,
>
> I got a big problem. I`m looking for a good Raytracer for Linux, e.g.
> PoV or so. Does anybody know if there is such an application or if not,
> when will it be released???
>
I'm sorry if this may be interpreted as some kind of flames, but I think we
should make one thing clear:
LINUX IS A UNIX-SYSTEM! This means that in general software written for a
(more or less generic) Unix (I know there's no "generic" Unix, but I think
you get my meaning) does not take too much effort to port (and esp.
something like a ray-tracer, which should not require *any* system specific
functions apart from file I/O).
So here's yet another hint how traffic in c.o.l can be reduced:
-> If you want to have some piece of software under Linux,
1) Check out tsx-11 or any other FTP-server carrying Linux software. If
you are lucky, you might find the package in binary form, so you don't
even need to know how to compile things. If you find sources, somebody
will already have ported them to Linux, so all you need to do is read
the README (or whatever) file and in general just type "make all" for
creating the binaries.
2) If there's nothing on the Linux servers, look around in newsgroups
dedicated to the software you are looking for (in general *not*
c.o.l). In the case of a raytracer, you might check
"comp.graphics.visualization".
3) When you know the name of the software package you want, do an
'archie' search to find an FTP server where you can get it.
4) Get it and try porting it to Linux.
- If porting it required more than 30 minutes of your time, you might
announce it in "c.o.l" and upload it to one of the Linux FTP
servers.
- If you did not succeed or if you realize that porting might take
more than a day, *only then* does it make sense to ask on c.o.l
whether somebody did a successful port of whether somebody can help
you with your problems.
I sincerely hope this helps,
Andreas.
-- =============================================================================== Andreas NEUBACHER, Research Institute for Symbolic Computation, Johannes Kepler University, 4040 Linz, Austria. aneubach@risc.uni-linz.ac.at !Packed signature!