Gamix -- open game console

[TheMelodyMaker]

I came across this last night during my travels; I might be keeping an eye open on it.

http://www.gamix.org/

[glitch1501]

looks interesting i guess,
found this in the forum, some guy asked if it was a linux box, this is from the admin

Gamix is simply the hardware specifications. Software can be developed under any environment that will run on the specified hardware.

It begins with a bootable DVD. Using the El Torito Bootable CD-ROM Format Specification http://www.phoenix.com/NR/rdonlyres/98D3219C-9CC9-4DF5-B496-A286D893E36A/0/specscdrom.pdf any software can be launched on a Gamix machine. It could be FreeDOS, DR DOS, or any version of Linux. It could even be a Windows runtime if you are willing to negotiate a license with Microsoft. The point is that the world is your oyster. Develop software at as high or low a level as you want. As long your software boots from a DVD and can run on the Gamix specified hardware.

Gamix does slightly favor Linux for space-intensive games by guaranteeing the availability of a Linux Native Partition with EXT3 file system. But by no means is this meant to limit development to Linux.

i thought this guy brought up some valid points

Let me see if I properly understand the concept.

All you are creating a spec for is hardware. No API's? Instead of a platform, your suggesting a hardware framework.

This doesn't eliminate the problem for the game developers, it will increase it. Instead of a uniform software layer in consoles, we will have to create our own. Since ATI's Linux drivers are 3rd party it's not exactly bleeding edge graphics. (Last I checked) To actually put a copy of WinXP on each disc shipped along would be a liscensing nightmare. So essentially each Game Developer/Publisher will end up with their own entire platform in house. Since thes platforms will be setup to cold boot a system, it blocks out the ability of launching a Gamix game under another system that is already running, making debuggin/testing it's own level of fun.