Advanced Question Source code?

[dragos240]

HI!,

I just came to this forum. I really would like to play orbiter, but sadly, I use linux. I do not wish to switch back to windows. Orbiter is free, as in beer, but not as in freedom. Why is orbiter free, but closed source, if you opened the source, the community could contribute to orbiter and make it better!

What do you think?

Dragos240

 

[TSPenguin]

I think we had this discussion way too often.
It is not going to happen until Martin wants it to happen. End of story.

 

[cr1]

The community is, in a way, making Orbiter better, in the sense that we are constantly making add-ons to improve our Orbiter experience.
The core engine, which controls the really core elements like the physics and the user interface, is closed-source, but an API is available.
As in your case with Linux... I'll have to leave that question for someone else.

@TSPenguin: just noticed you posted while I was typing Hey shouldn't we be nicer to newcomers? This is his first post after all. Even though he should've used Forum Search, he might not be familiar with it.

 

[Artlav]

What do you think?

Not anytime soon. At least Martins didn't plan to OSS the physics core part. Starting from the next version the graphics system will be open source.

Meanwhile, you can be the first to give some feedback on Linux-native Orbiter graphics client:
http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=7751

 

[Urwumpe]

I think you have not understood what open-source is and how things work. Opening the sources is no solution. Most orbiter add-ons are open source, still, despite having an open-source apostle here every month, only the usual suspects contribute. This is not very convincing that open-source is the holy grail of software development.

Especially since the Orbiter add-on API is windows-specific and can not be ported directly to Linux. You first need to remove the windows references from it, breaking all older add-ons.

if you have just a small bit Linux skills, you would attempt running it with Wine, as far as I have heard, some add-ons work with it.

 

[TSPenguin]

@TSPenguin: just noticed you posted while I was typing Hey shouldn't we be nicer to newcomers? This is his first post after all. Even though he should've used Forum Search, he might not be familiar with it.

He uses the Internet and Linux as his OS. He knows about search functions!

 

[dragos240]

I think you have not understood what open-source is and how things work. Opening the sources is no solution. Most orbiter add-ons are open source, still, despite having an open-source apostle here every month, only the usual suspects contribute. This is not very convincing that open-source is the holy grail of software development.

Especially since the Orbiter add-on API is windows-specific and can not be ported directly to Linux. You first need to remove the windows references from it, breaking all older add-ons.

if you have just a small bit Linux skills, you would attempt running it with Wine, as far as I have heard, some add-ons work with it.

Yes, but I intend to port it with mono, that may make things easier, and change the output format into ELF. And im sure that my community will help too.

 

[garyw]

Mono won't get you anywhere. Mono has nothing to do with the directx calls that Orbiter uses.

Anyway, It's closed source and that's all there is to it. There are a lot of free programs that are closed source.

 

[bradfirj92]

If you don't try and run any modules it works fine with Wine

 

[DarkWanderer]

How about adding this question to the FAQ?

 

[RisingFury]

How about adding this question to the FAQ?

With a bunch of others like:
OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG How do I re-enter with a DGIV?! and
OMGWTHZORZ How do I use IMFD/TransX/ASMO?!