Nexuiz etc LiveCD -- how far can hardware detection go?

[Cory K.]

John Richard Moser wrote:
> How far can Ubuntu's hardware autoconfiguration go?  How far does 3D
> support work in Linux now?  Joysticks/mice/etc?
>
> One fascinating idea I've had for a while was to turn a PC into a gaming
> console.  I hear a lot of "Windows runs my games" and "I have a high-end
> gaming PC" these days.  Why not burn a game onto a DVD or CD, with
> Ubuntu, with the configuration set up so it boots and finds a USB drive
> or hard drive and lets you pick where to save config/games to?
>
> This is just an off-the-cuff thought, but what about a release LiveCD
> that really does boot up Nexuiz or something on boot, and shut it down
> when you exit?  Fast shutdown:  remount all r/w drives as read-only, run
> sync, wait 3 seconds, then flat out halt the system.  What about a boot
> menu that picks the game (read /proc/cmdline) for you?  No Gnome, no
> Fluxbox, no stripped UI.  Just load up X, have it use the game as the WM.
>
> During boot, list drives found (list "initialized drives" with a
> specific config file on them first) that may have configuration data
> (i.e. wireless networks, save games, hardware settings...).  Allow
> reconfiguration, including picking a wifi network, or such.  Aside from
> that, pretty much "Pick profile.  Configure? [No]  Launching game..."
>
> Feasible?  Interesting?  Challenging?  Likely to expose new and
> interesting design considerations for general desktop OSes?  Any
> thoughts or comments at all?

I've actually done this before with Tremulous and Feisty. A little more
manual than what you described but it worked.

There's also already: http://live.linux-gamers.net

-Cory \m/