games on ROS

[florian]

Sorry, but I am even against an installed Solitaire & Co... - thanks to nLite I kicked them as well as the Windows XP Tour.

nLite was by the way a Windows (XP) Installation Customizer:

"Have you ever wanted to remove Windows components like Media Player, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, MSN Explorer, Messenger... How about not even to install them with Windows ?
nLite is a tool for pre-installation Windows configuration and component removal at your choice. [...] (nlite | about)

[Konata]

I think Solitaire is fine. Let's not worry about what the devs include, they've stated their goal is to mirror Windows, nothing less. I've never built ROS but I'd imagine you could easily exclude cruft like games at compile time.

[erkinalp]

Game selection on Windows serves two objectives(in addition to precision input training):
-Games that require hard effort.
-Games that will make you forget your tiredness.
Minesweeeper, Pinball and Chess is in the first category. Solitaire family and Purble Place is in the second category. Except Purble Place and Pinball, these were the popular games of the time even before they are included in Windows. The game selection I have previously fullfills the first objective, and replaces the second one:
-To encourage free software and computer awareness.
Blindly taking Windows' default game selection unfortunately will not fullfiill the original purpose of selection.

[Oddjob64]

Yes, something like 70 or 90 years. I don't think there is any software in existence that has fallen into the public domain solely due to 'old age'. (since software ain't around for that long).

Correction, copyright expires a numbers of years after the owner dies or disappears. And in the case of companies in the US, copyright expires 120 years after the company ceases to exist. For example, this means any game published by Electronic Arts will fall into the public domain 120 years after Electronic Arts disappears. This is why even 1930s Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons are still copyrighted by Warner Brothers (although many fell into the public domain in the 1970s under previous copyright law).

[fred02]

The list games that can be bundled with ROS boils down to one simple statement: those that somebody is willing to maintain in the source tree. I my understanding as of now it would be minesweeper, because it comes from Wine, and Solitaire and Spider because the developers are willing to maintain them.
On the other hand, if somebody steps up to maintain a new game in ROS I'm sure that the developers will at least consider the idea. (Contacting Z98/vicmarcal beforehand would be a good idea.)

Sorry, but I am even against an installed Solitaire & Co... - I kicked them as well as the Windows XP Tour.

This is only because there is no option to deselect them (and many other components) during the XP/2k3 GUI installation. ROS is not subjected to such limitation .

[Black_Fox]

http://www.dreimer.de/?page_id=381

Recent game tests. ^^

Cool! I like to see Black&White in there.

[PurpleGurl]

Correction, copyright expires a numbers of years after the owner dies or disappears. And in the case of companies in the US, copyright expires 120 years after the company ceases to exist. For example, this means any game published by Electronic Arts will fall into the public domain 120 years after Electronic Arts disappears. This is why even 1930s Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons are still copyrighted by Warner Brothers (although many fell into the public domain in the 1970s under previous copyright law).

Isn't it true that there is also a freeze currently in effect that won't be lifted until the next decade?

[Murmur]

Actually thinking about it a wiki page would not do for the long term, we will be overloaded. A page like what we are doing is fine for the short term but if we want to do it for the longterm a good example of this would be this : http://pcsx2.net/compatibility-list.html I suggest we ask them how they setup theirs and see if we can do something similar.

[gonzoMD]

Actually thinking about it a wiki page would not do for the long term, we will be overloaded. A page like what we are doing is fine for the short term but if we want to do it for the longterm a good example of this would be this : http://pcsx2.net/compatibility-list.html I suggest we ask them how they setup theirs and see if we can do something similar.

*cough* http://old.reactos.org/compat/

[Webunny]

Actually thinking about it a wiki page would not do for the long term, we will be overloaded. A page like what we are doing is fine for the short term but if we want to do it for the longterm a good example of this would be this : http://pcsx2.net/compatibility-list.html I suggest we ask them how they setup theirs and see if we can do something similar.

*cough* http://old.reactos.org/compat/

That's a worthwhile idea. It's still manageable for now, but in the long run, it might be more suitable I reform it more like in those links, indeed.

Speaking of which... where are all the DOS games, there? There are only windows games on it, it would seem. Now with ntvdm and such, a buckload of DOS-games should work as well. Where are they? hbelusca, where are you?

[EmuandCo]

At the time of the old website we had no NTVDM yet...

[Webunny]

At the time of the old website we had no NTVDM yet...

ah, yes, I see the confusion. My bad. With 'there' I actually meant on the current wikipage https://www.reactos.org/wiki/Games_ROS_Testing .

As you can see, at the bottom it says 'DOS games' and 'to do'. But nothing is filled in there.

Ps. What about my other post, about the 'target problem' when wanting to run something in a certain way/state (in the pathway). In vista you can simply put it there after the exe in the targetfield, and it works. I'm not sure about XP, but I think there it's the same. But on ROS it doesn't.

Is this a bug? Should it be put in JIRA? Is someone already working on this?

[cruonit]

for example:
http://www.rockstargames.com/classics/

"The Rockstar Classics collection is our series of complimentary full PC game downloads, provided exclusively to members of the Rockstar Games mailing list. These games, each available free of charge and optimized for play on modern PCs, offer a nostalgic trip back in time to the early days of the Rockstar legacy."
http://www.commandandconquer.com/forums ... ally-free/

But I havn't read the copyright

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... s_freeware
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... ource_code

AFAIK Quake works on reactos and it's opensource. There are also game remakes like:
http://openxcom.org/about/


There is a nice list of game remakes nad freewares(no download links):
http://www.reloaded.org/genre.php?Genre ... &OrderBy=2

are they legal to download ? It would be cool if reactos could be a one click download free/os gaming platform

[DOSGuy]

Yes, something like 70 or 90 years. I don't think there is any software in existence that has fallen into the public domain solely due to 'old age'. (since software ain't around for that long).

Correction, copyright expires a numbers of years after the owner dies or disappears. And in the case of companies in the US, copyright expires 120 years after the company ceases to exist. For example, this means any game published by Electronic Arts will fall into the public domain 120 years after Electronic Arts disappears. This is why even 1930s Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons are still copyrighted by Warner Brothers (although many fell into the public domain in the 1970s under previous copyright law).

Nope. The Copyright Society of the U.S.A. explains how long copyrights last in a very understandable way.

Copyrights in works created since 1978 will last for 70 years after the death of the work's author. If the work is what the copyright law calls a "work made for hire," created by employees within the scope of their employment, the work will last for 95 years from the work's first publication or 120 years from its creation, whichever is shorter. The provisions on copyrights in works created and published before 1978 are complicated, but, as a general rule, the copyright in those works will last 95 years. Anything first published in 1923 or earlier, though, is in the public domain."

Because software is usually created by a team of people, most PC software falls under the "work made for hire" rule. Since the PC was released in 1981, the earliest date for any game created as a work for hire to enter the public domain is 2076. The earliest date for any game written by an individual to fall into the public domain is 2051 (in the case of an author who died in 1981). That means that no PC game has ever had its copyright expire. The only way for any PC game to have fallen into the public domain at this point is if the copyright holder explicitly released it into the public domain. All other PC software will be protected by copyright in the United States for at least another 31 years.

[Webunny]

Yes, something like 70 or 90 years. I don't think there is any software in existence that has fallen into the public domain solely due to 'old age'. (since software ain't around for that long).

Correction, copyright expires a numbers of years after the owner dies or disappears. And in the case of companies in the US, copyright expires 120 years after the company ceases to exist. For example, this means any game published by Electronic Arts will fall into the public domain 120 years after Electronic Arts disappears. This is why even 1930s Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons are still copyrighted by Warner Brothers (although many fell into the public domain in the 1970s under previous copyright law).

Nope. The Copyright Society of the U.S.A. explains how long copyrights last in a very understandable way.

Copyrights in works created since 1978 will last for 70 years after the death of the work's author. If the work is what the copyright law calls a "work made for hire," created by employees within the scope of their employment, the work will last for 95 years from the work's first publication or 120 years from its creation, whichever is shorter. The provisions on copyrights in works created and published before 1978 are complicated, but, as a general rule, the copyright in those works will last 95 years. Anything first published in 1923 or earlier, though, is in the public domain."

Because software is usually created by a team of people, most PC software falls under the "work made for hire" rule. Since the PC was released in 1981, the earliest date for any game created as a work for hire to enter the public domain is 2076. The earliest date for any game written by an individual to fall into the public domain is 2051 (in the case of an author who died in 1981). That means that no PC game has ever had its copyright expire. The only way for any PC game to have fallen into the public domain at this point is if the copyright holder explicitly released it into the public domain. All other PC software will be protected by copyright in the United States for at least another 31 years.

I never understood those humongous times it takes to expire. Even after death! It's a strange rationale. Do you pay your plumber even 70 years after his death for your bathroom? Do I pay my baker until 70 year after his death after he baked me a bread? It's ridiculous. At one hand, one calls it intellectual property, on the other hand one gives it properties and insane rights that no property has. Originally, in the USA, copyright was 20 years, with a possible 20 years extra if the parliament decided on that. Which it did (and much more later on). That was 40 years. Reasonable, even today. Even comparable to the current lifespan of people, it should be no more than 60 years. That's MORE than enough to compensate for a work made, if it's even slightly worth its salt. At the very least, let it end with the death of the author, or 60 years, whatever comes first.

I know the rationale behind it, of course: greed. The obsessive need to continuously milk the cow more and more. I'm all for the liberal-capitalist system, but this is absurd. In fact, seen at the core of the matter it is, in essence, a monopoly granted by the state, thus one can even wonder if it's actually liberal-capitalistic in nature to begin with.

Anyway, we're digressing. I'll repeat my question: is it normal that the target field does not accept (command) input when starting up a game in ROS?