I sort of extrapolated this idea from a comment in the PBF and thought it deserved it's own thread.
there has been quite a bit of talk about a Linux port of the game after the Mac gets its own version and now the PS4 is nearly here that has come up in more than one thread as well
If it's all X86 why not use that?
given the nature of Linux and the popularity of live distro's for demonstration, testing and even portability I think it would make sense (if the game was already being ported to Linux) to release a version of it as a live distro.
in effect instead of being just a game the disk/image would contain the game and the custom Linux operating system it ran on.
Imagine this from an Elite evangelists point of view, if you go round a friends house no mater the hardware they have as long as it is x86 compatible you can introduce them to ED without the need to install it on their PC/Mac/Linux desktop/laptop.
Other advantages include the 'instant LAN party,' five or six or you could walk in to an internet cafe and provided their machines were up to it you could all be playing together in the same time it takes to boot to the desktop from DVD/USB 2/3 key.
I could see the disk loading a limited game demo that's free to play, but to access the full single player content or online universe you would need to pay to create an account. (as the KS has 'DRM free' splashed all over it i would expect this in any case.)
for this reason USB would be a better option, most modern machines can be set to boot from it and it would allow for a file area to store offline authentication data.
play anywhere, any when, any how - as long as you have a bootable device with the ED Distro on and access to an internet connected X86 machine you're golden
it goes without saying this will be for after the Mac release, but i for one would carry it everywhere i went
any other suggestions for ways this would be cool or could be used will be added to the OP, reasons for not doing it will be politely ignored as if they release a DRM free Linux version, depending on the distribution restrictions i can see this being a fan creation.
there has been quite a bit of talk about a Linux port of the game after the Mac gets its own version and now the PS4 is nearly here that has come up in more than one thread as well
If it's all X86 why not use that?
given the nature of Linux and the popularity of live distro's for demonstration, testing and even portability I think it would make sense (if the game was already being ported to Linux) to release a version of it as a live distro.
in effect instead of being just a game the disk/image would contain the game and the custom Linux operating system it ran on.
Imagine this from an Elite evangelists point of view, if you go round a friends house no mater the hardware they have as long as it is x86 compatible you can introduce them to ED without the need to install it on their PC/Mac/Linux desktop/laptop.
Other advantages include the 'instant LAN party,' five or six or you could walk in to an internet cafe and provided their machines were up to it you could all be playing together in the same time it takes to boot to the desktop from DVD/USB 2/3 key.
I could see the disk loading a limited game demo that's free to play, but to access the full single player content or online universe you would need to pay to create an account. (as the KS has 'DRM free' splashed all over it i would expect this in any case.)
for this reason USB would be a better option, most modern machines can be set to boot from it and it would allow for a file area to store offline authentication data.
play anywhere, any when, any how - as long as you have a bootable device with the ED Distro on and access to an internet connected X86 machine you're golden
it goes without saying this will be for after the Mac release, but i for one would carry it everywhere i went
any other suggestions for ways this would be cool or could be used will be added to the OP, reasons for not doing it will be politely ignored as if they release a DRM free Linux version, depending on the distribution restrictions i can see this being a fan creation.
