If You Liked the Old Games . . . . 0

I have never been much of a computer gamer, unless you count Double Canfield and Mah Jongg solitaires as “computer games.” By the time we got our first home computer, I had too many kids and not enough time to become skilled at the early Mech Warriors, Duke Nukem, or Sim City, the games that were big at the time. I decided that I was already mediocre at enough stuff and didn’t need to add computer games to the list.

Recently, though, I stumbled over Rogue Class Linux, which describes itself thus:

Rogue Class is a toy Linux distribution for playing games and reading books. RCL favors turn-based games, such as puzzles and rogue-like games.

What interested me, a long-time Sherlockian, was the reference to the Sherlock Holmes gamebook, Murder at the Diogenes Club, one of the games in Rogue Class Linux.

Look below the fold for some observations and screenshots.

I loaded RCL up in VirtualBox. It’s a nice piece of work and installs easily, as many of the installation options you might normally address are irrelevant in so highly specialized a distribution. Automatic login is enabled for a user named “rogue.” To become “root” (that’s the Linux system administrator), you need to figure out the root password (which I did so I could install VirtualBox Guest Additions).

Rogue Class lists its minimum requirements as

• Pentium-III processor
• 128mb memory
• 2gb hard disk
• Graphics controller with VESA BIOS
• Optical drive to install from

I initially devoted one GB RAM to the VM; booting and navigation were noticeably slow, but performance within a game was just fine–these are old games with minimal overhead by today’s standards. Devoting two GBs of RAM to the VM yielded a significant improvement in boot and navigation, but little in game performance.

Boot-up takes you to the “System Menu”:

I did notice that, for RCL to see my network connection, I had to actively enter the network dialog and enable it.

The main menu is quite simple:

A limited number of applications, as distinct from games, are included.

I installed only one of the two RCL CD’s, which installed over 40 items to the games menu (the second CD contains additional games).

Opening the menu for an individual game will show choices for playing the game, reading the manual and other documentation, adding the game to your “Favorites,” or returning to the Games menu. Several items open submenus with multiple games, particularly SFROTZ and Puzzles.

You can find a lot more information at the Rogue Class Linux website. If you like the old games, do give Rogue Class a look.