New hardware needed

[code_glitch]

Hmm... Thats true about the windows part now I think about it: I have a few GiB of ram and never use more than 25% of it and linux uses that as cache for files. I haven't truly used windows as a primary os in a while though I always get roped into helping people out with it. Though I'm surpised to hear you say that there is no gaping difference between the 2600k against the fx8150 - I'll have to take that onboard since I've only heard negatives and my only experience was a bit of demo testing on a shop PC (an FX-6 something if I recall) and found that it coped like my OC'ed athlon. Guess its not a true comparison as I hear the FX chips can OC something impressive...

That is because AMD's stock coolers at least have some cooper in them

I'm so checking this out when I next do an upgrade... Mine is an old grey deal that feels sort of flimsy and I thought it was rather awful (though I suppose I was OCing...). For instance, when I first got my machine and wanted to see how far I could push it before things got unstable I had my hand on the cooler and it was still cool but while running prime95 the actual temperature was around 60C+ so I came to the 'crummy aluminium' conclusion about mine too

As for drivers I have no clue as to OS X's drivers - though I gather driver updates are primarily released with new versions of OS X. However I dont think that issue lies only with OS X... I've read some horror stories and been asked to get some games running on them... Its a miracle I haven't jumped off something tall in desperation yet . Though to be fair - the llano and APU drivers, although coming a long way in a short time, don't leave much to be desired either. On any platform. I guess the one nice thing about intel graphics is that out of the box experience.

At any rate Cybermonkey - if its 64 bit linux you need and don't mind not having all that good directx speed the open source Radeon drivers are excellent for all the 'pure' linux needs. If you need directx for wine gaming and whatnot then just grab a copy of fglrx from AMD, as much as people moan theres very few issues as of right now and although its not a laptop, the fglrx drivers are (in my experience) quite a bit more power efficient. Though given the radeon drivers' development pace I wont be reading these words and nodding in the near future And as for CPU I guess that if a PGD i7 user can say they can stack up then thats good enough for me though you'd have to assess your usage pattern as to whether its worth it. Great thing about AMD: Its all AM3+ (bar the APUs but hey, thats not what we're here for) so you can have any CPU you fancy So long you dont need the most cutting edge stuff. Performance wise. Theres some trippy stuff in Piledriver

[WILL]

Sorry for taking so long to reply.

Development should be cross-platform, Windows and Linux. At the moment just hobby/freeware stuff, usually 2D (with physics ).

Ok well if you only want to support Windows and Linux then you might be safe sticking with a Windows machine for your development platform. However should you ever want to support Mac OS X, then I would suggest making the Mac your main development platform. Simply put it's 1000 times easier to go from a Mac-based Lazarus project that accounts for Windows than it is to go from a Windows-based Lazarus project and then account for Mac. Bundling, resource paths, etc. I can't emphasize that enough.

Windows development is a heck of a lot easier than Mac, I can't speak towards Linux as I've only tinkered and played with it on the odd occation and out of the box Lazarus seems to play nicer on both of those OSes than Mac. That said, Lazarus 1.0 has just come out and it could be a whole different story.

How this relates to hardware... it doesn't. Other than the Mac factor of course.

To be honest, what hardware you get shouldn't matter too much for 2D other than getting a good decent graphics card that can do the level of shading you want to pursue should you get into 3D. If you ever want to go commercial, I'd consider a Mac simply to develop on to cover the booming Mac/iOS markets. (a Mac Mini if you don't want a heavy investment) You won't make any money (or enough to matter) from Linux.

Sorry I couldn't tell you buy X, Y or Z piece of hardware. I don't think you need that advice from me anyhow. Just balance out what is in your budget with how cutting edge it is and you'll have something that should last you long enough until you have to replace it down the road.

[Super Vegeta]

As for Windows vs. Linux as dev platform, cross-compiling from Windows is a pain in the ass. Under Linux, I had no problems whatsoever. Speaking of Lazarus, I guess it depends on what components do you use, but I personally found some features lacking under Windows. Configuring Linux can be tiresome at the beginning, mostly because you're already used to the Windows interface and because, oh well, You have to learn something about the system. But if you give it some time, you can really bend the OS to your wish.

It's a matter of personal choice, but frankly, after I finally found a distro I liked (Fedora) and configured it to be comfortable for me, WinXP on my laptop is mostly laying dormant, sometimes turned on for gaming.

Or, if you like challenges and don't mind spending some time banging your head against the wall, maybe try coLinux? It is an interesting project that allows you to, basically, run Linux alongside Windoze. (Yep, you have two kernels running alongside eachother at the same time). Configuration can be tough, but then, you won't have to dual boot and switch OS..

[Cybermonkey]

Sorry, guys, I already know Linux. I use Linux since the beginning of this millenium. I know how to configure Lazarus and Freepascal under Linux and Window. Thanks for that but it was more the hardware question because it was clear that this will become a dual-boot machine. Linux will be some Ubuntu flavour either Kubuntu or Linux Mint KDE. I think I will go with that Athlon X4, I think that's almost 3-4 times faster than my actual PC according to the benchmarks. As for the Mac: it's too expensive (even a Mac Mini) currently. Btw, for development, I will have a closer look at Asphyre Sphinx 3. Seems what I need although I'm missing some beginner's tutorial.

[Super Vegeta]

Seems what I need although I'm missing some beginner's tutorial.

I daresay that's the pain of many many libraries.

[code_glitch]

@Will: Its always possible to make a hakintosh... Not saying anyone here would know anything about that Although its usually considered harder on AMD hardware I believe that gap has now closed quite a fair bit in recent years and now its roughly equal. Though some driver issue still exist.

Or you could vmware/virtualbox a copy of OS X since AMD seems to include all the VM instructions sets on virtually anything and everything. Not saying anyone would know anything about that either though

[WILL]

@Will: Its always possible to make a hakintosh...

Actually the Hackintosh and virtual machine concept is completely legit these days. In fact when Steve Jobs first presented Mac OS X, he was running it on PC hardware. If that's not endorsement, then I don't know what is.

Do note that I said at least get Mac OS X running to do development from Mac to Windows if you were going that route. And for all commercial games I'd recommend making a Mac version of your games. You'll double your sales if not more since the Mac gaming market isn't quite as saturated as the Windows gaming. If the quality of your game is high and is quite marketable you can do well on the Mac today.

I don't mean to step over Cybermonkey's main topic here, but for commercial games, I would never do Linux as a priority unless it was a mere couple hours of work to include them. Adding Linux to your supported list of platforms is simply PR for your game as most Linux users don't want to buy anything that they use. It's like selling neck ties to pot smoking hippies.

As for the hardware, I only suggest getting something that is current and will have a little bit of power for now. (sorry I just can't say what that is as I don't by clone PC parts anymore) Should you want to go commercial(selling your games) in the next couple of years get a Mac or hardware that will run and be fully supported by Mac OS X. You'll still be able to develop for Android allowing you to hit the top 4 selling platforms for gaming.

[code_glitch]

And from what I hear, people are now making money making linux games and selling on things like the ubuntu software centre... (eg. Lunduke) And for smaller games platforms of choice now include Linux, Android (linux), Mac (BSD, linux's "cousin"), iOS (god knows... probably something a little like BSD in some way) XD What weird times we live in. I remember the days when the list was more like: Windows 2000. Windows XP. Windows XP. Windows XYZ. Symbian.... Not.

[Cybermonkey]

I daresay that's the pain of many many libraries.

I must admit it's the problem with EGSL, too ...

Yeah, even Steam is being ported to Linux now ...

[LP]

Well, Windows is still the most popular operating system, which is over ten times more popular than Mac OS [1], [2], so if you want to have wider audience both for commercial and non-commercial targets, Windows is still your best friend.

However, I think there is an indirect factor, where I agree with Jason. Just think about it, who is most likely buy your commercial software, a guy that spent $500 on his Windows PC or a Mac "freak" who spent over $2000 on his Macbook Pro? Now, if you also consider people who replaced commercial Windows OS with free Linux distro, how likely are they going to buy it? This is an exaggerated speculation of course, but it's definitely an aspect that you need to analyze before releasing your software.

Also, there is another issue in mind - piracy. On Windows, it is incredibly easy to pirate, while, for instance, on an iOS powered device it may even result in warranty breach due to jailbreak.

Therefore, in my opinion, the "safest" commercial route for now is Mac OS and iOS, although for larger audiences, there is no beating Windows. Taking that in mind and back on topic, spending $500 on Windows-based PC, which can also sport Linux, can be considered money well-spent. Although, there are some Mac Mini's and MacBook Airs in $500 budget limit that have interesting hardware and should not be ignored!