My sourceforge account name is kristianduske - do you need anything else from me? I haven't used SF in a couple of years, so I don't know whether I have to apply or you simply add me. 

yes, I could just run windows Fitz, but I want to try this in ubunutu (10.10). However, I have no idea how to install and run it. If someone could tell me what I am doing wrong I would be very happy.

1. extract the fitzquake file from the linux executable on Sleep's homepage into my Quake directory.
2. double click or right click and select "open" the fitzquake file.

If I do this, I just get an error telling me there is no viewer for this type of file. This is puzzling because the file is listed as an executable in the file explorer in Ubuntu.

What do I need to do to run this thing? Can someone help? I'm going to try running it from the terminal, but I will probably fail :( 

My guess is you don't have the SDL dependencies on your system. Use Synaptic to install them (SDL and SDLnet). Running from the terminal might at least give you a warning message. 

The terminal is your friend. Take some to familiarise yourself with the basics. It will allow you to use the computer to its full potential. As negke said, the chance that you will get a proper error message is much better.

The file might not be executable even though ubuntu says so, I guess, don't really like ubuntu, it tries too hard to be user friendly and sacrifices the chance understanding the technical details. So rightclick the executable and make sure there is a checkbox that "allows the file to be run as executable".

I suggest you try quakespasm though. It is based on fitz 085 while sleepwalkr's is 080 which is quite outdated. 

When I say terminal, I mean Bash and the usual basic GNU coreutils.

http://home.swbell.net/berzerke/present.html seems nice.
http://www.funtoo.org/en/articles/linux/lpi/1/
http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/manual/coreutils.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Core_Utilities

Most utils give a basic usage overview if you run them without argument, others want you to add --help or -h. 

Sounds like you just need to chmod it. 777 should normally be OK (are we worried about security of Quake engine executables for the world? 770 maybe if so? Or 700 if you really want to be paranoid...) 

I forgot to mention that SDL is installed properly. I can run sauerbraten just fine by running the script in its main dir. Quake on the other hand... no luck.

I'll try looking in the sauerbraten script to figure out what it does. 

I tried using chmod on both fitz and quakespasm (thanks for the heads up btw!), but still got the same nonsense after using it (command not found)

I even tried building myself, and although I was able to build quakespasm no probs through Code::Blocks, I am not exactly sure the executable was running in the right place, because it exited immediately with an error. I changed the basedir in the program parameters in Code::Blocks to my Quake dir but still no luck.

Looked in the sauerbraten script and found exec, but exec quakespasm gives me a not found error too (exec exists :)

This makes me sad. 

seems all I needed to do was type ./quakespasm at the terminal... even though I was already in the Quake folder.

Apparently I am missing gfx.wad :( Works ok in Windows though. 

seems everything needs to be lowercase. Fixed that and now it works. Yay.

btw, if anyone has a listing of all files in a clean Quake install, I'd appreciate a copy (of the file listing) so that I can remove all the junk that has accumulated in the root quake folder over the years. 

Running Quake in linux only requires the following files (probably the same in windows):

quakespasm (or other executable)
id1/pak0.pak
id1/pak1.pak
id1/pak2.pak (not sure if required but contains latest progs afaik)

plus you need SDL and SDL_NET installed.

To run, open a terminal window and type `<quakedir>/quakespasm`
However, before being allowed to run the file, you may need to use chmod as pointed out by mh. `chmod 777 quakespasm` should do the trick. 

You can avoid the "./" by putting the executable somewhere in your $PATH.

/usr/local/bin or something, or even ~/bin. Installing a Quake engine via package management should do this automatically.

echo $PATH will show you what your path is.

Hope I make sense, heh. 

You avoid the ./ problem by adding ./ to your path. This makes sense generally. Just open ~/.profile (or make a new one) and add

export PATH=.:$PATH

This way, whatever executable is in the current directory overrides shit that is elsewhere in the path, which is usually what you want anyway. 

works, too. Historically, */bin is where most executables are dumped. Multi-user system etc. 

You still think Win7 is overly complicated? 

I've spent less time dealing with shit in ubuntu than I did with Windows 7 so far.

Only time will tell which I want to use, but in general I kind of dislike the new windows and have found switching to the new interface (and the fact it's in Japanese and I cannot change this because somehow MS is the only company that can't implement sensible language selection in their OS and software and still has to sell a version specific to each region) a big load of hassle and time wasting. Not to mention the fact that I often feel locked out of my own computer because windows is trying to protect me from myself all the time. At least in ubuntu I can get around everything by just entering my password or running chmod. Windows 7 has a tool to set up a program whitelist, but afaik it's only available in enterprise and above.

I kind of admire Apple's one size fits all policy in some regards, but I know if I had a Mac I would get pissed off with it sooner or later. 

pak2.pak is not by id, I'd remove it. Maybe the ugly idgamma patch?

Yes, Linux's usual filesystems are case-sensitive.

"chmod +x" is a nicer "chmod 777" in my opinion. But as I said, you can access these things with a simple right-click (-> permissions) in Ubuntu.

You can use tab to autocomplete paths in the shell. You can press up to re-use previous comments. You can press CTRL-r and start typing to make it search your history.

I highly suggest not doing what SleepwalkR suggested.
Not only are you playing around with security, but his suggestion could lead to serious problems in the long run. He adds the current directory overriding everything else which is an incredible bad idea.

I suggest you simply learn to use ./ instead. It's not that hard.

http://quakespasm.sourceforge.net/about.htm suggests /usr/local/games/quake/ , I do not know where it would look for the paks otherwise. I keep my Quake stuff in my home, it's much more convenient. If I must install "foreign" binaries system-wide I use /usr/local/bin/ . That way I know what is where. 

...to everyone for all the help. Seems to be running fine now. And I learned a few things on the journey.

pak2 was idgamma by the way. I renamed it and now Quake is dark as fuck, unfortunately :( Is there any other way to brighten the game up? the gamma slider doesn't seem to work at all.

For now I restored the pak2 file because I like being able to see the game. 

dont think I've removed it for years. I cant play quake without it. 

I am not sure if quakespasm has a gamma slider. Did you mean the brightness one?

Make sure your monitor is calibrated! And if you still feel like you must, use the gamma variable (or is it a command?). Gamma 1 is good on my crt. Quake IS a dark game. 

does idgamma do anything besides change brightness? i've heard lots of talk about it but have always just used the gamma cvar. something between about 0.7-0.85 normally works 

the brightness slider works in quakespasm. and fitzquake too, afaik? 

Yes, but not necessarily on Linux. 

hmmm... i've never seen the gamma slider fail. Maybe X or SDL isn't set up somehow? Stab in the dark though. 

Interesting, SDL Fitz's brightness slider does the same like "gamma". I never knew.