What is a "front end"?
Quake is a very customizable game. Not only can you create new levels, weapons, and sounds for Quake, you can also develop entirely new games, such as Quess and Quake Rally. Even ignoring these settings, there are lots of features you can adjust within Quake to customize your playing experience, such as the skill level, the way you control the character, options for deathmatch play, etc. A front end provides a simple interface for organizing and setting these options, giving you more time to worry about not getting killed by an opponent rather than worrying about which command allows you to look up and down with your mouse.

What is QuakeOn?
QuakeOn is a 32-bit (Windows 95 or NT) front end for Quake.  QuakeOn allows you to define an entire "game" of Quake, from the type of game ("patch" or "mod") that you’ll be using, to the level you wish to start in, to all the various mundane settings required to customize Quake to your desired preferences.  Once you have defined this game (which I call a "QuakeSet"), QuakeOn will allow you to save it. In the future, if you want to play Quake with those same options, rather than doing all the work of repeating the commands, you can simply tell QuakeOn to start the game with those settings.   After you build your library of QuakeSets, you never need to worry about all of the commands again. Simply tell QuakeOn which game you want to play.

Among QuakeOn's many features are:

QuakeSets
Named groups of settings for launching Quake.

Launch Quake from the System Tray
When you need to play Quake RIGHT NOW, just right-click on QuakeOn's System Tray icon. You will get a popup menu listing the QuakeSets that you've created. Just select one, and you're playing Quake.

The Helping Head
"The Friendliest Chunk of Flesh on your Desktop" -- Uh... you should prob'ly just download it and see for yourself. It's kinda like the Office 97 Assistant... with an attitude. 

Great Map Support
QuakeOn will find all available maps for you, whether they are in PAK files, or stand-alone BSP files. It also gives you the name/message of the map (i.e., "<e3m4> Satan's Dark Delight"). 

Patch Explorer
The Patch Explorer allows you to examine files in your patch directories. Get the details of your saved games, hear sounds, browse through pak files (extract files, too!). You can also create, edit, and view config and other text files. 

GLQuake Support
QuakeOn has full support for GLQuake. Easily turn on shadows, transparent water, and other cool GLQuake features. 

Console Help
Can't remember all those crazy console commands? Use console help to browse, search, and filter through the hundreds of powerful commands at your disposal.  

What is QTray?
QTray allows you to access your QuakeSets quickly and easily from the Windows System Tray (the little area on your Task Bar where the clock is).  QTray places the Quake logo (unless you specify otherwise) in the tray.  When you right-click the icon, QTray will present a menu containing all of your QuakeSets.  Simply select one, and you're playing Quake.  QTray was specifically designed to run all the time, and uses a minimum of system resources. 

So how much does this thing cost?
Nothin'. QuakeOn is completely free. If I charged you money for QuakeOn, then I'd have to ditch the name and the Head and other copyrighted stuff. And I like those things. Don't get me wrong - I want your money. And you're welcome to send me your money - just not for QuakeOn :)

Does QuakeOn support WinQuake/GLQuake/VQuake/etc...?
Yes. QuakeOn supports ALL incarnations of Quake. Just click the browse button next to the Quake Location Drop Down List. Then select the Quake you want to use for that particular QuakeSet (you can use different .exe's for different QuakeSets if you want to). The last five executables you've used will appear in the Quake Location Drop Down List...

Can I launch other programs from QuakeOn?
Yes. You can launch any program you want from QuakeOn (WorldCraft, qME, even your word processor). Simply set the Quake Location of your QuakeSet to be the program you want to launch. 

Your stupid installation program isn't working for me.   Now what?
I used the most popular install builder available to create the QuakeOn installation program. However, it doesn't seem to work for all users. If you're one of those users, check out the QuakeOn System Files section of the Files Page. This should give you all the info you need to manually install QuakeOn.

How do I get this @#$!% thing off my computer?
Oh yeah... like I'm gonna help you after you insult my program! Here are the directions (straight from the readme.txt):