Life without Windows or OS X

GNU/Linux is quite possibly the most important free software achievement since the original Space War, or, more recently, Emacs. It has developed into an operating system for business, education, and personal productivity. GNU/Linux is no longer only for UNIX wizards who sit for hours in front of a glowing console. Are you thinking about switching to Linux and want to learn how to use it? Have you been using GNU/Linux for some time and want to learn even more? This is the place for you.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Linux client for UT3

This week it was officially confirmed by Epic's Mark Rein that there will be a Linux client for UT3. Mark Rein is the VP of Epic Games as well as being their forum administrator. He had stated earlier this week: "We're a multi-platform company folks please come to grips with that. We like the PC. We like the 360. We like the PS3. We like the Macintosh. We like Linux. We will deliver UT3 for all of these platforms and it will rock on every one."




This is very good news for me. I am a big Unreal fan. I've always enjoyed the Unreal franchise , but this thing they call UT3 could quite possibly be one of the best games Epic has made. I one of those that went out and bought Unreal Anthology, which is a compilation pack containing Unreal Gold (which includes Unreal and its expansion pack), Unreal Tournament 99, Unreal II: The Awakening, and Unreal Tournament 2004. The package includes pre-patched and up-to-date versions for most of the included games. Cool huh? Believe t or not, UT99 still has an active but dwindling online community with a couple of thousand UT dedicated players online in multiplayer combat at any one time across approximately 1,000 servers located on almost every continent of the world.


My fav game mode in UT2004 is Invasion. Some would say that it is the closest game type to true co-operative play in 2004. All human players are on the same team, and that team must work to clear waves of (CPU) invading aliens. If you are killed, you sit out until your team defeats the current wave; all dead players re-spawn for the next wave.



On to Unreal Tournament 3

Unreal Tournament 3 is actually the fourth game in the Unreal Tournament series. The original Unreal Tournament is considered by Epic to be the first series. They were followed by UT2003 and UT2004, which Epic considers the second series. UT3 is part of a third generation. The previously known Assault and Onslaught modes are gone and will be replaced by some gametype called Unreal Warfare. I hear to Unreal Warfare will feature a style of gameplay similar to UT2004's Onslaught, while also having objective-based side missions like you have in Assault. Well I do love Assault thats one of the things I hated about UT2003, its lack of Assault game mode.


Publisher's Description:

"The Necris invasion has begun, and your clan was one of the first to be slaughtered. Head to the front lines and join this Epic battle to defend humanity while taking your revenge. Unreal Tournament 3 marks the return of the premiere tournament-style first-person shooter. Unreal Tournament 3 unleashes the full power of Unreal Engine 3, taking graphics, gameplay, and challenge to a whole new level. Players engage in intense and hyper-real battles with other human players online or against incredibly realistic Unreal artificial intelligence. Over two dozen weapons and vehicles have been upgraded and enhanced for maximum killing potential. Take on all comers in a variety of game modes including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, an all-new Warfare mode and more."


There is no officially announced release date for UT3. Epic has stated the game will be done when it is done


The engine will require DX9 graphics cards like the

ASUS N7600GS SILENT/HTD/256M GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card if you have an AGP motherboard or the ASUS EN7600GS SILENT/HTD/256M GeForce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card if you have an PCI Express x16 motherboard.

online $85.00-$100.00



Thursday, August 23, 2007

Cool GNU/Linux native programs part 3 of 3

Linux is expanding rapidly beyond its traditional base of enthusiasts, finding rising popularity as a server platform for corporations and desktops for home use. I have here the final list of 31 GNU/Linux native programs I fine very useful in a None Windows & Mac OSX world. I'm not saying their the most important, only that they or the most useful for me. Many of these programs come in deb. or rpm. installation packages. However many GNU systems have most of these free programs pre installed.


10. klik

klik provides an easy way to download and use software for most major distributions. Klik allows you to run applications from a single file (Like OSX application dirs), but its for linux.

9. CrossOver Linux (formerly known as CrossOver Office)

CodeWeavers' CrossOver Linux is a software framework that emulates the Microsoft Windows 98 , 2000 and XP application programming interfaces (APIs) on GNU/Linux. CodeWeavers Inc. CrossOver Linux supports, among other programs, Microsoft Office, Outlook, Visio, and Internet Explorer; Adobe Photoshop; Macromedia Dreamweaver; Intuit Quicken and QuickBooks; and Lotus Notes. This allows Windows programs to run on GNU/Linux without having to run a virtual instance, so it does not require a copy of Microsoft Windows CD/DVD rom, unlike virtual machines like innotek VirtualBox ,Win4lin, Parallels Workstation or VMware which do.


8. Pidgin (formerly known as Gaim)

Pidgin is an instant messaging program for Windows, Linux, BSD, and other Unixes. You can talk to your friends using AIM, ICQ, Jabber/XMPP, MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, IRC, Novell GroupWise Messenger, QQ, Lotus Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, and Zephyr.

7. Frozen Bubble

It is a fun arcade game. It lets you control a cannon and fire “frozen bubbles” to the ceiling. When 3 bubbles of the same color are touching, they fall down. Its a great starter game and comes with many distributions, because of its relatively small filesize.

6. CNR.com (Click N Run)

Users of CNR.com, will be able to safely and legally add support to their Linux desktop for things such as mp3, Windows Media, Quick Time, Java, Flash, ATI drivers, nVidia drivers, and so on. Both Debian and RPM distributions will be supported. With the CNR® Service you can install over 20,000 Linux software applications and packages directly from the CNR® Warehouse - all with just a single click. CNR.com will be rolling out support for current versions of the following distributions soon: Linspire 5.0, 5.1, 6.0. Freespire 1.0, 2.0 , Ubuntu 7.04 and Linux Mint 3.0 Cassandra. Later Debian, Fedora Core, and OpenSUSE.

5. OpenOffice.org 2.2

OpenOffice.org the product is a multi-platform office productivity suite. It includes the key desktop applications, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program, with a user interface and feature set similar to other office suites. Sophisticated and flexible, OpenOffice.org also works transparently with a variety of file formats, including those of Microsoft Office, and the vendor-neutral OpenDocument standard from OASIS.

4. K3b

K3B CD-Creator is a user-friendly CD burning software like Roxio's Easy CD Creator that enables users to create music CDs, data CDs, and much more.

3. Amarok

Is a music player for Gnu/Linux systems. Quick and simple drag and drop playlist creation, Automatic cover art download using, Amazon servicesFull lyrics download, K3b (CD-burning) integration,upport for your iPod, iRiver, PlaysForSure, NJB, and generic USB device with the all new media-browser.

2. Thunderbird 2

Thunderbird offers a variety of ways for you to organize and display your folders, whether by favorites, recently viewed or folders containing unread messages Thunderbird makes it even easier to integrate and use various Web mail accounts from one inbox. Gmail and .Mac users can access their accounts in Thunderbird by simply providing their user names and passwords. Thunderbird protects you from email scams which try to trick users into handing over personal and confidential information by indicating when a message is a potential phishing attempt.


1.Firefox

Firefox has built-in spell checking to keep you from making any mistakes in your blog posts and Web-based email. Firefox can actually suggest search terms for what you’re looking for. Just start typing into the Search bar, and a drop down list of suggestions will appear. (Works for Google, Yahoo! and Answers.com.) Firefox will not allow a Web site to download, install, or run programs on your computer without your explicit agreement.

End of Part III.

Part I. list 21-30

Part II. list 11-20

Monday, August 20, 2007

CNR.com

From intercitylinux

After hard work and a long wait, CNR.com is armed ready. For those who don't know. Back in January of 2007. Linspire Inc. announced it was revamping their CNR system to work with multiple Linux systems. This new, free service is meant to make it easy for users to both find and install desktop Linux applications.

We here at Inter-City Linux know that the GNU/Linux desktop since 2001 has made strong advances in usability and capabilities. However the difficulties of finding, installing, and updating software with each distribution (.deb v.s .rpm) requiring its own installation process has been one of the biggest complaints among desktop GNU/Linux users.

more here...

Windows has 'fewer flaws' than Linux

Form Vnunet

Microsoft data says Mac and Linux flaws dwarf Windows
Shaun Nichols in California, vnunet.com 20 Aug 2007


Data collected by a Microsoft security researcher suggests that the company had to patch far fewer software vulnerabilities than competing vendors in 2007.

A vulnerability report maintained by Jeff Jones, strategy director at Microsoft's Security Technology Unit, claimed that the firm's Windows XP, Vista and Server operating systems required patches for some 20-45 vulnerabilities each.
more here

Friday, August 17, 2007

Linux On Laptops

Deciding whether a particular laptop is a good candidate for installing GNU/Linux can involve a nightmare of details about hardware compatibility. yes hardware support for GNU/Linux has improved a lot since 2001. Today you can pick out any computer system and stand a strong chance of having it work out of the box.

If you want a hassle free time, look to System76 or even DELL for your laptop needs. System 76 & DELL provide the Ubuntu Linux operating system with all of their GNU/Linux machines. Ubuntu includes more than 16,000 pieces of software. Ubuntu covers every standard desktop application from internet access applications, email software, word processing and spreadsheet applications and of course several little games.

If you already have a laptop check out..tuxmobil.org which maintains lists of laptops, music players, cell phones, PCMCIA cards, and other mobile devices known to work. Hardware4Linux is a pretty good place to check out information laptops as well.

However if you just want your system to just work out of the box, then your time would be best spent looking at DELL, System76, Tuxedo, NextComputing , or madtux for pre-installed GNU/Linux Laptops.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

New Software Interface with 1-Click Installation Online

Software.opensuse.org got a completely new face which improves the downloading of the desired openSUSE distribution a lot. It comes with the new look and feel following www.opensuse.org.

Additionally we got a really easy-to-use software search and installation interface there as well. The search is part of the openSUSE Build Service, which allows features like limitation of search results to a given base distribution. This does work also for Fedora, Mandriva, Debian and Ubuntu distributions, beside the openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise distributions.

The interface provides also a very easy installation featuring the 1-Click Installation YaST module of Benjamin Weber.

more here...