Raymond.CC Blog

Category: Linux

  • Setting up your Wireless in Linux – NDISWrapper • Raymond.CC

    I’ll be honest, in all my time in Linux and Windows, I’ve had a lot of hassles coming from my wireless card. That’s not to say that’s it’s a perfect flop or anything like that, I’ve just had what I feel is more then my fair share of issues with it. For example, when I got my present laptop home, the first thing I tried to do was access the wireless that we had at home, only to find out it couldn’t connect, let alone see any networks. We opened part of the laptop up and found one of the wires that was meant to be connected to the wireless card had come loose, and had effectively killed wireless connectivity for me that night.

    At the same time, running a Marvell chip on the wireless card is one of the worst things I’ve had to face, mostly due to the fact that it is rarely supported under Linux. In fact, I’m pretty sure I had it working in Linux for a grand total of a day, thanks to an update to NDISWrapper breaking it the following morning. My grudges aside, though, NDISWrapper is a highly powerful and the essential when you are installing your wireless card or wireless USB stick under Linux. With that being said, it is also very tricky too…

    so if your wireless card does not work after I show you how to work with NDISWrapper, I only tried to help, and am showing you exactly what I’ve learned.

    The first thing you have to do is install NDISWrapper, under Ubuntu, it is a simple

    sudo apt-get install ndiswrapper

    but under Salix, you must install the front end for NDISWrapper as well. So if you’re in Salix, you have to run

    su
    slapt-get -i ndiswrapper
    slapt-get -i ndisgtk

    Once it has finished installing, if you open it up under your System menu, you should see something like so

    This is how the NDISWrapper interface looks like, or at least the GTK version. From here, it’s a little simplistic my instructions, and it shouldn’t be that different for each card. Hit the ‘Install New Driver’ and point it to the Windows XP or 2000′s driver, in .INF format. If you do not have your driver’s .INF file, try installing the software for your wireless driver does give you in Wine, before going into your /home/username/.wine/program_files directory.

    The worst part about NDISWrapper is that it’s not assured that it’s going to work with everyone. Check with the forum of the OS you use, the official documentation, Google, or even our forum to see if we can find you a solution. It might not be supported, but I know I’ll certainly try helping out anyone who needs help setting up their wireless.

    Didn’t find what you want? The links below could help:

  • Windows and Linux, the same, only different • Raymond.CC

    As a user of Linux and of Windows, I feel that I should explain a bit more about them and how both are very powerful operating systems in the right light. This is not to put down Macintosh, but seeing as I’ve never owned one, nor plan to, I don’t plan on including it. This is also meant to help people decide between the operating systems that heard me naming them off.

    Let me start by saying my personal favourite operating systems are the ones where you could tweak and modify it to as far or as little as you may wish. To a lot of people, that’s a very daunting task to modify an operating system, but the truth of the matter is, it can be very easy if you don’t feel there’s much to add. Many people find that Windows’ standard way of working is the normal way: a taskbar on the bottom, a button on the left to run a single menu that can be adapted to many things, and a showing of all the active tasks in the bottom left. For me, that’s rather bland, and have adapted a beta shell to control my Windows 7 laptop. Under my desktop, on the other hand, I’ve customized very little, because for me, Linux has very little I want to change, even though it can be modified all over.

    Under Linux, it’s not majorly different from what most people are used to with Windows. You can still click around, you can still explore the world of the internet, you still have your taskbar, your active tasks in your traybar, you still have your menu bars and everything. However, Linux differs greatly on the commands used to do things, as well as it’s background and it’s future. GNU/Linux, as it should actually be called (since Linux is the kernel and GNU is the kernel-less operating system), was founded as a community project, much unlike Microsoft and is one of the few operating system built by, supported by, and enjoyed by a community. Windows, on the other hand, was made by a corporation, for everyone, and supported by many. But they both have a lot that you can look at for support. I’m just going to cover the basics on this comparison, and if you’d like to know anything more, you are free to sign up to the forum here and ask me any questions, or post anything you’d like to know on this blog.

    Linux, for anyone used to Windows, is quite different from it in how the underlying system works. Instead of programs whom hog resources and that can’t seem to play fair, are forced to share resources. If you have used Windows Vista, you know how bad this seems, to have each process using it’s own share, without sharing the resources. It’s a memory hog, and because of this, the operating system feels slower and sluggish, just because it is running several instances of a single program. This also can lead to system instability because with all the processes running at once, it doesn’t take long for one of them have a memory leak and easily take up more RAM and CPU cycles then expected. Those that have used Firefox and Flash… they can agree with this easily. In Linux, processes are forced to co-operate and share the resources, making the system lighter and more stable. I’m pretty sure a lot of people, if using even Xubuntu for the first time off the LiveCD might be shocked to see how much lighter it is then their Windows operating system!

    But the major truth of the matter, with Linux, is that it stops what I was talking about before, the SAS/SUS that causes us to be infected. With Linux, we have a User/Root based system, or in the case of Ubuntu and it’s clones, a User/SuperUser mode. It is designed, unlike Windows and Macintosh, to have liberal use of the keyboard, though these days, a lot more can be resolved by the mouse then when I first started with Linux, three years ago. If you’re just starting out with Linux, you have a lot of choices to make. Which is why, if you’re in that position, I would recommend looking at DistroWatch and choosing not on looks but by the amount of support given on their official forums, and if it suits your needs. If you just want a generic recommendation, Xubuntu is what I would recommend. It is lightweight, based on Ubuntu (and supported by Canonical as well). If you really can’t be bothered to learn and demand everything to be installed on your first go, then Linux Mint is your best option… but be warned that if you do go with Linux Mint, you won’t be learning anywhere near as much. I hope this made a bit more sense then previous, and I’ll be posting more on Linux in the future, hopefully with pictures. If you need any exact help, feel free to ask away.

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  • Recovering the Lost Data from The Great Beyond – All OS Edition • Raymond.CC

    For those of us that read the Windows Recovery post and thought to ourselves, “Well, Paul, Windows is a no brainer, you can use this program, this program, plus the ones you named and then some”, you’d be right. Windows is an easier operating system, not because it’s been around longer but because it was designed from the ground up to appeal to the common consumer. If you chose Linux, then you’re a minority when it comes to the world of computers.

    This isn’t to say this is a bad thing. If we all used Windows 7, we’d all be infected with all the same loophole being unpatched, the same goes for any system really. However, with Linux, to recover important data, we must cross a bridge that many newbies fear: the use of your terminal emulator. So let’s start with the very basics that you’ll need before you can undertake file recovery in Linux. Keep in mind that my recommendation here will work with every operating system out there, not just Linux.

    I’m going to make this process as simple as possible, as it can be a very complex operation, however, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible. It means it’s harder then it’s Windows’ counterpart. Rather the install the programs on our official operating system, I’m going to provide a lesser known liveCD that I keep a copy in my CD toolkit that I take everywhere I can. The name of the CD is RIP Linux which is short for Recovery Is Possible, and it’s name covers exactly what we need it for: recovery of lost data and partitions. I have used it a grand total of three times, and while I’ve not used it very often, I can assure you, once your data is recovered, you won’t want to pay for a recovery system again.

    Once you download and burn RIP to a disk, you’ll reach the boot menu. If you’re using a 32 bit operating system or a 64 bit system, it is supported, and it has the option to start the graphical shell directly by selecting the “Boot Linux System to X!” option.

    Once there, RIP uses a OpenBox shell, which means you need to right click to open the menus. Once at the desktop, right click and open up XTerm. This will drop you into a terminal prompt. Once there, type in ‘photorec’ if you’re trying to recover file types, or ‘testdisk’ if you’re trying to recover a whole partition. Once into the program itself, it is insanely easy to understand. Select the disk you’re trying to recover data from (if you’re not sure, right click off of the XTerm, open PCManFM which is under Applications, then File Manager, then under the mnt folder, you can explore both of them).

    If you’re using a standard computer, Intel is what you should select, otherwise, it’s darned easy to select the right one.

    Once we’re past that, and it asks the partition that we are trying to recover data from, we can select the certain partition, or we can hit the “No Partition” selection. Once at this stage, we have to select where to recover to. Remember that MNT is the folder which houses the rest of our mounted drives and we can not recover data to a hard drive we are recovering from. Once you select a different spot to recover it to, hit Y, then let it recover all the data it can. As it recovers data, it will output it onto the screen for you to see, but whatever you do, do not attempt to do anything else, or you risk killing the data recovery.

    Overall, it seems to be a lot of work when compared to Windows based recovery programs, such as Recuva, but as powerful as Windows tools are, I’ve recovered more data that I had lost forever with RIP then any other tool ever, including Hiren’s Boot CD (which uses often times an older version of PhotoRec). If you’ve lost data, and you’ve tried Recuva and Roadkil’s RawCopy to no prevail, RIP might just be that one last tool to try before you give up.

    –RIP Linux (93mb)-


    Related posts:

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  • Increasing or Decreasing the Maximum Volume in Linux

    Many people have told me that the main reason that they do not use Linux is not because of the lack of games or the lack of commercial software, but mostly because they find the buggy at times. This is completely understandable to me and I nod my head and let them know that I am missing out some of my favourite applications under Linux as well and I’ve found my share of bugs which I have reported, but I still provide it as an option to myself to relax and lay back. This is because under Linux, I have faced far less bugs then I have with under Windows, especially Vista. In fact, my copy of Vista was completely unstable nightmare, even with the proper updated drivers for everything. Ever since I’ve gone to Windows 7, I’ve no longer had many issues with Windows… which I find very funny considering the fact that that’s when my issues with Linux started up, though none of them too serious compared to what I had to face in Vista. And today, I’m going to provide you with a solution to a problem that I know has been poorly documented in most official documentation I’ve read: how to adjust the maximum volume settings.

    Unlike Ubuntu and the other Linux distros lead you to believe, they often tend to run quite quiet compared to the Windows operating systems on the same computer, and while this is not a bug by any stretch of the imagination, I’m still not sure the exact reason why they have it turned down. Perhaps penguins have sensitive ears or the developers simply do not see a point to having the volume so loud to begin with. However, I can assure you, there are two easy ways to resolve it, depending on how you’d like to use your operating system.

    If you’d like the easy route that I can assure you works with 99.9% of the Linux systems out there, open up your terminal and type

    alsamixer

    which should drop you like something below.

    Once alsamixer opens, just use your arrow keys to adjust the volume of each one, and if any are shown with ‘MM‘, simply hit the M button on your keyboard to unmute it. I’ve personally never had this fail on me yet on any Linux distro.

    If you’d rather do this the graphical way, it’s not that much different. Open up your mixer settings and hit the Select Controls button, checking off everything, then modifying the sliders with your mouse. If for any reason, it say it is muted, just simply hit the button to unmute it.

    While this isn’t a hard thing to find out yourself, this should stop people from asking me how they can turn up the volume or why Ubuntu is so quiet compared to Windows. I’ve had several people the past few days who have emailed me just to ask this question, I just find it rather odd that it’s one of the most popular “problem” faced, at 50,500 results via Google alone.

    Related posts:

  • Helpful Sites to Help You Run That One App You Need For Linux
  • Setting up your Wireless in Linux – NDISWrapper
  • Fix Low Volume When Playing DVD Movies
  • Windows and Linux, the same, only different
  • Changing or Spoofing Hard Disk Hardware Serial Number and Volume ID

  • Salix 13.02 Review – The Slackware Distro that breaks the mold

    For all my time in Linux, I’ve stuck to three major major distributions, namely Xubuntu/Ubuntu from 8.04 to 10.04, as well as Puppy Linux 3.51 to 5.00, and Mandriva since their 2009.1 release. While by no means are these perfect operating systems, but they are standards in which many people hold others to. For example, in the world of Debian derivatives, Ubuntu, at least according to Distrowatch, is the single most popular Debian and Linux distribution used by people all over the world. Which is completely understandable when you look at Puppy, Mint, PC/OS, and other derivatives of Ubuntu. This is not to say that this is a good thing, or a bad thing. I’m one of those that used to love it just as much as the next person.

    However, I will be honest: I am no expert in Linux. No one is or can be. You can know a lot about an OS, but you can never know it all. Which is why I’ve jumped around a lot in terms of distros. If you name one, chances are good I’ve heard of it, tried it, used it for a few minutes, then got rid of it. And that would be because of the fact that there’s a lot of distros out there that try to copy the successes of others, and so crash and burn because they are a poor copy. Fedora would be my example of choice, only because of how it tries to be the perfect desktop OS in RPM format when if asked personally, I would chose Mandriva for this roll.

    So it’s with this kind of bias, I was hesitating on Salix, which proclaims to be a ‘simple, fast, and easy to use Slackware’ distro. Slackware itself is not known for being the most user friendly, so it is understandable that someone could pass it over as a broad faced lie. Especially because I had tried Zenwalk a while back and it was nowhere near what I had hoped in a Linux distro. But at the time of writing this, my ATI 2400 HD video card broke under Ubuntu and compiling the driver from source as I showed as well as installing the default restricted driver didn’t work either. So rather then go out of my way to switch back to the OEM Windows XP that came on a disk, I decided to actually give Salix the honest time of day and tried installing it. Let me just start by saying that it has been the best thing I have done for my desktop in a long time, and it revives my faith in Linux as an always advancing OS.

    Now, you might be wondering what is so amazing about this distribution to me. The fact that it fills it’s claims and is very light and fast on my desktop system. To let you know the hardware in it, it is a Gateway 706GH upgraded to 1.5 gigs of RAM and a ATI 2400 HD video card. While no where near a top of the line PC, I feel it is a better option to install Linux to an actual hard drive rather then use a VirtualBox to fully get a feel for the operating system.

    Let’s start with the bad things about Salix:

    Installing Salix is done completely via a text based installer. People new to computers might find this extremely difficult, but for those that have installed Windows XP or a different text based operating system, they will find it very easy. Seeing as this might turn a lot of people off of a distribution, I do find this as a completely unfair option for claiming to be so easy. But at the same time, since I’ve installed and used operating systems with worse ideals on how to install them, this is minor. At the same time, this is my only gripe too.

    The good things about Salix completely outweigh the one negative. During installing, you have three choices, a Full install which does one piece of software for each roll, including the XFCE desktop enviroment, a Basic install which gives you Firefox and Gslapt Package Manager and XFCE, and then a third option which is Core, which gives you a base-line text only system. For this review, I installed Basic. After a very prompt install (it took no more then 5 minutes), it asked me if I wanted to have the numberlock on or off at boot, to set up a root password, and to set up a main account. For those used to Ubuntu’s workings, you can always set the passwords to be the same… just don’t expect to log in as root if you’re using Basic or Full installs.

    Once installed and rebooted into the main system, the beauty of the system can seen once logging in. I have to be honest and say that Ubuntu’s bootscreen, by comparison, is completely bland. The background, which can also be seen on the main site is really quite nice. As well, while my ATI card did not work directly out of the box, their documentation covered how to compile and install the driver correctly as well as other useful suggestions for newbies to Linux.

    All in all, I’d have to give Salix an nine out of ten. Unlike Ubuntu in it’s current states, it is fast, it is light, it is modifiable to however much you wish. The documentation is concise and up to date with the present system. They have shortcuts on the desktop to where you can ask questions on the IRC channels, if the documentation doesn’t cover something or if the forums don’t reply quick enough. My only gripes are LILO (so long as it doesn’t error, you’re good), and the fact that it’s a text based installer. Even though it’s installer is amazingly simple, I can see some people complaining about it now about how Ubuntu’s graphical installer makes it all better.

    Overall, for the time I spend setting this up (less then half an hour) to get it fully working, manages to put even Ubuntu and Mint to shame. If you want a lightweight OS that can fly on moderate and high end hardware that also helps you learn, I can easily suggest Salix as a perfect distro for you. If you’re a Ubuntu user and you’re upset because I’m comparing the two… don’t worry, next week, I’ll be covering Ubuntu and point out what I like and what I dislike about it too.

    Related posts:

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  • Linux distro that’s similar to Windows XP
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  • Helpful Sites to Help You Run That One App You Need For Linux

    Under Windows, we’ve grown used to the same-stuff-different-day mantra, that to work with the computer, we have to use our favourite browser for browsing, that we’ll use Windows Media Player (for the most part, the most popular) for media playback, and Windows as the backbone of the shell. But for those use us that use Linux, it’s not like we’re all dropping into the same shell. (At least, I’m hoping for our own sakes as geeks and learners that we aren’t…)

    Yes we all have the same basic needs as a Windows user, but we certainly can tackle those needs a multitude of different ways. In terms of office programs, most of us run OpenOffice.org or KOffice. Some of us run IBM Symphony, while others cobble together with Abiword, Gnumeric, and an online Powerpoint replacement. But you see, there’s far more then that out there, and not I and not Raymond, and I’m pretty sure even if you (perish the thought) asked Richard Stallman, he wouldn’t be able to list them all off to you. And he’s considered one of the (god)fathers of modern Linux. I’ve been asked recently by a lot of people to help out in the finding of program to work in Linux, from iTunes to AutoCAD and MS Office. So I’ll share today what I have used in the past to help others. Keep in mind these sites will also recommend apps for Windows too, so this works for Windows users too!

    OSAlt.com

    OSAlt, shorthand for Operating Systems Alternatives, is one of the best sites in a long time and I highly recommend it as a first stop for your needs. They have a very complete list the last I checked, but I presently can’t say that now. They at present don’t include some of the newer projects on the market for Linux that I’ve seen on Lifehacker or on other sites that cover Linux. I’d still recommend it highly for the clean interface, and when you can just simply look up examples of apps on a whim on the side, it’s just one of those that stays in your mind for a while.

    Alternativesto.net

    Other then wishing for the fact they had bought the perfect domain name of Alternatives.to, there is nothing wrong with this site either. It covers the three major operating systems as well as offering website alternatives as well. So if you’re sick of looking at Google.com, for example, it can offer Bing and Yahoo as solutions as well. But it’s true strength lies in the voting system that they have on their site. As someone who loves looking up reviews before trying something out, it’s better then OSAlt in that I won’t need to go far to see what’s recommended by people. If you’re like me and need a review on everything before you try it, I suppose Alternativesto.net will be your favourite. Considering it’s got a flashy interface that surpasses the other two, you might just want to stick this one in your favourites for keeping.

    Linux App Finder

    While Linux App Finder is nowhere near as nice looking as OSAlt or Alternativesto.net, I was captivated right away by the use of Tux (the penguin, official logo of Linux) as a pirate. Now I know that seems odd to be captivated by something so trivial, but when you scroll down the side and look at the categories, you realize it’s suiting as you feel like you’re at a tad classier site then OSAlt. While it doesn’t list the comparative Windows application next to it when you’re looking though, it does give you a single sentence summery for a quick look, that can be expanded to a full review if you open up the next page.

    So there you have it. Hopefully there will be no questions on “what should I use to replace XYZ program?” anymore, but if you’d like a one-on-one answer, I’ll be more then willing to provide you with one as well. And if you just need one app working in your operating system that has no alternative, you could always run Wine and VirtualBox, but I’ll talk more about them later in a different article.

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  • Open Source Gaming – Week Two – Simulation Games

    So it’s another Sunday in the world, so today’s another day that I cover some more open source games. If you have any objections to this, by all means, that’s fine, but I just feel Sundays are the best day to kick back, relax, and if there’s never an objection, game to your hearts content.

    Since these games are open source and since there are found on many many sites, I can assure you, these are free games for all, and can be run on at least Windows and Linux. If you’d like to kick back and relax, try a few of the games out, I’m all for it. Working all the time with no breaks, that’s never fun to do. These “end of the week” posts are meant to help us lay back and relax while perhaps trying out a new game or two.

    LinCity-NG

    LinCity-NG is a remake of a remake. It is a remake of the LinCity game, which in itself is a remake of the SimCity games. It shares the same basic principals, that you are a mayor of a city and you are trying to make your city grow in size while making money at the same time. There has to be a balance of taxes and essential services, and try to protect yourself and your city from natural disasters. It’s a lot of work but some people find the SimCity series fun, so here’s your chance to play a remake that isn’t half bad.

    Simutrans

    Continuing the remakes as an open source project, Simutrans is the closest thing to Transport Tycoon since it is no longer being released or updated. You take control of a transportation company and basically are trying to make sure not to run it into the ground. It used to be a closed source game until recently, when it was released as Open Source software, but is still a very mature piece of gaming. Much like LinCity-NG, it’s a lot of work, but if you enjoy working for your games to play off, these two are prime examples.

    TuxRacer

    I’ll be honest, the last two games I find dry and boring myself, not much of a Sim fan. But for those of us that grew up playing Mario Kart on the SNES will love this. It’s pretty much a complete remake of MarioKart for the PC and supports all the zany add-ons and additions that made MarioKart so successful in the first place. It’s one of those that I play time and time again, I love it to death. If you need any more reason to install the game, it has a multiplayer option as well that can have you playing over the internet. If you ever see Tux speeding past you in one of those games… well, let’s just say it might be yours truly.

    SuperTux

    Last but certainly not least, I’m going to include SuperTux. For those of us that grew up with Mario, this game requires no introduction: it’s a perfect port for the PC. You’re trying to save your girlfriend, Penny, from the evil Nolok who stole Penny away from you. Aside from the fact it’s a perfect clone of Super Mario, I’d highly recommend it for all old school gamers and for those new to Mario. It’s hard, it’s frustrating, but when you finally get past a spot where you got stuck… there’s nothing sweeter.

    Finally, to finish this post off, I’d just like to say that presently, with two days left, there’s a cross-platform sell-off by developers of some independent games. It’s called “The Humble Indie Bundle” and the causes are just: you’re donating to the EFF and Child’s Play, as well as supporting some of the best indie developers out there. I’m hoping to donate a little bit myself directly to the charities, but you may split it however you wish and pay however much you wish (so long as it’s over a penny). All the games work for Mac, Windows, and Linux, so you won’t have to worry about games for a while. Now, if you’ll excuse me… it’s time to stir up some dust!

  • Open Source Gaming – Week One – First Person Shooters

    The most common thing most people will miss the most when switching from a Windows operating system to a Linux one is the games and the amount of malware that can run on their computer. Well, I seriously doubt they’re going to miss the malware, but there are common misconceptions about Linux, that is for sure. For one, the need for an anti-malware or anti-virus, because Windows is so widely used and infected. The truth with Linux is that being open source makes it a powerful asset in removing powerful malware off a Windows computer, as well as being immune to the malware itself. But there is admittedly less firewalls, which isn’t so much a bad thing when you realize that that allows for better support of the current firewalls and strengthening of them.

    No, the most common complaint of most people I know of that have made the switch fully from Windows to Linux is the lack of games. And while I do admit, there is a huge lack of games when you compare it to Windows, that’s not to say that there is none at all. So I feel it should be my duty for every Saturday for the next few weeks to cover some free games for the Linux based operating systems. To those using Windows, chances are good the games I’m naming have been ported to your platform as well, so this also works out for the Windows users. Please keep in mind that each game has it’s own site linked, so you can check out the system requirements. So let’s begin.

    – Sauerbraten –

    Cube 2 Logo

    If you’ve never tried Sauerbraten under Windows or Linux, let me just say this: you’re missing out on one of the best first person shooters that was ever created. Sauerbraten itself has no official story line but has lots of shooting action for any fan of first person shooters. It’s varied weapons interact with each other perfectly as they would in real life, the machine/chain gun is perfect for automatic take downs but is inaccurate if sprayed, the sniper is great for a long distance shot but useless up close, the shotgun is the reverse, being only useful close up but useless at a far distance, with the pistol being a nice mid-ranged weapon and the rockets being a “blast” (pardon the pun). The monsters are also varied, ranging from Bauul who you will be cursing every time you see one, with their 500 HP and their rockets able to do upwards of 50 points of damage with each blast, to the HellPig whom you’ll simply laugh at as it’s weak 50 HP and 12 points of damage don’t seem that bad when you’re running from that Bauul…

    Any way you cut it, Sauerbraten is a rather amazing game, with both single and multiplayer options and a free download for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.

    – OpenArena –

    OpenArena, while lacking the finesse of Quake 3 Arena, which it’s based off of for gameplay, still has it’s strengths. For one, it’s a free game. For another, it’s like playing Quake Arena. And for a third thing… it still is very actively played online and offline. There is a campaign mode which while can be dead simple on the easiest modes, can work you into quite the sweat in the harder levels. Then if that weren’t enough, the multiplayer faction is quite an unusual way of working, with new maps available only to be played online. If you ever see someone fragging you with the name of HellNoire666 under OpenArena, chances are good that’s yours truly. Just remember one tip while rocket jumping… always look before you leap.

    OpenArena does have some small flaws, but the solid gameplay makes up for it. It is both single and multiplayer friendly, and works with Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.

    – Urban Terror –

    Urban Terror’s graphics might look even more dated then Sauerbraten and OpenArena, but don’t let the graphics fool you: Urban Terror is a great game. It’s a somewhat more realistic version of Counter Strike 1.6, in that you can run and jump, but unlike Counter Strike or any other FPS that I know of, these take away from your stamina, as does being shot by bullets. And if you aren’t careful, you can also bleed to death from your wounds! While these might sound like bad things, I personally believe it adds a unique gameplay element to the already worn thin FPS genre. While I don’t play it the most often, it’s still certainly worthy of a look if you’re looking for something to be like Counter Strike in a sense. And at the same time, the unique elements certainly will add a challenge to anyone who’s great at Counter Strike or any other first person shooter. Oh, and did I remember to mention you can wall jump and slide?

    Urban Terror is multiplayer only and works with Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.

    I’ll be writing up on more games next week, I just felt that since Sunday is considered a rest day for many people, it would be the best day to post up on games for all the operating systems that I know of. Remember, less then 24 hours left for WinPatrol, so if you’d like the chance to win it, it’s still open!

  • Open Source Gaming – Week Four – Strategy Games

    And so ends a long week that I know for one, didn’t plan for it to be so long. Tomorrow at around this time, I know I’ll be pulling up a seat and watching a re-run of tonight’s episode of Doctor Who, as I relax and smile, and wish you all well. Like I always do, week in and week out. It’s been brought to my attention by Raymond that this also marks my one month writing period, along side him. I’ll be honest, it has been a tough first month, trying to decide what to write for you all, but I feel that what I’ve written, while unusual considering the norm for the blog, is nothing completely unorthodox.

    So with great pleasure, I would like to introduce this week’s strategy games. Keep in mind that two of them are real time strategy and one is a turn-based, but all of them should work cross platform. And like always, there’s also the surprise at the end as well for Raymond.cc readers. So let’s begin.

    Bos Wars (63 mb)

    Bos Wars has to be one of the most interesting Real Time Strategies I have ever played… especially because the default AI is insanely difficult. For those of you last week that tried Bastet last week and swore that game up and down, this manages to make Bastet look doable. Yes, that’s right, it’s that complex. But for those of us used to the old Command and Conquer series, will love Bos Wars due to how similar the idea is. It manages to be one of the most challenging games I’ve played in a long time, but at the same time, one of the ones that I love to come back to, time and time again. Bos Wars works for Linux and Windows, and if you’re using Linux, chances are good your distribution will have a pre-compiled copy in it’s repos.

    Warzone 2100 (48 mb with no addons)

    If you were a gamer back in the days of Windows 98, there is a chance you have/had heard of Warzone 2100. It is an older game that used to be closed source in design and designed by Pumpkin Studios, published by Eidos Interactive. It was a classic game, along side Urban Assault (published by Microsoft Studios), that tried to revolutionize the real-time-strategy games with an extremely simplistic game GUI as well as allowing for fully customized units specialized as you see fit. But ever since 2004, the game has been open source due to the deconstruction of Pumpkin Studios. And since 2008, even the soundtrack has been turned into Open Source, so we have complete audio and video playback for anyone who wants to play this unique game. (For those that are wondering what made Urban Assault so unique, you could jump into a unit and take full control over it.) Warzone 2100, while by default is a small download, can be expanded into quite a large one with all the possible add-ons and makes for an extremely addictive game even to this very day. Unlike Bos Wars, the AI is not too hard and not too easy, and slowly but surely gets you hooked. An interesting thing to note is that there is also a Portable Apps version of this game as well!

    The Battle for Wesnoth (255.9MB)

    The Battle for Wesnoth is our final open source game for today, a turn based strategy game that was designed after what appears to be the King Arthur legends. It is a highly addictive game that has a complete tutorial to ease you into the game, several campaigns ranging from simple and easy to highly difficult and stumping, as well as a booming multiplayer. The default install also includes a map editor so you can create your own custom maps for Wesnoth without having to download any separate packages. And on top of working for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux, there is also an app for your iPhone if you own one! To say it’s a successful game would be understating what power Wesnoth has over the open source games!

    Finally, today’s surprise is a game modeled after the same idea of Bastet, to infuriate you. Perhaps you’ve heard of it, or played it on a friend’s insistence. But believe me when I say “I Want To Be The Guy” is one of the hardest games you will ever play. I pride myself on being a decent video gamer, but even I can’t beat this game. It’s 69 megabytes and is a complete game… but is also going to be one of those games where you tear your hair out screaming, “Why on Earth did I listen to Paul to play this game?” Thankfully, Linux and Mac users are safe from this game… but I believe it works under Wine, a program that is used to emulate parts of Windows under Linux and Macintosh. (Yes, I know, Wine Is Not an Emulator, but it still is one, you have to admit.) That’s all from me this week, I’ll be posting again on Tuesday.

    Links to older Open Source Gaming articles
    Week One – First Person Shooters
    Week Two – Simulation
    Week Three – Remakes of Classics

  • Restoring the Master Boot Record to your Windows OS

    To many of us, Linux is a hit and miss kind of deal. There are some of us who hate it with an undying passion and refuse to use it ever again after being stung once. I can understand how and why people would do such a thing, especially when I first started out with Linux, with Ubuntu 7.10, I decided that I immediately hated it, and would never use it again.

    The only problem is, to uninstall it, you can’t simply delete the operating system itself as I found out back then, and still forget sometimes even now. This is because your bootloader is often changed from the default Windows Bootloader to either GRUB (GRand Unified Bootloader) or LILO (LInux LOader) which overwrote your default bootloader. And unlike how some people think, you can’t add Linux to your Windows Bootloader very easily (I’ve heard it done only as rumours). Today, I’m going to show you how to restore your Windows Bootloader.


    To restore your bootloader, you need either a copy of the OS you’re trying to boot into, such as a Windows XP disk if you’re restoring XP, Windows 7 DVD if you’re restoring Windows 7, etc. You can also use one of the recovery disks, such as the Windows Vista Recovery Disk or Windows 7 Recovery Disk that have been passed around many times. For XP users though, there’s only Ultimate BootCD For Windows. The use of all them generally are the same more or less, that you boot into the CD, then switch into either the Recovery Console (Windows XP) or use the System Recovery Options Command Prompt (Windows Vista/7). Then comes the nitty gritty: typing the following codes into that command box.

    For Windows 7 and Vista, it’s:

    bootrec.exe /fixmbr

    For Windows XP, it’s

    fixmbr

    For those that would like an even easier way, there is a program by the name of MBRFix that looks promising, but I haven’t tried it, so I can’t offer any help with it. After fixing your Master Boot Loader so you can boot into Windows only, you can then delete the Linux partition via your Computer Management/Disk Management or via any third party partitioning tool you’d like.

  • Use Transmission as a Torrent Client via the Web

    Many people under Windows use uTorrent for downloading torrent files as it is one of the best clients in terms of features and functionality combined with it’s small size. And under Linux and Mac, at least at present, we don’t have uTorrent, though a Mac beta is currently in development and at times, uTorrent works under Wine. But the thing is, under Wine at least, uTorrent has had it’s own fair share of bugs I’ve encountered, such as it not starting or worse still, not able to install. While recently, a lot of the bugs have been ironed out, I’ll stick to Transmission for the time being, being a highly capable replacement for Linux. And today, I’m going to show you the only feature I missed when using uTorrent: the web interface.

    Don’t get me wrong when I say Transmission has a web interface by assuming that on uTorrent there is none. Many people don’t use it for reasons I’m not quite sure, but I know myself I would be quite unhappy without them, because it helps me download some Linux ISOs faster then even the high speed connections I get at school. And when I say they are high speed, they were clocked at around 20mbps the last I checked: speeds only most of us can dream of. But of course, there are some distros that encourage users to download the torrents rather then using the direct links, due to the fact that they can be faster and you don’t need to use a download manager for them. Such examples would be Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora. And as the case was pointed out on the forum, a torrent also offers stability when it comes to downloads. So how on Earth do we set up something so useful for us on the Linux machine?


    Transmission Web Interface

    Surprisingly enough, it’s not that hard. Open up the main client, then go to the Edit menu, then Preferences. Under the Web tab, simply check the Enable web client and set the port number to a safe port. I set mine to 9000, but that’s because I know nothing uses that, other good choices would be on anything above 1024 but below 49151, as not many programs use those ports. To prevent anyone else from accessing your now online Transmission client, you may also password protect it and even control which IPs can access your client, allowing for a wild card to be entered via an asterisk (*). All these options are simple to set as you can see below.

    Overall, the setting up of the web client for Transmission is extremely easy and this will be able to help you control your downloads a little more. Like I said, I’ve personally used this to ease the server load on a Linux distribution’s site and considering how easy it is to set up, I’d recommend it for any other torrent downloaders. The only thing is, if you’re using a router or modem, you will have to set up port forwarding on it to allow for you to access your client while you’re out and about. Other then that, there shouldn’t be any problems whatsoever! I take no responsibility in what you download, so if you chose to break copyright law, that comes on your shoulders, not mine. And if you wish to use other features of Transmission, they have add-ons that are hosted on their main site. Happy downloading!

  • Installing via Terminal and Compiling Files from Source

    Installing files under Windows is simple: a double click on the file, then repeated hitting of the “next” button until you get to that license agreement, before you accept it. Once accepted, it does it’s thing, then hocus pocus, the job’s done and you can use that new application/game. But in Linux, I’m afraid life’s not that simple.

    While we do have the Ubuntu Software Center, the Add/Remove programs of Gnome, and other such applications to which we have a graphical shell, like everything in Windows, we can also run these programs from command line. And while I can’t tell you that this way is better (it can be helpful to troubleshoot when things go wrong), if you are forced one day to use a terminal, you can know what you’re doing without even confronting those manual pages. Plus, the honest truth is most times you are able to install something the same way if you use the terminal. Linux Mint, Xubuntu, Debian, FreeSpire… seeing as they’re all based on the same base, if you learn the terminal, you can install from all of them without knowing much about how they specialize in installing programs.


    If you’re looking to install something the easiest possible way, in Ubuntu and Debian based systems via a terminal prompt, the best and the easiest way is:

    sudo apt-get install ****

    where **** is the name of the package you are trying to install. If you would like it to automatically install without asking you for your approval for more packages, you may add the -y switch to the end. To refresh and update from the repositories you have installed (where the majority of your pre-compiled packages should/would come from), it’s just a simple

    sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y

    which will check the repositories for the newest versions and to automatically update you to the newest packages.

    However, I can assure you, there is a time and a place where you will one day have to compile your own program from source files. It’s not pretty, it’s not nice… but it works, and that’s what we’re aiming to do here, to give you a working program. I’m aware that this is going to make a few people antsy, so if you don’t feel up to doing it, you could always ask someone to make you a pre-compiled package, such as a deb file for Debian-based distributions, or an RPM for Red Hat based ones. However, the command line options to do a manual install aren’t that difficult.

    Quite simply, they are:

    ./configure
    (which checks to see if you have the dependencies to allow it to work, if not, you’ll have to manually install them)
    make
    (actually compiles the source code)
    sudo make install
    (actually installs the now compiled source code)
    clean install
    (cleans the temp files used to compile the source code)

    while you’re in the folder that has the source files. It’s just a simple CD (change directory) command to jump into the folder that you uncompressed your saved source file to. If you’re using Ubuntu and compiling files from source for the first time, you have to install the build-essentials, which are installed by an even simpler:

    sudo apt-get build-essential

    I’m aware this will be complex subject matter, which is why I suggest if you are a Linux user to save this information and to make sure it’s near you at all times. I’ve personally printed off a copy of the commands I have to use to compile, because while I don’t often have to compile from source. Keep in mind this will not work for everything, so when you download a package, make sure to read the ‘README’ or ‘INSTALL’ file, which should walk you though it step by step. Always follow the provided documentation first, if you can’t get it working from using that, then this is a secondary solution that should work for you fine.

    The nice thing about Debian and distros based off Debian, is ever since the introduction of Ubuntu and Linux Mint, there are more and more packages being written and compiled for them. This will lessen your chances of running across the need to compile files from source, but it will never fully eliminate the need to know this skill.

  • Bypass Hard Disk Encryption Software and Format Your PC

    There is more and more people concern about their system security, beside installing antivirus programs on their system, they want more stuff to ensure the system is secure, such as malware removal programs like Spybot, HijackThis or something such as hard drive encryption program which can protect your hard drive data using encryption method to create a secure safe box surrounding your hard drive. With this method of encryption, unauthorized user are not allow to access your system without access key, and they cannot even simply format your system by just inserting the OS installation CDs.

    Recently I am creating standard OS image for a company and I have to work with few demo units to perform the OS image creation. Unfortunately, one of the Table PC was installed with encryption software. The worst is, the customer forgot the administrator password for the encryption software and if I cannot do anything on this, we will need to replace the hard drive, after that will need to send the encrypted hard drive back to the manufacturer and perform a low level format on it… Definitely I do not want this happen and I tried to search online for solution.


    Apparently, I called Raymond for help, asking him what are the tools that available at Internet allow me to perform low level format on the hard drive, and also most importantly, the software should be able to intercept Master Boot Record (MBR), as the encryption software already modified the content inside the MBR, so that other people cannot simply insert an OS bootable disk to perform a wipe off on the hard drive.

    Well, there is software called – Darik’s Boot and Nuke, although the name sound very crazy and scary, but it is very useful when you want to perform ‘emergency data destruction’. This tool will wipe off the hard disks of most of the computers during system boot up, and it is easy to use. You guys can go to this website and download the tool from there. The website also provides additional instruction and information on how to use the tool to perform low level format on your hard drive. This is an Open Source solution, which not only available for Intel based system, it also can wipe off Mac system.

    To use this tool, just simply follow below steps:

      1. Download the .iso source, and then burn it into CD
      2. Insert the CD into your system, and allow your system boot using CD-ROM
      3. Wait for the Darik’s Boot and Nuke console to launch, type ‘autonuke’ command (Or you can press the F3 key for additional list of quick commands)
      4. Wait for the program to perform low level format on your hard drive, reboot your system after the format is complete.

    I tried this software and found that is useful, thanks for Raymond sharing this with me, and now I would like to take this opportunity to share with you guys. Hope you guys like it.

    Related posts:

  • Changing or Spoofing Hard Disk Hardware Serial Number and Volume ID
  • Wipe Your Hard Disk Before Lending or Giving Away
  • A FREE Hard Disk utility to Benchmark and Test your hard drive
  • Find Out What Program is Secretly Accessing Your Hard Disk Drive
  • Accelerate Hard Disk Drive to Speed Up File Transfer

  • Fedora 13 “Goddard” Review – Gnome Desktop

    Over the past two weeks, I’ve been playing around with Fedora, and trying to see what makes it tick, how can I break it, how can I fault it for being something I don’t want it to be. Unfair, I know, but that’s how most reviews these days try to aim to do, to slam a product for not being exactly what the person who reviewed it wanted. I received a lot of backlash by a certain individual for not taking advantage of virtual machines, but the truth of the matter is the operating systems I’ve tested are not supported by virtual machines. As well, it’s meant to be harder to install actual drivers and see how the program works under not ideal conditions, but in the worst conditions, to provide a fair review. So I scrapped the first test I did in on a real machine to install Fedora in a VM, then once I found out it was buggy that way, I installed it to my desktop computer. And while my desktop is by no means powerful or new, I did find some things out about Fedora and how it works. And believe me, it works well.

    Since this is the Fedora review, I’ll be covering the case against the virtual machines at the bottom of this article. But long story very short, Fedora has impressed me. Completely. I downloaded the Gnome Desktop edition because I have a slower internet speed, and because I had no DVDs to burn the DVD edition. That on top of the fact that GNOME with me is usually a hit or a miss at the best of times, I figured it would be worth a shot to see how Fedora might have made it their own. Booting off the liveCD and installing it was extremely easy as was installing it, much like installing Ubuntu on the ease of use. Nothing caught any problems and I certainly didn’t have any hiccups setting it up. After setup completed, the reboot to get into the main system was painless though also took a bit of time to do some auto-tuning. After that first little bit, I noticed it had gotten a lot of it set up correctly and was working extremely smoothly and quickly, the only problem being my ATI card but that’s because the current Xorg doesn’t work well with the ATI Radeon cards.


    Fedora 13′s Desktop [not mine, though I customized mine heavily so I couldn’t show mine]

    Setting up the restricted extras was rather unique though, because the documentation offered only the Fluendo MP3 plugin, which while free, getting the rest of them going isn’t so cheap. In this sense, it seems, if you are not using open formats before switching to Fedora, you will be forced to once in Fedora, as the wiki suggests paying for the closed formats. Ditto on the DVD playback.

    Turns out that restricted formats are in a third party repository, as reported in the comments. The wiki page I have linked to has been updated and now explains how to install all the restricted formats you’ll most likely need, such as MP3 and DVD playback. There is also EasyLife to install the restricted extras for you as well. So in the end there is a way to play your restricted codecs! Seeing as my music is in many formats, including the open OGG and FLAC formats, I persisted and found it to be a rather easy time to play the music. Unlike OpenSUSE, the music sounded nice and fair, and wasn’t grating on the ears. I found Fedora to be extremely responsive unlike Ubuntu on the same system, and was quickly impressed by the fact I could still get so much done, even without the codecs. Installing programs was a breeze using their Add/Remove software, which you can see below.


    It’s not everyday you get something this easy!

    I faced only one ‘serious’ bug during my time in Fedora, but only because I didn’t think about it. One of Fedora’s defining features is SELinux, which is a Security Enhancement for Linux, and I forgot to add an exception into the Firewall/SELinux to allow me to connect to it. Otherwise, Fedora was completely uneventful and great. I’d rate it about an eight and a half out of ten. I was rather impressed and if there was a better way then paying for the closed source codecs in the official documentation, I would have given it higher, however, seeing as Fedora tries to stick perfectly to the ideas of Open Source, it is completely understandable why they weren’t included. However, to many people that aren’t so lucky to have a varied library, they will no doubt be turned off by this factor. Ciao until tomorrow!

    Related posts:

  • OpenSUSE 11.2 Review – GNOME Desktop Environment
  • Download and Install Fedora Core 6 with Installation Screenshots
  • Salix 13.02 Review – The Slackware Distro that breaks the mold

  • Installing Sun Java in *buntu 10.04 Long Term Support

    I was asked two days ago on how to install Java in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, and to my surprise, it no longer installs with a simple sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jre like it did in versions 9.10 and 9.04.

    For those not in the know, Java is an application which is required for some games, such as MineCraft and Dust, some programs such as Project Wonderland and ThinkFree Office. And to make matter even worse…

    when you try looking for Sun Java in Synaptic, you quickly find out that it has completely vanished.

    So where has it gotten to? Well the answer to that lies in the release notes. For those that don’t want to bother reading them, I’ll tell you: they removed it to a partner repository. So to install it, you need to add the repo and download from there. If you follow the instructions I posted yesterday, you can add the repository which is:

    deb http://archive.canonical.com/ lucid partner

    Or if you’d rather run this all in one step, the adding and the installing of Sun Java, open the terminal and copy and paste this one line command:

    sudo add-apt-repository “deb http://archive.canonical.com/ lucid partner” && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install sun-java6-jdk -y

    This will add the repository, refresh the repos, and install Sun Java for you. Now, you might ask, what do they have in the repos instead that’s so bad that we have to go though all this? Well, the official repos that are installed by default have the IcedTea, or what’s more commonly known as the OpenJava. While it too, deserves it’s own right for being a decent Java clone, in this case, the non-Open Java does a better job. I’ve personally experienced lockups and freezes using OpenJava/IcedTea. If you wish to use it, go right ahead, that was why they included it by default, for those who want to use it.

    Related posts:

  • Adding New Repositories to your *Buntu based Distribition
  • Cleaning Up Old Java Installation Files in Windows
  • Updating Ubuntu Extremely Quickly, and why Ubuntu is taking so long to release
  • Installing via Terminal and Compiling Files from Source
  • Java Remote Desktop Controls Remote Computers Across Different Platforms