Showing posts with label Linux. Show all posts

July 17, 2012

5 Blogs You Should Follow For Linux Gaming News And Information

As I published yesterday, there are a lot of games apparently heading to Linux's near future. In that article, I suggested a community maintained public central wiki or web presence to allow for a central place to help keep track of all the gaming goodness coming down from crowd-sourced funding development models as seen on Kickstarter.com and a few others.

While I am not aware of a central wiki / database / website like this as of today (and if there is such a thing please let me know) there are many good outlets out there that do report on Linux gaming. Here are 5 of them, in no particular order, that you can add to your RSS reader or otherwise follow to keep your finger on the pulse of what's happening in gaming on Linux in 2012 and beyond. All of these are worth checking out if you consider yourself a 'gamer', whether it be hardcore or casual.

1. Linux Game News

Website: http://www.linuxgamenews.com/
RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/tumblr/lgc
Mission: "Maintain the foundation of the Linux community and those supporting Linux Gaming through the distribution of up-to-date content."
Updates content: regularly

Notes: Has active social media presence and is updated very regularly. In addition to general Linux gaming news there is also a good balance with industry topics and opinion mixed in

2. LinuxGames.com

Website: http://www.linuxgames.com/
RSS: http://www.linuxgames.com/feed/
Mission:
Updates content: regularly

Notes: Has dedicated sub-domains that cover a variety of topics from emulators to older titles like Hexen. Digging deep into the site will show it's a bit dated, but the news from the news feed stays fresh

3. The Linux Game Tome

Website: http://happypenguin.org/news/
RSS: http://happypenguin.org/html/news.rdf
Mission:
Updates content: Sporadically

"The Linux Game Tome was started by Tessa Lau in 1995 when the phrase "Linux game" meant either sasteroids or xtetris. She culled the best games from sunsite's Linux games directories, scoured the net for classic X11 games, and put together a compendium of amusing ways to waste time. After two years of regular updates, the Tome started to sprout cobwebs as its creator lost interest in downloading the latest and greatest in Linux entertainment...<read full text here>

Notes: Those looking for the histories of games are in luck as the search capabilities let you search by newly added, newly updated, by title, etc. Also has an active forum that's not to be overlooked but easily could be by just looking at the landing page

4. LinuxGameCast

Website: http://linuxgamecast.com/
RSS: http://linuxgamecast.com/?feed=rss
Mission: ...The L.G.C. project aims to provide quality Linux game capture, news, reviews and whatever else we come up with. Don’t get me right, I love that others are doing Linux game capture! I’m just trying a different approach.
Updates content: regularly

Notes: Lots of updates and lots of gameplay video goodness all shot and discussed in a unique way. Very active and rich content from the author, Venn Stone that carries over into Google+. One of the best Linux gaming sites out there.

5. Linux Games Database

Website: http://www.lgdb.org
RSS: http://www.lgdb.org/rss.xml
Mission: "This is a Linux Game Database, primarily for native Linux games that are beyond the planing stage and have released more than tech demos, ether as source code or binary files. The information about a game is usually taken from the game site. The games are carefully categorized and represented with developer news screenshots and videos."
Updates content: regularly

Notes: News, tools, extensive forums, chat, reviews, videos, and screenshots. Yes, this one has them all. Currently has >1,000 games online!

I'm sure there are others out there as well that are not in this list. Don't look now, but the future of Linux gaming looks to be growing...

July 16, 2012

Another Sign Of The (Linux Gaming) Times - The Steam Client Cometh

More and more gaming news for Linux just keeps pouring in this week! Just a short post that over on Phoronix, they have pointed out that there is a new blog over at Valve Software.....entitled....get ready for it....are you ready? Ok. It's called "Valve Linux: A blog by the Valve Linux Team"! Yes, you read that right. The Valve Linux Team.

There's a lot of goodness to digest here but to keep from being redundant just go to the links above get the official blog post, as well as the Phoronix link to get their take on the post and some thoughts and implications as to what it all means. To Phoronix's credit they have followed this story for a very long time, so it's good to see them get the credit of being the first to float the idea out there, as well as to keep on the story and sticking by their words even in the midst of a lot of doubters. Good job, Michael.

The one thing I will note specific to the concerns of this blog and presumably our readers, however, is that the first (and perhaps only) supported Linux flavor for Valve is Ubuntu. That should mean that we as Kubuntu users (and you, if you are using a (K)Ubuntu-based derivative like Linux Mint KDE or Netrunner) will get a supported OS out of the gate. I use the word should because, as we saw with the Desura client for Linux, there were things about Desura that just do not play well with Kubuntu. The developers assumptions apparently were that everyone using a 'Buntu based system uses GTK. On our systems, many Desura linux games will simply not run due to missing libraries that are not present by default in Kubuntu. Let's hope there's nothing like this on the horizon for Valve.

All in all this is pretty big news. Big for Valve, and we must acknowledge that this is also very big for Canonical. And by extension, big for Kubuntu users. And having Steam on Linux will certainly push Linux more into the PC gaming limelight.

July 6, 2012

KDE Update: Dolphin's New Maintainer Speaks Out; Encourages New Contributor Involvement

As seen all over the Interwebs over the last week, Dolphin's maintainer stepped down for personal reasons. Before doing so he had, in true Open Source tradition, hand-picked his successor in the name of Dolphin contributor freininghaus. Recently, the new maintainer of KDE's premier file manager application spoke out for the first time via his blog and shared some thoughts and hopes for the future of the project. In summary, his blog post is a call for help and an open invitation for new contributors to get involved in helping shape the future of this very respected and heavily relied-upon core KDE application.

According to the post, the author remains committed to Dolphin's "stability and ease of use". He then goes on to describe his mid-term goals for Dolphin is to attract new developers. He cites the following reasons:

Any software project with a low bus number is in great danger.

I am the maintainer now, but that does not mean that the amount of time that I can spend on Dolphin development will suddenly increase. I will try to read all incoming bug reports (note that it can take a while until I look at a newly reported bug – even maintainers have a real life and go on holiday sometimes) and try to reproduce them, at least those that can be reproduced using my hardware and software setup. I will also try to fix a couple of bugs for each release. But I cannot implement any major new features if I have to do it all alone.

I do not like to work alone. I have always enjoyed discussions about code with Peter and other developers, and I quite like the idea that all commits should be reviewed. Obviously, discussing patches and review for everyone is only possible if the number of people who contribute to the project on a regular basis is greater than one.

He goes on to suggest that new contributors join a soon-to-be-organized Bugsquad team to triage and label existing Dolphin bugs. Other ways one can contribute would be bug triaging, user support over at the KDE Forums, and finally, help with translations.

In summary, the future of Dolphin is in our hands. If you have been looking for a way to get started contributing to KDE, here is a great opportunity!

December 29, 2011

"I'm Linux" Commercial Shows Linux Is Everywhere

It's always good to rally the troops once in a while. And maybe open a few eyes along the way to the fact that Linux is all of us, and by extension, everywhere. This entered our Twitter feed thanks to @2uselinux, and we thought we'd share with you.

Really, the Linux community should do more of this type of thing. Enjoy!

April 22, 2010

Linux Credit Card Offered Through The Linux Foundation

Now you can support Tux in a new way, and Linus Torvalds too. According to the article today over at The Linux Foundation, UMB Bank is offering the Visa cards to qualified applicants. The cards are offered initially to US residents, with more countries to follow. From the site:

As a nonprofit organization funded primarily by member dues, the Linux Foundation provides a variety of important services, not the least of which is supporting Linus Torvalds’ full-time work on the kernel. The Linux credit card allows anyone to contribute to the community by enabling the Foundation to sustain and expand upon its important work.

The card boasts no annual fee as well as a rewards program and 24-hour roadside assistance, among other premium services.

Interested? I know I am. Feel free to head over the The Linux Foundation's website and apply today. And if you use the plastic Tux let us know what you think of the card's merits via the comment section below.

Source: Linux Credit Card

December 17, 2009

Shuttleworth Stepping Down as Canonical Head, Silber New CEO in 2010

Today it was announced on Linux.com that Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth Stepping Down as Canonical Head. He will be replaced by current Canonical COO Jane Silber. As for now, we are told not to expect many changes as far as day-to-day activities go.

"We intend the transition to be a smooth one so in the immediate term it will be business as usual. Over the medium and long term we think this will better align the skills that each of us has and therefore there should be positive benefits for all who are involved in the Ubuntu and Canonical universes," wrote Silber

What are your thoughts on what this means for Kubuntu and Linux Mint? (And other offshoots of Ubuntu)? Were you surprised? I have to admit I was a little.

Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

source: Shuttleworth Stepping Down as Canonical Head, Silber New CEO in 2010

November 8, 2009

Why is Linux Better?

Some of the questions I get asked a lot, besides "What is this Linux thing anyways?" and "How do I install Linux in Windows?", are one of the following:

What makes Linux so special?

Why is Linux better than
Windows
this other operating system?

Manu Cornet has put up a website that pretty much sums it up nicely. I especially like the way the site is organized by topic, thus allowing the peruser of the page to easily pick the topic that jumps out at her first. The site also contains a few examples of who Linux may not be for (read: Hardcore Gamers). Thereby providing a relatively realistic picture of where the Linux Desktop is today. Well done

Even if you fall within the realm of one of the minority of people that Linux may not be well suited for, in this day and age of dual-boot systems and live cds there really is no good reason not to check out Linux Mint KDE today.

Why Linux is better

November 2, 2009

Pass That Bowl of Mint

Congratulations to Clem and the team over at Linux Mint. From the Monthly stats - October 2009 report published today, here are some interesting facts about Linux Mint that some of you may not be aware of:

Web Stats:

* Visits: 2,150,333 (+8%)
* Pageviews: 3,655,481 (+7%)
* Page impressions: 1,414,004
* Search queries: 4,817,791

Rankings:

* Distrowatch (popularity ranking): 1328 (3rd)
* Distrowatch (traffic share): 3.9% (2nd)

Ranking 3rd in Distrowatch is highly impressive, especially when you consider going against long-time stalwarts like OpenSuse, Mandriva, et al. The summary states:

* October 2009 was the (8th consecutive) best month ever since the creation of Linux Mint.
* The overall income is up 8%.
* Our user base is the second largest in the desktop Linux market.
* The community support has never been so big. 147 people gathered to send us more than $3,800! We also got a single donation of $461 from Einar Orn Eidsson (Iceland). This has never been so high.

Is it very invigorating to see that this project keeps getting more attention and the respect it deserves. It is also proof that, in time, quality will reward itself. And the attention, and people, will come.

Though there is more to do to continue to make using Linux the best experience it can be (read: wi-fi), excellent projects like Mint help ease that process, while at the same time providing many benefits over what can be found in a non-Open Source OS.

Stop by and give Linux Mint a spin. And be sure to say hi to the folks in the community.

October 30, 2009

Prevue Release of Kubuntu Netbook Remix

Some of you may have heard of Ubuntu Netbook Remix. What many of you may not be aware of is that there is, lurking in the shadows, it's slick Plasma-enabled brother - Kubuntu Netbook Remix. KNR is in a prevue stage at present, scheduled to be officially released with Kubuntu 10.04 next April. This is because, according to KDE Developer Marco Martin, KNR uses some KDE 4.4 Plasma technologies that are scheduled to be released at that time.

However, there is a working prevue version available for Intel i386 processors that you can download and try. This is encouraged for those of you brave "early adopter" type souls so as to flesh out any glaring bugs that may be present. According to the website, an ARM processor version will be forthcoming.

I'm pretty excited about this, as it is an important market for KDE and Kubuntu to be in. KNR will be an important part of re-emphasizing the fact the Linux in general, and KDE in particular, more than belong in the netbook space.

I have not heard if the team over at Linux Mint will be planning a Mint version of KNR. I would imagine, if someone steps up to take on what should be a relatively easy project, this would be a reality. A Mintified version of KNR would flat out be a beautiful thing to behold. I will post this question over on the Linux Mint KDE Forums and keep you all up to date if / when this becomes a reality. Of course you are welcome to come add your two cents as well!

Here is an early picture of KNR:

Come on, admit it now, it already looks better than what is unfortunately shipping on the vast majority of netbooks today - Windows XP. Taking into account that XP came out in 2001 - I would hope so. But still the layout looks very sharp. The 'activities' function of KDE4, one of the coolest things about KDE, will be an invaluable asset to KNR, simply because of the limited real estate on a netbook's 8" or 10" screen. Allowing the user to easily switch between activity views will bring welcome usability prowess to what could conceivably easily become a very cluttered mess due to the small displays that netbooks utilize.

I have not had an opportunity to try KNR, as I do not presently own a netbook (nor do I really intend to buy one. I like being mobile, but prefer my 14" laptop screen, thank you). If you have had occasion to try KNR, feel free to comment or send a link to your review.

The KNR project page, including download link, can be found here.

October 26, 2009

Intro (or, What the &#%* is this all about? )

Welcome dear

internet surfer person. This blog will be part of a series on tweaking Linux Mint KDE CE to run better, act better, or look better than from the default install. The tweaks, how-to's and opinions here are my own, and not necessarily those of the Linux Mint Team and /or developers.

This blog's goal goal is to help Linux Mint KDE CE users get more satisfaction from their computing experience (and, frankly, any KDE4 user). Additionally, it is to help spread the word about our beloved operating system of choice, thereby bringing new users to both KDE as the desktop of choice and Mint KDE CE as the operating system of choice. Genius plan, eh? As of today, the current version is 7, codenamed Gloria.

I would like to thank the whole Linux Mint Team, and Jamie "Boo" Birse in particular, for creating such an outstanding distribution. You can meet "Boo" and other great Linux Minters over on the Linux Mint Forums. I would also like to thank all of the developers and volunteers from around the world that help make and evolve KDE into both what it is, as well as what it will become in the future.

Now that you're good on all that, continue reading, and enjoy the computing bliss that comes from pairing the best desktop environment (KDE) and the best flavor of Linux out there (Linux Mint).

If you're here and you have no idea what KDE is, I would suggest starting here .

For a quick background on Linux Mint, head over to Distrowatch.com.

Linux Mint KDE CE can be found here.