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Saturday, May 8, 2010



8 Best Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (MMORPG) for Linux

Posted: 07 May 2010 09:13 PM PDT

Massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a kind of computer role-playing games (RPG) that takes place in an online virtual world where a huge number of players interact with each other. Like in role-playing games, each player handles the role of a fictional character represented by an avatar and take control over many of that character's actions. MMORPG players utilizes a client to connect to a server that is typically run by the game publisher, which hosts the virtual world and stores or saves information about the player.

MMORPGs are really popular nowadays that they are played all over the world, and revenues are said to be more than US$1 billion a year since 2006. World of Warcraft (WoW) is currently the world's most-subscribed MMORPG but its client only runs on Windows and Mac OS X platforms. So if you are using Linux, you may have to rely on Wine to play the game (see 10 Best Windows Games That Can Be Played on Linux). However, if you want to play MMORPGs that are native on Linux, check out this list that I've compiled:

8 Best Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Games (MMORPG) for Linux (in no particular order):

RuneScape
RuneScape has been recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world's most popular free MMORPG by having more than 10 million active player accounts. It is a graphical browser game implemented on the client-side in Java, and incorporates 3D rendering. RuneScape takes place in the world of Gielinor, a medieval fantasy realm divided into several different kingdoms, regions, and cities. Players can travel throughout Gielinor on foot, through use of magical teleportation spells and devices, and via numerous other methods, such as charter ships. Each region offers different types of monsters, resources, and quests to challenge players.


Regnum Online
Regnum Online is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Argentina-based game development studio called NGD Studios. The game focuses on the conflict of 3 realms in which players take part, fighting against characters of opposing factions and capturing fortresses and castles aside from the usual player vs. monster combats in addition to usual character development present in other games of the genre. Currently, Regnum Online has more than 500,000 subscriptions and has received reviews in local newspapers, TV programs, and several game-related websites.


Wurm Online
Wurm Online is a Java-based fantasy MMORPG developed by OneTooFree AB. In the game, the player assumes the role of a peasant who can choose his playing style ranging from working alone to being part of a village. The core game-play involves wilderness survival, landscaping (terraforming) and crafting. Wurm Online offers the options of a PvP based game or a non-PvP game where you still have to survive the environment.


Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates
Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates is a massively multiplayer online game with mechanics driven by puzzles. The player takes the role of a pirate, adventuring on the high seas and pillaging money ("pieces of eight") from roaming enemy ships (human or computer-controlled). For example, to effectively sail a ship, players must play puzzle games representing work at the sails for speed, pumping bilge water to remove it from the ship, and carpentry to fix any damage the ship may take. Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates is developed by Three Rings Design.


A Tale in the Desert
A Tale in the Desert (ATITD) is a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) set in Ancient Egypt. Most notably, the central focus of the game is unlike most other MMORPGs: society rather than combat. In fact, this game is one of very few in the genre to boast no combat system whatsoever. Instead, the focus of the game is economic development. A Tale in the Desert has one of the most complex crafting systems in an MMO in existence. At its core, it is a tradeskill MMO. A Tale in the Desert is developed and published by eGenesis.


Dofus
Dofus is a Flash-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Ankama Games. It is primarily a Pay to Play game, though it still offers a limited amount of free content. Its success has led to the marketing of spin-off products, such as books, art and comics. It has also led to the development of two continuations: Dofus Arena, released at the beginning of 2006, which is an alternative "tournament" version of Dofus; and Wakfu, a continuation of Dofus, which is currently in the process of beta testing. The game has attracted over ten million players worldwide and is especially well known in France.


Tibia
Tibia is a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) created by CipSoft GmbH. It is one of the oldest MMORPGs and was considered most noteworthy in its early years. Its most unique aspect is being in a 2D environment, which is expected to contribute to the slow growth of the game as the gaming community rapidly shifted to 3D. Tibia is a free game that is open to the public, though players have the option to pay a fee in order to upgrade to a premium account, granting special in-game benefits, including additional areas to explore, access to vocation promotions, and extra spells.


WorldForge
WorldForge is a community of free game developers centered around developing software, music, art, code and content for free online games. The community is developing a flexible platform for online games, and a demo game Mason that runs on it. The WorldForge Project began in October 1998, under the original name of "Altima." It was originally envisioned to be an "Alternative to Ultima Online" and was mentioned in an article on the Slashdot news website, which became a major source of interested developers.



Do you play massively multiplayer online role-playing game on Linux? Share with us your favorite MMORPG via comment.

Thursday, May 6, 2010



Linux Under The Spotlight As We Prepare For A Chaos Bound National Elections

Posted: 05 May 2010 10:05 PM PDT

With less than a few days to go before the Philippines will hold its first ever fully automated national elections, it seems like we're in for a really bumpy ride. Serious, embarrassing, and idiotic technical glitches were discovered while testing the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines that will be used to count votes for the polls.

Smartmatic Corp., a Venezuelan-led multinational corporation that handles the automated election process (from design to deployment of equipments), blamed the problems on the machines' flash memory cards, which they said contained the wrong instructions. Perhaps they should change their name to Not-so-Smartmatic or Dumbmatic.

A total of 76,000 CF memory cards that were already deployed on different designated areas across the country have to be recalled and formatted. The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) said that the cards will be tested, and if fixed, will be delivered before the May 10 elections (God help us).

During the field-testing of several counting machines, it was uncovered that the votes were mistakenly counted in favor of the ruling party presidential candidate (intentional or not?). Other errors were also found while counting the local votes. So I guess there is something fishy about the "wrong instructions" excuse.

The PCOS blunder has resulted on a widespread call to postpone the elections since it's pretty obvious that everything is still a mess while time is running out. There's also a plea to go back to manual counting and just ditch the defective and questionable automated system. The trust has already been lost.

As for Linux being under the spotlight while we prepare for this chaos bound national polls, I saw this photo from the front page of the Philippines' leading newspaper:

The photo caption reads: "A Smartmatic worker inserts one of 76,000 CF cards recalled for glitches and formatted in its warehouse in Laguna." He is clearly using Ubuntu Linux so I wondered if the system used by Smartmatic Inc. is entirely based on Linux and other Free and Open Source software.

I once wished for an Open Source and Linux-based automated voting system in order to help minimize election fraud, but since our corrupt politicians will do whatever they can to cheat and win, I'm losing hope. Before I'll go, I would like to quote this comment from our reader:

"All electronic systems do is add another layer of potential fraud, which is harder to spot than before. Also it's far harder to identify who has committed the fraud than when paper votes are used. What's the point? Linux would do best to stay well clear - why get tarred with that brush eh?"

Please share with us your thoughts via comment.

[HowtoForge] Newsletter 05/06/2010

HowtoForge Newsletter 05/06/2010
================================

New HOWTOs:
===========

* The Perfect Desktop - Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx)
* The Perfect Server - Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu 10.04) [ISPConfig 2]
* How To Upgrade Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) To 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) (Desktop & Server)
* How To Integrate ClamAV Into PureFTPd For Virus Scanning On OpenSUSE 11.2
* How To Build A Standalone File Server With Nexenta 3.0 Beta2
* How To Compile rTorrent From SVN In Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx / Debian 5 Lenny With Coloured Interface

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The Perfect Desktop - Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx)
===============================================

This tutorial shows how you can set up an Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop, i.e. that has all the software that people need to do the things they do on their Windows desktops. The advantages are clear: you get a secure system without DRM restrictions that works even on old hardware, and the best thing is: all software comes free of charge.

You can find the document here:
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http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-ubuntu-10.04-lucid-lynx


The Perfect Server - Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu 10.04) [ISPConfig 2]
===================================================================

This tutorial shows how to set up an Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu 10.04) server that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters: Apache web server (SSL-capable), Postfix mail server with SMTP-AUTH and TLS, BIND DNS server, Proftpd FTP server, MySQL server, Courier POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc. In the end you should have a system that works reliably, and if you like you can install the free webhosting control panel ISPConfig 2 (i.e., ISPConfig runs on it out of the box).

You can find the document here:
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http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect-server-ubuntu-10.04-lucid-lynx-ispconfig-2


How To Upgrade Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) To 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) (Desktop & Server)
==================================================================================

Yesterday the new Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) was released. This guide shows how you can upgrade your Ubuntu 9.10 desktop and server installations to Ubuntu 10.04.

You can find the document here:
-------------------------------
http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-upgrade-ubuntu-9.10-karmic-koala-to-10.04-lucid-lynx-desktop-and-server


How To Integrate ClamAV Into PureFTPd For Virus Scanning On OpenSUSE 11.2
=========================================================================

This tutorial explains how you can integrate ClamAV into PureFTPd for virus scanning on an OpenSUSE 11.2 system. In the end, whenever a file gets uploaded through PureFTPd, ClamAV will check the file and delete it if it is malware.

You can find the document here:
-------------------------------
http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-integrate-clamav-into-pureftpd-for-virus-scanning-on-opensuse-11.2


How To Build A Standalone File Server With Nexenta 3.0 Beta2
============================================================

Nexenta is a project developing a debian user-land for the OpenSolaris kernel. This provides all of the advantages of apt as a package respoitory (based on the Ubuntu LTS apt repository, currently using 8.04) as well as the advantages of the ZFS filesystem. In the resulting setup every user can have his/her own home directory accessible via the SMB protocol or NFS with read-/write access.

You can find the document here:
-------------------------------
http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-build-a-standalone-file-server-with-nexenta-3.0-beta2


How To Compile rTorrent From SVN In Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx / Debian 5 Lenny With Coloured Interface
====================================================================================================

rTorrent is a popular command line based bittorrent client. It provides very powerful features yet it is very light on the system - contrary to other bittorrent clients like Vuze. There are a couple of webinterfaces for it but they are not truly need. SSH access combined with the "screen" program provide you all the tools you need. This howto works for Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx and for Debian 5 Lenny. The difference is that commands that contain sudo must be executed as root.

You can find the document here:
-------------------------------
http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-compile-rtorrent-from-svn-in-ubuntu-10.04-lucid-lynx-debian-5-lenny-with-coloured-interface


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You can now support HowtoForge by becoming a subscriber:

HowtoForge Subscription
=======================

For a monthly fee of 5 EUR or 25 EUR for half a year, you can become a HowtoForge supporter and help us cover our costs (servers, bandwidth, etc.) and support ISPConfig development. In return, you receive the following benefits:

1. Access the whole HowtoForge web site without any ads.
2. Download the results of our tutorials as VMware images (where available) (a list of downloadable VMware images is available here: http://www.howtoforge.com/list-of-downloadable-vmware-images).
3. Download our tutorials as PDF files.
4. View our tutorials as printer-friendly pages.
5. You will be marked as a "HowtoForge Supporter" in your forum posts.

If you have the free VMware Server or Player installed, you can import our VMware images and start playing around with the results of our tutorials immediately. It's a great way to track down problems with your own setup or simply to save time. ;-)

More details can be found on http://www.howtoforge.com/subscription.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Best Regards,

Your HowtoForge Team
Email: info@howtoforge.com
URL: http://www.howtoforge.com

To unsubscribe or update your records, click here: http://newsletter.howtoforge.com/howtoforge/user/update.php?email=matrixunix.ubuntu@blogger.com&code=d8531959c7da2982ec3a7f8f82a13961

Tuesday, May 4, 2010



A Database Admin/Music Enthusiast's Linux Workstation

Posted: 04 May 2010 05:31 AM PDT

The $100.00 (USD) Coolest Linux Workspace Contest continues with this entry from Brian, a database administrator (DBA) in a mostly Windows world by day, but off hours a musician/Linux geek. He says that he is also doing some freelance IT work and development for his wife's company, which gives him more of an opportunity to focus on Linux in a professional capacity.

Now, let's all check out his Linux workspace:


Owner's note: I've got a total of 4 physical machines here, including my laptop and a headless server running Proxmox VE. I'm using Synergy to control everything from a single keyboard/trackball.


My desktop is technically 2 PCs, plus a laptop. The left 2 LCDs are powered by a Phenom x4 965 running Ubuntu Studio Karmic x64. The right two LCDs (including the little one off to the right) are powered by an Athlon x2 5000+, running "regular" Ubuntu Karmic x64. The 14" monitor is used as either for TV or movies while I'm working. The laptop is a Panasonic Toughbook a fresh copy of Ubuntu Lucid 32bit beta 2.


The Headless Proxmox (based on Debian) machine is an Athlon II x4 with a whole bunch of various virtual machines, including a virtual NAS with about 6TB of raw storage for media, backups, and other things. Proxmox VE is a fantastic virtualization platform. It will run about everything you can throw at it and it's stupid easy from the administration side.


Most of the synth hardware was collected while I was a swinging bachelor, playing in bands. Now that I'm a family man, I enjoy the blinky lights and noises at home. My DAW these days is Reaper running through Wine.

Audio/Midi Gear:
Alesis Fusion 8HD
Oberheim OB-12
M-Audio Axiom 49 controller
Moog Micromoog
Access Virus module
Korg MS-2000BR
Korg TR-Rack
Darkstar XP-2 module
M-Audio Trigger Finger
M-Audio midisport 4x4
Behringer RX1602 Line mixer (for the synths)
Behringer UB2442fx Mixer
M-Audio Delta1010 audio card (plugged into the Phenom)



Thank you Brian and we wish you luck!

Monday, May 3, 2010



Weekly Ten (5-03-2010)

Posted: 03 May 2010 04:57 AM PDT

10 Latest News, Blogs, Tips, and Reviews that I find Interesting and Useful:


1. Hackers penetrate mid-level bank IT network
SNOsoft, a research team at at cyber-security specialists Netragard specializing in anti-hacking have penetrated a medium-level bank by ascertaining relevant information from popular social media websites.
More @ usfst.com

2. Chavez exhorts Fidel, Morales to Twitter
Delighted at his cyber success, Venezuela's new Twitter convert President Hugo Chavez on Thursday invited Cuba's Fidel Castro and Bolivian President Evo Morales to join the micro-blogging site too.
More @ YahooNews

3. Integrating virtual keyboards in Google search
You've spilled coffee on your keyboard. The a, e, i, o, u, and r keys have stopped working. Now try to search Google for the nearest computer repair shop. The pain of typing on this broken keyboard is similar to what many people searching in non-English languages feel when trying to type today. Typing searches on keyboards not designed for your languages can be frustrating, even impossible.
More @ Googleblog

4. Mindstorm Rubik's solver

More @ HackaDay

5. Boycott Apple. Boycott Everyone.
When Apple dispatched California's Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team to conduct a literal door-busting raid on Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's house to confiscate his computers and many other items, the general response should have been outrage. But what really happened?
More @ LinuxToday

6. HTML5 video in Internet Explorer 9: H.264 and H.264 alone
Microsoft has put its stake in the ground and committed to supporting H.264 in Internet Explorer 9. That the next browser version would support H.264 HTML5 video was no surprise (though the current Platform Preview doesn't include it, it was shown off at MIX10), but this is the first time that Microsoft has provided a rationale for its decision.
More @ ArsTechnica

7. Android users not upgrading their OS to the latest version
Unlike the rapidly deployed updates Apple posts for the iPhone OS through iTunes, Android users are unlikely (and often unable) to apply the latest updates to their phones, according to new information published by Google and its AdMob subsidiary.
More @ AppleInsider

8. Nintendo Wii goes ebony and ivory on May 9, includes Sports Resort and Motion Plus

More @ Engadget

9. The Perfect Server - Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu 10.04)
This tutorial shows how to set up an Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu 10.04) server that offers all services needed by ISPs and hosters: Apache web server (SSL-capable), Postfix mail server with SMTP-AUTH and TLS, BIND DNS server, Proftpd FTP server, MySQL server, Courier POP3/IMAP, Quota, Firewall, etc.
More @ HowtoForge

10. The Elements of Living Lightly
Today I'm going to suggest a small change in mindset that could change your life.
More @ ZenHabits

Saturday, May 1, 2010



Ubuntu 10.04: Upgrade or Clean Install?

Posted: 30 Apr 2010 10:50 PM PDT

Ubuntu 10.04: Upgrade or Clean Install? - The Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Long-Term Support) "Lucid Lynx" has been unleashed with fresh Mac-like look and a plethora of other exciting features.

For those of you who already have a previous version of Ubuntu installed on your workstation but still can't decide whether to upgrade or do a clean install, allow me to give you some tips (based on experience) to help you make a decision. But before that, here are some of the features that you will get from installing Ubuntu 10.04:

* Faster boot speed on almost any machine and extra-fast on SSD-based machines such as netbooks.

* Social networking support via the Me Menu with access to social networks such as Facebook, Digg, Twitter and Identi.ca. It also integrates chat channels so users can talk with friends or colleagues on Google Talk, MSN, IRC and nearly every network.

* Enhanced desktop integration of the Ubuntu One online service for easy saving and sharing of files and folders on the cloud.

* New Ubuntu One Music Store to purchase and share DRM-free music from one location across multiple computers and devices.

* Improved Ubuntu Software Centre to find new software, and keep track of it once it's installed in a new, sleeker interface.


Now, should you upgrade or do a clean install?

I've been installing and using Ubuntu on several machines already and I must say that the more convenient is doing the upgrade. In fact, my main workstation has been upgraded from Ubuntu 9.04 to 9.10 and now to 10.04. I've never encountered major problems whatsoever while upgrading so I'm looking forward to do it once more in the future.

For me, upgrading is less time consuming than doing a fresh install since I don't have to again download, install, and configure all the software that I need. After upgrading, my system is ready to use and I can go on with my work.

Ubuntu has been known to be really good or reliable at doing upgrades that you should not worry about breaking things up. As long as you back up your files everything will be fine. I have a few experiences of doing a fresh install that failed several times, but when I did the upgrade there were no hiccups.

Doing a clean install may offer a few advantages to some users, but if you are like me who already have a fully-loaded and smooth-running Ubuntu desktop, just go for the upgrade.

How about you? Do you prefer a clean install to doing an upgrade?