In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Rick
<none@nomail.com>
wrote
on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:25:01 -0500
<9fOdnfXGw93wez3VnZ2dnUVZ_hydnZ2d@supernews.com>:
> On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:08:05 -0400, Moshe Goldfarb. wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:45:16 -0700 (PDT), cheley_bonstell88@live.com
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Well, I did my research Before I installed ubuntu:
>>>
>>> Optimized the hard drive,
>>> made sure I had enough room,
>>>
>>> put in the CD:
>>>
>>> said " yes" to install
>>>
>>> - And Here I am !
>>>
>>> Ubuntu is what I use almost exclusively
>>>
>>> I will probably never use a Microsoft OS again
>>>
>>> & good luck to yu !
>>
>> Until your accountant demands Quicken files.
>
> Does he want my business?
>
Google to the rescue:
http://www.linux.com/feature/49400
Apparently all of them can handle reading .QIF format. Writing,
I can't tell.
>> Until you decide to get\ into online stock trading.
>
> Can't be done with Linux? You sure?
>
Less clear here.
http://searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid39_gci968999,00.html
shows an interesting conversion story, which chronicles
a business's falling out of favor of VA Linux, and using
Penguin Computing instead. Not sure if that includes
an online user-visible trading client, though.
>
>> Until your kid comes home from school with
>> programs you can't run.
>
> Time to complain to the school board.
>
Or rejoice, if some of those programs are spyware or viruses. -)
>> Until your job hands you some CBT trainining
>> DVD's that you can't run.
>
> I guess they'll have to buy a Windows machine... or at least a Windows
> license.
>
>> Until you wish to look at the Olympics videos.
>
> USA Channel.
Or one of the methods in
http://newteevee.com/2008/08/05/pir...ative-ways-to-watch-the-olympic-games-online/
These are presumably of varying quality -- the outside
proxy I suspect is a bit overloaded, for example.
Personally, I'm not sure how much I care... -)
>
>> Until you wish to view BBC multimedia content.
>
> I don't live in the UK, so I don't deal with the player.
I like to watch the occasional video from news.bbc.co.uk.
Thus far, I've had no major issues, unlike the previous
version, which for reasons known only to the Supreme Deity
of Computing liked to pop up 3 windows of the same video,
if one's lucky.
It is now using a player embedded in Flash. One of
the more interesting (and most popular) is a story on
steam trains. Another one is regarding Russian's advance
into South Ossettia/west Georgia (depressing, that the
Americans think Russia is being nasty, and the Russians
want to protect the Ossetians from the nasty Georgians --
don't ask me). A third involves a church in Italy which
is .... inflated.
The Odd Box is one that might interest some -- among other
things, a 44 meter sandwich in Mexico, 20,000 Mohammed (the
name, that is) in one spot, GPS traces of ships, planes,
and taxies, a true fat cat [44 lbs of meow], a study on
yawning dogs (the short answer: yes, they do yawn if they
see us yawning), and a guy stuck in a log cabin who was
rescued sans trowsers (presumably, they were left in the
chimney, along with what was left of his dignity).
I suspect drinking was involved at some point this guy
doesn't sound like the sharpest tool in the shed.
All very smoothly played on my work Linux box. Not sure
if they'll play as well at home, because of bandwidth,
but oh well.
>
>> Until you try to upload maps/trips etc to your GPS.
>
> Garmin Linux based unit?
Presumably
http://www.garmin.com/
The girl is cute and freckly the FAQ, however, returned
no results on a query for Linux. Color me puzzled on
that one.
>
>> Until you decide to purchase something from
>> the iTunes store.
>
> Amazon.
>
>> Until you decide to upgrade firmware on various
>> PDA/Cell/GPS/iPod devices.
>
> Haven't tried my Palm TX, which is also my media player. My wireless
> router is up to date, finally.
>
>> Until you decide you want some real games other than Quake.
>
> There are real games that run on Liux systems, other that Quake.
Other than Quake and Doom, though there's probably an
awful lot of modified Quake engines out there.
The ones that come to mind:
- Quake IV -- yes, there's a Linux variant I had it
running on my Athlon system (which has better graphics
capability than my nx9010). The story line is a bit
silly (and the Strogg auto-hospital is rather gruesome),
but reasonably playable. The original did not come with
AI for multiplayer but by now patches are probably available.
- Eternal Lands has a Linux client there are hints
Second Life has one as well. EL now includes bows
and arrows, plus lots of monsters, potions, essences,
weapons, armors, and clothing. Skills include everything
from alchemy to tailoring. Invasions and arenas are
very popular. Watch out for land mines in certain maps.
- Nexuiz is popular for those into deadly multiplayer
shoot-em-ups it may not be that realistic but who the
heck cares? Select from nine weapons (laser, shotgun,
machine gun, mortar, electro [it shoots dangerous little
blue balls], crylink [it shoots dangerous little shards],
Nex [sniper laser weapon], Hagar [a nasty beast that
throws out bomblets], and a rocket launcher with remotely
detonable warheads [just press the right mouse button
and kaboom]), pick up the ammo, and one's ready to kick
[censored]. Includes AI uses heavily modified Quake
I engine. Multiplayer capabilities include automatically
downloadable map packs and a fair number of servers.
- Doom III Demo, which suggests Doom III can also run
on Linux. This is rather graphics intensive for my
equipment, but does work (though Gentoo has it tagged
for a security breach).
- Yes, various Doom, Heretic, and Hexen engines.
There's even a FreeDoom out there which runs
on FreeDOS.
- UT2004 has a Linux client. I have no idea where the
new version went, though.
There is also
http://www.happypenguin.org/
which among other things includes the *very* odd entry
"Be The Wumpus" -- no graphics or even text, just sound.
If one remembers the original, it was staged in a
dodecahedral cave with bats and pits one had to shoot at
the wumpus with strange arrows. Apparently, this new entry
inverts the concept you are now the Wumpus, an endangered
species, and presumably one has to dodge the hunters. Good luck,
I guess.
http://techgage.com/article/top_10_free_linux_games/
contains what it calls the Top 10, 100% free agmes:
KMahjongg (um, mahjongg, but well done)
America's Army (freeware shoot-em-up for US Army trainees,
based on Unreal engine)
Armagetron Advanced (Tron cycle clone -- pretty if basic)
Cube (now Sauerbraten -- brand new cubie-based game engine,
with some impressive if slightly simplistic graphics capabilities)
Pingus (sidescrolling penguin fun)
Neverball (ball-roller don't drop off).
Nexuiz (see above)
Enemy Territory (apparently a Return to Castle Wolfenstein derivative)
Frozen Bubble (which has now been cloned innumerable times in various
Flash games)
Battle for Wesnoth (fantasy turn-based hex wargame, with a large
number of capabilities).
This list looks a bit dated as it's from 2006.
http://icculus.org/lgfaq/gamelist.php
is a list of 373 games, modifications, or emulators.
http://games.linux.sk/index.php
has a list of 189 games.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Linux_games
has 261 games, including very venerable entries
such as XPilot (a simple 2D multiplayer scroller/shootemup
emphasizing physics over graphics) and XBill (which
pays homage -- sort of -- to Bill Gates, to the point
that one needs to kill his clones in order to stop his
plan to install Windows on all servers), Tux Racer (where
Tux demonstrates his ability to slide on his belly), and
SimCity, renamed Micropolis -- hmm, looks like Lincity has
some competition for my attention. *evil grin*
Interestingly, the code for Micropolis hints at using
Tcl internally this could lead to some weird hacks downstream.
And of course there's a large amount of Flash-based stuff,
some buggier than others but most of which are quite
playable.
So...um...what games are we missing specifically? The only
one coming to mind is Halo 3....
>
>> Until you decide to try MagicJack to save on phone
>> bills Until.......
>>
>> Would you like me to continue?
>>
>> Like you said " I will probably never use a Microsoft OS again"...
>>
>> Sure....
>> Many more like you have said the same thing. A week later they are back
>> to Windows or Mac.
>
> Oh, well.... too bad for them.
>
> But then... you don't want to say anyting positive abut Linux systems and
> OSS, do you?
>
Naaah. It would make him look bad. -)
--
#191,
ewill3@earthlink.net
"Woman? What woman?"
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