Hey, I was reading some articles on digg and found a good article on Office Suites for Linux systems. Tech Source from Bohol gives 5 good office suites you might want to try out. Take that Microsoft, we don’t need you’re overly expensive P.O.S. Microsoft Office Suite!
Hey, if you read my other blogs, you might have seen you could pick up CD keys for both Diablo II and it’s expansion pack for only $5! I found there are no problems running the game, but downloading and installing is proving to be more of a problem.
Currently, the best fix is to just download the games in Windows and copy the folder to your Linux machine, but I’m going to assume we don’t all have 10 computers sitting around and we need to create a method of downloading and installing all from Linux.
First and foremost, you have to install Wine and ies4linux. You can read this tutorial on how to install both on Ubuntu 8.04, which will work for other distros as well. Once that is all installed, go to the Blizzard store and download the Blizzard Downloader. When it asks if you want to save it or run it, make sure you click Run. Now you wait for the download to finish.
Once the download finishes, you can simply install the game. It will add a shortcut to the desktop and you can play Diablo II, but that isn’t good enough, we want the expansion pack as well. This gets a little more messy. First off, go to ~/.ies4linux/ie6/drive_c/Program Files/ and cut and paste the Diablo II folder to ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files/.
Next we must copy a few files from ~/.ies4linux/ie6/drive_c/windows/system32/. Copy mshtml*.* from that folder into ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32. Now we must configure wine. Either go into the terminal and type winecfg or if you are using Ubuntu like me, you can simply go to Applicatoins>Wine>Configure Wine. Go into the Libraries tab and type mshtml and press add. Now you’re ready to download and install Diablo 2: Lord or Destruction.
Simply follow the procedure before for downloading the installer. Once the download completes, you can quickly install the game and you are ready to go. Simply use the Diablo II Lord of Destruction shortcut on the desktop and it’s time to play!
Just like Windows, Ubuntu has an Update Manager. After connecting to the internet, Ubuntu will check for updates. You will see a Red Down Arrow in the top right corner when updates are available. You will notice the updates are for more then just securing the OS, it is to update the software as well!
All you have to do now is check off everything you want to upgrade. It will download anything you have checked and start installing the updates. I installed every update and it took about 20 minutes to download everything and just as long to install them.
It’s good to see that Ubuntu wants to keep it’s users safe by making sure all the software is up to date.
Alright, I just finished the install of Ubuntu 8.04. I’ve taken some notes to share my experience so you have an idea what to expect.
When you initially start the installation, you will go through a Installation Wizard which will take 7 steps (I only found 6, but I think I know where the missing step is).
- Your Language
- Your Location
- Keyboard Setup
- Hard Drive Partition Options
- Username, Password, and Computer Name
- Confirm Settings
Each part is pretty self explanitory. I will assume if you are reading this blog, your language will be English. Your location will help set the time. The keyboard settings are simply so you can type in your native language with your alphabet.
The Hard Drive Partition offers you 3 options: Installing to dual boot with Windows (or another distro of linux), a guided partition on the whole disk (recommended for beginngers), and a manual installation. I think this is where the missing step comes in. Linux likes to use a small piece of the disk partitioned as SWAP space, which is similar to RAM. It is recommended that your SWAP partition is twice the size as the amount of RAM you have (2GB of RAM means you need 4GB of SWAP).
Next you will enter a username and password (optional) to log into your new installation of Ubuntu. Ubuntu will also automatically name your computer for you, but you can always change it. This name is for networking.
Last but not least, it will show you a recap of everything you have selected and you will confirm your install. Once your click Confirm, it will take about 15 minutes to reformate, partition, install, and configure Ubuntu. When it is finished, you will be asked to restart your machine.
On my laptop, it took about 50 seconds to startup, which is about the same amount of time it took for Windows. This will very depending on your hardware, so keep that in mind. Now stay tuned as I work through all the kinks of moving to Linux from Windows!
Yet again I ran into a problem today with a LiveCD, this time with the Fedora 9 Live Media. The blasted thing hangs up while trying to boot. I’ve done some research on it and really couldn’t find any useful tips on how to fix it.
In fact, most people who have this problem just end up using an older version and say screw it to the new version, that sounds like a Windows sort of lifestyle if you ask me! I shouldn’t have to downgrade because the new software is crap and won’t load up right!
I guess at this point, I am going to have to go with Ubuntu 8.04 since it seems to have the most support for everything I wanted for my machine. I was frustrated with OpenSUSE 11.0 and don’t even really want to go near it again. MandrivaONE was pretty damn awesome. I really have no complaints there. The only reason why I’m staying away from it is because I wanted to move away from Windows and also I started running into some problems with media (mp3s, movies, blah blah blah) after my last post about it.
So it looks like it’s time to backup my system. I will be installing Ubuntu on my machine later today and will hopefully have it up and running. At that point, that’s when this blog will become fun. I plan on finding work arounds to make all my cool little gizmos and gadgets work with my computer. So stay tuned, this transition from Windows to Linux is really happening!
Alright folks, it’s time for me to run through my experience with the Live version of MandrivaONE. Upon putting the disk in the drive and restarting, the system asks me for my language, country and the time I want set. Now It’s all booted up and like all the other Live Distros I’ve tried this far, I was able to log into the wireless internet extremely easily.
There is a startup page which tells me all the cool new features in this 10th anniversary edition of Mandriva. They tell you that security is improved, you can pick your desktop environment (KDE or GNOME, plus others), and play with Elisa (get your minds out of the gutter guys!), their media center program.
Anyways, my first reaction is that it’s almost identical to Windows. I’m trying to get some screen shots to add to my page, but every method I use results in only a black image. When I figure out whats wrong I’ll be sure to update all my posts (present and past). In fact, if I wasn’t mistaken, I would say I was using Windows, with a bizarre theme and maybe a few extra widgets. I guess if I had to choose a distro that was most similar to Windows, this would be so far.
You can minimize the start bar by making it slide into the right of the screen if you click the arrow button the right part of the start bar. Otherwise, just like Windows, you can configure the bar to auto hide at the bottom (this can be delayed as well, very nice).
In essence this distro is a more customizable version of Windows. It’s simple enough that you can put it on your grandmother’s PC and she’ll still be able to play her online games, read her emails, and do whatever grandmas do on computers and it would still be a good fit for those who are more computer savvy since they can customize the system to work for them. Actually if I spent time listing everything this damn distro did, I wouldn’t stop typing until way into next week.
To make this post nice and short, this distro is a Windows clone. Just about everything screams Windows, the control panel even looks like the Windows version. It’s somewhat a breath of fresh air knowing there are Windows alternatives out there so people can transition easily into the world of Linux without feeling too overwhelmed. Definitely check this distro out if you have family members who might not take to Linux as easily as you!
Alright, it’s about time I got around to this. I was so excited to play around with it, yet it took me almost a week to get to. It took forever to download initially, then on top of that, the file I downloaded wouldn’t burn to a DVD (I tried twice, both times failed at the same time… argh). I ended up downloading the DVD again via HTTP instead of TORRENT… well there isn’t a live version with that, and finally, I downloaded the KDE LiveCD (They also offer GNOME).
Alright, first and foremost, I throw the LiveCD into my system and restart my computer (I was in Windows when I did this remember). It comes up with a menu asking me what I want to do. I can boot OpenSUSE 11.0 Live regularly or in safe mode. I can also do a few other things, like boot from the hard drive and change the resolution (what a bunch of jerks, they only offer 4:3 resolution and 2 sizes as well).
I boot up, it takes more then 5 minutes, but less then 10. It starts up and I’m greeted with a very Windows-esque user interface. A start menu at the bottom, icons on the desktop, a widgets thingy (I don’t know what else to call it) in the upper right corner. There is a quick launch bar and everything, it’s pretty much Windows Free Edition, so far a good way to transition those who are afraid to move into Linux too quickly.
Alright, time to get the good ol’ wireless working. I click on the icon in the bottom right corner. I have to set up my connection. At first it opens up a screen which should show all the wireless networks in the area… it shows nothing… ARGH. I type in the SSID manual and the WEP key. I go to connect, still nothing. This is getting to be garbage. I try it again, this time it auto-detects my home wireless connection at 80%… hmmmm My computer is in the same spot as it was before when I was using Ubuntu and Windows and I’m getting a connection that’s not as good… I don’t know what to think here. I put the WEP key in again and it connects quickly.
I open Firefox from the desktop (oh my, some translucent bubble comes up around the icon, more on that soon!) and it opens up Firefox 3.0 RC5 to the OpenSUSE homepage. Alright, we have internets! Everything looks find, but I still like the less blocky look on Windows.
Alright those buttle things around the desktop icons. Four tiny icons show up on the right side of the bubble. There is one that has 4 arrows pointing inwards, one with a semi-circle with an arrow tip on one end, a wrench and a red “X”. Alright this is pretty cool… the first icon lets you resize the icon… you can’t make the icons any smaller then the size they start as but you can make them grow to be the size of the who screen (giant SUSE lizards… scary!). The second lets you rotate the icon… I made all mine look like they were falling from the sky (it’s a useless feature unless you have no life… like me!). The wrench, that’s what you use to beat yourself in the head with when you run into a wall… oh wait, no, here is like editing the properties of an icon in Windows (they call it Icon Settings). Last but not least, the red “X” allows you to nuke the icon from your desktop. Easy enough, onward we go!
Lets play with Widgets… As I look through the widgets menu, I notice a red bar on some of them… I click it… OH MY GAWD, My start icon thingy just went away. I click to add it again, but now it looks like an icon on my desktop. Go back start menu, go back! I dragged the start menu back to the bar on the bottom… it looks like it went back, but the screen goes black and it just stops responding. Now I’m on another computer documenting my black screen and frustrations.
Alright, I do what any self-respecting frustrated person would do at this point, I press all the buttons… NOTHING. Alright, Ctrl + Alt + Del… I hope this work… Hey it works, but now I can logout, shut down or restart. I vote logout and see if it’ll work when I come back… Be Right Back… if this works, I’ll be back on my lappy!
Alright, well that kinda worked. I logged back in using root for both the username and the password… but now the settings have been all farked up. And to make matters worse, I can’t connect to my wireless network. It found it, it just doesn’t want to connect.
OpenSUSE, you lost my vote right now. I’m far to frustrated to continue this. I’ll go through Mandriva tomorrow and Fedora the next day. Maybe the day after that I’ll be cooled down enough to try this again… stupid widget-ized desktop!
So I finally got around to burning OpenSUSE to a DVD to play with it. Guess what, I can’t play with it because the DVD doesn’t include a live version. They do offer a LiveCD, but you’d figure they would offer that with the DVD edition too… I don’t know what they were thinking. I’m downloading the KDE LiveCD since I really haven’t used a KDE version of linux ever.
Oh and like I mentioned the other day, I downloaded Mandriva and Fedora and will be testing the live versions of those in the next couple of days. I’m hoping to have made my decision by the end of the week. After that, expect some good articles on how to turn that Windows dependence/addiction into a Linux addiction!
Hey everyone, OpenSUSE 11.0 has finally arrived and is available to the public. I am currently downloading it on my home computer and when I get home from the gym I’ll burn it to a disk. I’m not sure if the DVD has a live edition or not, I know they have a Live CD (700mb), but I’m hoping I don’t have to download that either.
I’ll be sure to give a quick run through with my experiences as soon as the iso is burned to a fresh disk. I might try one more distro before I make my final decision. I have some experience with Mandriva and want to try out Fedora (Red Hat) at least once. My brother has a Kubuntu disk lying around somewhere which I might try out to see the differences between that and Ubuntu.
Check back later tonight to see how OpenSUSE is treating me!
UPDATE: Seems as though torrents aren’t working so well to distribute this thing. After 2.5 hours, I’m still only 20% done (it’s a DVD mind you) but I’m only using about 1/6 of my total internet speed. I’ll have to wait until Saturday to play with it since I have to work from 7am-11pm tomorrow, ICK! I decided to download the latest version of Mandriva and Fedora though. I’ll run through those on Saturday as well since I can’t shut down my laptop while openSUSE is downloading.
Sorry for the lack up updates. I’ve been playing around with Ubuntu 8 Live over the past couple of days. I’ve been trying to get a few different things working, but haven’t found a solution worth posting yet.
Things I’ve been working on: getting rTorrent/libTorrent installed and working. I keep having some problems, but I’m unsure if it’s the Live version that is to blame. I’m also having some problems getting Azureus working on my machine as well. I might just restart the live boot to have another go, but I would hate losing all the progress I’ve made else where with things.
I’m also working on getting SynCE to be able to sync my Samsung Blackjack II (i617) with Ubuntu. Hopefully I can get that working in the next day or so. If I can’t get this working on any system, then I’ll have to dual boot or see if there is a method of using Wine to emulate a windows program to sync with my phone.
Expect another update tomorrow. I’ll be sure to “liveblog” my methods of getting torrents up and running on a better client and getting the syncing to work. After that, I’ll start work on allowing my Zune to connect up with Linux!