Do I want 32 bit or 64 bit?
This is a question I have fielded many times, it is one most new Linux users ask before they even download their first Linux ISO. There is a short answer and a long answer to this question. The short answer:
You want 32bit.
Ok - now for the long answer. There are several things to consider when deciding if you want to use 32 bit or 64 bit on your system.
Hardware Support:
Does your processor support the 64 bit architecture? Most all modern processors do, but this is something you should double check if you are unsure about your particular chip.
Applications:
While it is true that most all open source applications have both 32 bit and 64 bit installers, more than a few closed source applications do not. Adobe Flash is one of the most commonly used of these and another that I personally have had issues with is SMART Tech Software I use for school. Sure there are work arounds for some of these, but they are far from perfect.
RAM:
The main reason for choosing a 64 bit operating system on a desktop system is so you are able to utilize more than 4gb of RAM. Well, thanks to PAE your favorite Linux distribution can recognize up to 64gb of RAM with a 32 bit installation - which should be more than enough for most desktop users.
Speed:
Unless you are compiling software or encoding audio/video often there really is very little speed difference between the two operating architectures. Meaning that most people who just use the computer for everyday tasks such as webrowsing will not notice a difference between the two.
For the average desktop user the applications issue, especially with flash - something most of us use everyday, is the driving factor to use a 32 bit version of your Linux distro of choice. If you are using your system as more of a work station (compiling and decoding) then maybe the 64 bit version is a better selection for your needs.
Are there any other things you consider when making the choice between downloading a 32 bit or 64 bit version of a distro?
~Jeff Hoogland
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Thousands Play Starcraft 2 on Linux
I play Starcraft 2 on Linux and apparently I'm not the only one. At the end of last month I wrote a brief guide for getting Starcraft 2 working under Linux using Wine. In the last ten days that guide has gotten nearly nine thousand views and currently has ninety comments.
Now I've talked before about why I think there is a market for creating games for Linux and I think my above statistics only reinforce this idea. Don't believe me? Think about it this way - lets assume half of the people (4,500) who have checked out my guide have purchased the game and would prefer to play it on Linux. The game currently retails for 60$ USD.
4,500*60$ = 270,000$
That would be over a quarter of a million dollars from Linux gamers (in just over a week of the game's release). Are you telling me it would cost more than a quarter of a million dollars to bring a game, that can already run 100% using OpenGL, to the Linux operating system?
I doubt it.
I know more than a few Windows users who would drop the OS in a heart beat if they could play their Blizzard games under Linux and I know there are plenty of Linux users who would start buying Blizzard games if and only if they started creating native Linux installers.
So what do you say Blizzard? Comon - give us a native version of Starcraft 2 on Linux! It is 2010, people are using more than just Windows and OSX on their personal computers!~Jeff Hoogland
Thursday, August 5, 2010
HOWTO: Perfect Terran Proxy Build Order - Starcraft 2
Today we take a short break from our normal broadcasting to talk about a bit of gaming strategy.
In Starcraft 2 a "proxy" means you fore-go building in your own base and instead build your unit producing structures nearly on top of the opposing player. Timing is everything when using a proxy, so it is best used in maps where you know the starting location of your opponent(s). The following proxy build order is something I have been perfecting since the game was in beta and with the right amount of micromanagement I have found it rarely looses.
If you have never read a Starcraft build order before, the number before each listing is the number of SVCs you should have before building each object. In this particular build order the item listed in bold should be constructed in your starting base.
8 - Barracks
10 - Supply Depot
10 - Marine
10 - Barracks
10 - Marine
10 - Marine
12 - Bunker
The two key elements to any successful proxy are speed and micromanagement. As soon as the game starts, select five of your six starting SCVs and have them get to mining - the sixth SCV (your builder) should begin making his way to just outside the enemy's base. At the same time while all this is going on, get your first two additional SVCs building at the command center.
Most maps are large enough that by the time your builder SCV is outside the enemy's base you should have 150 minerals to get your first barracks building (if not wait a few moments). While that is building you should have time to build two more SCVs, followed up by a supply depot back in your home base.
As soon as your barracks finishes it should start producing marines - all of your barracks should be constantly producing marines until the match is over (which in a perfect world will be just a few more minutes). Now you have to wait around a few moments to gather resources, your first marine should finish and you should get your second training. Sometime between your first and second marine you should now have enough minerals to get your builder started on a second barracks. While he works on that make sure your first barracks continues to pump out marines and to ensure a steady cash flow once you get into combat you will want to produce two more SCVs as soon as you have the funds.
With 12 miners going you should have enough minerals to get a flow of marines building at your second barracks and throw down a bunker just outside their ramp. Right about the time you get your fifth marine your bunker should be finishing up - this is where the micromanagement begins. Take your group of five marines and attack forward into their base. If you meet heavy resistance, attack and then fall back to your bunker - if your opponent is a poor player (or not paying attention) you can bunker your marines and easily kill off their units.
That is the core of the build and typically enough to throw most people off their game. The key in winning the game from this point forward is to keep almost constant pressure on the other player by attacking with your continuous flow of marines. In terms of expanding more, you should have more money than just two barracks can drain, I typically construct a second supply depot at my starting base, a few extra SCVs, and then a third (and possibly a fourth) barracks at my proxy.
If you are having an issue with pushing all the way into the opponent's base right away, I've found constructing a second bunker at the top of their ramp you can retreat to does wonders. Also important to remember is that if you kill off all of a player's offensive units gun it for their mining line before destroying their buildings. A decent player will most times order their miners to attack what is left of your marines - do not let them surround your squad. Micro back and forth (lure them all the way back to your bunker if you can) dealing what damage you can to their miners in the mean time.
That is the jist of it - pour your stream of marines into their base until they quit or are wiped out. Give it a try and let me know how it works out for you - if you find something that works slightly better, let me know! I am always looking to improve my game :)
~Jeff Hoogland
In Starcraft 2 a "proxy" means you fore-go building in your own base and instead build your unit producing structures nearly on top of the opposing player. Timing is everything when using a proxy, so it is best used in maps where you know the starting location of your opponent(s). The following proxy build order is something I have been perfecting since the game was in beta and with the right amount of micromanagement I have found it rarely looses.
If you have never read a Starcraft build order before, the number before each listing is the number of SVCs you should have before building each object. In this particular build order the item listed in bold should be constructed in your starting base.
8 - Barracks
10 - Supply Depot
10 - Marine
10 - Barracks
10 - Marine
10 - Marine
12 - Bunker
The two key elements to any successful proxy are speed and micromanagement. As soon as the game starts, select five of your six starting SCVs and have them get to mining - the sixth SCV (your builder) should begin making his way to just outside the enemy's base. At the same time while all this is going on, get your first two additional SVCs building at the command center.
Most maps are large enough that by the time your builder SCV is outside the enemy's base you should have 150 minerals to get your first barracks building (if not wait a few moments). While that is building you should have time to build two more SCVs, followed up by a supply depot back in your home base.
As soon as your barracks finishes it should start producing marines - all of your barracks should be constantly producing marines until the match is over (which in a perfect world will be just a few more minutes). Now you have to wait around a few moments to gather resources, your first marine should finish and you should get your second training. Sometime between your first and second marine you should now have enough minerals to get your builder started on a second barracks. While he works on that make sure your first barracks continues to pump out marines and to ensure a steady cash flow once you get into combat you will want to produce two more SCVs as soon as you have the funds.
With 12 miners going you should have enough minerals to get a flow of marines building at your second barracks and throw down a bunker just outside their ramp. Right about the time you get your fifth marine your bunker should be finishing up - this is where the micromanagement begins. Take your group of five marines and attack forward into their base. If you meet heavy resistance, attack and then fall back to your bunker - if your opponent is a poor player (or not paying attention) you can bunker your marines and easily kill off their units.
That is the core of the build and typically enough to throw most people off their game. The key in winning the game from this point forward is to keep almost constant pressure on the other player by attacking with your continuous flow of marines. In terms of expanding more, you should have more money than just two barracks can drain, I typically construct a second supply depot at my starting base, a few extra SCVs, and then a third (and possibly a fourth) barracks at my proxy.
If you are having an issue with pushing all the way into the opponent's base right away, I've found constructing a second bunker at the top of their ramp you can retreat to does wonders. Also important to remember is that if you kill off all of a player's offensive units gun it for their mining line before destroying their buildings. A decent player will most times order their miners to attack what is left of your marines - do not let them surround your squad. Micro back and forth (lure them all the way back to your bunker if you can) dealing what damage you can to their miners in the mean time.
That is the jist of it - pour your stream of marines into their base until they quit or are wiped out. Give it a try and let me know how it works out for you - if you find something that works slightly better, let me know! I am always looking to improve my game :)
~Jeff Hoogland
Wanted: A Decent, FOS, Cross Platform, Permission-Less, File-System
This is something I desperately want. Don't get me wrong, I think file system permissions are fantastic (they are one of the many things that make Linux superior to Windows), however one place they can be a true pain is when dealing with removable media. Don't believe me? Format your favorite flash drive to ext4 and enjoy having to change file permissions every time you plug it into a new computer. I use Linux on all my home computers, including my media center. Most of my video files are stored on a external 1.5TB ext4 hardrive, which means whenever I decided to watch movies on my laptop off the drive I have to crack open terminal and run
chown -R jeff /media/Storage/
Which is only a minor inconvenience for someone such as myself. For a new Linux convert (or someone who doesn't want to deal with terminal) this is a huge turn off (maybe even a deal breaker for the operating system).
Oh and then there is the other lovely issue of most Linux file systems not being readable on Windows and OSX. Now, even if you are like myself and only use Linux on all of your personal computers - you are aware that the rest of the world does not work this way. Most times when using a computer that is not your own it will be non-Linux based.
The current solution? Format your drive to FAT32, it is permission-less, cross platform, easily fragments, and almost a decade and a half old. It blows my mind that we are still relying on technology every day that was introduced with Windows 95. In addition to being dated FAT32 is limited to holding files of a maximum of 4gigs in size. Meaning all those Blueray rips and most DVD iso files will not be able to be stored on a partition of this type.
What do you think the reason is that we have not see a decent, FOS, cross platform, permission-less, file-system created to date? It seems like it is something the computing world could truly benefit from having.
~Jeff Hoogland
chown -R jeff /media/Storage/
Which is only a minor inconvenience for someone such as myself. For a new Linux convert (or someone who doesn't want to deal with terminal) this is a huge turn off (maybe even a deal breaker for the operating system).
Oh and then there is the other lovely issue of most Linux file systems not being readable on Windows and OSX. Now, even if you are like myself and only use Linux on all of your personal computers - you are aware that the rest of the world does not work this way. Most times when using a computer that is not your own it will be non-Linux based.
The current solution? Format your drive to FAT32, it is permission-less, cross platform, easily fragments, and almost a decade and a half old. It blows my mind that we are still relying on technology every day that was introduced with Windows 95. In addition to being dated FAT32 is limited to holding files of a maximum of 4gigs in size. Meaning all those Blueray rips and most DVD iso files will not be able to be stored on a partition of this type.
What do you think the reason is that we have not see a decent, FOS, cross platform, permission-less, file-system created to date? It seems like it is something the computing world could truly benefit from having.
~Jeff Hoogland
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Wine vs Native - 3D Performance Benchmarks
In the past I've done Wine on Linux versus native Windows 7 benchmarks for 3D applications. Source engine games are some of my favorite benchmarking applications. Since Valve ported Steam to OSX earlier this year and I recently acquired an OSX PC I figured this would be an opportune time to see how Wine performance measures up to a native client, not only on the same hardware - but on the same operating system.
My benchmarking tools this time around will be Counter Strike: Source and Team Fortress 2, as they both run native on OSX. For Wine software I used the recently released Crossover Games 9.1
Scores:
Counter Strike: Source
~Jeff Hoogland
Please note while these benchmark scores presented are accurate to the best of my abilities, they only represent my personal hardware and software configurations. Your results on your own system(s) may vary (and if they do, please share them!).
My benchmarking tools this time around will be Counter Strike: Source and Team Fortress 2, as they both run native on OSX. For Wine software I used the recently released Crossover Games 9.1
Scores:
Counter Strike: Source
- 1680x1050, Wine - 44.16fps
- 800x600, Wine - 48.59fps
- 1680x1050, Native - 54.02fps
- 800x600, Native - 56.22fps
- 1680x1050, Wine - 43.88fps
- 800x600, Wine - 49.58fps
- 1680x1050, Native - 50.56fps
- 800x600, Native - 58.47fps
~Jeff Hoogland
Please note while these benchmark scores presented are accurate to the best of my abilities, they only represent my personal hardware and software configurations. Your results on your own system(s) may vary (and if they do, please share them!).
N900 Faster Application Manager - Review
If you have ever installed an application on an N900 using the default application manager you know that while it is functional it is not the fastest of processes - especially if you are installing multiple applications. Enter the FOSS project, which you can currently find in the extras devel repository, Faster Application Manager. As the name implies FAM is a graphical interface for apt-get in Maemo and it lives up to it's name of being quicker. The GUI is simple and functions well, the main screen presents you with all the options you need to add/remove/upgrade software on your Maemo device:
When trying to find applications to install FAM offers several different methods of searching:
As well as by category:
And of course by name as well:
Installing software is just as easy as in the default application manager. One of the largest advantages FAM has of the default manager is that it allows you to mark multiple packages for installation (as opposed to installing each program one at a time). The installation process is fairly straight forward. Select your package(s) to install:
Wait for it to check for dependencies:
Confirm you want to install all of said dependencies:
And wait for everything to install:
FAM will also handle upgrading packages that have a newer version available, simply mark all of the ones you would like to upgrade (just like when installing packages) and hit apply. One thing worth noting though is that when the update notification appears it will open by default in the normal application manager - to upgrade packages via FAM load FAM and select Upgrade Applications from the main FAM menu.
Finally, FAM also provides a graphics interface for enabling/disabling/adding/editing/removing repositories.
All in all FAM is an excellent application and it is much faster the default application manager. In fact the only real draw back to FAM currently is that it does not support installing applications from the Ovi Store as of yet. Also worth mentioning is that unlike the default application manager FAM supports portrait mode when you tip your device into a vertical position.
~Jeff Hoogland
When trying to find applications to install FAM offers several different methods of searching:
As well as by category:
And of course by name as well:
Installing software is just as easy as in the default application manager. One of the largest advantages FAM has of the default manager is that it allows you to mark multiple packages for installation (as opposed to installing each program one at a time). The installation process is fairly straight forward. Select your package(s) to install:
Wait for it to check for dependencies:
Confirm you want to install all of said dependencies:
And wait for everything to install:
FAM will also handle upgrading packages that have a newer version available, simply mark all of the ones you would like to upgrade (just like when installing packages) and hit apply. One thing worth noting though is that when the update notification appears it will open by default in the normal application manager - to upgrade packages via FAM load FAM and select Upgrade Applications from the main FAM menu.
Finally, FAM also provides a graphics interface for enabling/disabling/adding/editing/removing repositories.
All in all FAM is an excellent application and it is much faster the default application manager. In fact the only real draw back to FAM currently is that it does not support installing applications from the Ovi Store as of yet. Also worth mentioning is that unlike the default application manager FAM supports portrait mode when you tip your device into a vertical position.~Jeff Hoogland
Tech Support: C Drive on Your Linux Phone may be Corrupted
I know first tier tech support at most all companies simply read from a script when trying to sort out the issue a customer is having. I understand why this is, nine times out of ten one of the few items on their list will resolve the issue. That being said, a couple weeks ago I went out on a limb and purchased Joikuspot for my N900. Joikuspot is an application that is suppose to easily allow you to share your 3G connection via wifi.
Keywords there are suppose to. After I shelled out my hard earned dollars for the application, I downloaded and installed it on my N900. Once it finished I eagerly loaded it up and told it to start sharing my internet connection via wireless. Everything appeared to be working as I connected my Ubuntu laptop to the ADHOC network I had created from my N900. Much to my dismay I discovered no data would transfer over the wifi to my laptop. After confirming that my 3G connection was working I then proceeded to try the connection on four other laptops - all of which also failed to receive any connection through Joikuspot.
Ok - fine. I know software can behave differently on different devices, so I contact their tech support. After going through the normal setting checks and even reinstalling the application I finally got this response:
"You could still try to reset your phone. That has helped some of our customers.
Sometimes it may happen that a program corrupts the C: drive of your phone and then some data can be lost and some applications may not work or work only partially.
On a Symbian Series 60 based phone, two key sequences will allow to restore your phone to a cleaner state:
Normal Reset (*#7780#) : Restores ini files from rom but preserves user data (photos, 3rd party apps etc)
Deep Reset (*#7370#) : This reformats completely the C: drive. All applications and files stored on this drive will be lost and clean default files will be rewritten."
I was slightly at a loss for words. Now even though the N900 can boot a variety operating systems - a functional Symbian is not currently on this ever growing list. It was clear that the person providing the tech support had no idea what an N900 was (or what operating system it ran). Now, I still took the suggestion to heart and reflashed my N900 to factory defaults and still Joikuspot failed to work. Needless to say I am in the process of acquiring a refund for this dud of a product.
I would ask for better tier one tech support personnel, but I know this is never going to happen. My only request is that if they are going to continue to hire morons that they at least be kind enough to provide them with a better script. Anyone else ever received misinformed (or borderline moronic) tech support advice that was clearly from a poorly written script?
~Jeff Hoogland
Keywords there are suppose to. After I shelled out my hard earned dollars for the application, I downloaded and installed it on my N900. Once it finished I eagerly loaded it up and told it to start sharing my internet connection via wireless. Everything appeared to be working as I connected my Ubuntu laptop to the ADHOC network I had created from my N900. Much to my dismay I discovered no data would transfer over the wifi to my laptop. After confirming that my 3G connection was working I then proceeded to try the connection on four other laptops - all of which also failed to receive any connection through Joikuspot.
Ok - fine. I know software can behave differently on different devices, so I contact their tech support. After going through the normal setting checks and even reinstalling the application I finally got this response:
"You could still try to reset your phone. That has helped some of our customers.
Sometimes it may happen that a program corrupts the C: drive of your phone and then some data can be lost and some applications may not work or work only partially.
On a Symbian Series 60 based phone, two key sequences will allow to restore your phone to a cleaner state:
Normal Reset (*#7780#) : Restores ini files from rom but preserves user data (photos, 3rd party apps etc)
Deep Reset (*#7370#) : This reformats completely the C: drive. All applications and files stored on this drive will be lost and clean default files will be rewritten."
I was slightly at a loss for words. Now even though the N900 can boot a variety operating systems - a functional Symbian is not currently on this ever growing list. It was clear that the person providing the tech support had no idea what an N900 was (or what operating system it ran). Now, I still took the suggestion to heart and reflashed my N900 to factory defaults and still Joikuspot failed to work. Needless to say I am in the process of acquiring a refund for this dud of a product.
I would ask for better tier one tech support personnel, but I know this is never going to happen. My only request is that if they are going to continue to hire morons that they at least be kind enough to provide them with a better script. Anyone else ever received misinformed (or borderline moronic) tech support advice that was clearly from a poorly written script?~Jeff Hoogland
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