Oracle Java 7 Update 40 (7u40) Released, Ubuntu PPA Updated

<div style="text-align: justify;">Quick update: Oracle has released Java 7 Update 40 (7u40) today and the new version is available in the WebUpd8 Java PPA, for Ubuntu and Debian users.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB7JUwa028JJ6DWV8dXaNXL_AZVS0bRu05ctBXE9uQPe3moQLGUIeussdneBVxHZww7y7jFHhCGxTF1pwO41n3EpivPHPDO9GuPX9pvOsac7eebZVkj3TKRvy1SqxpC90_bew_f-0Q-_4/s1600/oracle-jdk-7u40.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Oracle Java 7u40" border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB7JUwa028JJ6DWV8dXaNXL_AZVS0bRu05ctBXE9uQPe3moQLGUIeussdneBVxHZww7y7jFHhCGxTF1pwO41n3EpivPHPDO9GuPX9pvOsac7eebZVkj3TKRvy1SqxpC90_bew_f-0Q-_4/s320/oracle-jdk-7u40.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">Oracle Java 7u40 introduces the following new features:</div><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">Java Mission Control (JMC), an advanced monitoring and diagnostics tool inherited from JRockit is now fully supported on JDK 7. This is a commercial feature;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">Part of JMC, Java Flight Recorder enables you to record events and metrics during runtime and extract them at will;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">support for the Retina display with Swing/AWT and JavaFX;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">new JDK binary for hardfloat Linux/ARM, for ARM-based micro servers and development boards. With this, JDK 7 now officially supports the Rasbian Linux distribution (for Raspberry Pi);</li><li style="text-align: justify;">a new Deployment Rule Set feature to enable fine granular controls for execution of Applet and WebStart applications;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">security feature enhancements for applets, JAXP and x.509 certificates.</li></ul><br />There's also a huge list of <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/2col/7u40-bugfixes-2007733.html">bug fixes</a>.<br /><br />For more information, see the Java SE Development Kit 7, Update 40 (JDK 7u40) <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/7u40-relnotes-2004172.html">release notes</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ubuntu</b> (<b>and derivatives</b> such as Linux Mint, etc.) 13.10, 13.04, 12.10, 12.04 and 10.04 users <b>can install the latest Oracle JDK7 (7u40) by using the WebUpd8 Java PPA</b>. Add the PPA and install Oracle JDK 7u40 by using the following commands:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Debian users: </b>see how to add the PPA and install Oracle JDK7 in Debian, <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/06/how-to-install-oracle-java-7-in-debian.html" title="How To Install Oracle Java 7 In Debian Via Repository">HERE</a>. </div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b> For more information, see: <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/01/install-oracle-java-jdk-7-in-ubuntu-via.html">Install Oracle Java 7 in Ubuntu via PPA Repository</a>.  </b></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>As a reminder, the WebUpd8 Oracle Java PPA repository does not host any Java files but only an installer that automatically downloads and installs Oracle JDK, like the flashplugin-installer package for instance.</i></div>

Oracle Java 7 Update 40 (7u40) Released, Ubuntu PPA Updated

Quick update: Oracle has released Java 7 Update 40 (7u40) today and the new version is available in the WebUpd8 Java PPA, for Ubuntu and Deb...

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KrISS Feed Is A Simple, Fast Feed Reader For Your Web Server

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://tontof.net/kriss/feed/">KrISS Feed</a> is a simple feed reader you can install on your web server.</b> Like <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/05/tiny-tiny-rss-ubuntu-ppa-google-reader.html" title="Tiny Tiny RSS Ubuntu PPA (Google Reader Alternative)">Tiny Tiny RSS</a>, this is a web application so you can access it from any computer or mobile device that has an Internet connection, using only a web browser.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/kriss-feed.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="KrISS feed" border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfcGX7_-s39lVCK798qYjrQNZvkrvp1ms4gIGnpaDZPnWs4w7SY0v4TJB3QONd9Y90URNr-7DjSozB6dJ92U5DbPpplRjisSGeijd6UF6I65X52-mmol4cEn7ykYbW_LgvSX8Gm3J9cJc/s320/kriss-feed.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><b>KrISS Feed features</b>:<br /><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">fast and easy to install;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">doesn't require SQL / databases;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">highly customizable: change its look via CSS (12 styles are available to download from its website but you can also create your own styles), customize the menu, paging, etc.;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">public/protected/private visibility;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">the feeds can be updated using Javascript, Cron or manually;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">list or expanded view;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">keyboard shortcuts;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">OPML import/export;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">mobile support using responsive web design;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">easily share links with <a href="http://sebsauvage.net/wiki/doku.php?id=php:shaarli">Shaarli</a>;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">auto mark as read when going to next item;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">star items;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">order by newer or older items;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">show unread or all items;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">more! </li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/kriss-feed_2.png" rel="image_group"><img alt="KrISS Feed expanded" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/kriss-feed_2_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Also, version 8 (<a href="http://tontof.net/?2013/09/09/20/30/28-enfin-la-version-8">released</a> yesterday) has added plugins support, but there are no plugins available yet as far as I know.</div><br /><b>You can see an online KrISS Feed demo @ <a href="http://tontof.net/feed/">http://tontof.net/feed/</a></b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Here are a few more screenshots with KrISS Feed using custom styles (available to download from its <a href="http://tontof.net/kriss/feed/#style">homepage</a>):</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/kriss-feed-style1.png" rel="image_group"><img alt="KrISS feed" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/kriss-feed-style1_thumb.png" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/kriss-feed-style2.png" rel="image_group"><img alt="KrISS feed" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/kriss-feed-style2_thumb.png" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/kriss-feed-style3.png" rel="image_group"><img alt="KrISS feed" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/kriss-feed-style3_thumb.png" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/kriss-feed-style4.png" rel="image_group"><img alt="KrISS feed" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/kriss-feed-style4_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><h2>Install KrISS Feed</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Before proceeding, make sure your web server runs PHP 5.2 or newer. KrISS Feed requires php-xml, php-mbstring and php5-curl. In Ubuntu, the first two are included in the libapache2-mod-php5 package.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>1. Install the KrISS Feed dependencies in Ubuntu using the following commands:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-php5 php5-curl</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>2. Then, download and install KrISS Feed by using the commands below:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>wget https://raw.github.com/tontof/kriss_feed/master/index.php -O /tmp/index.php<br />sudo mkdir /var/www/kriss<br />sudo cp /tmp/index.php /var/www/kriss/<br />sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/kriss/</code></pre><br /><b>3.</b> Visit http://YOURSERVER/kriss (or http://localhost/kriss if you've installed it locally), enter the username and password desired for KrISS Feed and click "Install Kriss feed":<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8mfDQ8C2WKGocwwi4QkYOE1mxP4jJ7eZ8gbVFu3H-oLuHvCbYE3uZk17qqZj7WZt7Fxnbo4StFE2vomBnRFEVgOJhvDFM8DAdn0D0KkcKubLUZF-qYvdljreM_1CjduF9zdej39pbFc/s1600/kriss-feed-install.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_8mfDQ8C2WKGocwwi4QkYOE1mxP4jJ7eZ8gbVFu3H-oLuHvCbYE3uZk17qqZj7WZt7Fxnbo4StFE2vomBnRFEVgOJhvDFM8DAdn0D0KkcKubLUZF-qYvdljreM_1CjduF9zdej39pbFc/s320/kriss-feed-install.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The web application should now be installed on your server.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The first time you login you'll be promted to import an OPML file (exported for instance from Google Reader) - if you don't want to do this for now, click Cancel. Later on you can import an OPML file ia the KrISS Feed configuration pane.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">To get KrISS Feed to update the feeds automatically, click <i>Configuration</i> and search for the "Auto update with javascript" option. At the bottom of the configuration page you'll also find instructions on how to update your feeds using Cron.</div><br />If you want <b>to install new styles</b>, download them from <a href="http://tontof.net/kriss/feed/#style">HERE</a> and copy the user.css file to <i>/var/www/kriss/inc/</i><br /><br /><b>For more information, see the KrISS Feed <a href="http://tontof.net/kriss/feed/">homepage</a> and its <a href="https://github.com/tontof/kriss_feed">GitHub page</a>.</b>

KrISS Feed Is A Simple, Fast Feed Reader For Your Web Server

KrISS Feed is a simple feed reader you can install on your web server. Like Tiny Tiny RSS , this is a web application so you can access it...

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New GNOME 3.10 PPA Announced For Ubuntu 13.10: GNOME3-Next

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh5LuBvDFrRm4U_5biSyIrt-raAdhL2drgOqaexEYMUvtQ_YuPolhmjutekznVTXPYSFViA1pGMX3J-rFgERYeRYtAGxX3kfh1CVGe8ymnpDLF1og3_FJe3xlwhvb-UkOyrSQjpURHxzg/s1600/gnome-logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjh5LuBvDFrRm4U_5biSyIrt-raAdhL2drgOqaexEYMUvtQ_YuPolhmjutekznVTXPYSFViA1pGMX3J-rFgERYeRYtAGxX3kfh1CVGe8ymnpDLF1og3_FJe3xlwhvb-UkOyrSQjpURHxzg/s1600/gnome-logo.png" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>GNOME 3.10 won't make it into Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander and to make it easier to install, the <a href="https://launchpad.net/~gnome3-team">GNOME 3 Launchpad Team</a> has created a new <a href="https://launchpad.net/~gnome3-team/+archive/gnome3-next">GNOME3-Next PPA</a>.</b></div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">For Saucy, the GNOME3-Next PPA will contain GNOME 3.10 packages that are considered stable while the <a href="https://launchpad.net/~gnome3-team/+archive/gnome3">GNOME3 PPA</a> will only contain a few pieces of GNOME 3.8 that didn't make it into Saucy. The <a href="https://launchpad.net/~gnome3-team/+archive/gnome3-staging">GNOME3-Staging PPA</a> will continue to hold GNOME 3.10 packages that aren't considered stable just yet.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-gnome/2013-September/000669.html">announcement</a> posted on the Ubuntu GNOME <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-gnome">mailing list</a>, <b>the GNOME3-Next PPA only holds a few packages for now but it should start to fill up over the next week or two</b>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also note that if you're using the GNOME3-Staging PPA, you'll also have to add the GNOME3-Next PPA because it will contain some dependencies required for the staging PPA.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I will publish a new article with instructions on upgrading to GNOME 3.10 once the new GNOME3-Next PPA is ready.<br /><br /><i>GNOME 3.10 will be released on September 25 and it will include new applications such as GNOME Maps and GNOME Music, a revamped system status menu, Setting (Control Center) improvements, initial Wayland support and more. As usual, we'll have an article covering all the major changes when GNOME 3.10 is released.</i></div>

New GNOME 3.10 PPA Announced For Ubuntu 13.10: GNOME3-Next

GNOME 3.10 won't make it into Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander and to make it easier to install, the GNOME 3 Launchpad Team has created a ...

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Dropbox Uploader 0.12 Released [Bash Script To Access Dropbox Via Command Line]

<div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://github.com/andreafabrizi/Dropbox-Uploader">Dropbox Uploader</a> is a bash script that allows you to perform various actions on your <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/">Dropbox</a> (upload, download, delete, share, etc.) without installing the Dropbox client. This is useful for servers, automatic backups or accessing Dropbox from ARM devices, like Raspberry Pi.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">The script was updated recently, getting a copy function, a "-s" option to skip existing files when uploading/downloading (files are overwritten by default), along with other changes. </div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Here are the <b>changes in the latest Dropbox Uploader 0.12:</b></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>added copy function;</li><li>added <i>-s</i> option to skip existing files when upload/download;</li><li>fixed problem uploading twice the same directory;</li><li>add checking for not allowed file names;</li><li>handling connection/resolving host errors;</li><li>better error handling;</li><li>converted if condition to BASH native syntax;</li><li>added normalize_path function, to canonicalize paths;</li><li>removed check for free quota on every file upload to improve performance;</li><li>added checks for file permissions before writing/reading files on the local fs;</li><li>fixed unicode problem in file listing;</li><li>many other minor changes and improvements.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Since our last article about Dropbox Uploader</b>, the script has received numerous improvements, including <b>support for downloading and uploading directories</b>, move/rename function and more.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The latest Dropbox Uploader 0.12 supports the following commands: upload, download, delete, move, copy, mkdir, list, share, info and unlink. There are also some optional parameters, like the newly added "-s" to skip already existing files when uploading or downloading, "-p" to show curl progress meter and more.</div><br /><br /><h2>Download and install Dropbox Uploader</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Dropbox Uploader depends on Bash and Curl. In Ubuntu, Bash is already installed and to install Curl, use the following command:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install curl</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Then, download and install Dropbox Uploader using the following commands:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>curl "https://raw.github.com/andreafabrizi/Dropbox-Uploader/master/dropbox_uploader.sh" -o /tmp/dropbox_uploader.sh<br />sudo install /tmp/dropbox_uploader.sh /usr/local/bin/dropbox_uploader</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">You can also grab the latest Dropbox Uploader with Git:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install git<br />git clone https://github.com/andreafabrizi/Dropbox-Uploader/</code></pre><br /><br /><h2>Authorize Dropbox Uploader with your Dropbox account</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The first time you run Dropbox Uploader, you'll need to authorize it with your Dropbox account. To do this, run Dropbox Uploader:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>dropbox_uploader</code></pre><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/dropbox-uploader_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT43EDvj7aWB5tkvanzQfKtW1dSYk3lrDlzXRq3Ypk801n3g6FQZozzOEIuBxc9VmCmeYR2vDbZsN3Vwbcd0TdbU1IvIHLeENPWr2rmwfr0E05t5SwEUUlJTygb5hZ2zHzEysyZ7Ay6mA/s320/dropbox-uploader_1.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />Then visit <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/developers/apps">https://www.dropbox.com/developers/apps</a>, click "Create app", select "Dropbox API app" and: <br /><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>for the type of data select "Files and datastores";</li><li>then choose if the app should be limited to a single folder or if it can access files already in your Dropbox;</li><li>if you didn't limit the app to is own private folder, you can also select the file types it can access ;</li><li>enter the app name provided by Dropbox Uploader.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/dropbox-uploader_2.png"><img alt="Dropbox Uploader" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/dropbox-uploader_2_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Click "Create app" at the bottom and on the next page you should see your app key and secret which you need to enter in the terminal where you ran <i>dropbox_uploader</i>:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/dropbox-uploader_22.png"><img alt="Dropbox Uploader" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/dropbox-uploader_22_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Now back to the terminal: select the access level you have chosen when creating the app and Dropbox Uploader will display a link you need to enter in your browser - visit the link, click "Allow" and finally, back to the terminal, press ENTER and you're done:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/dropbox-uploader_3.png"><img alt="Dropbox Uploader" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/dropbox-uploader_3_thumb.png" /></a></div><br />To see all the available commands, simply run:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>dropbox_uploader</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>For more information, bug reports, etc., see the Dropbox Uploader <a href="https://github.com/andreafabrizi/Dropbox-Uploader">GitHub page</a>.</b></div>

Dropbox Uploader 0.12 Released [Bash Script To Access Dropbox Via Command Line]

Dropbox Uploader is a bash script that allows you to perform various actions on your Dropbox (upload, download, delete, share, etc.) witho...

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Free RTS Game 0 A.D. Sees New Alpha Release

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://play0ad.com/">0 A.D.</a>, one of the best free, open source real-time strategy games, has <a href="http://play0ad.com/indiegogo-crowdfunding-campaign-new-release-alpha-14-naukratis/">reached</a> alpha 14, codenamed "Naukratis".</b> The new release features a brand new building type (with models for all factions), exponential armor and realistic health along with other gameplay changes as well as many graphics, sound and user interface improvements.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/0ad-alpha14.jpg" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="0 a.d. alpha 14" border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIbThyF6bk61ZcWMM366pRhqKCB432ryS7QrES_FwqoKk5F788PCQHqPMXpjosuqDAwL5pKj9BWInSbr4u2JK4SaRN504eDPn8VLvQ06prFpzCFBHplZWJQ1Z77GX44vK2ZeK2WsgAiH0/s320/0ad-alpha14.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">0 A.D. is an open source, historical war and economy RTS game developed by Wildfire Games which features several ancient civilizations at their prime, from Greece and Rome to Carthage and Persia. The game is available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While it features great sound and graphics and has both single-player and multi-player functionality, the game still lacks some features, such as no matchmaking service (multi-player uses peer-to-peer networking, without a central server).</div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Gameplay changes in the latest 0 A.D. alpha 14 "Naukratis":</b></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>A brand new building type, complete with models for all factions has been added: Blacksmiths;</li><li>Infinite farms: A farm will now keep yielding food until the end of the match, without need to rebuild it, but with diminishing returns;</li><li>Exponential armor and realistic health: Technologies now have the same effect on all units. Also, changes to the way units’ health is calculated in the game allowed us to correct some unrealistic phenomena, like archer damage to buildings;</li><li>Allies can now garrison in each other’s buildings;</li><li>Shared trade gain with allies: When you trade with an ally, there is a +25% bonus over trading with yourself, that is now split between you and your ally;</li><li>Ranged units can hit farther from high places;</li><li>Ranged units had to be within a minimum range from their targets to fire at them. This requirement has been removed.</li></ul><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/0a.d.alpha-14-blacksmiths.jpg" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="0 A.D. alpha 14" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/0a.d.alpha-14-blacksmiths_thumb.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New building type: Blacksmiths</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Graphics, sound, user interface improvements, etc. in 0 A.D. alpha 14::</b></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>A persistent Hero button will appear in the top left when you train your hero;</li><li>In single-player games, you can now change the game’s speed whenever you want to;</li><li>You can now mark camera positions and jump back to them later with hotkeys;</li><li>GUI dropdowns support typing for quick selection;</li><li>The game now plays a list of multiple songs per match, instead of playing just one song in a loop. Also, the user interface now responds to the user with sounds;</li><li>Terrain anchoring: Units now move more realistically on hills;</li><li>Saved games can now be given descriptions and deleted or overwritten in-game;</li><li>Several maps were updated;</li><li>Pike elevation tool has been added to the Atlas Scenario Editor. This lets you create mountains and cliffs more easily;</li><li>Saving maps in Atlas will no longer make it crash;</li><li>Fixed some common out-of-sync and out-of-memory errors;</li><li>Alert sounds no longer heard by all players, off-screen sounds only heard when appropriate;</li><li>Fixed crash with Nvidia Optimus graphics and some netbooks</li><li>Walls can be placed along shores;</li><li>Improved hotkey support for non-QWERTY keyboards;</li><li>Performance improvements.</li></ul><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2yYys08yljnrqKHUk-OdyLxITZIwc23AEHdRlkW__NYHSIt7_186QwJH2OnyPMRYeV7NRDufeiDpL6d5X0DCAvttzncoLYYg5W39X2YjlkEZ3QCxBxKP-FTWGSQtkGR9amyqHVxZkO34/s1600/0a.d.alpha14.jpg" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2yYys08yljnrqKHUk-OdyLxITZIwc23AEHdRlkW__NYHSIt7_186QwJH2OnyPMRYeV7NRDufeiDpL6d5X0DCAvttzncoLYYg5W39X2YjlkEZ3QCxBxKP-FTWGSQtkGR9amyqHVxZkO34/s320/0a.d.alpha14.jpg" title="0 a.d. alpha 14" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">And speaking of 0 A.D., Wildfire Games is trying to <b>raise $160,000 to support the development of 0 A.D.</b> If you want to contribute, see <a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/support-0-a-d-an-open-source-strategy-game/">THIS</a> page on Indiegogo. Perks include soundtrack CDs, posters and you can even get your face on a game unit. <b>More information <a href="http://play0ad.com/indiegogo-crowdfunding-campaign-new-release-alpha-14-naukratis/">HERE</a>.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to Aviv Sharon, a contributor to 0 A.D. who has emailed me today, some or all of the sums donated towards this fundraiser may be tax-deductible for many US taxpayers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also, if you can contribute to 0 A.D. (programming, art, sound, documentation and more), see the programmers <a href="http://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/GettingStartedProgrammers">getting started</a> page and join #0ad-dev on QuakeNet on IRC.</div><br /><br /><h2>Install 0 A.D. in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/0a.d_2.jpg" rel="image_group"><img alt="0 A.D. alpha 14" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/0a.d_2_thumb.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The latest 0 A.D. alpha 14 is available in a PPA for Ubuntu users. Add the PPA and install 0 A.D. using the commands below:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wfg/0ad<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install 0ad</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>For other Linux distributions, Windows or Mac OS X, see the 0 A.D. <a href="http://play0ad.com/download/">downloads page</a>.</b></div><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>via <a href="http://play0ad.com/indiegogo-crowdfunding-campaign-new-release-alpha-14-naukratis">play0ad.com</a>, some screenshots via 0 A.D. @ <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/105243244628275530704/posts">Google+</a></i></div>

Free RTS Game 0 A.D. Sees New Alpha Release

0 A.D. , one of the best free, open source real-time strategy games, has reached alpha 14, codenamed "Naukratis". The new releas...

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Adobe Flash Player Hardware Acceleration on Intel Graphics Cards

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="https://github.com/i-rinat/libvdpau-va-gl">libvdpau-va-gl</a> is a VDPAU driver that uses OpenGL under the hood to accelerate drawing and scaling, and VA-API (if available) to accelerate video decoding.</b></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Using it, you can get hardware acceleration on some Intel graphics cards for Mplayer </b>(well, we already have <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2010/10/use-mplayer-with-vaapi-support-hardware.html">mplayer-vaapi</a> but it hasn't been merged)<b> and even Adobe Flash Player. That means a lot less CPU usage as you'll see below. </b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/flash-vdpau-intel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="intel flash vdpau ubuntu" border="0" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8i1Yfqveiuryfc_QWHidU6mhKZoQeT_RNhsRnr46QqH1Iivl0KRAltoEEWi5GgODi_x-Lev0TVSWV4mOx81N7V1pYruVUhSyFK-IKz47gb0K_74jL37DIgXy60xRcDgVRF05ZN4dfpfg/s320/flash-vdpau-intel.png" width="320" /></a></div></div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">AMD users: in theory, this should also work with AMD cards (Catalyst) however, from what users are <a href="https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=166593&p=2">reporting</a>, it doesn't seem to work properly and the libvdpau-va-gl developer <a href="https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1303921#p1303921">said</a> that he can only test this on Intel, so it's unlikely that the AMD bugs will be fixed soon. However, the open source AMD drivers should have built-in VDPAU support (you need Linux 3.10 and Mesa 9.2).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In my test (Ubuntu 13.10, Intel graphics), a full-screen 1080p flash YouTube video used around 160-170% CPU without libvdpau-va-gl and about 14-17% CPU when using libvdpau-va-gl. There were some occasional spikes when using libvdpau-va-gl, but usually it stayed around those values which is a really great improvement.<br /><br />Note:<b> I've tested this with Firefox and Chromium browsers with Adobe Flash Player 11.2 r202. It doesn't seem to work with Pepper Flash (available by default in Google Chrome)</b>. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">libvdpau-va-gl is <b>work-in-progress</b> and while it has worked properly with Adobe Flash Player / Firefox on my system, it may not work properly for you or it may cause problems with other VDPAU-enabled applications and for this reason, it's advisable not to use this system-wide.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Below you can watch a quick video demoing the CPU usage for a YouTube flash video, with and without libvdpau-va-gl:</b></div><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ZUmwtx_HA8U" width="480"><br />(<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUmwtx_HA8U">direct video link</a>; for more videos, subscribe to our <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/nilarimogard">YouTube channel</a>)</iframe></center><br /><br /><br /><h2>Install and set up libvdpau-va-gl in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>1.</b> Firstly, install the VAAPI drivers (for Intel HD Graphics as well as G45 and later)::</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install i965-va-driver</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>2.</b> Install libvdpau-va-gl by using the main WebUpd8 PPA (I've used Vincent Bernat's Debian <a href="http://packages.debian.org/sid/libs/libvdpau-va-gl1">packaging</a> - thanks!):</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install libvdpau-va-gl1</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>3.</b> Adobe Flash doesn't use hardware acceleration by default on Linux so we'll have to force it:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo mkdir -p /etc/adobe<br />echo "EnableLinuxHWVideoDecode=1" | sudo tee /etc/adobe/mms.cfg<br />echo "OverrideGPUValidation=1" | sudo tee -a /etc/adobe/mms.cfg</code></pre><br /><b>4. </b>Like I was telling you above, it's not a good idea to enable libvdpau-va-gl system-wide yet. Instead, you can simply launch an application with "VDPAU_DRIVER=va_gl".<br /><br />Example: to launch Firefox with libvdpau-va-gl enabled, use:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>VDPAU_DRIVER=va_gl firefox</code></pre><br />To enable libvdpau-va-gl system-wide (not recommended for now because this may cause problems with some VDPAU-enabled applications), you need to open <i>/etc/X11/Xsession.d/20vdpau-va-gl</i> as root with a text editor and uncomment (remove the "#" in front of the lines) the last two lines. Or simply copy/paste the commands below:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo sed -i "s/^# \[/\[/g" /etc/X11/Xsession.d/20vdpau-va-gl<br />sudo sed -i "s/^# export/ export/g" /etc/X11/Xsession.d/20vdpau-va-gl</code></pre><br /><b>5.</b> Optional: check if libvdpau-va-gl/VDPAU is working.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">You can check if libvdpau-va-gl is working and Adobe Flash Player uses hardware acceleration by right clicking a Flash video on YouTube and selecting "Stats for nerds". The stats box that shows up should display the following: "accelerated video rendering, accelerated video decoding", like in this <a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/flash-vdpau-intel.png">screenshot</a>.</div><br />Another way to check if libvdpau-va-gl/VDPAU is working propely, install vdpauinfo:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install vdpauinfo</code></pre><br />Then, run:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>VDPAU_DRIVER=va_gl vdpauinfo</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">And you should get something like <a href="http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=cwYQzGyk">THIS</a>. If you get an error (for example "Failed to open VDPAU backend"), either your graphics card doesn't support VA-API (since this VDPAU driver requires VA-API) or you've missed a step from the instructions above.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Arch Linux</b> users can install libvdpau-va-gl from <a href="https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/libvdpau-va-gl/">AUR</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>For more information, source code or bug reports, see the libvdpau-va-gl <a href="https://github.com/i-rinat/libvdpau-va-gl">GitHub page</a>.</b></div>

Adobe Flash Player Hardware Acceleration on Intel Graphics Cards

libvdpau-va-gl is a VDPAU driver that uses OpenGL under the hood to accelerate drawing and scaling, and VA-API (if available) to accelerate...

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Avidemux Video Editor Reaches Version 2.6.5

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/">Avidemux</a>, a cross-platform video editor especially useful for simple tasks like cutting a video, encoding and so on, has recently reached version 2.6.5.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The application can be used to apply various filters, transcode videos into many formats, insert ("muxing") or extract ("demuxing") audio streams from video files and more.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">Another interesting feature is its scripting support, for both the GUI and command line, which can be used to perform various repetitive actions automatically.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/avidemux.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="avidemux" border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiccWkMjQpbRZnW7K9I5qZUB2uGl-hIGzjxXjLRVvWfr_gpLSHe34ryFn6iaq7FB2nO7yFw4fR79kRFboryo5i2UHNti5C-1qAXx3B3T-SjrKBVyRGv1Xl3Zxsyz1w4ripaT2rz7sUdnKs/s320/avidemux.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b>Changes in the latest Avidemux 2.6.5 include:</b><br /><ul><li>libva hardware decoding;</li><li>experimental xvba hardware decoding, ported from xbmc;</li><li>added back save/load video filter set;</li><li>Dv encoding;</li><li>fast, superfast and ultrafast x264 presets;</li><li>much improved speed for downmixing;</li><li>support for 10bits h264 decoding;</li><li>only lock job database when adding a job;</li><li>fixed the doubled fps bug on mpeg ts;</li><li>fixed positive and negative audio shift having the same effect.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Avidemux 2.6 has intoruced VDPAU support, OpenGL filters, multiple audio tracks support and other interesting changes. Unfortunately Ubuntu (even Saucy) still has Avidemux 2.5.x available in its repositories, but you can install the latest 2.6.x by using GetDeb.</div><br /><br /><h2>Install Avidemux 2.6.x in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Ubuntu 13.04 and 12.04 can install the latest Avidemux 2.6.5 by using the GetDeb repository. <b>To add the GetDeb repository, download and install <a href="http://archive.getdeb.net/install_deb/getdeb-repository_0.1-1~getdeb1_all.deb">THIS</a> deb.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Important: the GTK version doesn't seem to work - in my test, it failed to start under both Ubuntu 13.04 and 12.04, so I recommend installing the Qt version which doesn't have this bug.</div><br /><b>To install Avidemux 2.6.5 (Qt), use the command below</b><br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install avidemux2.6-qt</code></pre><br />Then, launch Avidemux 2.6 from the menu / Dash.<br /><br /><b>For other Linux distributions, Windows or Mac OS X, see the Avidemux <a href="http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/download.html">downloads</a> page.</b><br /><br /><i>Also see: <a href="http://avidemux.berlios.de/doc/">Avidemux documentation</a>.</i>

Avidemux Video Editor Reaches Version 2.6.5

Avidemux , a cross-platform video editor especially useful for simple tasks like cutting a video, encoding and so on, has recently reached v...

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