Valve Reveals SteamOS, A Linux-Based Operating System

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Valve has <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamOS/">announced</a> SteamOS today, a free, Linux-based operating system "designed for the TV and the living room".</b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii89lIQe-103CHHXesxoeosayhVLLWVnF9LVquJGMWB0P4jlMfKgHP3OP6h7VGYldOyikVARI8LkDQwYFFZmFFltWyt1jTvF8faSGVdZth8nwNP_OvC45BNT6xWC2BtqRy8Ut5lmnblFg/s1600/steamos.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="SteamOS" border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii89lIQe-103CHHXesxoeosayhVLLWVnF9LVquJGMWB0P4jlMfKgHP3OP6h7VGYldOyikVARI8LkDQwYFFZmFFltWyt1jTvF8faSGVdZth8nwNP_OvC45BNT6xWC2BtqRy8Ut5lmnblFg/s320/steamos.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">This is the first of the 3 announcements Valve will make this week, all related to bringing Steam into living rooms, with the next one to follow in 48 hours, as <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/">THIS</a> page points out. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">SteamOS will feature:</div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>in-home streaming: the SteamOS machine can stream the games over your home network to your TV;</li><li>music, TV and movies;</li><li>family sharing: share the games you purchase with your friends and family - this allows you to take turns playing one another’s games while earning your own Steam achievements and saving your individual game progress to the Steam cloud;</li><li>family options: you'll be able to control what titles get seen and by whom.</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"<i>As we’ve been working on bringing Steam to the living room, we’ve come to the conclusion that the environment best suited to delivering value to customers is an operating system built around Steam itself. SteamOS combines the rock-solid architecture of Linux with a gaming experience built for the big screen. It will be available soon as a free stand-alone operating system for living room machines.</i>" mentions the announcement. The Steam Box should be one of these "living room machines" so will Valve finally announce it in one of the two remaining announcements? We should find out later this week.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">SteamOS will be available soon (the exact date is not yet known) as a free download for users and "as a freely licensable operating system for manufacturers".<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>For more information, see the <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamOS/">SteamOS announcement</a>.</b></div>

Valve Reveals SteamOS, A Linux-Based Operating System

Valve has announced SteamOS today, a free, Linux-based operating system "designed for the TV and the living room". This is the fi...

+ Read more »

How To Set Up Tunlr DNS Under Linux To Access Netflix, Hulu, CBS, ABC, Pandora and More Outside The US

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-C9yb64jO_9JgGXXabRTOFqgz6yztOl-uGl7hyphenhyphenvQP4kBWWBHbv5y-5UQsDlrd9VoBhhfSRx5atW16ClYK0dXWpb1Iv45LmYAvTbhMEBr49VwHAemYoRNYyR2OBeY5lU5eDBG8KZQ5nY/s1600/tunlr-logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="tunlr logo" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia-C9yb64jO_9JgGXXabRTOFqgz6yztOl-uGl7hyphenhyphenvQP4kBWWBHbv5y-5UQsDlrd9VoBhhfSRx5atW16ClYK0dXWpb1Iv45LmYAvTbhMEBr49VwHAemYoRNYyR2OBeY5lU5eDBG8KZQ5nY/s1600/tunlr-logo.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://tunlr.net/">Tunlr</a> is a free DNS service that lets you use U.S.-based on-demand Internet streaming providers, such as Netflix, Hulu, CBS, MTV, ABC, Pandora and more, if you're living outside the U.S. </b><br /><br />At the time I'm writing this article, Tunlr <a href="http://tunlr.net/channels/">reports</a> that the following streaming services are working:<br /><ul><li>US video streaming services: Netflix, Hulu, CBS, ABC, MTV, theWB, CW TV, Crackle, NBC, Fox, A&E TV, TV.com, Vevo, History, Logo TV, Crunchyroll, DramaFever, Discovery, Spike and VH1;</li><li>US audio streaming services: Pandora, Last.fm, IheartRadio, Rdio, MOG, Songza;</li><li>Non-US streaming services: BBC iPlayer (excluding live streams), iTV Player, NHL Gamecenter Live and TF1 Replay / WAT.tv (excluding "direct" stream).</li></ul><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In my test, Tunlr has worked as advertised, but there's one issue: <b>using Tunlr DNS permanently is not a good idea</b>: for privacy/security reasons, speed and so on. Even the Tunlr <a href="http://tunlr.net/faq/">FAQ</a> page says you shouldn't use the Tunlr DNS for every day web surfing. On Windows, there are some tools you can use to quickly switch the Tunlr DNS on/off, but there's no such tool for Linux, so <b>here's how to properly use Tunlr under Linux</b>.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><h2>Configure Tunlr DNS under Linux</h2><br />Before proceeding, please note that <b>Tunlr recommends using Firefox</b> and also, <b>Google Chrome is not supported</b>! <br /><br /><b>Below you'll find two ways of setting up the Tunlr DNS under Linux. </b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The first one (A)</b> has an advantage over the one (script) below: the Tunlr DNS is only used for Netflix, Hulu, etc. while using the default DNS for other websites. There's a drawback too though: if Tunlr changes the DNS servers, you must edit the <i>/etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d/dnsmasq.conf</i> and manually add the <a href="http://tunlr.net/get-started/">new DNS</a>. Update: I've added a script at the bottom of method A for automatically retrieving and updating the Tunlr DNS (thanks to Jochen Blacha!).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The second (B)</b> method has the advantage of always setting the correct Tunlr DNS servers since it automatically retrieves them from the Tunlr website (the DNS servers have changed quite a few times already). The disadvantage is that when switching Tunlr on using this script, all the traffic passes through the Tunlr DNS and not only the websites that need it, like it's done using the first method. But you can do this: only browse the websites you wouldn't normally have access to when switching the Tunlr DNS on and when you want to visit some other websites, switch the Tunlr DNS off.</div><br />With these in mind, use the configuration method that suits you best.<br /><br /><br /><b>A. Configure Tunlr DNS using Dnsmasq / Network Manager</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">In Ubuntu 12.04+, Network Manager uses dnsmasq by default so the instructions below are specific to Ubuntu users. For other Linux distributions, you can simply paste the code below (the two lines containing "server="...) in <i>/etc/dnsmasq.conf </i>and restart Dnsmasq. I only tested it in Ubuntu though.</div><br />Let's proceed. Firstly, create the <i>/etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d</i> folder (I believe it's not created by default in Ubuntu 12.04 for instance):<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo mkdir -p /etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d</code></pre><br />Then, create (edit) a file called "dnsmasq.conf" under <i>/etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d/</i>. I'll use Gedit below:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>gksu gedit /etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq.d/dnsmasq.conf</code></pre><br />And in this file, paste this:<br /><pre class="source-code"><code>domain-needed<br />all-servers<br />cache-size=5000<br />strict-order<br /><br />server=/tunlr.net/netflix.com/hulu.com/pandora.com/cbs.com/bbc.co.uk/abc.go.com/mtv.com/go.com/abc.com/tv.com/pbs.com/vevo.com/fwmrm.net/thewb.com/cwtv.com/crackle.com/mog.com/iheart.com/mylifetime.com/doubleclick.net/rubiconproject.com/cpxinteractive.com/adnxs.com/brightcove.com/cpxadroit.com/atdmt.com/mtv.com/mtvnservices.com/imrworldwide.com/demdex.net/fox.com/foxfdm.com/eurovisionsports.tv/netflix.ne/nflximg.com/nflxext.com/chartbeat.com/nbc.com/history.com/discovery.com/vh1.com/itv.com/aetv.com/foxadhd.com/cbsstatic.com/cbsi.com/theplatform.com/akamaihd.net/pbs.org/sharethis.com/revsci.net/scrippsnetworks.com/scrippscontroller.com/imrworldwide.com/scorecardresearch.com/quantserve.com/liverail.com/elogua.com/inskinmedia.com/ip2location.com/rubiconproject.com/southparkstudios.com/conviva.com/liverail.com/local.yahooapis.com/msnbc.com/nbcuni.com/rdio.com/recaptcha.net/69.197.169.9<br />server=/tunlr.net/netflix.com/hulu.com/pandora.com/cbs.com/bbc.co.uk/abc.go.com/mtv.com/go.com/abc.com/tv.com/pbs.com/vevo.com/fwmrm.net/thewb.com/cwtv.com/crackle.com/mog.com/iheart.com/mylifetime.com/doubleclick.net/rubiconproject.com/cpxinteractive.com/adnxs.com/brightcove.com/cpxadroit.com/atdmt.com/mtv.com/mtvnservices.com/imrworldwide.com/demdex.net/fox.com/foxfdm.com/eurovisionsports.tv/netflix.ne/nflximg.com/nflxext.com/chartbeat.com/nbc.com/history.com/discovery.com/vh1.com/itv.com/aetv.com/foxadhd.com/cbsstatic.com/cbsi.com/theplatform.com/akamaihd.net/pbs.org/sharethis.com/revsci.net/scrippsnetworks.com/scrippscontroller.com/imrworldwide.com/scorecardresearch.com/quantserve.com/liverail.com/elogua.com/inskinmedia.com/ip2location.com/rubiconproject.com/southparkstudios.com/conviva.com/liverail.com/local.yahooapis.com/msnbc.com/nbcuni.com/rdio.com/recaptcha.net/192.95.16.109</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Some of the websites under the "server" lines above have been added to avoid the geofencing used by some websites. You can edit the "server" lines above to add more websites. You can find a list of Tunlr supported websites <a href="http://tunlr.net/channels/">HERE</a></b>. The IPs at the end of the "server=" lines are the Tunlr DNS servers. If accessing Hulu, Netflix, etc. stops working, make sure you <a href="http://tunlr.net/get-started/">check</a> the Tunlr website for updated DNS.</div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">When you're done, save the file, then run the following command to restart Network Manager:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo restart network-manager</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Then, restart your browser and visit the Tunlr <a href="http://tunlr.net/status/">status page</a> - under "Tunlr activation check" it should say: "Tunlr DNS address is set. Tunlr is activated!" like in the screenshot below:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyn5gNaTsALh2VKPTt0Gv_lfApjpAYAHj-uO3WyCFCIqBrddnfuUgjizKhZTtUz0NFgF4Sm0k3fD40lfNSMSFfZ7fFqy-tTw8MWZBGFcz91svjk3fchT5QmkCG-wGHuQjZi6_g7N-1HBE/s1600/tunlr-activated.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyn5gNaTsALh2VKPTt0Gv_lfApjpAYAHj-uO3WyCFCIqBrddnfuUgjizKhZTtUz0NFgF4Sm0k3fD40lfNSMSFfZ7fFqy-tTw8MWZBGFcz91svjk3fchT5QmkCG-wGHuQjZi6_g7N-1HBE/s500/tunlr-activated.png" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br />If it doesn't work, firstly try to restart your computer. If it still doesn't work (some users are reporting <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager/+bug/1003842">issues</a> with dnsmasq and private names), try editing<i> /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf</i> and commenting out (put "#" in front of the line) "dns=dnsmasq".<br /><br /><b>Update: to automatically retrieve and update the Tunlr DNS in case it changes</b> (it changes quite often), use <a href="https://github.com/JochenB/tunlrupdate/blob/master/tunlrupdate.sh">THIS</a> script.<br /><br /><br /><b>B. Quickly switch the Tunlr DNS on/off using a script</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Another way of easily switching the Tunlr DNS on/off is using a script included with the Tunlr <a href="https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/tunlr/">AUR package</a> created by <i>edloaa</i>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you're using Arch Linux, install wget - Ubuntu users can install it using the following command (may already be installed):</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install wget</code></pre><br />And then download and install the script using the following commands:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-get install wget<br />cd /tmp<br />wget https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/tu/tunlr/tunlr.tar.gz<br />tar -xvf /tmp/tunlr.tar.gz<br />sudo install /tmp/tunlr/tunlr /usr/local/bin/</code></pre>Then, simply run the following command to use the Tunlr DNS:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo tunlr start</code></pre><div style="text-align: justify;">Next, restart your browser and visit the Tunlr <a href="http://tunlr.net/status/">status page</a> - under "Tunlr activation check" it should say: "Tunlr DNS address is set. Tunlr is activated!".</div><br />To stop using the Tunlr DNS, use the command below:<br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo tunlr stop</code></pre>And restart your browser.

How To Set Up Tunlr DNS Under Linux To Access Netflix, Hulu, CBS, ABC, Pandora and More Outside The US

Tunlr is a free DNS service that lets you use U.S.-based on-demand Internet streaming providers, such as Netflix, Hulu, CBS, MTV, ABC, Pand...

+ Read more »

Raspberry Pi Configuration Manager `PiCon` Lets You Configure Your Pi Using A GUI

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>PiCon is a <a href="http://www.raspberrypi.org/">Raspberry Pi</a> configuration manager which lets you make changes to the <i>config.txt</i> file using a GUI</b>. The <i>config.txt</i> file is used to store various system parameters that you would normally set from the BIOS, but Raspberry Pi doesn't have a conventional BIOS and thus, it uses this file for such settings.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/picon.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="picon raspberry pi configuration manager" border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj99oYofE5a4vY_q4sZ6cwplAC4at3LDB4sbvzRQyHEklJUCCibxSUI-ZILoHWPl1_SsXILlzgffGnUObHzppXk-ftH-hlOZGYkmwiYVNwzglKaBLU6RCkpQiF6gbTLdzU6FI483HgdMV0/s320/picon.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The application is designed to run on a host system </b>(works on Windows, Linux and Mac since it's written in Java) <b>and not directly on the Raspberry Pi</b>. It is possible to run the app on Raspberry Pi, but the performance is pretty bad.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><b>Raspberry Pi Configuration Manager (PiCon) can be used to change settings such as:</b><br /><ul><li><b>video output controls</b>: switch between NTSC and PAL, change the aspect ratio, rotate the screen, overscan configuration, enable fixed framebuffer, change the HDMI display modes, force or disable sound, force HDMI 3D support, HDMI boost, use HDMI safe mode and more;</li><li><b>overclock</b> the CPU, GPU and SDRam;</li><li><b>advanced overclocking</b>: overvoltage the GPU or SDRAM, force turbo, initial (temporary) turbo, change the GPU processor frequency, the hardware video block frequency, 3D block frequency, image sensors pipeline block frequency as well as setting a temperature limit (sets clock and voltages to to default when the temperature reaches a certain value);</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>To use PiCon in Linux</b>, firstly <a href="http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=52441">download</a> and extract the archive in your home directory. Then, put the SD card into your computer, access the boot partition (normally, when you insert an SD card on your computer on which you've installed a Raspberry Pi Linux distribution, two partitions should be mounted: the smaller one - 73 MB for my RaspBMC -, is the boot partition) and copy the <i>config.txt</i> file from this partition into the PiCon folder:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/picon-configtxt.png"><img alt="raspberry pi boot partition" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/picon-configtxt_thumb.png" /></a> </div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">To launch PiCon, use the following command (obviously, make sure you've installed Java before this):</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>java -jar ~/PiCon*/PiCon.jar</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Make the changes you want and click "Save Settings" - this will write the changes to the <i>config.txt</i> file which you must copy back to the SD card boot partition.</div><br /><b><a href="http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=52441">Download PiCon</a>, the Raspberry Pi Configuration Manager</b>

Raspberry Pi Configuration Manager `PiCon` Lets You Configure Your Pi Using A GUI

PiCon is a Raspberry Pi configuration manager which lets you make changes to the config.txt file using a GUI . The config.txt file is use...

+ Read more »

Map Keyboard/Mouse Input To Your Gamepad With AntiMicro

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://www.ryochan7.com/projects/antimicro/">AntiMicro</a> is an application that can be used to map keyboard and mouse keys to gamepad buttons, useful for playing games with no gamepad support.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The application, written in C++ using Qt for the graphical framework, has been created as a replacement for <a href="http://qjoypad.sourceforge.net/">QJoyPad</a> which unfortunately is no longer being maintained.</div><br /><a name='more'></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/antimicro.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRiiPZ5hrEW7oIviuqa5i4I1Lhq8iCINu4UM4NGGCwFCLF_kwMVMx_YldywBdRP6UOCghom_C7ZZ2PiifVTUyc_3LZbdfGdOGNwxDv2U5ioG1JYasWnfAWztMs-tkioYuCu3AbM5xTq7U/s320/antimicro.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;">AntiMicro features controller stick support, 8-way controls, virtual Dpad support, profiles that can be loaded via command line and more.</div>Compared to QJoyPad, the application comes with some extra features like assigning multiple keys to one controller button (for example Shift+Tab to bring up the Steam overlay interface in a game), macros for button presses which lets you add conditional actions, change button configurations on the fly and there's also a tray icon that works under Unity. Furthermore, AntiMicro has better mouse movement support.</div><br /><br /><h2>Basic usage</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">To assign a keyboard or mouse key to gamepad buttons, press a button on your gamepad and the corresponding button in the AntiMicro user interface should be highlighted:</div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/antimicro-highlight.png"><img alt="AntiMicro" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/antimicro-highlight_thumb.png" /></a></div><br />Then, click the highlighted button from the AntiMicro user interface and assign it to a keyboard or mouse key:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/antimicro-keyboard.png"><img alt="AntiMicro" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/antimicro-keyboard_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/antimicro-mouse.png"><img alt="AntiMicro" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/antimicro-mouse_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">You can also click the "Quick set" button at the bottom of the AntiMicro window, then press a button or move an axis on the joystick and a window will show up allowing you to assign it a key.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">When assigning a key, you can select to use turbo or toggle modes:</div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>turbo: when the button is pressed on the joystick, the corresponding key acts as if the button was pressed multiple times. The delay/rate can be set under Advanced;</li><li>toggle: a simple press of the Joystick button leaves it virtually pressed. Pressing it again stops it.</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Below you can watch an AntiMicro demo with Left 4 Dead 2, recorded by its developer:</div><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/0s59cL_Vvoo" width="480"></iframe><br />(<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s59cL_Vvoo">direct video link</a>)</center><br /><br /><h2>Download AntiMicro</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.ryochan7.com/projects/antimicro/">Download AntiMicro</a> - there are packages available for Ubuntu/Debian, Arch Linux and Gentoo as well as the source code.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Report any bugs you may find @ <a href="https://github.com/Ryochan7/antimicro">GitHub</a>.</div><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>via <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/">Reddit</a></i></div>

Map Keyboard/Mouse Input To Your Gamepad With AntiMicro

AntiMicro is an application that can be used to map keyboard and mouse keys to gamepad buttons, useful for playing games with no gamepad su...

+ Read more »

Lightweight Ubuntu Software Center Alternative `AppGrid` Now Available For Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10 and 13.10

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>AppGrid</b>, the lightweight (but proprietary) Ubuntu Software Center alternative which we covered <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/08/app-grid-new-lightweight-ubuntu.html" title="App Grid: New Lightweight Ubuntu Software Center Alternative">recently</a>, was updated yesterday and it <b>should now work on Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10 and 13.10</b>. <b>Initially, the application was only available for Ubuntu 13.04</b>.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/appgrid-0.1.58.png" imageanchor="1" rel="image_group" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="AppGrid" border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPTaDON0gBgeqobmmIR1XBNzgtGX_UfncStLcWkL3OYQr_LbKUvfc3hknpvYxxTyhFBjRSoaPFRDA5dvK2e7ebWjA7caWPMaRvDwT-EbiDyXqr7voOIOJbRXumnon9XLbnt0WGzrpY5Gw/s320/appgrid-0.1.58.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The latest AppGrid also introduces some UI changes, such as:</b></div><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">increased spacing in the home screen;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">the icon overlays have been removed from the thumbnails. Now the ratings turn green if an application is installed;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">removed orange line from tile to make rating clearer;</li><li style="text-align: justify;">added hints to details view.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a el="image_group" href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/appgrid-0.1.58-app.png"><img alt="AppGrid" src="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/appgrid-0.1.58-app_thumb.png" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Other changes include very basic RTL support, updated icons, the search box should now grab focus on startup and of course, many bug fixes.</div><br /><br /><br /><h2>Install AppGrid in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>To install AppGrid in Ubuntu, use the following commands:</b></div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo add-apt-repository ppa:appgrid/stable<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install appgrid</code></pre><br />Currently, the application doesn't work on elementary OS or Linux Mint.<br /><br />Report any bugs you may find @ <a href="https://bugs.launchpad.net/appgrid">Launchpad</a>.

Lightweight Ubuntu Software Center Alternative `AppGrid` Now Available For Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10 and 13.10

AppGrid , the lightweight (but proprietary) Ubuntu Software Center alternative which we covered recently , was updated yesterday and it shou...

+ Read more »

Free Turn-Based Strategy Game `Freeciv` 2.4.0 Released

<div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://freeciv.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page">Freeciv</a> is a free and open source turn-based strategy game inspired by Sid Meier's Civilization. The game supports both single-player and multiplayer game modes and is available for Linux, Windows, Mac OS X<sup style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: top;">*</sup>, <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.org.zielinscy.freeciv">Android</a> and there's even a <a href="http://play.freeciv.org/">HTML5 version</a> you can play using only a web browser.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/freeciv-2.4.0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Freeciv 2.4.0" border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQZRpsbDnrriOAe9ZHMrMk9wvu0iA-cgFa5IL29gEprVcoKgkvMbfcyeoI4ddohlbMuKMRTVSUnD7x01wjZnuTW12Dbq6YvgHBkJG4EmXu0hyhEF2DMZq8IaWXOs_wmgx9cwghGl2tjfA/s320/freeciv-2.4.0.png" width="320" /></a></div></div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">The game supports up to 126 players, AI players, Internet and LAN mltiplayer and features 50 playable units, over 300 nations, modpack support as well as a nice in-game help system. Also, Freeciv is highly configurable and can be played in multiple modes: Freeciv, Civilization, Civilization II or a custom mode.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>After more than 2 years of development, Freeciv 2.4.0 has been released recently, introducing a huge list of improvements and bug fixes, such as:</b></div><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>the maximum theoretical map size has increased from 128,000 to 2,048,000 tiles; the maximum linear map dimension has increased from 512 to 32,768;</li><li>the number of playable nations has increased from 387 to 541;</li><li>the server now supports a "delegation" feature similar to that in Longturn, where one user can nominate another to temporarily take over control of the game;</li><li>there is a new "map image" feature to save an overview map as an image</li><li>new server settings: "revealmap" allows the map to be shown to all players at game start or dead players and "first_timeout" allows the first turn to have a different timeout from subsequent turns;</li><li>revamped player authentication;</li><li>player colors are now assigned centrally, and can be changed with the "/playercolor" server command;</li><li>the 'autosaves' setting gives finer control over when savegames are generated;</li><li>the freeciv-modpack utility supports more modpack types, more options (see --help), and uses the Curl library for network access;</li><li>the AI code has been heavily refactored, with a view to making it easier for people to start their own projects to write better Freeciv AI;</li><li>the unit selection dialog has been revamped to allow browsing and selecting units by combinations of location and activity, anywhere in the world;</li><li>the orientation of units is now tracked, so tilesets can provide different graphics for different unit orientations;</li><li>Many gameplay, AI and other changes.</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">This release also introduces a GTK3 client which, even though is fully playable, is currently considered experimental. The GTK3 client should become default in the next major release. Also, work has started for a new Qt client but for now it's not usable.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>For a complete list of changes, see <a href="http://freeciv.wikia.com/wiki/NEWS-2.4.0">THIS</a> page.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Note: 2.4 clients cannot interoperate with servers older than version 2.4 and vice versa.</div><br /><br /><h2>Install Freeciv 2.4 in Ubuntu</h2><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ubuntu 13.04 and 12.04</b> users can install the latest Freeciv 2.4 by using the <a href="http://www.playdeb.net/updates/Ubuntu/13.04#how_to_install">PlayDeb repository</a>. Because PlayDeb seems down at the time I'm writing this article, I suggest <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2010/05/getdeb-playdeb-repositories-down-what.html" title="GetDeb, PlayDeb Repositories Down - What To Do? Use This Mirror!">using a mirror</a> which you can add by using the commands below:</div><br /><b>- Ubuntu 13.04, Linux Mint 15, etc.:</b><br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>echo "deb http://mirrors.dotsrc.org/getdeb/ubuntu raring-getdeb games" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/playdeb.list<br />echo "deb-src http://mirrors.dotsrc.org/getdeb/ubuntu raring-getdeb games" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/playdeb.list</code></pre><br /><b>- Ubuntu 12.04, Linux Mint 13, elementary OS Luna:</b><br /><pre class="linux-code"><code>echo "deb http://mirrors.dotsrc.org/getdeb/ubuntu precise-getdeb games" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/playdeb.list<br />echo "deb-src http://mirrors.dotsrc.org/getdeb/ubuntu precise-getdeb games" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/playdeb.list</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Then, add the repository key, update the software sources and<b> install the Freeciv 2.4 GTK client</b> using the following commands:</div><pre class="linux-code"><code>sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com 46D7E7CF<br />sudo apt-get update<br />sudo apt-get install freeciv-client-gtk</code></pre><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The PlayDeb repository provides the stable GTK2 client and not the new experimental GTK3 client.</div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b><a href="http://freeciv.wikia.com/wiki/Download">Download Freeciv</a></b> (Windows binaries, source code)</div><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">^* Mac OS X packages are no longer being created for new releases. The latest Mac version available is 2.3.0.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><i>via <a href="http://www.le-libriste.fr/2013/09/ubuntu-12-04-13-04-freeciv-2-4-0-toujours-plus-grand/">Le-Libriste.fr</a></i></div>

Free Turn-Based Strategy Game `Freeciv` 2.4.0 Released

Freeciv is a free and open source turn-based strategy game inspired by Sid Meier's Civilization. The game supports both single-player a...

+ Read more »

Football Manager 2014 Release Date Announced

<div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Sports Interactive has <a href="http://www.sigames.com/news/14272/Release+date+announced++Whats+new+in+FM14++Tech+video+blog">announced</a> that Football Manager 2014 will be released on October 31. </b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1113424/img/steam-football-manager-2014-linux.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Football Manager 2014 Steam Linux" border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0wtFt2F6Fy9DrTCxpGc7WL4zFG-HxCYZhvaT46DX97c_3DgESXnALfUq-TGh7E-TQUBIDfE2KFcLkLS6pmh4jvRDWCrMO-JGoJqEuCIEsAR0vRkkhkI0Mbqu1trZcZFBV2-3RXQTG0DI/s320/steam-football-manager-2014-linux.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: justify;">As you probably know, the popular football (soccer) management simulation game will finally be <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2013/05/football-manager-game-coming-to-linux.html">available for Linux</a> with this release.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The announcement also states that if you pre-oder FM14, you'll get access to a fully-playable beta version two weeks prior the official release date.</div><br />On Linux, the game will have the following system requirements:<br /><ul><li>CPU: 1,8Ghz+</li><li>Memory: 1GB RAM</li><li>Graphics: NVidia GeForce 7300 GT, AMD Radeon HD 2400 Pro, Intel HD 3000/4000: 128MB VRAM</li><li>3GB of HDD available space</li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Below you can watch a video that presents the match day changes in Football Manager 2014:</div><br /><center><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/gSQlmlClC8U" width="480"></iframe><br />(<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSQlmlClC8U">direct video link</a>)</center><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">You can pre-order Football Manager 2014 via <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/231670/">Steam</a> or its <a href="http://www.footballmanager.com/lang/en_GB#buynow">website</a> (49,99€ / $49,99 / £34.99).</div>

Football Manager 2014 Release Date Announced

Sports Interactive has announced that Football Manager 2014 will be released on October 31. As you probably know, the popular football (soc...

+ Read more »