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| Mon 17 Mar 08 - Testing Ubuntu 7.10 - Part I |
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Intro
I'm a Microsoft OS user since the very first days of my involvement with PCs. A few years back I've tried and tested other alternatives and by alternatives I mean Linux. At first I found Linux fluid, difficult to understand and chaotic. Lots of time was needed to learn it and I didn't had the patience to dive that deep. The following years I continued working in windows but gradually I stared to use free software (like blender, openoffice, vlc, firefox, fillezilla etc) and developing portable code (using opengl, sdl, php, mysql etc). Two days ago I've installed a Linux distro once more to test again. I've picked Ubuntu 64bit cause its the simplest of all and widely used among the community. The past 2 days I move my “habits” to the new OS and its about time to tell a few words about my progress.
The first appeal
Installing Ubuntu is a piece of cake, you can actually test it before installing it and see if it suits you. I had encounter a problem during boot with the slash screen but with a little web search a solution came up. Installing programs in Ubuntu is a piece of cake also, you search the web for the best mp3 player -for example- and from add/remove tool or synaptics manager you install it, simple as that. The OS is pretty fast too but the memory consumption is very high. Optimizing the memory will take some time but for now its ok. As far as the speed I've managed to benchmark blender and the results came better than the windows xp version. Flash player for Firefox don't have native 64bit support... shame on adobe. All the drivers for all the devices installed at once and without me touching anything. For the first time I could test Linux with hardware 3d acceleration.
The alternative applications
Unfortunately I didn't managed over the years to jump entirely from windows applications to open source ones. There are some windows applications that surpass the opensource ones. What are those applications and what about an alternative? Lets see:
Winamp --> Amarok: Ok winamp is a great player and has no competition but Amarok is pretty good also. It has library db and hotkeys to change tracks. I don't really care about other features.
Notepad++ --> Still searching: Notepad++ is great and you can install it in wine but I will search for an native solution.
MSN -> aMSN: aMSN doesn't support all the features of his windows cousin and it looks very ugly also. I didn't encounter lots of problems though. The program is in the early stages of development so I will give it a break.
Visual Studio -> gcc & codeblocks: Unfortunately VS is the best development IDE for C++ and this is the only time that I will say a “congratulations” to M$. VS is by far better than anything around. The IDE has countless options and the compiler produces very fast code. Codeblocks is similar to VS without the make nonsense. VS is the only thing that gives me second thoughts about Linux (and because I have countless source organized in VS projects)
Photoshop -> gimp OR wine photoshop cs 2: I haven't tried to install photoshop in wine but GIMP is not as good.
What Linux needs to reach the top
The first big thing that Linux needs is Adobe's attention. If suites like photoshop, illustrator, deamweaver, flash and others will make it to Linux many professionals will make the switch. Another issue is drivers. Even if I didn't encounter problems with my system I read about lots of usupported devices around. Fortunately driver problems keep reducing. Another issue is games, I don't expect solution to come up and this is unlikely to change in the future even if like to see games like penumbra, UT3 and enemy territory to have Linux versions.
Final thoughts
Im really happy because this time I feel that Linux made great progress and I like it. I hope I will stick for some time or ever make the switch. The testing will continue. |
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| Tue 29 Jan 08 - GAMES - Most wanter games of 2008 |
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This is another post about video games. Its not my intention to bore my hundreds of readers with video games again but unfortunately I dont have anything else worth telling.... actually there is something but its kind of secret. Anyway there is my most wanted list for 2008.
No 4 "GTA IV": GTA is not yet confirmed for PC but it will probably ship to our machines and probably this year. The fourth GTA installment is going to have modern graphics and a more realistic world, simulation wise. It uses endorphin motion engine (more info about this technology in previous blog) and I would like to see that tech in action. By the end of April will know more news.
No 3 "Fallout 3": Fallouts were those games you cant easily forget. The mix of atmosphere, interactivity, the choices and the rotten post apocalyptic world created one of the most respected franchises in PC world. The third installment comes from a different developer, Bethesda, known for Oblivion and Morowind, both great games. Lets just hope that they will deliver the same old Fallout filling of the post apocalyptic desert even if that they are not the original creators.
No 2 "STALKER Clear Sky": The best 2007 games gets a prequel. Clear Sky is the same as its predecessor but without its flaws. Slightly better graphics, improved animation system, better models and more polishing.
No 1 "Duke Nukem Forever": Duke Nukem 4 is a long story but hopefully it comes to an end. This year will probably make it to the shelfs and we are all filled with curiosity. Will 10 years of development worth it or not? Unfortunately there are no more info about the game.
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| Thu 20 Dec 07 - Duke Nukem Forever teaser - The Verdict |
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Ive just seen the DNF teaser trailer. There is not much to tell from just a teaser but some things are pretty obvious. The Duke is back, the feeling/atmosphere are almost the same even if the game doesnt look so cartoony anymore. The only bad thing is the graphics I think. They look outdated ( no self shadowing, low rez textures, low rez polys ). The graphics may not be so good but lets hope that the gameplay will compensate us.
"Looking for an alien toilet to park my bricks. Who's first?" |
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| Wed 19 Dec 07 - Duke Nukem: "Come and get some" |
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After almost 10 years of development, numerous delays and 6 years of complete media silence, Duke Nukem will expose himself. Apparently George Broussard (CEO of 3DRealms) announced that a teaser of Duke Nukem Forever will be online sometime today.
The game (accidentally) created great hype all these years and its well known that with great hype comes harsh judgment. Lets hope that the game will fill our expectations and the gamers and press wont get unfairly judgmental.
Check the official statement at 3drealms official forum |
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| Thu 22 Nov 07 - Top 7 games of 2007 |
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2007 is without doubt the best video game year ever (and games aside it is still the best... <3 Alice). We have seen lots of good games during this period and we except even more. As an old FPS(First Person Shooter) and action games fan I will list my top 7 for this year. I remind you that the following are purely subjective. I also compare the single player campaigns cause I dont get really excited playing online.
No 7 “Gears of War”: I've recently finished the game on PC and I still cant understand why the fuzz was all about. Graphics aside, the game is a crap. Brainless objectives, even brainless dialogs, uninspired levels, the same enemies all the time, the same battles again and again. Epic is a great developer and they made this game to boost xbox360's sales. They did boost the sales but this doesn't mean that GoW will fit to the sophisticated PC gaming world too. Score 60%
No 6 “Call of Duty 4”: CoD4 is a good game and it would have been higher in my list. Unfortunately there are better games out there. CoD4 is the definition of polishing. Everything runs, looks, feels as it should, from start to finish. The story is nothing special (there is no need after all) but the ending is one of the best Ive ever seen. The only bad is that the action is too fast and it looses in realism. Score 75%
No 5 “Valve's Orange Box”: HL2 episode 2 and Portal are great but the rest of the package is out of my interest. You can read more about O.B. in a previous blog. Score 80%
No 4 “Bioshock”: Great story, some inovations, great atmosphere, great levels. You can read more in a previous blog. Score 85%
No 3 “Dark Messiah of Might and Magic”: Unfortunately we are speaking about a really underrated game. It introduced lots of innovations in gameplay, many of them were seen in Bioshock too but DmoMM introduced them first. The levels were spectacular, the battles are the greatest ever, the enemies lots, some good RPG elements, the use of the environment. On the other side the game didn't use Source engine as it should. It was really heavy, and graphically unpolished. Score 88%
No 2 “Crysis”: The developer promised allot, the marketing was excessive and the publisher is EA. Fortunately Crysis delivered what it promised. As for the graphics and the technology I will only say that Crysis is 2 years ahead of everything. But the game is not only graphics. The battles are SPECTACULAR. You have an objective and you choose the way you want to do it: Stealthy? Guns blazing? Tactical? Go with a vehicle, put cloak mode, do what you have to do and leave before everyone finds out? Go from the road? Go through the forest? Through the sea? Anything is possible and thats the power of Crysis: Freedom. The world is soooo lifelike and realistic. Enemies patrolling the forests, they have road blocks, bunkers, frogs, chickens, crabs. The only bad thing is that the game is not polished from the second half and the story isn't something spectacular. Score 90%
And the winter is.... “STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl”: There are lots mentions about Stalker in this blog and here is one more. The game has the best feeling in weapons, good RPG elements, great levels, lots of enemies, its tactical, it lies in a post apocalyptic world. All the great elements in one package. The only bad is that its unpolished even now, 9 months after the release. The guys at CSC should pay more attention to the support. Score 92%
There are some more games waiting to be played (the witcher, UT3) but the above are more than enough. After all there are more interesting games than video games. |
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