Ubuntu Vibes | Daily Ubuntu Linux Updates

Unity Dash Extension for Gnome Shell Now Available for Download

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Wed, 30 May 2012 06:04:00 +0000

Zac Barton has released Bolt, a Unity Dash like menu extension for Gnome Shell.

He describes it as:

A launcher thats a fusion of the Ubuntu dash, the Gnome-shell overview and the classic Gnome 2 menu which replaces the overview.

Features:

Allows you to see recent apps, docs and downloads using Zeitgeist
See applications in their categories - filtering made easy
Search for apps, docs etc
Blurs background
Matches background color

The extension has lots of options and you can configure it to suit your needs.

Download Bolt

Upcoming Changes:

Workspace management
Improved themeing support

Integrated search-provider extensions
Changing icon sizes
Changing "Bolt" text and/or show an icon
Drag to resize

Overgrowth 3D Action Game Gets Linux Build [Alpha]

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Mon, 28 May 2012 10:27:00 +0000

A native Linux build has been released for Wolfire Games' massively popular 3D action adventure and fighting game Overgrowth.

This initial support for Linux comes with 180th alpha build of Overgrowth. We have been watching Overgrowth videos for a long time now and finally Linux support will please those who pre-ordered the game. If you were waiting solely for Linux support, you can pre-order it now for $30 but keep in mind it is very much an alpha of an alpha.

Check out the latest video:

For more videos check out their Youtube Channel.

New Ubuntu Phone Concept

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Mon, 28 May 2012 06:24:00 +0000

Christian Jabasa has designed a very interesting mockup for Ubuntu Phone using core elements of Unity interface like lenses, global search bar and Zeitgeist based event system for recent files and apps.

The concept has similarities with iOS but it does look neat with Unity lenses. Faenza icon set has been used instead of default Humanity icons. A two finger swipe can be used to switch between home, apps and other lenses.

SVG files for the mockup can be downloaded from here.

OpenMW 0.15.0 Released

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Mon, 28 May 2012 05:52:00 +0000

OpenMW is a free, open source and cross platform port of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind game engine. The project is currently under development and new updates are released regularly.

The latest update (version 0.15) brings many new features like re-implementation of the physics and player movement system, terrain collision and many newly-implemented GUI elements.

Full changelog:

Reimplemented physics system/player movement
Implemented terrain collision
Implemented pulsating lights
Implemented Magic Effect Bookkeeping, and Feather/Burden effects
Implemented Book and Scroll windows
Implemented Inventory, Container, and Trade windows
Implemented item stacking in containers
Implemented tooltips for items in the world, and many GUI elements
Added faction and other information to Stats window
Fixed Resizing arrow’s background transparency
Fixed Stats window layout when resizing in the X direction
Long topics in dialog window now wrap and sort correctly, and other dialogue window fixes
Fixed terrain handling in non-predefined cells

OpenMW 0.15 video:

Upcoming in version 0.16: Implementation of skills, magic and attributes. Full roadmap here.

OpenMW can be easily installed on Ubuntu from PPA. Run the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openmw/openmw
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install openmw

Downloads for other Linux distributions can be found here. Do note that you will need the original game data and it needs to be extracted using Wine. Proper instructions can be found in this video by Linux Game Cast.

'The Journey Down: Chapter One' Now Available in Ubuntu Software Center

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Sat, 26 May 2012 06:59:00 +0000

Point and click adventure game The Journey Down: Chapter One has been released on Ubuntu Software Center, just one week after its official release.

About the Game

In the first chapter of The Journey Down, the search for a lost journal leads to forgotten secrets of the mysterious Underland. Follow Bwana and Kito as they puzzle their way forward and begin to uncover the true fate of their long lost father, Captain Kaonandodo.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has reviewed it very positively though being very short. Check out the trailer.

The game can be purchased for $13.99 from USC and Desura if you prefer.

Orion GTK3 Theme Updated

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Sat, 26 May 2012 06:32:00 +0000

Orion GTK3 theme by Satya is probably the best light theme having proper support for Unity. The theme has been updated recently bringing even better integration.

New changes include rewrite of mutter and metacity themes to fix roundness and border issues, fix for text color in system settings, fixes to fallback mode panel and removal of pixbuf engine dependency.

Download Orion GTK by running commands below (works with Unity, Gnome Shell and Classic mode):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:satyajit-happy/themes

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install orion-gtk-theme

Faenza icon theme goes well with Orion, install it by running commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tiheum/equinox

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install faenza-icon-theme

"Because We May" - Big Sale of Linux Games

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:15:00 +0000

From May 24th to June 1st, World of Goo creator Ron Carmel is arranging a sale of 383 indie games by roughly 180 developers in an enormous event titled Because We May.

The event’s website allows you to view all the offered games and link to their purchase pages. Games are available on Steam, Google Play, App Store, Desura, Indievania and even directly from the developers.

These games support a variety of platforms including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS. About 28 Linux games can be purchased for big discounts from here and here.

If you would like to purchase games for other platforms, visit the official page.

Thanks to Mike Shutlar | via TIGSource

Ubisoft's Popular 3D Game 'From Dust' Now Playable on Linux, Thanks to Native Client

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:59:00 +0000

Ubisoft's award winning 3D game From Dust is now playable on Linux via Google Chrome and Native Client (NaCl).

From Dust has been released earlier on Xbox 360 and PS3 and it has pretty impressive visuals. In the game you assume a god-like first-person perspective. You have to control nature and master the elements for the survival of your people. Ubisoft describes it as a 'spiritual successor' to genre defining game Populous.

The game is very CPU/GPU intensive, so you will need a modern system with a decent graphic card to play it. On my system, the game worked beautifully at medium settings except for the intro part which lagged a bit. Also, the game has support for full screen and mouselock APIs giving you a near native gaming experience on Linux.

Follow the instructions below to install the game:

Make sure you have latest Google Chrome Beta (or Dev). The game will not work on stable version as it requires some new features available in Chrome beta only. As far as Chromium is concerned, I haven't been able to run any NaCl game on it so far, but you can try anyway.
Make sure that Native Client is enabled in chrome://flags
Type chrome://gpu in address bar. If you see WebGL or Compositing options in red color under Graphics Feature Status, follow the step below.
Type chrome://flags in address bar and enable Override software rendering list (browser restart required)
Download From Dust from Chrome Web Store
Launch the game and wait for it to download required content. Double click to go full screen.

Ubuntu Precise Pangolin Radiance Gnome Shell Theme

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:17:00 +0000

Half left has created a Radiance version of his popular Precise Pangolin Gnome Shell Theme which is based on Ambiance GTK3 theme.

It looks as beautiful as Ambiance version and if you love light themes, get it from here to complete your collection.

Instructions

Use User Theme Extension and Gnome Tweak Tool to switch Gnome Shell themes. Gnome Tweak Tool can be installed from Ubuntu Software Center. User Theme extension can be installed by running commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:satyajit-happy/themes

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions

[Kickstarter] Lodestar: Stygian Skies - Tactical Science Fiction RPG for Linux

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:51:00 +0000

Lodestar: Stygian Skies (LSS) is a new voxel based tactical science fiction role playing game by SudoPlay indie game studio.

The game is set in the distant future on a planet residing within a cataclysmic variable star system. LSS falls loosely into the category of hard science fiction, and will include xeno-drones, re-purposed quasi humans, adaptive sub-quantum xenobiological nanotechnology, genocidal paraterraforming, and quantum mass weapons. All power is derived from the alien technology and traditional electricity is unstable due to the massive electromagnetic fields produced by the CV star system.

LSS is being developed on Linux using tools like GIMP, Java, LWJGL etc. and it will be released for Linux first, with a Windows version following close behind. The classes and combat mechanics are loosely based on Open Game License (OGL) content, which will be available to the public under the same license.

SudoPlay is currently seeking funds on Kickstarter to further develop LSS and a DRM free copy for Linux can be ensured for $16.

So far the project has raised about $1.3k with final target being $16k (24 days left). If the project reaches $35k, SudoPlay will release all the source code and game assets under open source licenses. The game is expected to be released in Jan 2014.

More gameplay footage can be found on their Youtube Channel.

Adventure Game 'The Journey Down: Chapter One' Released for Linux

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Sun, 20 May 2012 07:04:00 +0000

Indie game studio SkyGoblin has released a new point and click adventure game The Journey Down: Chapter One. The game is a commercial remake of their free adventure game with same title but it comes with new content, fully voiced cast and HD art and animations.

Game Story

In a shady corner of Kingsport Bay, at the outskirts of St Armando, Bwana and his trusted sidekick Kito struggle to make ends meet at their run-down gas station. Little do they know that they are about to be thrown into a spine-tingling adventure that will take them far from home and right into a twisting plot of corruption and danger. In the first chapter of The Journey Down, the search for a lost journal leads to forgotten secrets of the mysterious Underland. Follow Bwana and Kito as they puzzle their way forward and begin to uncover the true fate of their long lost father, Captain Kaonandodo.

The Journey Down: Chapter One is available on Desura for $13.99.

'Swords & Soldiers HD' Now Available on Gameolith

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Sun, 20 May 2012 06:41:00 +0000

Popular side-scrolling strategy game Swords and Soldiers HD is now available on Gameolith Linux game store.

In the game you control an entire army and wield devastating magical abilities. Your aim is to demolish your enemy’s castle at the end of these two-dimensional battlefields and lead your troops to victory.

Swords and Soldiers HD has a pretty good meta score of 84 and the game was part of a humble Indie Bundle. If you didn't get it then, the game is now available on Gameolith for just $10. This version features single-player campaign and the three challenge modes. No online modes supported.

Thanks to Mateusz Stachowski

Moebius Adventure Game Confirmed for Linux

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Sat, 19 May 2012 07:11:00 +0000

Gabriel Knight creator Jane Jensen is using Kickstarter to help launch her new studio – Pinkerton Road. Their first project is a story-driven, 3rd person adventure game Moebius.

Moebius will feature 2D, graphic novel like look and feel, a point-and-click mechanic and lots of sophisticated puzzles. The game will have two modes: Casual Mode (with hints, a hotspot finder and a simplified interface) and True Adventure (more challenging -- like the Gabriel Knight games).

Game Story

Malachi Rector is an antiquities dealer who hunts down artifacts all over the world. After his upscale Manhattan store is destroyed in a fire, he's hired by billionaire Amble Dexter to investigate a series of events and document them in his meticulous way.

The first event is the death of a young woman in Venice. She was found hanging from a bridge. As Rector investigates her life, compiling facts for his dossier, he realizes that the beautiful and talented young woman -- and the interrupted path of her life -- had great hidden significance. It appears that Amble Dexter and his associates are playing with the fabric of life in a way Rector never imagined was possible. Even he, Rector himself, is part of a larger pattern. He must figure out who is doing what, and whether their intentions are for good or ill, before he can decide if he will play his pre-scripted role -- or try to change the outcome.

Jane Jensen promised Linux support for Moebius if they reach $400k on Kickstarter and they have hit this target few hours back. There are are still 7 hours left for the campaign and you can become a CSG Supporter for $16.

CSG stands for Community Supported Gaming. The idea is that with your pledge you “join” the studio family for one year and you will get all the games produced that year. Current CSG “year” will run from the present through June of 2013.

So in simple words, by pledging $16, you can ensure Moebius for Linux. The studio may produce more games in first CSG year but only Moebius has been confirmed for Linux as of now.

Thanks to all those who sent tips

BIT.TRIP RUNNER Now Available in Ubuntu Software Center

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Sat, 19 May 2012 06:22:00 +0000

Popular 2.5D rhythm and running game BIT.TRIP RUNNER is now available in Ubuntu Software Center.

The game features:

Rhythm-based Action Platforming
Boss Battles Against Robotic Terrors
50+ Challenges
Classic NES-Style Controls
A Pounding Chiptune-Inspired Soundtrack

BIT.TRIP RUNNER was part of a Humble Indie Bundle but if you missed it, it can be now purchased from Ubuntu Software Center for $10.

Ubuntu Precise Pangolin Theme for Gnome Shell

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Sat, 19 May 2012 05:59:00 +0000

Half-left has designed yet another great theme for Gnome Shell. His latest theme is based on the look of Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin and it looks really beautiful.

Download Ubuntu Precise Pangolin Gnome Shell Theme

Instructions

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:satyajit-happy/themes
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions

Unity3D is Already Working on a Linux Port

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:52:00 +0000

Recently we reported that Wasteland 2 will use Unity3D game engine and Brian Fargo has been supplied the source code to make a Linux port.

Now, Brian has talked about this in details on inXile blog. Unity3D devs are already working on a Linux port which is currently in Alpha stages of development. Brian and Unity will work together to port Wasteland to Linux.

Some of you may remember that there were some leaks in past suggesting a Unity3D port for Linux.

We also wrote about this but the situation was not quite encouraging:

It's not a secret that people have been working on/off on Linux support during FAFF (Fridays Are For Fun) for a while. We've confirmed that a couple of times on the forum and elsewhere.

The fact remains though, that we're not ready to dedicate the required time and resources to take on the linux platform at this point in time.

In our last article about Unity3D, another Unity3D dev shared similar views that Linux version is not a priority.

So its not clear if this Linux alpha version is still being actively developed by Unity or it is merely result of FAFFs. But better late than never, lets hope these new efforts by Unity and Brian Fargo will finally bring support for Linux.

0 A.D. Alpha 10 'Jhelum' Released

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:23:00 +0000

Free and Open Source RTS Game 0 A.D. Alpha 10 'Jhelum' has been released. This alpha features Hellenic factions such as Athens, Macedonia and Sparta; technologies, civilization phases, click-and-drag walls, healing and more.

Changes in this release:

Civilization Phases: Start in Village, upgrade to Town, then to City. Unlock new techs and expand your territory with each upgrade.
Click-and-drag wall building functionality. (Support for gates is due in a future release.)
Healing units from their battle wounds is now possible by a priest conducting a ceremony with special chants within range. Priests can be trained at the Temple.
The Iberians get a pre-built walled settlement as a bonus every game.
Basic Technologies: Technologies, or techs, are economic or military bonuses that can be "researched" (bought) for resources at designated buildings.
New Hellenic Factions: Athenians, Macedonians and Spartans will now replace the generic Hellenic faction. Each features some unique characteristics along with shared Hellenic units and buildings.
New models/artwork, prettier unit/building selection rings, 9+new maps and new music tracks
Full changelog here

Why Alpha 10 has been codenamed as Jhelum:

"Jhelum" is the Indian name for the Hydaspes River in the Punjab region, and the site of a major battle between Alexander the Great against King Porus of the Hindu Paurava kingdom in 326 BC, located in modern-day Pakistan. Alexander won, but at a heavy cost, and the bravery, war skills and princely attitude of Porus so impressed Alexander, he allowed him to rule Hydaspes in Alexander's name. In honor of the decision to include Mauryan Indians in 0 A.D., we decided to dub Alpha 10 "Jhelum".

Download 0 A.D. Alpha 10

To add Ubuntu PPA, run the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wfg/0ad
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install 0ad

ElementaryLi, New GTK3 Theme Inspired by Elementary OS

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:41:00 +0000

ElementaryLi is a new GTK3 theme by sonnhy96. As the name suggests, it is based on Elementary OS theme and it has proper support for Ubuntu 12.04 and Unity.

The theme looks beautiful and nicely integrates with Ubuntu 12.04 except for System Settings which has some issues.

Download ElementaryLi

Instructions

Copy the folder elementaryLi on ~/.themes
Select the theme via Ubuntu Tweak or MyUnity

How iAcquire Uses Ubuntu and Open Source Software Across the Company

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Wed, 16 May 2012 08:01:00 +0000

Jeff Nappi, Director, Technology at iAcquire has recently blogged about their use of heavy use Ubuntu and open source software across the enterprise.

Its a wonderful read, I will quote some of the parts from the article here.

iAcquire specializes in digital marketing services and their fulfillment department has 45 happy Ubuntu users.

The single largest department at iAcquire is our fulfillment team and they currently work every day on dual-head Ubuntu 10.04 LTSP diskless workstations. These diskless workstations are what are known as Fat Clients – the entire operating system is loaded via a compressed disk image over our Gigabit LAN, authentication is done via SSH, and home directories are mounted via NFS. All applications are run locally and are very fast – it is nearly unnoticeable that the machine is running entirely over the network. Behind the scenes we have two powerful servers in a hot-standby configuration that serve these diskless clients.

Jeff cites a number of benefits like no virus threats and hardware failures, easy availability of software and no IT support time and cost.

They use popular Linux applications like Firefox, Thunderbird, Google Chrome, LibreOffice, Pidgin Instant Messenger and Spotify.

To date we have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in unnecessary costs by choosing Linux and open-source platforms.

They Love Precise Pangolin

Many iAcquire developers are currently using Ubuntu 12.04 on desktops and soon many workstations will be upgraded to Precise.

Several of the iAcquire developers are currently using Ubuntu 12.04 / Precise Pangolin on our desktops – including myself. And we really love it, it’s an extremely good user experience. Unfortunately we’re not yet able to share the awesome experience of Precise with the fulfillment team due to several squirrels (aka bugs) that are preventing us from deploying it. We will be doing more testing over the coming months and plan to share this experience with the rest of the iAcquire team as soon as we can.

Thanks to Jeff Nappi

Firefox Web Store Won't Support Linux Initially

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:34:00 +0000

Its well known that Mozilla is working on a Web Application Store for Firefox. However, first implementation of Web Store has no proper support for Linux.

As per this bug report, web apps desktop integration won't be available for Linux in first release of web marketplace. You won't to be able to install a web app from Firefox on your desktop and launch it like a native app.

Windows and Mac users have this feature in Nightly though and Mozilla's latest article on using Web Store doesn't have instructions for Linux.

If you try to install an app from https://apps.mozillalabs.com/appdir/ on Firefox Nightly, it will throw an error as shown in screenshot above.

Now, there has been a discussion on Google Groups where both Mozilla developers and community members have commented. One of the comments:

Linux support for apps is a nice to have because most of our users are not running Linux. I think we're supportive and absolutely willing to accept patches to make something work on Linux, but it's just not something that affects the 80% (I don't think it's even 10%, though I don't have any data handy). By definition, this is a nice to have, not a stop-ship feature.

And another one:

Linux is not another platform, it's the platform which shares our values about being open and the reason most people gets involved with mozilla, because they believe in libre software and in the open web. Not supporting linux is not supporting a big group of people that empowers mozilla, and not supporting them/us is not supporting mozilla. From my point of view if we are lack of resources for linux (both volunteers and paid staff), let's get more employees working on it or do a call for help to the community, it shouldn't be that hard.

After this debate, one of the Mozilla community member Marco Castelluccio has stepped up to implement this feature as a part of GSoC project. There is a wiki page on this here. But it won't land soon and expected time of full native Linux support for web marketplace is August, which is also the month of Firefox 15 release.

It should be noted that Mozilla's new B2G mobile OS is based on Linux and it will have Web Marketplace as well.

via InternetNews

$200 USB Stick Size Ubuntu PC 'Cotton Candy' Starts Shipping in May

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:46:00 +0000

FXI's Cotton Candy, A $200 USB stick size PC running Ubuntu and Android 4.0 will start shipping at the end of this month to anyone who has pre-ordered the device in back in February.

These devices were supposed to ship in March but a number of new changes had delayed the manufacturing process. New features include a more durable casing, a micro USB port and improved Android 4.0 support.

Unfortunately, FXI will not be taking new pre-orders until further announced as they have already received a large no of pre-orders than expected.

Cotton Candy features a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM processor, a quad-core ARM Mali-400MP GPU, a USB port for receiving power, a micro USB port, a micro SD card slot and a 1080p-ready HDMI port. The device has both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios for connecting to the Internet and pairing with devices like mice and keyboards.

Cotton Candy in action:

via Laptop Mag

Pixar's Toy Story 2 was Nearly Lost because of a Linux Command

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Tue, 15 May 2012 07:09:00 +0000

In 'The Movie Vanishes' short animation film by Pixar, Oren Jacob and Galyn Susman tell how a big part of Toy Story 2 was almost deleted because of an accidental Linux command 'rm' and poor backup system.

This short was included on the Toy Story 2 DVD extras.

Check out the video:

via Laughing Squid

Gnome Shell Theme 'Shine' Updated for Ubuntu 12.04

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:59:00 +0000

Satya has updated his his Gnome Shell theme 'Shine' making it compatible with latest Gnome 3.4 and Ubuntu 12.04.

Shine is a light theme that nicely blends transparency and usability, with smooth transition effects between different elements.

Download 'Shine'

Instructions

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:satyajit-happy/themes
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extensions

Wasteland 2 will Use Unity 3D Engine, Linux Support Coming?

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:23:00 +0000

By this time everybody should know that Wasteland 2 is coming to Linux. Brian Fargo managed to raise about $3 Million for the game from Kickstarter crowd funding.

Now yesterday, he tweeted that Wasteland 2 will use Unity 3D engine.

Unity 3D is a very powerful game engine that can handle advance 3D graphics and game physics and it is very popular among indie and big game houses.

While Unity 3D engine can run on a number of platforms: Windows and Mac (browser as well as standalone executables), Android, iOS, Wii, PS3 and XBox 360, there is no support for Linux.

Few days back we also reported that Unity 3D has no plans to support Linux despite that it is most requested feature.

Now, Wasteland using Unity 3D can finally bring Linux support. Brian Fargo has also tweeted that the game will have an executable and it won't be a browser game. So its quite possible that he have been talking to Unity 3D devs for Linux implementation.

For reference, below is a gameplay video of a Unity 3D game Shadowgun:

Update:

Brain Fargo's latest tweets:

We will be supporting Linux.

We have been supplied the source code to Unity for the express purpose of making the Linux version.

This is really awesome as I never really thought Unity 3D devs would supply source code of their engine to support Linux. Of course they have only done this after taking into consideration cost benefit ratio but still it is pretty cool.

From their FAQs:

How can I license or use Unity's source code?

We license Unity source code on a per-case and per-title basis via special arrangements made by our business development team. As this can be quite expensive, we do not generally license source code to smaller operations, educational institutions, nor to companies in countries which do not have adequate legal intellectual property protection.

And now more tweets:

Dynamite Jack, New Action Game Released for Linux

noreply@blogger.com (Nitesh) — Mon, 14 May 2012 07:57:00 +0000

Dynamite Jack is new stealth action game has been released for Linux.

You are Jack, a brave space marine, armed with only bombs and a flashlight, must escape the Anathema Mines. Use stealth to sneak past guards and bombs to obliterate enemies in this intense top-down action-adventure.

A DRM free copy of game can bought for $5 from here. Linux version is currently in beta and if you have some issues, follow the instructions here.

via Linux Gaming News