MySQL, Java, JSP, Servlet, Tomcat and Jboss Web Hosting Blog

Chapter 23 . Gaming with Linux 627 Game Description Cardgames Patience Choose from nine different solitaire card games. Kpoker Video poker clone. Play five-card draw, choosing which cards to hold and which to throw. Lieutenant Skat Play the card game Skat. Megami Play four blackjack hands against a dealer. Tactics and Strategy KJumping Cube Click squares to increase numbers and take over adjacent squares. Katomic Move pieces to create different chemical compounds. Konquest Expand your interstellar empire in this multiplayer game. Kolor Lines Move marbles to form five-in-a-row and score points. Kmines Minesweeper clone. Click safe spaces and avoid the bombs. Ksokoban The Japanese warehouse keeper game. SameGame Erase game pieces to score points. The games on the KDE menu range from amusing to quite challenging. If you are used to playing games in Windows, KMines and Patience will seem like old favorites. KAsteroids and KPoker are good for the mindless game category. For a mental challenge (it s harder than it looks), try KSokoban. For a challenging multiuser game on the GNOME menu, try Freeciv. And, of course, there is Chess (XBoard version of gnuchess). Boson (http://bosun.eu.org) is a fun, real-time strategy that runs on KDE desktops. Although the game is still in its early stages of development (0.10 release), it s a good way to try out the capabilities of your gaming hardware in Linux. You can download it from http://boson.eu.org/download.php. The following sections describe a couple of the more interesting games distributed with, or available for, common Linux distributions. Chess Games Chess was one of the first games played on computer systems. While the game hasn t changed over the years, the way it s played on computers has. Most chess programs that come with Linux let you play against the computer (in text or graphical modes), Note
Go visit our java server pages services for a reliable, lowcost webhost to satisfy all your needs.

626 Part IV . Running Applications KDE Games A bunch of games are available for the KDE desktop environment. (In Fedora Core 4, these games come in the kdegames package.) Table 23-2 contains a list of KDE games that come with Fedora Core 4. There may be a different set of games included with your Linux distribution. Table 23-2 Games for the KDE Desktop Game Description Arcade Games Kasteroids Destroy asteroids in the classic arcade game. Kbounce Add walls to block in bouncing balls. KFoul Eggs Squish eggs in this Tetris-like game. Klickety Click color groups to erase blocks in this adaptation of Clickomania. Kolf Play a round of virtual golf. Ksirtet Tetris clone. Try to fill in lines of blocks as they drop down. KsmileTris Tetris with smiley faces. KsnakeRace Race your snake around a maze. KspaceDuel Fire at another spaceship as you spin around a planet. Ktron Snake-style race game. Board Games Atlantik Play this Monopoly-like game against other players on the network. KBackgammon Online version of backgammon. Kbattleship Sink the opponent s battleship in this online version of the board game. KblackBox Find hidden balls by shooting rays. Kenolaba Move game pieces to push opponents pieces off the board. Kmahjongg Classic oriental tile game. Kreversi Flip game pieces to outmaneuver the opponent. Shisen-Sho Tile game similar to Mahjongg. Kwin4 Drop colored pieces to get four pieces in a row.
In case you need affordable webhost to host your website, our recommendation is ecommerce web host services.

Chapter 23 . Gaming with Linux 625 Table 23-1 GNOME Games Game Description AisleRiot (solitaire) Lets you select from among 28 different solitaire card games. Chess Gnuchess game in X. (Runs the xboard and gnuchess commands.) Chromium Configuration Set options such as skill level, screen size, and sound for Chromium. Chromium Deliver supplies to troops in battle in this action game. FreeCell A popular solitaire card game. Freeciv (Isometric tileset) In this strategy game, you try to lead your civilization to extinguish all others. (Uses Isometric tile set to represent cities, oceans, and other terrain.) Freeciv Server (new game) Server program needed to play Freeciv. Ataxx Board game where you flip over circles to consume enemy pieces. Lines Match five colored balls in a row to score points. Four-In-A-Row Drop balls to beat the game at making four in a row. Nibbles Steer a worm around the screen while avoiding walls. Robots Later version of Gnobots, which includes movable junk heaps. Mines Minesweeper clone. Click on safe spaces and avoid the bombs. Stones Move around a cave, collect diamonds, and avoid rocks. Tetravex A clone of Tetravex from the GNOME project. Move blocks so that numbers on each side align. Klotski Move pieces around to allow one piece to escape. Tali Yahtzee clone. Roll dice to fill in categories. Iagno Flip black and white chips to maneuver past the opponent. Maelstrom Navigate a spaceship through an asteroid field. Mahjongg Classic Asian tile game. Same GNOME Eliminate clusters of balls for high score. PenguinPlanet Racer Steer a penguin as he races down a hill on his belly.
We would like to recommend you tested and proved virtual web hosting services, which you will surely find to be of great quality.

624 Part IV . Running Applications To find out whether DRI is working on your current video card, type the following: $ glxinfo | grep rendering direct rendering: Yes This example shows that direct rendering is enabled. If it were not supported, the output would say No instead of Yes. While DRI can be important, many games implement OpenGL rendering, which is a feature supported by both NVIDIA and ATI video cards. To enable rendering for cards that support it, add the following line to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file: Load render Basic X Window Games The X Window System created a great opportunity for games in Linux/UNIX systems to become graphics-based rather than text-based, so that instead of having little character symbols representing robots and arrows, the games could actually show pictures of little robots and arrows. A lot of entertaining games run in X. Unless otherwise noted, all of the X games described in this section are free. Also, the GNOME and KDE environments that come with most desktop Linux distributions (described in Chapter 3) each have a set of games associated with it. GNOME Games GNOME games consist of some old card games and a bunch of games that look suspiciously like ones you would find on Windows systems. If you are afraid of losing your favorite desktop diversion (such as Solitaire, FreeCell, and Minesweeper) when you leave Windows, have no fear. You can find many of them under GNOME games. Table 23-1 lists the GNOME games available with most GNOME desktop systems from the panel menu, including Fedora Core 4. See the GNOME Games site (www.gnome.org/projects/gnome-games) for further details. Many KDE games (see Table 23-2) are available if you have a KDE desktop installed.
Looking for affordable and reliable webhost to host and run your business application? Then look no more and go to servlet web hosting services.

Chapter 23 . Gaming with Linux 623 now use X.Org). Resulting video driver modules may be specific to the Linux kernel you are running. So, know that if you upgrade your kernel, you might need to reinstall your video driver as well. The rpm.livna.org site has greatly simplified the process of installing ATI and NVIDIA drivers for Fedora Core and other Red Hat systems. Refer to the Livna Switcher page (http://rpm.livna.org/livna-switcher.html) to learn how to install RPM packages containing the ATI or NVIDIA drivers you need. If you load a binary-only driver, it does what is referred to as tainting the kernel. As a result, you won t be able to get support if you run into problems (at least from kernel.org) because, lacking the source code, it is hard to debug driver-related problems. Also, binary-only drivers are known to cause obscure problems because they get out of sync with kernel code changes. Similarly, binary-only drivers aren t updated as frequently as the kernel. While many people, including myself, use binary-only drivers in special cases, they do have shortcomings that you should be aware of. Open Source Video Drivers If you want to use open source drivers for 3D accelerated gaming, whether you are running the games using Cedega or natively in Linux, look for cards that have drivers that support OpenGL. The DRI project is one initiative that is creating OpenGL driver implementations. Following is a list of video card manufacturers that have DRI video driver support available. The list is from the DRI project site (http://dri.sourceforge.net/). . ATI Technologies You don t have to use binary-only drivers to get 3D acceleration for some ATI video cards with open source drivers. Chip sets from ATI Technologies that support DRI include the Mach64 (Rage Pro), Radeon 7X00 (R100), Radeon 2 / 8500 (R200), and Rage 128 (Standard, Pro, Mobility). Cards based on these chip sets include All-in-Wonder 128, Rage Fury, Rage Magnum, Xpert 99, Xpert 128, and Xpert 2000. . 3dfx If you can find a used unit on eBay (3dfx is no longer in business), there are several 3dfx cards that support DRI. In particular, the Voodoo (3, 4, and 5) and Banshee chip sets have drivers that support DRI. Voodoo 5 cards support 16 and 24 bpp. Scan Line Interleaving (SLI), where two or more 3D processors work in parallel (to result in higher frame rates) is not supported for 3dfx cards. . 3Dlabs Graphics cards containing the MX/Gamma chip set from 3Dlabs have drivers available that support DRI in Linux. . Intel Supported video chip sets from Intel include the i810 (e, e2, and -dc100), i815, and i815e. . Matrox The Matrox chip sets that have drivers that support DRI include the G200, G400, G450, and G550. Cards that use these chips include the Millennium G450, Millennium G400, Millennium G200, and Mystique G200. Caution Note
Looking for affordable and reliable webhost to host and run your business application? Then look no more and go to servlet web hosting services.

622 Part IV . Running Applications it s probably easiest to start with games that are ready to run. The following list provides information about where to find out about games packaged for different Linux distributions: . Red Hat (Fedora and RHEL) To look beyond your desktop menu for games, try the Fedora Extras games list at http://fedoraproject.org/extras/4/ i386/repodata/repoview/games.group.html . Debian Debian games resources are listed at the DebianLinux.Net wiki. Visit the games section at http://debianlinux.net/games. . Gentoo Games packaged for Gentoo are sorted into a variety of game categories, such as games-sports, games-strategy, games-simulation, and so on. Visit http://packages.gentoo.org/categories to select the category of game that interests you to look for particular game pages that run in Gentoo. . Slackware While GNOME and KDE games run fine in Slackware, not a lot of gaming resources are particular to Slackware. However, because Slackware contains a solid set of libraries and development tools, many open source games will compile and run in Slackware if you are willing to get the source code for the game you want and build it yourself. Choosing a Video Card for Gaming Because 3D games place extraordinary demands on your video hardware, choosing a good video card and configuring it properly is one of the keys to ensuring a good gaming experience. For advanced gaming, you need to go beyond what a basic 64-bit card can do for you. Binary-only Video Card Drivers Most serious Linux gamers have either an NVIDIA or ATI card, so that s the short answer to starting out with serious Linux gaming. Although open source drivers are available from most NVIDIA and ATI cards, those drivers do not support 3D hardware acceleration. While that s fine for most desktop applications, for gaming you want to get the binary-only drivers for those cards from the following locations: . NVIDIA To get NVIDIA drivers that run in Linux, go to the Unix Drivers Portal Page (www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html). . ATI To find Linux drivers for ATI video cards, visit the ATI support Knowledge Base page that describes Linux drivers at http://support.ati. com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=3380. When you go to get a binary-only video driver, be sure that you know not only the video card model you are using, but also the name and version of your X server (XFree86 used to be the most popular, but many of the biggest Linux distributions
You need excellent and relaible webhost company to host your web applications? Then pay a visit to Inexpensive Web Hosting services.

Chapter 23 . Gaming with Linux 621 example) or simply search for Linux Games or your favorite game title and Linux in any search engine. Here are several to get you started: . TransGaming Technologies (www.transgaming.com) This company s mission is to bring games from other platforms to Linux. It is the provider of Cedega, formerly known as WineX, a powerful tool that enables you to play hundreds of PC games on your Linux system. . The Linux Game Tome (http://happypenguin.org) Features a database of descriptions and reviews of tons of games that run in Linux. You can do keyword searches for games listed at this site. There are also links to sites where you can get the different games and to other gaming sites. . Linuxgames.com (http://linuxgames.com) This site can give you some very good insight into the state of Linux gaming. There are links to HOWTOs and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), as well as forums for discussing Linux games. There are also links to Web sites that have information about specific games. . id Software (www.idsoftware.com) Go to the id Software site for information on Linux demo versions for Quake and Return to Castle Wolfenstein. . Linuxgamepublishing.com (www.linuxgamepublishing.com) A new entrant into the Linux gaming world, linuxgamepublishing.com aims to be a one-stop shopping portal for native Linux games, as well as for ports of games from other platforms. At the time of writing, it offers 15 games. To purchase games from this site, you must create a user account. . Loki Entertainment Software (www.lokigames.com) Loki provided ports of best-selling games to Linux but went out of business in 2001. Its products included Linux versions of Civilization: Call to Power, Myth II: Soulblighter, SimCity 3000, Railroad Tycoon II, and Quake III Arena. The Loki Demo Launcher is still available to see demo versions of these games, and some boxed sets are available for very little money. . Tux Games (www.tuxgames.com) If you are ready to purchase a game, the Tux Games Web site is dedicated to the sale of Linux games. In addition to offering Linux gaming news and products, the site lists its top-selling games and includes notices of games that are soon to be released. . Linux Gamers FAQ (http://icculus.org/lgfaq) Contains a wealth of information about free and commercial Linux games. It lists gaming companies that have ported their games to Linux, tells where to get Linux games, and answers queries related to common Linux gaming problems. For a list of Linux games without additional information, see http://icculus.org/ lgfaq/gamelist.php. While the sites just mentioned provide excellent information on Linux gaming, not all games have been packaged specifically for every version of Linux. Even though you can always nudge a game into working on your particular Linux distribution,
We highly recommend you visit web and email hosting services if you need stable and cheap web hosting platform for your web applications.

620 Part IV . Running Applications . 3D acceleration If you are a more serious gamer, you will almost certainly want a video card that provides hardware acceleration. Open source drivers for some video cards are available from the DRI project. Video cards from NVIDIA and ATI often have binary-only drivers available. Fun open source games such as PenguinPlanet Racer, BZFlag, and others that recommend hardware acceleration, will run much better if you get one of these supported cards and drivers. . Commercial games The latest commercial computer games are not all ported to run in Linux. Boxed commercial games for Linux include Unreal Tournament 2003 and 2004, as well as about 50 first-rate commercial games that have been ported to run in Linux. Using Cedega software from Transgaming.com, you can get hundreds more commercial games to run. To see if the game you want is running in Cedega, visit the Transgaming.Org Games Database (http://transgaming.org/gamesdb) to see its status. Commercial Linux games are described in more depth later in this chapter. . Gaming servers Many commercial computer games that don t have Linux clients available do have Linux game servers associated with them. So Linux is a great operating system for hosting a LAN party or setting up an Internet gaming server. . Linux Gaming Development Some of the most advanced tools and application programming interfaces (APIs) for developing computer games run on Linux systems. If you are interested in developing your own games to run in Linux, check out the OpenGL (http://opengl.org) and Simple Directmedia Layer (www.libsdl.org) projects. While the development tools available for developing open source games are awesome, a primary goal of this book is to get you up and using Linux as quickly as possible. To that end, I want to tell you first how to get hold of games that already run well in Linux and then how to get games working in Linux that are intended for other platforms (particularly Windows and some classic gaming consoles). Basic Linux Gaming Information There isn t much you need to know to run basic X Window based games that come with Linux. The following sections describe basic information about Linux gaming. Where to Get Information About Linux Gaming Many Web sites provide information about the latest games available for Linux, as well as links to download sites. If you re looking for information about Linux gaming, start with your distribution s home page (www.redhat.com, for example), the home page of your desktop environment (www.kde.org or www.gnome.com, for
In case you need quality webspace to host and run your web applications, try our personal web hosting services.

Gaming with Linux There are literally hundreds of games that run in Linux. Freely distributed games include popular card games, board games, strategy games, and first person shooters. The list of commercial games that will run in Linux has also grown steadily in recent years. These days, many native Linux games are also network-enabled. You can battle tanks (BZFlag), create civilizations (freeciv) or play standard board games (gnuchess) against others on the Internet. In most cases, both the clients (playing the games) and the game servers (managing dozens or hundreds of players) will all run natively in Linux. This chapter provides an overview of the state of Linux gaming today. It describes games that were created specifically to run in Linux, and explains how to find commercial games that run in Linux (either with a Linux version or running a Windows version along with Windows compatibility software, such as Cedega). Overview of Linux Gaming Linux is a wonderful platform for both running and, perhaps more especially, developing computer games. Casual gamers have no shortage of fun games to try. Hardcore gamers face a few more challenges with Linux. Here are some of the opportunities and challenges as you approach Linux gaming: . Plenty to play If you just like to be diverted by playing some solitaire or shooting some asteroids, start with the Games menu on your desktop. Both GNOME and KDE desktops come with many more games than you will get on default desktop Windows systems. I provide a list of popular desktop games later in this chapter. If your Linux system doesn t have them, you can certainly get them. 2C H A3P3T E R . . . . In This Chapter Gaming in Linux Gaming with X Window Running commercial Linux games TransGaming and Cedega gaming Playing games from id Software and Loki . . . .
We highly recommend you visit web and email hosting services if you need stable and cheap web hosting platform for your web applications.

618 Part IV . Running Applications Summary You have a lot of high-quality applications available to fulfill your needs for a Web browser and e-mail client in Linux. Most Web browsers are based on the Mozilla gecko engine (which came originally from Netscape Navigator). Firefox is being slated as the next generation replacement for Mozilla Navigator. The combination of security, ease-of-use features, and extensions has made Firefox an extremely popular Web browser for both Linux and Windows users. Graphical and text-based e-mail clients include Ximian Evolution, Mozilla Mail, and KMail. Thunderbird is set to become the next generation e-mail client to replace Mozilla Mail. . . .
We would like to recommend you tested and proved virtual web hosting services, which you will surely find to be of great quality.