ThePemberton.com

Below is a collection of cloned applications that I used on Windows that made the switch to Ubuntu (almost) seamless. Most of these apps are extremely customizable, though all are functional and set to the most common preferences once installed. A few important notes for new Ubuntu/Linux users:

• If you don’t already have Ubuntu, download it, burn it to a CD, and install it! If you can’t burn it to a CD, they will also ship you about 5 copies for free (no shipping, no handling - they even pay postage. This is how I got my first copy in 2005). If you just want to try it, Ubuntu features a Live CD filesystem. Just pop it in and enjoy Ubuntu without actually installing it on your box or making any changes to your existing operating system. Keep in mind nothing will be saved to the hard disk, which makes the rest of this tutorial kind of useless.
• Quite a few of the installations in this tutorial will be through a console. By default Ubuntu installs a console (Applications -> System -> Terminal). Don’t worry. Most of the steps in this tutorial only require copy/paste into the console, and all have a GUI and are added to your Applications menu unless otherwise noted.
• The sudo function means "SuperUser Do" - in other words: "do this command as the root user (Administrator)." Nearly everything that could be considered a dangerous application or change requires you to enter your root password, even GUIfied programs. After the initial install and setup of Ubuntu it can be a pain in the ass, but don’t worry. You’ll get settled in and won’t have to enter your password as often as you’d think.
• The apt-get program is a centralized command-line installer application (whereas Synaptic is a GUIfied aptitude client). There are thousands of packages available through apt-get, and they’re frequently updated as new versions arrive. Before you begin, please ensure your apt-get repositories are up to date. In a console type:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

• The Ubuntu user forum is a *great* place to get information on different packages, technical issues, and environment suggestions, as is google! If you’re having trouble finding a good tutorial on a certain process or package, search google for packagename ubuntu. If the issue is with hardware, it’s likely already a known issue and has a workaround. Search for the product name, such as Broadcom 1390 ubuntu on google.
• Finally, if you want all the packages mentioned here (except Skype, the Firefox plugins, and Frostwire as they require some human interaction), in a console type:

wget http://www.thepemberton.com/allpackages.sh

sh ./allpackages.sh

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This is only my experience downloading and installing Steam and Valve games like Counterstrike 1.6 and TFC on Linux. Your experience may vary.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• A purchased copy of Half Life Platinum (if you’re into the old versions of Counter Strike and Team Fortress Classic - still going strong with thousands of gamers on 24/7) and/or a purchased copy of Half Life 2. You won’t have to use the DVD/CDs in this tutorial (in fact I’ve never gotten them to work), you’ll just need the product key. Steam includes a lovely little downloader for Valve games  (more…)
   

Gaming console emulation on PC is nothing new. An emulator is a program that mimics the hardware and firmware from a gaming console (such as the Super Nintendo), to play roms. Roms are just computerized copies of console games. For PSX and other CD-based systems Roms are called ISOs. This guide is just my personal notes on emulating the different game consoles on Ubuntu Linux (Feisty 7.04 in this article).

First, if you don’t have a gamepad, I suggest stopping by your local Best Buy and purchasing one. If you’d like to save some cash, there are plenty of affordable solutions online, and not to mention you can use the controllers from your existing consoles by using a USB converter. Personally, I use a Logitech Dual Action controller. There was no setup needed except plugging it into a USB port and defining the controls in the emulators. This controller is great for other non-emulated games as well, including VDrift. (more…)

If you’ve switched to Ubuntu (as I have) or any other Linux distribution, you may consider the following free (and in most cases open-source) games, as they’ve been favorites of mine for some time now.

1. Tremulous

Tremulous is an addictive first person shooter (FPS) that has countless gamers on at all hours from both the Linux and Windows worlds. As all other games in this article, Tremulous is free to download and play.

In Tremulous there are two teams: Aliens and Humans. Aliens can have such awesome feats as wall-walking (dizzying to say the least), pouncing from great distances, and spraying poisonous gases. Humans can obtain advanced weaponry and armor, and plant strategic devices such as turrets to defend their base.

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This is a bit advanced, but the outcome is very cool. This process takes a black and white (or color) image, lets you scribble in some colors, and the colorization application accurately fills in and shades the rest. It can even do animated clips, as shown below.

More examples can be found at:

http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~yweiss/Colorization/ The application that does this can be downloaded from: http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~yweiss/Colorization/colorization.zip Please note that you’ll need a C++ compiler available to build the application, but it will compile on both Windows and Linux (view the README file in the download).