djl Game Manager

I found this awesome piece of software yesterday. It basically is an installation wizard/manager for all popular Linux games, and has a great interface. It has single click installation and removal options, hence even a complete novice can use it with ease.



"Djl makes it possible (via a repository) to download, install and remove a reasonable number of games placed into a distrobution independent subdirectory (but without dealing with any dependencies). It can also execute .desktop shortcuts located in another directory (this way, it's possible to launch games which were installed before djl)." [Description given on their website]

To download this manager, visit this site: www.en.djl-linux.org and download it from the links given on that page.

Say goodbye to compiling and building games packages.

Plethora of Ubuntu games and softwares

If you're tired of the default Ubuntu packages/softwares/games etc. (well they're pretty extensive though, it should probably take you months to try out each and every software in the repos), here's a really cool way to install external apps without worring about tar.gz or extracting files etc.

For Ubuntu apps:

Its called GetDeb. It has loads of really good and useful softwares, and the best part is its just a one click install. But before you can download these, you need to install a small package (dont worry, it is small, just a few hundred KBs). The instructions for installation is here. The rest is self explanatory. Browse through the extensive list of softwares here and just click on 'Install' for the program you like. And bingo, it will be installed. No fuss, nothing.

For Ubuntu games:

The site is called PlayDeb, its a sister site of GetDeb but this one's dedicated to games. So before you start installing go through the installation instructions (basically install a package, this one's again in KBs) here. Then just browse through the huge list of games here and click on 'Install' for the game you like.

Enjoy!

Adobe AIR 64 bit Installation Guide

As you know, its very difficult to run Adobe AIR apps on a 64 bit Linux OS. I have tried numerous methods but none were helpful. Finally I came across this page which has a complete guide to the installation of Adobe AIR on a 64 bit Linux OS. Some of the steps described there can be a bit difficult to understand. So, I'm reproducing the steps alongwith my simplified versions. Save the downloaded files under the /home folder.

1. First up, download the Adobe AIR .bin file. Here's the download link: Download (File size is 13 MB)

2. Download and install these 32 bit libraries: Download

3. Download these files next: libnss3 ; libnspr4

The following are reproduced from the reference page:

You now need to open the packages you just downloaded by running file-roller as root so you can extract them to your /usr/lib32 folder. Begin by extracting the files in libnss, using the following command:

$ sudo file-roller ./libnss3-1d_3.12.0~beta3-0ubuntu1_i386.deb

Double-click the data.tar.gz file. If the data.tar.gz file doesn't automatically open in file-roller, you may be asked which application to open it with. If you are prompted to choose the application, enter file-roller in the Application box and click Open.

In file-roller, locate and select the following files in the ./usr/lib folder:
libnss3.so.1d
libnssutil3.so.1d
libsmime3.so.1d
libssl3.so.1d

Click Extract. Click the top left button in this window. The button's icon is an image of a pencil and paper. If you hover your mouse over the button it will display "Type a file name" in a popup tooltip. Once the button has been clicked, a Location box will appear. Type /usr/lib32 in the Location box and click Extract.

Close all file-roller windows.

Extract the files in libnspr, using the following command:

$ sudo file-roller ./libnspr4-0d_4.7.1~beta2-0ubuntu1_i386.deb

Double-click the data.tar.gz file and open with file-roller and then locate and select the following files in the ./usr/lib folder:
libnspr4.so.0d
libplc4.so.0d
libplds4.so.0d

Follow the same instructions as above (in step 7) to extract the files to the /usr/lib32 folder.
Finally, close file-roller and enter the following commands:

$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib32/libnss3.so.1d /usr/lib32/libnss3.so
$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib32/libssl3.so.1d /usr/lib32/libssl3.so
$ sudo ln -s /usr/lib32/libnspr4.so.0d /usr/lib32/libnspr4.so

[A bit of additional info has been added here]

You are now ready to install Adobe AIR Linux. Type the following command:

$ chmod +x AdobeAIRInstaller.bin
$ sudo ./AdobeAIRInstaller.bin

Adobe AIR is now installed on your system.
Just one more step before you start installing and using AIR apps. Enter the following command:

$ sudo cp /usr/lib/libadobecertstore.so /usr/lib32

For Ubuntu 9.04 only (as well as 9.10):

Due to the absence of the lib32nss package, AIR apps are unable to connect to the network. Ubuntu 9.04 64-bit users need the package lib32nss-mdns for DNS resolution in a 32bit application:

$ sudo apt-get install lib32nss-mdns

You're now ready to install and run AIR applications.



[Reference/Source - http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/408/kb408084.html]

Can I really trust Ubuntu?

Now that I have the Ubuntu disk and have been using the "boot via CD" option, it is getting extremely tempting to go for an all out installation of Ubuntu on my hard disk, since without a proper root directory it is very difficult to install applications.

I already have Windows installed on my system, so the options I'm left with are a) format/create a partition and install Ubuntu or b) install Ubuntu on an existing partition. Obviously the second option seems the more viable one as of now since I'm in no mood to sacrifice my hard disk data. However I'm starting to have second thoughts about it, what if my hard disk gets screwed up? What if I lose data? What if my PC slows down? Is Ubuntu worth all these risks?

Well just too many worries. I'll wait till the time I'm ready to format my hard disk. Till then, I'll use the CD booting option.