Linux Gamers will Buy

"There is no money in making games of Linux"

They said.

"There is only a negligible market share for Linux"

They said.

"They" were wrong. Twice in fact they have been wrong. The folks who seven months ago brought us the first Humble Bundle have, just in time for the holiday, season brought us yet another chance to donate to some good causes and get some quality video games at the same time. For the next three days you can donate any amount you wish and receive each of the following DRM free, cross platform games:

• Braid
• Cortex Command
• Machinarium
• Osmos
• Revenge of the Titans
  

The cost of buying each of these games separately would be around 85$.

What does all of this have to do with Linux Gamers being willing to purchase their video games? Well, lets look at the statistics this time around for who is donating what to the Humble Bundle:


Once again users donating for the Linux platform have surpassed both Windows and OSX users for the average donation amount. In addition to that, our "negligible" market share has made up nearly 25% of the total donations. To all my fellow Linux gamers out there - please help us continue proving all of "them" wrong. If you haven't already made a donation for the second Humble Bundle I encourage you to go do so now! Even the small sum of 15$ is enough to continue to raise the Linux average donation amount - an amount that is more than fair for these great games!

~Jeff Hoogland

On Distro Watch Wait Listing

If you have been exploring the world of Linux for any amount of time then odds are you have come across the website Distro Watch at some point or another.



Distro Watch performs a great service for the FOS operating system community. They document releases, package lists, and a host of other information about Linux, BSD, and other FOS operating systems. It is the one stop shop to helping you find the perfect FOS operating system for you. A person can loose days (weeks, months) sorting through all the choices there.

My own project, Bodhi Linux, is really up and rolling now. My small team and I have a website setup, forums, our own debian repository and torrent tracker. As such I have been asked by a number of people as to why the distribution still isn't listed on Distro Watch. For those who are unaware, Distro Watch has a waiting list for new distributions. They currently receive between two and four distributions per week - the waiting list allows them sort out which distributions are going to last and which will simply fade away quickly. A distribution must sit on the waiting list for a year or until someone someone purchases a 200$ ad for it.

Bodhi was added to the waiting list on 11/18/10, so unless I find a spare 200$ laying around in my sock drawer there are only eleven more months before Bodhi finds itself listed. While there are exceptions to every rule - I'm not holding my breath that Bodhi will be one of them. Really a shame considering there are only a handful of distributions listed that use the Enlightenment desktop.

~Jeff Hoogland

User Familiarity != Software Superiority

Most anyone that has really used Linux, on the desktop, in the last few years knows that it is ready for the average user. The same is true for a number of other open source projects. Many FOSS projects are on-par with (or better than) their closed source counter parts when it comes to the number of features and functionality. Why is it then that FOS softwares are (typically) less commonly used by the general public? Simple:

User Familiarity

It is the sad fact that in our current society (mostly) only closed source softwares are used (and taught) in schools - at least in the US. This fact, combined with the resistance to change that is inherit to most people, means people are more inclined to click on that big blue E when going to surf the Internet as opposed to my favorite fox. Many users simply use the software that comes pre-installed on their computer or what is recommended by the sale's person. For example Microsoft Office.

In many FOSS vs Closed Source project comparisons I have seen to date this "user familiarity" is often referenced as a point of "software superiority". Not only is this a flawed form of logic, but it is really borderline FUD. The familiarity the users have with a given piece software is not something that they where born with (or was even developed over night). It is something they learned over an (often extended) period of time.

Do you think a time will ever come when users will realize that just because you know how to use a piece of software doesn't automatically make it the best software for completing the task at hand?

~Jeff Hoogland

Netflix and FOSS Hypocrites

Perhaps you saw a couple weeks ago Netflix's post touting their advocacy of open source software. They provide a hefty list of projects they utilize and contribute back to:

Hudson, Hadoop, Hive, Honu, Apache, Tomcat, Ant, Ivy, and Cassandra

It's a shame there aren't any video streaming programs on that list. If you use Linux and are familiar with Netflix then odds are you are aware of (what at this point feels like an age old argument) the issue of getting Netflix's instant stream functional on your Linux system. In case you are not aware of this dilemma, in short:

It does not work

You see, even with all of the FOSS projects Netflix supports they choose to use the DRM ridden Silverlight plugin to stream video over the Internet. This prevents the streaming service from functioning on FOS operating systems (Linux, BSD, ect.) at this current point in time. Why the lack of support? Some will say Linux has a small market share so is not worth the extra time it takes to support the platform.

Personally, I find it a bit absurd that they can find the time to support Windows, OSX, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360, iOS, and now even the Linux based Android and still not provide a general streaming solution that would work across all PC platforms. As Netflix themselves stated, it is often cheaper to employ an FOSS solution to remedy software needs - so why they do not use an FOSS medium to stream their media is beyond me (or heck even a closed sourced solution such as flash that is cross platform).

In my opinion, Netflix loves FOSS just about as much as Microsoft does. They see it as something that can help their bottom line and nothing more. Don't get me wrong, I understand companies need to make money - but in my opinion if you are only utilizing FOSS to turn a larger profit, then you are falling far short of realizing the true reason this type of software exists.

~Jeff Hoogland

Bodhi 0.1.3 Released

Two nights ago after many complaints, complements, bug reports, and themes myself and the Bodhi Linux Team pushed out our forth alpha release of the minimalistic, enlightenment using distribution. This release includes a few bug fixes, ELF Beta 3 packages, Firefox 4.0 B7, and a good deal of "polish around the edges" previous versions of the distro had lacked. For a full change log see here.

Some images of the new system:





As our development team is small we still only have a 32 bit disc available. This 0.1.3 release is a bit larger than previous versions, coming in at 385 megs (still under our 400 meg goal). You can get Bodhi 0.1.3 via high speed torrent download here or via a bit slower direct download (via source forge) here.

If you know of anywhere that would be interested in doing a review of the distro please feel free to contact me via JeffHoogland at Linux dot com (I would post one myself but I think that would be a bit tacky). Thanks for using Bodhi and please report bugs as always!

~Jeff Hoogland

HOWTO: Enable Compiz under Bodhi (Enlightenment)

One of the reasons I gave for giving the Enlightenment desktop a try was its elegance. While it is true that Enlightenment has a good number of built-in effects that run on a wide range of systems, those with a more powerful system might crave something more. If you are coming to Enlightenment from a previous Linux desktop odds are you are aware of Compiz Fusion (a compositing window manager known for it's many different effects). Thanks to the Ecomorph module for Enlightenment, you can enable many of your favorite Compiz effects on the Enlightenment desktop.

First things first: installing Ecomorph. If you are using Bodhi Linux you can simply apt-get the needed packages with the command:

sudo apt-get install ecomorph*

On other Enlightenment distributions the install command and package names will vary. You can also always compile it from source. Once you have Ecomorph installed, load the module (Settings->Modules->System). It is also necessary to disable the Dropshadow (and built in compositing if it is enabled) module under Look (it conflicts with Ecomorph's built-in shadow).

Next, using your preferred text editor, as root, create a .desktop file for launching Ecomorph. For example, run the following in terminal:

sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/ecomorph.desktop

For the contents of the desktop file, paste in this. Save the file. Then, if you want to always start compositing on login add our newly created menu entry to your startup applications.


Finally, log out and from your session list select E17 - Ecomorph instead of Enlightenment when you log back in. Please note: if you did not add Ecomorph to your startup applications you will have to manually launch the desktop entry for compositing to become active.

Once Ecomorph is running, you can customize your desktop effects under Settings->Ecomorph

Ecomorph also adds a list of actions you can bind to your preferred key-sets (such as toggling expo). Configure these under Settings->Settings Panel->Input->Key Bindings. Enjoy your tricked-out Enlightenment!

Have any questions or if issues arise while installing/configuring Ecomorph feel free to drop a comment below.

~Jeff Hoogland

Ubuntu PPA Problem - Reason for Concern?

With the release of Ubuntu 9.10 late last year Canonical introduced PPAs, which is short for Personal Package Archives. A PPA allows anyone that has signed the Ubuntu Code of Conduct to easily distribute software they have packaged to Ubuntu users. This revolutionary idea allows those who do not have the capability to establish their own repository to easily provide package updates to their users. Want the latest version of Openshot or PiTiVi? Then simply add a PPA to your system that packages up to date versions of these softwares and you will be set to go!

The problem with this system you ask? There is namely one issue: Canonical does not review any of the packages that are uploaded to PPAs. Because of this adding software from various PPAs wily nilly in reality is more dangerous than installing software on Windows. I say this because not only are you giving root access to the software upon installation, but also every time you run a system update from then after. Meaning even if a PPA provides trusted packages at first, this could change later on.

While it has not happened yet (as far as I am aware), I feel it is only a matter of time before some form of malicious code makes its way into a PPA that is used large scale. If you are comfortable with having software installed on your system from many different sources - that is your own choice (one of the many great things about FOSS). However, if you always need the latest up to date software maybe it is worth considering a rolling release distro such as LMDE or Chakra.

What is your take on this? Am I just blowing hot air and worrying for nothing or could having piles of PPAs on your system cause a potential risk down the line?

~Jeff Hoogland