Hello ladies and gentlemen to my ongoing quest in the world of Linux. Now since the last episode I have been having issues with Namib Linux on the i7 desktop. It really is having issues with networking especially connection to the internet. Which in turn is causing issues with the updates.
It seems I may have to move away from our Antergos replacement friend Namib and against my better judgement I may move over to Manjaro KDE 19.02.
Although people rate Manjaro very highly I have always hit various issues with it. Admittedly it is running reasonably well on the i7 potato but even then to get certain things to work I have had to kludge fix things.
But if Namib isn't being updated and bless it as far as I'm aware it is primarily one guy doing the majority of its upkeep. I have to move on.
Having now used KDE on the i7 potato it has been quite stable. However I am about to find out if it stands up to scrutiny on my primary desktop.
I really didn't want to make this shift but the ongoing issues with Namib are becoming annoying. So the i7 desktop is now running Manjaro KDE 19.0.2 already i have had to fight with certain methods to get programs such as Shutter to install.
Most Arch versions if they need a dependency set rearrange the build order so it can build the program. Manjaro just refuses to do that. It loads twice as slow as any other version of Arch Linux I have run and that is running on the SSD.
There is major pauses before certain things come up. Why is it so slow with some things I really don’t understand. I will however say it is working so I guess a minor compromise in speed is the least of my worries.
So other than Manjaro what else have I been playing about with since we were last here. Well I have been playing with RAINE (A CPS1/CPS2/NeoGeo/Arcade emulator). Now I did look at RAINE in Episode 27 but to do so I had to convert a debian file top get the thing to work using Debtap.
Well RAINE 0.64.16 is now part of the AUR so I managed to just build it from there by selecting it in Pamac.
RAINE as the name suggests I believe was originally designed to run Rainbow Islands as it was taking MAME a long time to get past the encryptions. However it went on to be a much larger emulator. Like many emulators I do believe a lot of the RAINE code ended up being amalgamated into MAME which is quite common.
RAINE has passed through several hands to get to it’s present state and to be honest, how actively developed it still is I don’t really know. But if you want to play games such as Bubble Symphony or Neo Geo games it does seem faster than MAME.
Obviously finding the complete set of RAINE Roms is a bit more difficult than finding a complete set of MAME Roms but not impossible if you know where to look. Like anything it is available but be very careful where you download from as not all sources are safe.
Next on the list is Project Starfighter... Now this was a game released by a company called Parallel Realities in 2003 and was commercially available for many years. However now it is available for free since 2019.
The game is a 2D shooter with various missions to achieve. Its not the fanciest thing you will ever see but is good for an occasional blast...
Here is the given plot synopsis from the website...
In the year 2579, the intergalactic weapons corporation, WEAPCO, has dominated the galaxy. Guide Chris Bainfield and his friend Sid Wilson on their quest to liberate the galaxy from the clutches of WEAPCO. Along the way, you will encounter new foes, make new allies, and assist local rebels in strikes against the evil corporation.
Hardly rocket science of a plot but is available to download from https://pr-starfighter.github.io/ and is available for Linux, Windows and MacOS.
Finally on the list is Red Eclipse 2.0 (Jupiter Edition). This is an updated version of Red Eclipse which was a complete overhaul campaign based on the Cube2 (Sauerbraten) engine. Basically it’s First Person Shooter with various modes such as Deathmatch, Capure the Flag etc. You know the drill if you have played anything remotely similar in the last ten years. It has online multiplayer and local practice modes and is designed to give you an environment to murder each other in, in the name of fun.
Basically Red Eclipse 2 is the same game but it has been upgraded to use the Tesseract engine instead of the Sauerbraten one. Obviously this requires quite a beefy machine with Shaders 3.0 or higher and a medium level processor.
It performs more than adequately on the i7 desktop and to be honest if you can’t afford the new Doom Eternal or had enough of Quake Champions this is more than enough to keep you amused with your murderous rampage moments either on or offline.
It is available for free and works on Windows, Linux and MacOS. You can find it to download from here...https://www.redeclipse.net/ or it is also available to download through Steam.
If you do have a lower spec machine the original Red Eclipse is still available so you can run the lower requirement Sauerbraten (Cube 2) version still.
Well I think that’s enough waffle for now so until next time...take care
