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Category: Cross-Platform (Page 3 of 10)

Rocks and diamonds 4.2 release and download + a sister game!

2020-08-22 / / 0 Comments

In this week’s segment of game of the week I’m taking you back to a game I presented in 2017. Rocks and diamonds is a game that encapsulates the retro puzzle genre and is a must have for any retro gamer.

The main menu of Rocks and Diamonds

Last week the latest installment was released by creator: Holger Schemel and it has been a highly anticipated release for a number of reasons:

Version 4.2 improvements

  • There has only been one release throughout 2020 prior to this version.
  • The game is built around a new game engine (the old one dating back to 2009!).
  • Latest version of SDL (sound library used in a lot of games).
  • X64 builds for windows.
  • A plethora of bug fixes and improvements for version 4.2 Feel free to read the full list from here.
    Please note that there was a bug fix after this extended list, but this post is about the major release. I recommend downloading the latest version of course.

To download this new version, head over to artsoft.org and visit the download section.

To download all levels for the game. Head over here. 

R’n’D jue II (The sister game)

There is another game built around the R’n’D concept. It’s called R’n’D jue II and it’s a fresh take on the classic approach of R’n’D with improved graphics and presentation. I recommend having both versions, because why not?

You can see the fresh style of graphics and gameplay in this screenshot.

Final words

I did contact the developer asking about the game about a month ago and he did promise that the game will be out soon. He was glad that his games reached Libya and had no idea that anyone there knew or appreciated his creations. He was also kind enough to ask about my condition after being displaced, because he did read that on my blog.
Thank you Mr. Schemel for this excellent game and being a kind human being.

FDM (Free Download Manager) for Linux is finally here!

2019-05-11 / / 0 Comments
After what seemed like an eternity, the popular free download manager has finally made a version for Linux! The development team finally came around after refusing to release a Linux version for years!

It all began in mid 2016 when the developers posted a poll asking what features did the users want to have in FDM, a version for Linux was on of the features suggested.

The Linux community help

I reached out to a very popular Linux blog: Itsfoss, and posted a guest post talking about FDM and asking for the help of the Linux community to change the voting results. The support was overwhelming and Linux is the first featured voted by a margin.  You can view the results of the poll from here.

A support issue

Over the years FDM was no longer open source, it turned into a freeware with the old branch 3.9.x remaining open source. So the source wasn’t going to be posted where people could collaborate on it. 
Also I’ve received information from the developers saying that it would have to be written from scratch in order to support Linux properly. 

FDM Alpha running on Ubuntu Linux
A screenshot of FDM running natively on Linux

FDM 6.1 supports Linux!

At last the long wait is over! A version of FDM finally supports Linux! This “Alpha” was released in October of 2018, and the stable version is yet to be released.  It’s a huge step from being a promise, a concept and an option on a poll..

You can download this version for Linux Ubuntu from this link.
It’s still in the very early stages of release and missing a lot of features as stated on the download page, with more functionality expected later this year; including features from the 3.9.x series of FDM.
Also Ubuntu is the only distribution of Linux currently supported and any other distros that support .deb files.

Final words

It’s wonderful seeing that something I’ve worked hard towards achieving is finally paying off. I’ve been rallying and pressuring the support team for over 3 years now for a Linux version. 
My happiness will be complete when a stable version of FDM 6.1 is released and Linux is one of the supported systems. 

Do you use FDM? How do you feel about a Linux version of FDM after all these years? Please let me know in the comments section blow.

RSSOwlnix: RSSOwl reborn!

2019-05-10 / / 0 Comments

RSSOWl is one of the best RSS feed aggregators available for free, if not the best, however it’s well known that RSSOwl has been discontinued since December 2013. This doesn’t pose a real problem as the current version is stable and usable, for now!

The journey ends here

If you plan on upgrading to a more recent version of Ubuntu (18.04 for example being the latest LTS), you will be unpleasantly surprised that RSSOwl won’t work due to dependency related issues.
You can search for an alternative, sites such as: Alternative.to provide millions of software to search through.. I have to be honest and say that no alternative of RSSOwl works in the same way or can be customized to have the same functionality.
What can be done?
If you are on Ubuntu 16.04 you can rest assured knowing that it would be supported until 2021, you will enjoy the usability of RSSOwl for a period of time.

How about something fresh and exciting?

You can use the RSSOwl fork: RSSOwlnix.
That’s the beauty of open source, it really never ends. If a project is discontinued for whatever reason, someone else will pickup the slack and continue the work.. Especially when the project has a massive following as such.
I’d like to see that happen with a commercial software!

What’s new in this fork?

This fork has updated dependencies  and should work with later versions of Linux Ubuntu and Windows. I haven’t tested it  RSSOwlnix on anything but Ubuntu 16.04 and it worked fine. It works slightly different than the original project and a bit unstable being a beta. Albeit it’s rather usable and gets the job done.

RSS essentials

If you are like me, someone who uses RSS feeds a lot and uses them to keep up with the world news, then this is for you. I’ve used RSSOwl for over 7 years and to me it’s an essential software, I no longer have to compromise if I have an upgrade planned.

Download

You can download RSSOwlnix from this link, latest version 2.7.0 as of this writing.
Windows 64 Bit
Linux 64 Bit

Final words

Do you use an RSS reader? Would you consider using RSSOwlnix? Please let me know in the comments section below.

Battle for Wesnoth review and download

2018-09-20 / / 0 Comments

I’ve reviewed many games on this blog, all share a similar concept: being freeware or open source.
Honorable mentions include: Streets of Rage 5, Rocks’n’Diamonds, Mario 2012, Tux Cart, Kega Fusion (Sega emulator), Fix it Felix remake, among other games

What is a Turn-based Strategy?

Today I’ll be talking about a new game: Battle for Wesnoth, a free and open source TBS (Turn-based strategy), in games like these a player does all of his moves which can include moving troops, fighting enemies or taking control of villages, before ending his turn and waiting for the other player/s to play.

 

What makes Wesnoth so special?

The battle for Westnoth stands out in the midst of free and open source strategy games, because let’s face it, a lot of free games are rough around the edges and really hard to get into, some are almost made as quirks that only the developers can enjoy! (Like Flair Alpha that I reviewed a few years back, and lords a war! , they were unplayable to me.), Wesnoth is nothing like that, it’s a game that has all the makings of a classic game, and many in the open source community consider it the best strategy game available!

Also there is a great community backing this game since it’s first release in 2003, providing huge support and even making custom campaigns for users to download and enjoy!

Setting and game play

The games events take place in the fantasy kingdom called Wesnoth, Where armies of humans, orcs, elves and zombies battle for power and dominance, many units and tactics are available for the player to try and explore through many campaigns.
The game itself is what you would expect of a strategy game, crisp graphics and captivating game play that will keep you busy for hours on end! Featuring both single player campaigns and multiplayer modes.

 

How to play this game?

If you ever played a TBS (Turn-based strategy), you will find yourself familiar with the concepts of this game, but even if you haven’t played a TBS before, the tutorial mode will be more than enough for you to understand how the game plays, and will prepare you for the increasingly difficult campaigns that await for you.

Screenshots

 

 

 

Rating

Battle for Wesnoth is rated 9 / 10 on Steam, 4.5 / 5 on SourceForge, and  4.5 / 5 on Freewarefiles.com

Download

Wesnoth is cross-platform, it can be enjoyed on many operating systems, including Android (Now removed from google stor),  IOS.
For Windows users you have to download the installer from here. Latest version 1.14.5
Mac users can download from this mirror.

Linux download

Wesnoth is in the Ubuntu repositories by default (Version 1.12 for Ubuntu 16.04), but alternative repositories can be added to be able to download the latest version to date 1.14.3 (1.14.5 isn’t compiled for Ubuntu yet), and for other distros packages can be found of this link.

 

Repository for Ubuntu

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:vincent-c/wesnoth
sudo apt-get update

 

I highly recommend adding the repository to the software list and downloading the latest version, as it brings many bug fixes, a partial redesign and added campaigns.

You can also use Lutris to download this game.

 

Important notice:

Ubuntu packages aren’t being updated regularly, even the moderators of the forum recommended that I’d download the game using other methods, here is my post on how to compile Wesnoth from source and integrate it with Lutris, available from this link.

  Android port

Specifications needed to play Wesnoth

Minimum specifications

This game requires at least 2GB of ram, 800MB of disk space, and a dual core processor, and 800 * 600 screen resolution.
(I’ve managed to run it smoothly on an Intel Celeron laptop).

Recommended specifications

4GB of ram, 2GB of disk space, a dual core processor and 1024 * 768 screen resolution.

Final words

It’s been a while since I’ve came across a game that I enjoyed like this! If you are looking for a strategy game to lose yourself in, this is a great candidate. A great way to spend the time and unwind from life’s stress.

Do you enjoy strategy games? What are your favorites, do you want to see more of these on this blog? Let me know in the comments section below!

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