Slashdot GamingTech News

Couple of articles from Slashdot yesterday:

Intel Shows Off Quake Wars, Ray Traced

At the Research@Intel Day 2008, Intel showed a ray-traced version of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. Compared to the original game, a water with reflections and refractions and a physically correct glass shader were added. Also, a camera portal with up to 200 recursions to itself has been demonstrated. To show off this ongoing research in the topic of real-time ray tracing, a four-socket system with quad cores has been used that allowed rendering the enhanced visual effects in 1280x720 at 14-29 fps. Just two years before, early versions of Quake 4: Ray Traced ran only at 256x256 with 17 fps. Even though Intel's upcoming Larrabee will be primarily a rasterizer, the capabilities for also doing ray tracing on it should deliver interesting opportunities.

Hands On With Nvidia's New GTX 280 Card

Maximum PC magazine has early benchmarks on Nvidia's newest GPU architecture — the GTX 200 series. Benchmarks on the smokin' fast processor reveal a graphics card that can finally tame Crysis at 1900x1200. 'The GTX 280 delivered real-world benchmark numbers nearly 50 percent faster than a single GeForce 9800 GTX running on Windows XP, and it was 23 percent faster than that card running on Vista. In fact, it looks as though a single GTX 280 will be comparable to — and in some cases beat — two 9800 GTX cards running in SLI, a fact that explains why Nvidia expects the 9800 GX2 to fade from the scene rather quickly.'

Game Technology Helps Drive Military Training

Posted at SlashDot on Thursday May 29.

With the gaming industry now spending more to develop user interfaces than the Pentagon, the Army has begun putting all that R&D to good use in weaponry and training. Reversing the traditional role of games attempting to simulate real life killing machines, it is now the weapons makers using gaming technology to make their products more effective. Popular Mechanics notes, 'Already, [Mark Bigham, director of business development for Raytheon Tactical Intelligence Systems] says that Raytheon has been experimenting with Wii controllers to explore the possibilities for training simulators and other applications that require physical movement. Just think, one day, the R&D that Nintendo put into Wii bowling could end up influencing basic training.'

"Nightlife" Harnesses Idle Fedora Nodes For Research

Posted on Slashdot, Thursday May 29:

If you've given up on SETI, now you can let your idle computer help with other kinds of scientific research. Red Hat employee Bryan Che started a project called Nightlife. He wants people to 'donate idle capacity from their own computers to an open, general-purpose Fedora-run grid for processing socially beneficial work and scientific research that requires access to large amounts of computing power.'

Che hopes to have more than a million Fedora nodes running as part of this project.

The Guild - Episode 10: Boss Fight

Season finale: The Guild tries to take down the scariest boss of all time, Zaboo's mom!

Western Digital's VelociRaptor 10K RPM SATA Drive

Sweet, sweet story from Slashdot yesterday about my very favorite HD (I have two small Raptors in my gaming rig, set up as RAID0 which makes them blindingly fast...):

Western Digital's Raptor line of Hard Drives has been very popular with performance enthusiasts, as a desktop drive with enterprise-class performance. Today WD has launched a new line of high-performance desktop drives dubbed the VelociRaptor, and the product finally scales in capacity as well. The new SATA-based VelociRaptor weighs in at 300GB with the same 10K RPM spindle speed, but with one other major difference — it's based on 2.5" technology. Its smaller two-platter, four-head design affords the VelociRaptor random access and data transfer rates significantly faster than competing desktop SATA offerings. Areal density per platter has increased significantly as well, which contributes to solid performance gains versus the legacy WD Raptor series.

Free-to-Play MMORPGs

I know I posted awhile back on kicking my MMORPG additcion (well, specifically WoW) but as luck would have it, all this MMORPG news comes across my inbox. I found via Xfire news that there are two free-to-play MMORPGs out.

The first, Metin 2 (ranked #84 on Xfire currently), is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that is packed with great features including quests, guild battles and wars between nations.

The Kingdom that wins the war will gain possession of money and land; those that fought in the war and succeeded will gain Glory, Honor, and earn a higher Military Ranking. Do you want to be a Hero? Join the War!

Last Chaos (ranked #16 on Xfire currently) is a free fantasy MMO in which players can upgrade their courage and battle skills through adventures, quests and crafting skills. It is set in the land of Iris, a place where anarchy, terror and ambition reign after an epic struggle between the Gods.

In addition, Clan of Conan is rolling out soon.

We are only a few weeks away from launching Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and the entire team is working hard with preparing the battlefields of Hyboria for your arrival.

This looks very cool, but again is a pay-to-play. I know it's a business model, and a very good one at that, but it gets awfully expensive after a time. Most MMO players justify this by citing the fact that since they play only the one game, they save the money of buying new games as they come out. Well, that's nice, and I used that justification myself until I realized I was still wanting to purchase new games to play and try out.

So I may give Last Chaos or Metin2 a try. If only they had Linux clients... sigh...

=> Download Metin2 (Xfire)
=> Download Last Chaos (Xfire)
=> Xfire Games Page

Happy Earth Day!

(Thought I'd pass along an excellent Earth Day article from blogger Steve Eldridge, posted yesterday on CommuterPageBlog.)

Earth Day To Do's

Tomorrow is Earth Day and this year, for the first time in a long time, there seems to be a real interest and a real push to make something happen. Maybe it's that gas is heading toward four dollars a gallon faster than OJ leaving Las Vegas. Maybe it's that more and more corporations are touting how green they are. Stodgy old Walmart is even running ads showing off the environmentally sensitive products it's developed. Local and network television programs are showing us all how to be more "green" in our day-to-day lives. There is a real push to not just become environmentally aware but to actually do something.

One of the biggest impacts we can have on the environment is to change our commutes. I say this knowing that it's really not as easy or as comfortable as some would make it sound. Walking out of the house while it's still dark to catch a bus two and a half blocks away is not as easy as jumping into a pre-heated car that's been sitting in the garage. Taking that bus on a circuitous route to a Metrorail station takes time. Standing on the platform, once you get past the inevitable escalator repair, can be uncomfortable if it's raining or if the wind is blowing. Grabbing a seat on the train can be a test of one's social upbringing. It takes time to use transit and that means making a commitment.

As we well know, there are millions of people in and around Washington who have made the commitment to use transit everyday. Their efforts are to be recognized and applauded. As Kermit the frog said: it's not easy being green.

Here are some factoids from APTA, the American Public Transit Association: An individual switching to public transit can reduce his or her daily carbon emissions by 20 pounds; that's more than 4,800 pounds in a year, a figure that is more than the combined carbon emissions reduction that comes from weatherproofing your home and using energy efficient appliances and environmentally-friendly light bulbs.

If just one commuter of a household switches from driving to using public transportation, the household's carbon footprint will be reduced by 10 percent. If a household gives up its second car altogether, a household can reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent.

Around the country public transit agencies are doing some interesting things: In St Cloud, Minnesota they will unveil a 40-foot bus that is powered by a mixture of 80 percent recycled vegetable oil and 20 percent diesel fuel. It is believed that this is the first transit bus system in the nation to use waste vegetable oil to power a public transit bus. In Minneapolis the transit system will power the entire Hiawatha light rail system by wind for the day.

So what is our own Metro system doing to celebrate Earth Day and to tout the advantages of public transportation? Are they offering free rides? No. Are they giving seminars to employers looking for the best ways to encourage employees to take public transit? No. On Earth Day, 2008, Metro will be handing out chocolate bars to thank riders for helping reduce emissions by 20 pounds. It's a great idea for a system that bans food to be handing out candy bars at two of its stations.

---

Steve Eldridge is a long-time reporter, observer and commentator on the Washington region's transportation issues. You can contact him directly by writing to: Steve@SprawlandCrawl.com. Unless otherwise requested, letters or portions of letters can be used within future columns. Letter writers will be identified by their first name and city/neighborhood.

The Guild - Episode 9: Owning Bladezz

Fun with Prompts: bashish

So my buddy Brad over here at work forwards all kinds of nifty stuff for us to play with (to expound upon our geeky Linux l33tness), and today he sent me a pretty cool one.

Time for a change to your shell prompt? Try the following app, bashish (download here from my own server).

To Install:

[1] tar -xzf bashish-2.0.7.tar.gx; cd bashish-2.0.7
[2] ./configure
[3] make && make install

It is pretty simple and straightforward .. it only requires the latest dialog package installed and is a base core RPM in Fedora and apt in Ubuntu so a simple apt-get or yum install should work. You can compile from source, then install or prior to, it isn't a dependency to build just to run the theme engine.

Once Installed, as your user or the user you wish to change the prompt for:

# bashish
# bashishtheme

The bluesteel is quite nice and I recommend it. Here's a screenshot of my desktop using the box theme.

Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath

Reviewed Mon April 14, 2008 on CNN.com

Computer gamers who'd prefer to add a little brains to their brawn might want to boot up Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath, a new expansion disc that adds more game play to last year's award-winning Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars for the PC.

The latest in the best-selling C&C sci-fi strategy franchise spans 20 years of history, beginning with the rebirth of the Brotherhood of Nod after the Second Tiberium War. The defeated faction is far from destroyed, and its Machiavellian leader, Kane, goes underground to prepare for his triumphant return to power. Kane's Wrath takes you through the climactic events of the Third Tiberium War and beyond.

Between levels, the high-definition video sequences with real actors - namely, Natasha Henstridge (Species, Eli Stone), Carl Lumbly (Alias, Battlestar Galactica) and Joe Kucan, returning as the charismatic leader, Kane - are a bit cheesy, but do a fine job unraveling more of the story.

As with the past real-time strategy games in the C&C series, you'll play this futuristic war simulator from a tilted top-down perspective, as you build and defend bases, all the while commanding ground, air and sea units to take down the enemy. Unlike a slower-paced turn-based strategy game, where players can take their time making tactical decisions on the battlefield, real-time strategy games force players to consider and act upon all decisions on the fly.

Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath adds 13 new single-player missions and myriad new units, structures and powers to each of the three clashing armies: the noble Global Defense Initiative (GDI), the cut-throat guerrillas of the Brotherhood of Nod and the technologically advanced alien race, the Scrin. The GDI, for example, has access to a new helicopter, which is ideal for troop transport, while the Brotherhood of Nod adds a Redeemer combat mech to its arsenal, each equipped with shoulder-mounted missiles.

Along with these core armies are new subfactions, such as Black Hand, Steel Talons, Zocom and Reaper-17, each with their own philosophy, weapon preferences and attack style.

Along with the main solo campaign and a non-story skirmish mode (play against computer-controlled enemies on two-dozen maps), Kane's Wrath also adds a so-so Global Conquest mode, which allows desktop commanders to create their own games against two computer-controlled armies. Multiplayer access over the Internet is back, supporting up to seven opponents and a ton of new maps.

A Microsoft Xbox 360 version of Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath is expected this summer. While this console version will be a standalone game, it's a shame Kane's Wrath on the PC isn't. While it says "Expansion Pack" on the game box, it doesn't indicate you need the original Command & Conquer 3 to play, which you do (the small print is on the bottom of the back of the box). Some expansion packs do not require the original game.

But for less than $30, Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath adds a lot more sci-fi strategy and frenetic nail-biting action to fans of the series.

Game Info
Game: Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (Expansion Pack)
Score: 7 stars (out of 10)
Rating: Teen
Platforms: PC
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Price: $29.99 (for expansion pack)

=> View more at GameSpot and at EA Games' official site.

water powered car/torch

Debugging Tip: Trace the Process and See What It is Doing with strace

Posted: 10 Apr 2008 on nixCraft

(I was just this past week trying to wrap my head around strace, a utility I haven't had the chance to use much, so I thought this was fortuitous to post.)

strace is a useful diagnostic, instructional, and debugging tool. It can save lots of headache. System administrators, diagnosticians and trouble-shooters will find it invaluable for solving problems with programs for which the source is not readily available since they do not need to be recompiled in order to trace them. This is also useful to submit bug reports to open source developers.

Each line in the trace contains the system call name, followed by its arguments in parentheses and its return value.

Run strace against /bin/foo and capture its output to a text file in output.txt:

$ strace -o output.txt /bin/foo

You can strace the webserver process and see what it's doing. For example, strace php5 fastcgi process, enter:

$ strace -p 22254 -s 80 -o /tmp/debug.lighttpd.txt

To see only a trace of the open, read system calls, enter :

$ strace -e trace=open,read -p 22254 -s 80 -o debug.webserver.txt

Where,

• -o filename : Write the trace output to the file filename rather than to screen (stderr).
• -p PID : Attach to the process with the process ID pid and begin tracing. The trace may be terminated at any time by a keyboard interrupt signal (hit CTRL-C). strace will respond by detaching itself from the traced process(es) leaving it (them) to continue running. Multiple -p options can be used to attach to up to 32 processes in addition to command (which is optional if at least one -p option is given).
• -s SIZE : Specify the maximum string size to print (the default is 32).

Refer to strace man page for more information:

$ man strace

HP 2133 Mini-Notebook PC - Full-function Priced Starting Under $500

Posted: 08 Apr 2008 on nixCraft

To help schools offer affordable computing to every student, HP today introduced a full-function, mini-notebook Linux powered PC priced starting under $500. HP will join a fledgling market already populated with products from Intel Corp., the world's largest semiconductor company, and Asustek Computers Inc., the world's largest maker of computer motherboards.

The only way to keep cost is use Linux and create network only computer for everybody. Windows vista cannot be installed because of price tag and higher hardware requirements.

Notebook features:

• Simple, refined design and anodized aluminum shell that is sleek and sturdy yet lightweight;
• HP DuraKeys, featuring a clear coating applied over the notebook keyboard that protects the finish and printed letters and characters;
• An HP 3D DriveGuard, which sends a signal to shut down the hard drive upon sudden movement or shock by using a three-axis digital accelerometer chip
• Scratch-resistant display and magnesium hinge bracket
• A large 8.9-inch diagonal WXGA display, user-friendly full keyboard (QWERTY) and touchpad;
• Ability to view video, still-image capture, web conferencing or video-enhanced instant messaging with no additional hardware to buy or carry. An optional integrated VGA webcam enables video and still-image capture to allow the addition of photos and video clips to presentations, documents and email;
• Two battery solutions - three-cell for lightest-weight configurations or optional six-cell for longer battery life;
• Wireless technologies such as integrated Wi-Fi Certified WLAN(3) and optional Bluetooth, allowing students to access the Internet as well as communicate via email, IM, chat, VOIP and blogging. The wireless technologies also enable connections at hotspots as well as with Bluetooth devices such as printers, mice and headsets; and
• The processors HP is using are made by Via Technologies Inc., the distant third-ranked player in the microprocessor space, and come in clock speeds up to 1.6 gigahertz.

=> More information available here and here.

Increase Your Productivity with Various Linux Desktop Apps

Posted April 1 2008 on nixCraft.

This blog post covers many applications which can be used to increase your productivity without spending a single penny.

From the article:

Sure, Apple’s built its reputation on being the hipster brand of choice, but one of the nice things about Linux is the ability to customize virtually any aspect of the operating system to cater to your workflow and computing habits.

For the purpose of structure I’ll break the article into two parts. The first will discuss how Linux can be just as application-rich, in terms of usefulness, as OS X or Windows. In the second half, I’ll cover various productivity-boosting apps and features that allow you do accomplish virtually any task with a few simple keystrokes.

=> Full-throttle Productivity and Web-Work With Ubuntu

Uncyclopedic Knowledge

Care for a trip down what would be an excellent waste of time? Go peruse the Uncyclopedia - an obvious spoof on the web-staple Wikipedia, but in this case without any redeeming nuggets of truth whatsoever. Uncyclopedia's stated goal is to "provide the world's misinformation in the least redeeming and most searingly sarcastic and humorous way possible, through satire". Pure comedic genius. Don't take my word for it, here's a few to start you off:

• Satan Claus
• George W. Bush
• No Child Left Behind

"I have never seen a plan designed so ingeniously to fail so completely"
~ Oscar Wilde on No Child Left Behind

Note: Not for the comedically challenged. You've been warned.

Download Of The Day: Ubuntu Linux 8.04 (Hardy) Beta ISO / CD

Posted: 24 Mar 2008 nixCraft Linux Sys Admin Blog

The Ubuntu project has released beta version 8.04 and available for download from the official project web site.
The Ubuntu developers are moving very quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the open source community has to offer. New feature includes:

• GNOME 2.22
• Linux kernel 2.6.24.
• Firefox 3 beta
• PulseAudio
• Vinagre VNC client
• Brasero CD/DVD burning application
• There is a new installation option for Windows users. Wubi allows users to install and uninstall Ubuntu like any other Windows application. It does not require a dedicated partition, nor does it affect the existing bootloader, yet users can experience a dual-boot setup almost identical to a full installation.

The final stable version will be released in April 2008. Download cutting edge version from official mirror.

Anything that grows 'can convert into oil'

Company finds natural solution that turns plants into gasoline

Posted: March 19, 2008, WorldNetDaily

After three years of clandestine development, a Georgia company is now going public with a simple, natural way to convert anything that grows out of the Earth into oil.

J.C. Bell, an agricultural researcher and CEO of Bell Bio-Energy, says he's isolated and modified specific bacteria that will, on a very large scale, naturally change plant material – including the leftovers from food – into hydrocarbons to fuel cars and trucks.

"What we're doing is taking the trash like corn stalks, corn husks, corn cobs – even grass from the yard that goes to the dump – that's what we can turn into oil," Bell told WND. "I'm not going to make asphalt, we're only going to make the things we need. We're going to make gasoline for driving, diesel for our big trucks."


Wood pulp is among the many natural materials that can be converted into oil and gasoline, according to Bell Bio-Energy, Inc., of Tifton, Ga.

The agricultural researcher made the discovery after standing downwind from his cows at his food-production company, Bell Plantation, in Tifton, Ga.

"Cows are like people that eat lots of beans. They're really, really good at making natural gas," he said. "It dawned on me that that natural gas was methane."

Bell says he wondered what digestive process inside a cow enabled it to change food into the hydrocarbon molecules of methane, so he began looking into replicating and speeding up the process.

"Through genetic manipulation, we've changed the naturally occurring bacteria, so they eat and consume biomass a little more efficiently," he said. "It works. There's not even any debate that it works. It really is an all-natural, simple process that cows use on a daily basis."

Naturally occurring bacteria used to convert biomass into hydrocarbons.

But does he think it will make environmentalists happy?

"They love this. We had one totally recognizable environmentalist from Hollywood say this is everything they ever had hoped for," Bell said. "This could be considered the ultimate recycling of carbon. We are using the energy of the sun through the plant. We're not introducing any new carbon [to the environment]."

The research has received strong support from the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture and committees in both chambers of Congress, and Bell plans further discussions in Washington, D.C., next week.

Read full article...

Sun To Offer Ubuntu Linux Based Servers

Posted: 19 Mar 2008, nixCraft

Good news for all Debian / Ubuntu Linux fans. Sun has started to offer Ubuntu Linux based servers. Sun has systems competitively priced for small and medium businesses. Ubuntu is based upon rock solid Debian core. Look like Red hat and Novell going to have some nice competition. Sun offers x64-based systems certified for Ubuntu Linux:

• x64 Rack Servers
• Blade Servers
• x64 Workstations
• Workgroup Disk Storage
• Tape Automation

=> Sun SMB Product Page (Via Arun’s blog)

Chore Wars

When I first heard of it, I thought it was a cute idea to get kids motivated to do chores, but didn't think it would fly with them... however, the kids have really run with the idea of Chore Wars. It's like an RPG game around doing chores. Sound goofy? Well, go and check it out to see what I mean - it's been going strong since last summer, and I can see why. Both the girls are actually excited about doing chores, and levelling their characters up past Donna and I!

Pic of the Week 20080306

Been pretty lax about these lately, but this just arrived in my inbox courtesy of my buddy Rob. Still complaining about gas prices here in the States? Here are the gas prices per gallon from around the world:

(Click on the image for full-sized.)