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Find Out How To Run Starcraft Ii On Linux
Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
Its been a while since my last post mainly due to laziness but with a little bit of computer trouble aiding my lack of updates. My laptop doesnt like Windows XP & my Vista disc is scratched beyond all repair so the Ubuntu 10.4 disc I made for a nerdy/rainy day made the cut. Starcraft II released shortly before the great hard drive failure so I played it on Windows for a while & fed my addiction for the game. I wasnt about to give up on playing so I set forth on getting Starcraft II to work on my new operation system & here is a little tutorial on how I got it to play:
Cedega is dead for the most part & Crossover Games costs money so I gave Wine & PlayOnLinux/Wine a try. Ill provide the way to install the game simply using Wine a try first:
How to Run Starcraft II With Wine 1.2
Download & Install Wine 1.2 (In my case I use Ubuntu w/ installation via Synaptic Package Manager)
Open a command line / terminal window & type the commands listed below
cd ~/Downloads
wget http://winezeug.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/winetricks
chmod +x winetricks
./winetricks droid fontfix fontsmooth-rgb gdiplus gecko
./winetricks vcrun2008 vcrun2005 allfonts d3dx9 win7
winecfg
The winecfg command will open the Wine configuration. You will notice tabs along the top with one titled Libraries. The Libraries tab will list a war load of libraries. What we went to do is add mmdevapi to the overrides then edit/disable it. After mmdevapi is added & disabled click on the audio tab and choose Alsa.
With any luck at this point you should be able to play Starcraft II on Linux.
How to Run Starcraft 2 With PlayOnLinux
PlayOnLinux is the easiest option since it will automate the process of installing SC2 via Wine (for the most part). Use these steps to get the game up and running:
Download PlayOnLinux for your specific Linux distribution (If you use Ubuntu download the newest version via the official website to get the newest version)
Click on install & select Starcraft II from the Games menu
Go through the step by step process (note if you install from the DVD it will take a long time for PlayOnLinux to copy the files from the disc, dont be alarmed)
When the game is installed select it & click on configure this application from the menu. Youll want to choose configure wine and add then disable mmdevapi in the libraries tab like we did with the Wine howto.
Play SC2 Wings of Liberty (hopefully)
Potential solutions for FPS issues:
Starcraft II will likely run slower on Linux than Windows for various reason but you might be able to compensate using these methods:
Disable Compiz (Using Ubuntu/Wine System > Preferences > Appearance > Visual Effects > None)
Upgrade your Nvidia drivers, https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/x-updates
Try lowering your in game graphical settings to compensate
If you have any issues or suggestions please add a comment
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How To Disable Youtubes next Video Auto Play & gray Bar
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YouTube recently added a feature that whenever you watch a video from certain locations such as the homepage or from your subscriptions a little gray bar at the bottom of the screen appears and auto-plays the next video once the one you are watching finishes. YouTube wont let you turn this off but there is good news there is an unofficial workaround!
While some users will find this useful as it turns their Youtube experience into a more TV-like experience, it has also really upset a vast number of people.
The problem is you have to opt out of the autoplay every single time you open a new video, and are unable to opt out of the gray bar. The reasons for YouTube having this new feature is unclear, the assumption is by giving the user less control means theyll be more likely to stay engaged on the site longer & watch more videos.
The issue with this though is if you were typing a comment or wanted to type a comment before watching another video your text is lost as your browser auto loads the next video as soon as the one you are watching has ended. Also, if you are saving longer videos for when you have more time they will be no longer be marked as unwatched.
Fortunately, with the help of FireFox (and other browsers) there is an extension called a Greasemonkey, until YouTube releases an official fix, you can have the ability with the use of this script to get back to your regular YouTube experience.
Here is what you need to do to get this work around in place:
Step 1a) FireFox Users, install Greasemonkey
Step 1b) IE users theres a version for you too
Step 1c) Sarafi users check this page out
Step 1d) Chrome users, your browser is already compatible!
Step 2) Install this greasemonkey script
Step 3) No more autoplay or gray bar!!!
These three easy steps can have you surfing YouTube the way your use to and for 2,546 already who prefer it let your voice be heard after all, you are the viewer, contributer and user of YouTube.
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Sprint Says Premium Data Is For “shrimp And Crab”
Sprint says Premium Data is for Shrimp and Crab.
This is a phone conversation that took place on July 1st, 2010, between myself and a Sprint Executive Analyst. This conversation took place due to my complaint at the Better Business Bureau. I was asked to speak with them, so that we can talk about my complaint.
The person I am speaking with is who responds to the BBB complaints and other inquiries with the executive offices. This isn’t a regular call center Supervisor, this isn’t a Sprint.com/chat Supervisor.. this is Sprint’s “voice of the company” department.
I have provided a transcript here and also added the transcript in the video.
It’s a little long, but it’s .. a great listen.
Highlights:
7:02 minutes
Sprint: [..] the fee was decided at a last minute, just because of the amount of data that we expect you using the EVO.
20:30 minutes
Me: [..] it appears that the manufacturer of the phone is describing their device, and you are in addition describing the device as well, is the customer who is paying the $10 fee for premium data, are they paying for a hardware device for everything month for $10 dollars?
Sprint: its the amount of data, its the additional amount of the data that they’ll be using on our network because of that processor.
Me: so, would the speed of the processor of the hardware processor, which was described to me by the Public Relations manager and let me see if I can quote her, she stated that the.. the super-fast snapdragon processor, it includes a camera, it includes a super-fast snapdragon processor so that navigation on the phone is quicker and the apps load faster, so does the phone as described by her, it what she is basically saying is that the apps will load faster, because thats what a processor does, not necessarily data usage
Sprint: [mumbled] and therefore, you would be able to multi-task, and use data on multiple applications at the same time, and on other phones, you would not be able to do that.
38:00 minutes:
Me: Your reply to me is that the $10, the $10 premium data add-on is for unlimited data usage, my plan already has unlimited data, what would be the difference between this and I went to say, an all you can eat buffet, that was basically all you can eat, and this term, this is all you can use, what is, why would the $10 premium data fee ensure that I have unlimited data?
Sprint: it would be for shrimp and crab.
Me: OK um..
Sprint: The shrimp and crab is not included in the regular buffet.
Me: OK, what is shrimp and crab, what is the comparison to shrimp and crab on the HTC EVO?
Sprint: the high quality video, like I said, the YouTube application, its the other phones have, they do have the YouTube applications, they do have the ESPN and things like that,the ESPN that youd be able to stream on the EVO is different , its higher quality, like I said, it requires more data, when youre using that actual feature.
39:50 minutes
Me: OK and you said that in the applications you can use Sprints TeleNav, and Google maps, are you aware that the Samsung Moment has those applications as well?
Sprint: Right, but its not the same applications, its a little bit different.
Me: What is different about it?
Sprint: It has more features and the actual quality of the product is superior to what you have on the Moment.
Me: Because I can see it clearly?
Sprint: Yes.
Me: Using the hardware of the phone that I purchased?
Sprint: Right.
Me: And thats what the $10 add-on adds?
Sprint: The hardware and network go hand in hand, were going to go round in circles, were not going to get anywhere, the $10 fee is here to stay, its not, I mean its not.. were not really getting anywhere.
Check out the video or read the transcript. I spoke with his Supervisor a few days later and will be posting that conversation as well… it gets even better.
Note: I am located in New York and New York State Law states that I am able to record this conversation since there was at least one party aware of this recording.