Elive team proudly announced last evening yet another development release of their GNU/Linux Live CD, Elive 1.9.18, which brings a new and improved kernel, better network configurator and many other updates. "This version includes a greatly improved new kernel and a lot of upgraded packages." - said the Elive developers in the official release announcement.
As mentioned, the kernel package has been updated (to version 2.6.26.8), and includes the following improvements:
• Wireless improvements: The kernel now contains all the available wireless drivers, including ath9k from Atheros;
• Apple MacBooks improvements: With the introduction of the ath9k wireless driver, the WEP encryption bug in MacBooks has been solved.
The Net-Connector tool introduced in the 1.9.10 release has finally been finished and it is now working at full capacity. The Net-Connector will help Elive users easily configure their networks (wireless and wired).
Last but not least, the Elive team added new and useful bookmarks for the Mozilla Firefox web browser. For example, you will now find a good list with links and tutorials for The Gimp, and some bookmarks with articles about Elive and the EFL development.
Elive is an operating system created using Debian GNU/Linux as its basis. It offers a lot of eye-candy while keeping the resources consumption very low with the help of the Enlightenment window manager.
Elive Linux sports a large number of applications, ranging from office and Internet related applications, to games and entertainment. With Elive, you can watch movies, listen to your favorite songs or chat with friends. E17, the development version of the Enlightenment window manager that comes with Elive Unstable, is brought to you from CVS, and is updated on a regular basis through Elive's testing repository.
If you want to use Elive, it is recommended you use a computer with minimum 128 of RAM and a 300 MHz CPU. Remember that this is an unstable release and it should not be installed on production machines. It is intended to be used for testing purposes only! You can report bugs to Elive's Bug Tracker.
Download Elive 1.9.18 right now from Here.
Source: http://linuxarticle.blogspot.com/
Available Now: Elive 1.9.18
Windows 7 Direct3D 11 Features
Windows 7 Direct3D 11 Features - A taste of DirectX 11 is already available for download. As of November 2008, Microsoft is delivering the first taste of DirectX 11 for Windows 7 for download. A release aimed at developers, The November 2008 DirectX Software Development Kit, brings to the table the successor of Direct3D 10.1, namely Direct3D 11. In the SDK package, the Redmond company is offering a technical preview of Direct3D 11, but also the adjacent components and tools. Backwards compatible, content developed for Direct3D 11 hardware will also be compatible with earlier products supporting Direct3D 10 and 10.1 (in Vista SP1). Via the Windows 7 Developer Guide, Microsoft provides an insight into the new features made available by Direct3D 11.
“Geometry and high-order surfaces can now be tessellated to support scalable, dynamic content in patch and subdivision surface representations. To make good use of the parallel processing power available from multiple CPU cores, multithreading increases the number of potential rendering calls per frame by distributing the application, runtime, and driver calls across multiple cores. In addition, resource creation and management has been optimized for multithreaded use, enabling more efficient dynamic texture management for streaming,” Microsoft revealed.
According to the Redmond company, version 11 is designed to deliver an evolution of the functionality of the Direct3D 10 pipeline for Windows 7. In this regard, Microsoft has positioned Windows 7 to take advantage of the next generation of GPUs and multi-core processors when it comes down to the way the operating system will handle games and 3D applications. The software giant has indicated that Direct3D 11 in Windows 7 will support: Tessellation; Compute Shaders; Multithreaded Rendering; Dynamic Shader Linkage; Windows Advanced Rasterizer (WARP); Direct3D 10 and Direct3D 11 on Direct3D 9 Hardware (D3D10 Level 9); Runtime Binaries; D3DX11; Completely Updated HLSL and Direct3D Compiler; D3D11 Reference Rasterizer and D3D11 SDK Layers.
“New general-purpose compute shaders have been created for Direct3D 11. Unlike existing shaders, these are extensions to the programmable pipeline that enable your application to do more work completely on the GPU, independent of the CPU. DrawAuto, which was introduced in Direct3D 10, has been extended to interact with a compute shader. Several improvements have been made to the high-level shading language (HLSL), such as a limited form of dynamic linkage in shaders to improve specialization complexity, and object-oriented programming constructs like classes and interfaces,” the company added.
The November 2008 DirectX Software Development Kit is available for download here.
The November 2008 DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer can be downloaded via this link.
DirectX End-User Runtimes (November 2008) is up for grabs here.
Source: http://akupunyasitus.blogspot.com/
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Crysis: Warhead - Play as Psycho in this expansion of the first game
Warhead, the sequel to the critically acclaimed first person shooter Crysis, delivers a parallel side story to the first game. Based on a very tweaked and optimized version of the CryEngine 2, it delivers the same stunning beauty from the first game without the absurdly high system requirements. It offers a pretty entertaining gaming experience and some interesting surprises which I won't spoil for you. The vehicles and enemies will keep you hooked on the game, but the stereotype missions will bore you.
Story
As I said, the game is based on a parallel side story to the first one. You play as the British Sergeant Psycho Sykes who, after parting with the first game's main character, Nomad, follows the North Korean General Lee and his mysterious cargo. Presumed to be a nuclear warhead, hence the title of the game, Psycho is tasked with tracking down and apprehending the cargo for the United States. On his pursuit of the general, he saves his old friend, Sean O'Neill, who in return acts like a guardian angel through most of the game helping Psycho out with his VTOL aerial craft. On his journey, he takes part in a lot of cliché missions and reaches a harbor where the cargo is shipped to a submarine. After climbing aboard, he is knocked out and awakens being tortured by the general, but in a different environment, as all of the things are frozen by the same aliens from the first game.
After chasing the general with the help of a hovercraft, one of the most exciting aspects of the game, he joins up with another team of marines. After defeating one of the large exo-suit aliens, he travels through the elaborate mine system of the mountain. Combined with the lack of a functioning map and the claustrophobic environment, it really is a recipe for the player to get lost, as I did.
After escaping the mining system, he is tasked with escorting a train the cargo is on through the jungle riddled with North Korean soldiers and later on, aliens. After another encounter with the general, he has to invade a Korean airstrip filled with hostile soldiers and vehicles. Against all odds, he defeats all of the humans but is faced with the arrival of an upgraded exo-suit type alien.
Quite an intro for Psycho
The Nano Suit is always good
Concept
The concept of the game is pretty simple, although Nomad, the lead character in the first game had the most important job, help rescue the American scientists and then defeat the aliens, Psycho's job is also very important. But you can't really help the fact that it is the lesser story of the happenings from the island. It isn't as grand as Nomad's adventure, or as exciting as his. The missions are all pretty cliché, with escorts or defensive missions making up for quite a decent part of the game. I have to admit that the fights with the big aliens are pretty entertaining, but they don't really make up for all the downsides of the game.
It is definitely good for all the Crysis fans who want another nano suit dressed adventure battling North Koreans and aliens, but for the average shooter player, it isn't much to look at. All of the boring missions really take the fun out of a pretty smart and entertaining shooter (in the end). As I discussed with my colleagues here at Softpedia, it's like Crytek wanted to make two games using the same universe. One filled with innovation and a compelling story, which is Crysis, and the other molded after classic shooter clichés, with the stereotype missions and characters, which is Warhead.
Gameplay
In terms of actual gameplay the title, aside from various small modifications, is pretty much the same as in the first game, which in actual playing terms isn't that bad. The same nano suit is present with its familiar controls and very useful options. In terms of the weapons available, very few innovations were made, like the pulse rifle. In terms of equipment, the anti vehicle mines or claymores are noticeable new items, with a special EMP grenade designed to disrupt the power of nano suits also making an appearance.
Concerning vehicles, you will be experimenting with quite a few new ones. From regular military jeeps to armored personnel carriers (equipped with big guns) or tanks, you will definitely have an alternative to just walking around the island. Noticeable vehicles in this version are the hovercraft, on which you will be engaging the general on the frozen sea, or a train, which you will be tasked with guarding.
Another nice feature is the fact that, at some point in the game, you will be helped by other people, be it O'Neill, with his VTOL or other nano suit teams from the Special Forces. Considering that the amount of enemies is quite large, this is really a good thing. A downside is the fact that the actual game lasts only about eight hours.
General Lee
The bigger they are, the harder they fall
Visual and Audio
In terms of the graphics aspects, you can't ask for anything else. Once again, the CryEngine 2 proves its power, recreating a gorgeous tropical island, and its frozen counterpart extremely well with the minutest details in place. The surroundings are very beautiful and can sometimes really distract you from the mission. The special effects, like explosions, are marvelously well done, I myself trying to blow stuff up just to watch the effects which portray it so well. As a special feature, the part of the game where the island is frozen is very realistically rendered, with the likes of North Korean soldiers frozen in a wide variety of positions.
The audio part of the game is also well done. The sounds associated to the vehicles are very realistic, with the engines sounding very different as the vehicle is taking damage. The sounds of the jungle are also very well done. Although its peace is almost always disturbed by the gun fire and battles going on there.
Multiplayer
The multiplayer aspect of the game, entitled Crysis Wars, is a very interesting part. Although it came on a separate disk, it was incorporated in the Crysis: Warhead pack. Aside from the Instant Action and Power Struggle modes, the new mode entitled Team Action is very entertaining. The wide range of maps offers a very good experience, without the player being (too) bored.
Conclusion
All in all, it's a pretty decent game. All shooter fans will have a reasonable experience, although, at times, a bit annoying. Crysis fans are sure to enjoy this title, bringing their favorite universe back to life in this new adventure. Psycho is a more enjoyable character than the enigmatic Nomad from the first game. If you enjoy shooters and want to wear the nano suit again, then you definitely should buy it.
Source: http://akupunyasitus.blogspot.com/
Installing Ubuntu 8.10 - Step by step installation guide with screenshots
Ubuntu 8.10, also known as the Intrepid Ibex, arrived exactly one week ago (on October 30th, 2008), and is the ninth release of Ubuntu OS. The following tutorial will teach you how to install the Ubuntu 8.10 operating system on your PC, and is addressed to people that have just heard about Ubuntu, people that have never installed Ubuntu before and want to test it, but don't know how.
This guide will make things very simple for you, but if you get stuck somewhere in the middle of the installation and you need help, do not hesitate to use our commenting system at the end of the article.
What do I need to get started?
· You will need the Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop ISO image that corresponds to your hardware architecture (i386 or amd64), and which can be downloaded from here. When the download is over, burn the ISO image with your favorite CD/DVD burning application (Brasero on Ubuntu or Nero, CDBurnerXP, Roxio on Windows) on a blank CD at 8x speed. Insert or leave the CD in your CD/DVD-ROM device, and reboot the computer in order to boot from the CD. Hit the F8 or F12 key (depending on your BIOS) to select the CD/DVD-ROM as the boot device.
Select your language when asked...
Select the second option "Install Ubuntu," and hit the “Enter” key...
Wait for the CD to load into RAM...
When the installer appears, you are able to select your native language for the installation process. Click the “Forward” button to continue...
Where are you?
· The second screen will feature a map of the Earth with little red dots, so you can select your city/country. Upon the selection of your current location, the time for the final system will adjust accordingly. You can also select your current location from the drop down list situated at the bottom of the window.
Click the “Forward” button after you have selected your desired location...
Test your keyboard
· On the third screen, you will be asked to select the keyboard layout that suits you best (default is U.S. English). You can also test your keyboard on the small text input field situated at the bottom of the window.
Click the “Forward” button when you have finished with the keyboard configuration...
Hard disk partitioning
Hold on, don't leave just yet! The hard disk partitioning is an easy task, so I am quite sure you will handle it too. You have three options here:
1. If you want to keep your existing operating system (e.g. Dual boot with Windows XP), select the first option: "Guided - resize the partition and use the freed space." This option will appear if you have another operating system installed, such as Microsoft Windows. Remember that, after the installation, the Windows boot loader will be overwritten by the Ubuntu boot loader!
2. If you want to delete your existing operating system, or the hard drive is already empty and you want to let the installer automatically partition the hard drive for you, select the second option, "Guided - use entire disk."
3. Manual is the third choice and it is recommended for advanced users.
WARNING: Be aware that all the data on the selected hard drive or partition will be ERASED and IRRECOVERABLE.
Click the “Forward” button to continue with the installation...
Who are you?
· On this screen, you must do exactly what the title says. Fill in the fields with your real name, the name you want to use to log in on your Ubuntu OS (also known as the “username”), the password and the name of the computer (automatically generated, but can be overwritten). Also at this step, there's an option called “Log in automatically.” If you check the box on this option, you will be automatically logged in to the Ubuntu desktop.
Click the “Forward” button...
Are you really ready for Ubuntu?
· This is the final step of the installation. Here, you can select to install the boot loader on another partition or hard drive than the default one...
Click the “Install” button to install Ubuntu...
The Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) operating system will be installed...
After approximately 8 to 15 minutes (depending on your computer's specs), a pop-up window will appear, notifying you that the installation is complete, and you need to restart the computer in order to use the newly installed Ubuntu operating system.
Click the “Restart Now” button...
The CD will be ejected, remove it and press the “Enter” key to reboot...
The computer will be restarted and, in a few seconds, you will see the Ubuntu login screen. Input your username and password...
Have fun using Ubuntu!
Source: http://akupunyasitus.blogspot.com/
Sapphire Adds New GeForce 9400GT Cards
Although NVIDIA's new low-profile GeForce 9400 graphics card has been officially announced for quite some time now, one of its add-in-board partners decided to keep its customers waiting for a while. However, the company has officially launched its version of the new GeForce graphics card earlier today, offering four new models, based on the same GPU.
As we mentioned in our previous articles, NVIDIA's new GeForce 9400 card has been designed to accommodate the graphics requirements of entry-level users who don't spend their entire budget on just one video card. In addition, the GeForce 9400 GT features several NVIDIA technologies and supports Microsoft's DirectX 10 API. Furthermore, this is also one of the few NVIDIA cards that have been developed using a 55nm process technology, which AMD has been adopting for quite some time now.
Back to Sapphire's latest GeForce cards, the four new models have been designed to deliver a maximum of 1GB of DDR2 memory. However, two of them will be equipped with only 512MB DDR2 memory on a 128-bit memory interface. There is another way you can differentiate the four models from one another, as the two 1GB DDR2-enabled cards are equipped with a passive cooling solution. All four of them are based on PCI-Express 2.0 interface and have the same clock settings as the reference model, with 550MHz for the GPU and 800MHz for the memory.
In addition to the new GeForce 9400GT models, Sparkle can also offer four GDDR3-equipped cards, all of which have only 512MB of memory. In total, Sparkle has 12 graphics cards, based on the same 9400GT GPU. So we could say that if you are an entry-level user and you are searching for a new low-profile graphics card, you should find what you are searching for in Sapphire's product lineup.
Source: http://microsoftarticles.blogspot.com/
.NET Framework 4.0 and Dublin
At the end of September 2008, Microsoft unveiled that the next versions of Visual Studio and .NET Framework would span across not only the client and server operating systems but also across services and devices. Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4.0 are expected to drop either in late 2009 or by the first half of 2010, even though Microsoft failed to confirm a delivery deadline. As far as the next iteration of its runtime environment is concerned, Microsoft is cooking .NET Framework 4.0 while planning a synchronization with the evolution of Windows Server, namely Windows Server Dublin.
“Updates to the next versions of Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) are focused on reducing complexity for developers by providing better support for Web 2.0 technologies like REST, POX and ATOM, and increasing performance and scalability in the process. In fact, early tests show these improvements to WCF and WF are, at a minimum, enabling 10X the perf and scalability - and to think we’re still fine tuning here! Second, 'Dublin' makes it easier to deploy, manage and scale these next-generation applications,” explained Steven Martin, Director, CSD Product Management Microsoft.
Windows Server "Dublin" is a collection of enhanced capabilities added to the Windows server platform which will expand to also take Internet Information Services (IIS) to the next level. The end purpose of the improvements planned for the Windows Application Server is to permit developers to handle composite applications in a much simpler way than they can today. Microsoft is in fact looking to streamline processes including installation and management as well as the scalability of composite solutions.
“We will deliver a Community Technology Preview (CTP) of Windows Workflow Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, and 'Dublin' technologies at the Professional Developers Conference in October 2008; this will allow us to begin receiving broader feedback from customers and partners. We are committed to driving and prioritizing our development efforts based upon customer and partner feedback; the feedback from this CTP and other customer programs will help inform us as to the exact timing of our beta and RTM,” Microsoft indicated via the Dublin NET 4 Overview whitepaper.
.NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is available for download here.
Source: http://microsoftarticles.blogspot.com/
Call of Duty: World At War Xbox 360 Beta Is Now Open
Call of Duty: World at War is definitely shaping up to be a great title. Although the developer of the game, Treyarch, was severely disapproved when it announced that it would have the shooter franchise back to World War II, after the huge success of the latest title which took place in contemporary times, CoD 4: Modern Warfare, the game does look pretty good.
We have already posted our impressions of the PC multiplayer beta stage, and now it seems that the team at Treyarch decided to make the Xbox 360 version of the beta stage open to everyone. Everyone who has an Xbox Live Gold membership, of course, but Silver subscribers might get the chance to play it after a few days. Before this, a special token was required to download the multiplayer client and join in on the battles of CoD., token which you received if you were a registered user on the official CoD website.
“The Xbox 360 Multiplayer Beta went public this morning on Xbox Live Marketplace. Now all your friends and neighbors can join in the online mayhem and see how deadly you've become during your time fighting during the exclusive Beta period,” read the official announcement on the CoD website.
This is definitely great news for the people who wanted to see if the game was worth buying this very busy holiday season. One of the key features for the previous title was the very well built multiplayer mode and the fact that it was very balanced, offering players a great experience. This new title promises to bring an even greater online experience, mainly because it will feature more modes of play and that the factions involved will be very individualized.
For those of you who don't know, CoD: World at War is the fifth title in the franchise, and the first one not to be developed by Infinity Ward, the creators of the series. Its action will follow the events in the Pacific Ocean during the Second World War and the battles in Berlin. It promises to give players a unique look on the battles of WWII and hopes that it will clear the name for all war based shooters which have really been saturating the market for a while now.
Considering the multiplayer mode and the fact that Treyarch tried really hard to offer an even more motivating single player story, this game looks very promising in the eyes of gamers.
Source: news.softpedia.com