Linux TF2 Idling - Minor, scratch that major victory today!

Its 8am and I've been awake for far too long. However in my hazed state I found the missing component to getting TF2 idling working in Linux with Arkose. While reading and rereading stgrabber's blog (the developer of Arkose) I realized I may have to give the device access to the video card to properly work. So I did, and it didn't work. After some fiddling around on a whim I tried giving it access to both /dev/nvidia* devices and... it worked! I had two copies of TF2 running at the same time on two different accounts.

I can now start Steam/TF2 within an Arkose container with the following command:

sudo arkose -h --device /dev/nvidiactl --device /dev/nvidia0 "steam -login username password --applaunch 440"

and it will launch steam and TF2 in a container! Woohoo! Of course I was also having the issue of steam failing to launch again once a copy was running. While writing this it came to me that the only way for steam to know it was already running is with a simple file check. So I dove into the ~/.steam directory and found the steam.pid file. Removing that prior to launching another copy in arkose will allow steam to run again. I have no idea what the effect of removing the steam.pid file will do however, that bares some investigation.

Well, that would be the hard part done (getting multiple copies working). Next step, write a shell script to get this baby point and click! Maybe even a simple GTK application Then become famous! Well maybe not that last step...

Yup, I did it. Thats 3 copies running =)

Setting up Cockatrice in Ubuntu 12.10

UPDATE 3/5/2013:
Seems Hasbro has sent their ever famous legal threats to the Cockatrice team. Horrible timing I might add. However you can still download the source and setup a private server, of which I won't elaborate on here. You can find the final snapshot of the git hub tree on reddit here.

Thanks to Adrian for the information, I would of missed the reddit post due to my vacation.

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I love Cockatrice. It is one of the best testing programs (without owning any cards) out there. Together with Skype and some friends this is the best testing option outside of high-end proxies. There's something to be said about testing with actual cards instead of sharpied lands.

However installing the Linux port is not as simple as apt-get install cockatrice. So lets get started. For this is a very quick tutorial and I'm going to assume you know at least some basics of Linux, specifically how to use the terminal and basic file structure. If you're really new, just open a terminal and copy/paste these commands in one at a time. Enter your admin password when asked. 

sudo apt-get install git
git clone git://github.com/mbruker/Cockatrice.git
sudo apt-get install cmake
sudo apt-get install qt4-dev-tools
sudo apt-get install libprotobuf-dev
sudo apt-get install qtmobility-dev
cd Cockatrice
mkdir build
cmake ..
sudo make install

Everything should go fine. Every package is in the Ubuntu repositories, its quite seamless. Cockatrice installs three programs needed. The first is the obvious `cockatrice` which starts the program. The second is `oracle` which downloads and setups the card images. Run this first and update your card database. The third is `servatrice` which I haven't delved into yet, but it allows you to start a private Cockatrice server. Both the main program and the Oracle database utility show up in app launcher as well!

Cockatrice running in Ubuntu 12.10 (Gnome3 desktop)

Getting MTGO to work in VMWare

I'm no stranger to virtual machines. However this minor issue had me up in arms for a while.

Since moving over to Linux full time, I realized the one piece of software I really need is MTGO. (Magic the Gathering: Online). It sadly does not run in wine as it once did. So, I go to my universal backup plan Virtual machines!

So I install a fresh copy of WinXP Pro, disable a couple of services to speed up operation and proceed to install MTGO ('Classic' now that the beta is open). Everything goes fine until I start up, it crashes.

Eh? Some googling revealed others with the same issues, mostly mac users with fusion (I suppose the Linux crowd doesn't really play MTG) but no solutions. Diving into the error codes with other games, I figured out the issue. Actually two issues.

.Net 2.0 is required. It seems the version the MTGO installer installs for you is incorrect. So I downloaded .net 2.0's installer (which oddly claimed to be the SDK, whatever floats its boat) and ran it.

DirectX 9c is required: Another odd one, since I ran windows update as soon as I installed WinXP, and directX did get installed. So I downloaded it again and reinstalled it from Microsoft's website here.

Once both of those were in, mtgo loaded up flawlessly. No restart required.

TL;DR:

.net 2.0 from here.
DirectX From here.
Install both, will work.

I think I'll support Wizard's new client more now simply because the guys who have the contract now are idiots.

Also I should mention Unity mode does not work unless you start MTGO in Unity mode. MTGO will claim the number of monitors has changed (yeah right, like it supports multiple monitors) and force closes. Now if they could just release a native client for Linux....

Ubuntu 12.10 - Steps backwards

With the release of Steam for Linux and the decline of my own video game playing (I seriously haven't touched a game in almost 5 months now) I decided to switch to Linux for my primary everyday desktop. This isn't a new thing for me, I've used Linux/Ubuntu/Debian for many years now. However today marks the day I make the final switch for my primary desktop. Games have always held me back, Steam for Linux solves this. Since I primarily watch Twitch/TV and play MTGO (already in a VM I might add) I really have no more uses for Windows.

To date I haven't really used Ubuntu since the great Unity fiasco. My laptop will continue to use 10.04 until it dies since the damned thing works. I've toyed with it in VMs for specific purposes and a server runs 12.04 with Unity for a friend but I hardly ever go into the GUI in that machine.

So I happily install Ubuntu deleting my now useless Windows 7 Partition.

First problem: Install failed. The hell? Just clicked next on the first screen and it froze. Ok, odd, since I couldn't get it to restart (tried killing all processes, restarting X, etc) I rebooted and tried again. This time it worked.

Second Problem: Grub installed to the wrong drive. In my nearly 20 years of BSD/Linux I have never run into this before from a major distro. Luckily I know how to install grub in other ways.

Third Problem: nvidia-current broke Unity. SERIOUSLY?!? Do you people not test these things? All I did was update the system, installed nvidia-current, rebooted and.... No unity. I.. I.. I have no words for this. This is just damned sloppy. I expect this from some student project distro not THE major Linux distro for the masses. Googling this issue has brought up a plethora of issues from everyone, including ATI users reporting the same issue. Every fix requires manually installing Linux headers. Why aren't these things now included in the main install by now? I swear Ubuntu has been the only distro to consistently not include the headers. With a new influx of Linux users coming specifically for Steam this seems like a pretty damned important thing to have working.

Fourth Problem: Multi-Monitor support still flawed. While it has been getting better, there are some minor things I've gotten acustomed to from Windows. The lack of duplicating the start bar/Unity Bar on every display (I have 9 displays.. eve player.. I don't need to see it 9 times). Even dropping down to 3 displays yields the same annoyance. I also watch twitch/VLC a lot in a secondary monitor, yet It can't remain full screen if I want to do something else? Shit, Microsoft added this in Windows XP SP1. You'd think people would use multiple monitors by now in the FOSS world by now. Googling for fixes yields HEX EDITING!?? Well, guess I'll watch all my videos in a VM.

Fifth Problem: Steam doesn't install from the software Center with an unknown error. *facepalm* Just *facepalm*

Props to both Spotify and Chrome. Both installs were flawless and my two primarily used programs. Love you guys, don't change.

I haven't had this many problems with a fresh install of Linux in years. Oh and Unity is ugly.

Gatecrash Prerelease - Boros NO REMORSE

10am, Friday, Feburary 08, 2013. Gatecrash has been released on MTGO!

In the weeks leading up to today I've been at my local store every day drafting Gatecrash. I was even able to get in 5 sealed events at the prerelease. Its time to crush some people.

Queues went up and I instantly jumped in with my Boros emblem and this is what I got:

Gatecrash Prerelease #1 - Deck & Sideboard

Not too bad. A touch light on creatures, I'd prefer two more for battalion to trigger more often. I also made a slight mistake when I submitted, I end up sideboarding out Ripscale (6 drop) and one Scorchwalker (5 drop) for a Knight Watch and Nav Squad Commandos. Its very minor but I can feel the difference in longer games. Not that this deck gets to the longer game very often.

The crown jewels are the double Wojek Halberdiers and triple Madcap Skills. Round 2 and 3 were variations of small dudes and Madcap skills and smashing face. For reference, here is my round 3 opponent during game 2:

Round 3 - Game 2

Yeah, thats not fair.

On the sad side of things I opened nothing of value. I'll be lucky to see the two Primordials I picked up for 2 tix total and Firemane Angel is a WHOLE 6 cents! Oooooo.  Kind of sad since the paper prerelease I opened a Firemane Angel every event and the store (Channelfireball) was buying at $10/each. Kept me going.

A quick breakdown of the event:

Round 1:
Played against a Gruul splash Boros pool. Made a few "I just woke up" mistakes like swinging a Wojek with Madcap into two guys and forgetting Smite won't kill the other guy he blocked with. Oops. He got a game off me with triple bloodrushing a guy and killing me out of nowhere. Game 2 and 3 were easy, just madcap and win.

Round 2:
Played against the lucksack Orzhov pool. Game 1 he dropped a foil ghost dad (aka Obzedat, Ghost Council) I laughed and said, "Nice Pull sir." he responded by saying, "I have two of them." Oh its on.
Proceeded to finally kill off Ghost dad #1, which he responded to dropping the second one. Game 2 and 3 I curved out with fliers and madcaps and a quick Ariel Maneuver to take out what he thought was a safe attack. Game 3 I curved out and crushed him with Wojeks. 

Round 3:
I feel bad for this opponent. Game 1 went like this: Turn 1 Boros Elite, Turn 2 Bomber, Turn 3, Wojek, Turn Madcap, Madcap win. He was mana screwed. Game 2 is highlighted above. 

So on to round 4. As I finish this post theres still only 3 games done, and one was a BYE.

I may end up defecting from the Dimir after this event.

Edit:
Round 4:
Boros Mirror. He goes turn 1 Boros Elite, I call with a Boros Elite. Its going to be one of those games.
Round 2 is the fun one. I keep a slowish hand with Elite, Skyjak and double red removal. Jocky around for position for a few turns and he drops fireman angel. Ut oh. I top deck Act of Treason. Proceed to Act of Treason his Firemane angel and attack with 3 guys and kill the angel with its own trigger.

Yep, Act of Treason Firemane to kill itself. Its a thing.

4-0