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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

EVE Online ditches Linux Cedega client recommends Wine

EVE Online Linux support ends, the news was handed down today from the EVE Online site.

Hello,
My name is Arend Stührmann, also known as CCP Whisper, and I am the producer in charge of the project bringing EVE Online to the Mac and Linux operating systems. As you may know, we have been working in partnership with Transgaming Technologies, utilizing their Cider engine to allow EVE Online to run on the Mac OS and their Cedega engine to enable operation under Linux. This project went live in late 2007 and in that time we have seen the same slow, steady growth in the numbers of users of the Mac client that has characterized the growth of EVE Online throughout its history. However we have not seen a similar growth in the numbers using our Linux client.
It is for this reason that I am sorry to have to announce that from the 10th of March onwards CCP will no longer be officially supporting the Linux operating system. The low amount of users of the Linux client did not justify the degree of additional complexity having three operating systems imposes on our development and release schedules. There is the matter of maintaining the hardware infrastructure to facilitate the development work, spending man-hours on testing and diagnosing faults in the client as well as regression testing. While we did embark on this project with the aim of being one of the few MMOG’s on the market offering a game client for all of the major operating system architectures, we feel that the time and resources that were being spent on the Linux client would be better utilized in areas where more players would benefit from them.

I would like to thank you for your past support of our efforts to bring EVE to the Linux OS. The feedback and commitment we obtained from players like you helped both CCP and Transgaming with our attempts to improve on the quality and stability of the client. Many of us in CCP use Linux and are convinced of its merits as an operating system.
Should you wish to continue playing EVE Online under Linux there are several options available. Some of these are free and some require purchase of software. A selection of these is at the bottom of this e-mail along with basic instructions on how to use EVE Online through them. If you wish to stop playing EVE Online and want to request a refund of unused game time, please contact our billing department by filing a petition in the billing category. They will assist you in obtaining a refund for the remaining game time and closing your account.
Again, thank-you for your support,
Arend Stührmann
Associate Producer
EVE Online
Options for installing EVE Online under Linux, Intel OS X Mac, and BSD.:
Wine: To install Wine either use your distributions package management software or download the sounrce and install it manually.
To install EVE using Wine follow these steps.
1. Download the Windows client from our homepage
2. Right click on the EVE client installer and select “open with Wine Windows Program Loader”
3. This starts the EVE client installation process.
4. Follow the instructions here to get EVE to run fully.
4. When complete simply run the EVE online Client using the Shortcut created on your desktop.

Wine-Doors: Wine-Doors is a frontend application for Wine and includes easy installation for a number of additional programs and games with easy installation procedures.
To install EVE using Wine-Doors follow these steps:
1. Download the Windows client from our homepage
2. Start Wine-Doors
3. Find EVE Online in the list of available applications and press the install option behind it, then press Apply.
4. Navigate to where you saved the EVE installer and press Open.
5. This starts the EVE client installation process.
6. Install all Windows Fonts available
6. When completed simply go to Applications –> Wine –> Programs –> EVE and select EVE Online to start.

PlayOnLinux: PlayOnLinux is another frontend application for Wine which also includes easy installation for a number of programs and games.
To install EVE using PlayOnLinux follow these steps.
1. Download the Windows client from our homepage
2. Under File select Install
3. At the bottom of the window you see a text line “Install a .pol package or an unsupported application”. A new window appears.
4. Select Manual installation and press NEXT
5 A wizard is started, press Forward
6. Select “Install a program in a new prefix”
7. Name the Prefix EVE ( do not use spaces ) and press Forward
8. Browse to the location where you saved the EVE installer, select it and then press Forward.
9. Now begins the Installation process for the EVE client itself.
10. When the EVE client has completed installation untick “Run EVE-Online” then press Finish and then Forward.
11. Say yes to creating a shortcut to the Application
12. Press Browse and navigate into the Program Files\CCP\EVE folder, there select eve.exe and press open then Forward.
13. Name the shortcut ( i.e. EVE Online ) and press Forward.
14. Select where you wish the shortcut to be displayed and press Forward then press No.

Install the Microsoft Fonts
1. Under File select Install
2. Select the “Other” category
3. Here select Microsoft Fonts and press the Apply button, then Forward
4. Select EVE as the target prefix and press forward.
5. When done, press forward.
Install DirectX
1. Under File select Install
2. Select the “Other” category
3. Here select DirectX 9 : June 2008 patch and press the Apply button, then Forward
4. Select EVE as the target prefix and press forward.
5. After downloading the window closes automatically.
CodeWeavers CrossOver Games: With CrossOver Games, you can run many popular Windows games on your Intel OS X Mac, Linux or BSD. Whatever your tastes, first-person shooters, fantasy, strategy, MMORPG's CrossOver Games provides the capability to run many popular games titles.
1. Install the Codeweavers games application
2. Start the CodeWeaver Games application and select EVE Online from the options list and press next.
3. The installation process takes care of all requirements so there’s not much else you need to do at this point but wait for it to complete apart from pressing Yes and Ok from time to time.
4. When the installation is complete untick “Run EVE-Online” and press finish.
5. The application finalizes the installation proces, when finished press Finish.
6. Start the EVE client by double clicking on the EVE icon on your desktop.

MSN Messenger 7.5 on Linux with Wine

About MSN Messenger 7.5

MSN Messenger allows you to chat online, in real time, with family, friends and colleagues. It's faster than e-mail, more discreet than a phone call, and best of all it's free! MSN Messenger is more than just text, it's a great way to collaborate with co-workers or touch base with family and friends.

You can even send an instant message to a contact's mobile phone. Customization features help you personalize your chats and make your connections even more meaningful.

Wine configuration

This is with a clean configuration directory, with no other applications or games installed.

Linux Distribution: Ubuntu 8.04
Windows version emulated: 2000
Wine version tested: 1.1.14

WineTricks

Now download winetricks if you don't already have it and install the following Windows redistributables.

corefonts
flash
gecko
msls31
msxml3
riched20
riched30
tahoma

MSN Messenger install in Wine

Download MSN Messenger version 7.5.0324 from filehippo and save it to your home directory.

Now open a terminal and run $ wine Instal_MSN_Messenger.exe

The Messenger install should now start, I didn't select any of the extra addon software that comes bundled with it.

To run Messenger just click on Applications > Wine > Programs > MSN Messenger 7.5

Screen Shots

Here's a few Screen Shots of MSN Messenger 7.5 running on my Ubuntu 8.04 laptop.


Notes

The larger thumbnails for the user and contacts do not show bug 8555, other then this annoyance chat works near perfectly.

Also, I didn't test cam support or online games ect, only chat was tested...

Friday, February 6, 2009

CodeWeavers Valentine's day Sale

Valentine’s Day was created in ancient Roman times in honor of St. Valentine, a priest who sacrificed his life for the gift of love. Today, this amorous holiday is still celebrated throughout the world by star-crossed lovers and romantics alike.

CodeWeavers is having a Pre-Valentine's Day Sale to give their customers plenty of time in order to have the perfect gift. Nothing says "I Love You" like no more need for Microsoft Windows!

CodeWeavers is offering up to 20% off CrossOver Mac Standard, CrossOver Linux Standard, and CrossOver Games. This store-wide sale is good for the entire inventory of CodeWeavers CrossOver product line. This sale expires on February 14th, 2009. If you're looking to purchase CrossOver this is a unique opportunity to save BIG.

To take advantage of this offer head over to their store and check out all the savings.

About CodeWeavers

CodeWeavers' mission is to transform Mac OS X and Linux into Windows®-compatible operating systems. By doing so, they provide a bridge to help users migrate from the Windows software world to these other environments. They do this primarily by making it possible to use Windows software on Mac OS X and Linux.

CodeWeavers is the leading corporate backer of the Wine Project. Wine is an open source software initiative that is systematically re-implementing the Win32 API under Unix. Wine makes it possible for PCs running Unix-based operating systems (like OS X and Linux) to run Windows application as if natively. They offer a range of Wine-based products offering cross-platform capabilities for both corporate environments as well as individual users.

They also use their expertise in Wine to provide professional services to their customers. They use Wine to port their applications directly to Linux or Mac OS X, or to create custom versions of Linux that support mission critical applications.

The world of Windows Applications is very large and diverse, and tracking the status of any given application with regards to Wine is a challenging task. To meet this challenge, they maintain the CodeWeavers CrossOver Compatibility Center, which provides a focal point for application information and tools to help ensure that all applications progress towards full compatibility.


Putty for Mac
Putty for Mac
$15.00

https://winereviews.onfastspring.com/putty-for-mac



Wednesday, February 4, 2009

IE 7 on Linux with Wine

About Internet Explorer 7

Windows Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) is a web browser released by Microsoft in October 2006. Internet Explorer 7 is part of a long line of versions of Internet Explorer and is the first major update to the browser in over 5 years. It ships as the default browser in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 and is offered as a replacement for Internet Explorer 6 on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. Estimates of IE7's global market share place it between approximately 26% and 47%.

Large portions of the underlying architecture, including the rendering engine and security framework, have been significantly reworked. New features include tabbed browsing, page zooming, an integrated search box, a feed reader, better internationalization, and improved support for web standards. Security enhancements include a phishing filter, stronger encryption on Windows Vista, and a "Delete browsing history" button to easily clear private data.

Wine configuration

This is with a clean configuration directory, with no other applications or games installed.

Linux Distribution: Ubuntu 8.04
Windows version emulated: XP
Wine version tested: 1.1.14

Wine DLL Overrides

[Software\\Wine\\DllOverrides] 1233608859
"browseui"="native, builtin"
"comctl32"="builtin"
"crypt32"="native, builtin"
"gdiplus"="native"
"hhctrl.ocx"="native, builtin"
"hlink"="native, builtin"
"iernonce"="native, builtin"
"iexplore.exe"="native, builtin"
"itircl"="native, builtin"
"itss"="native, builtin"
"jscript"="native, builtin"
"mlang"="native, builtin"
"mshtml"="native, builtin"
"msimtf"="native,builtin"
"msxml3"="native,builtin"
"riched20"="native,builtin"
"riched32"="native,builtin"
"secur32"="native, builtin"
"shdoclc"="native, builtin"
"shdocvw"="native, builtin"
"shlwapi"="native, builtin"
"url"="native, builtin"
"urlmon"="native, builtin"
"usp10"="native, builtin"
"uxtheme"="native,builtin"
"wininet"="builtin"
"wintrust"="native, builtin"

DLL Overrides can be set in winecfg, just run winecfg from your favorite terminal and then go to Libraries and set the above DLL's as shown above.


You will also need to copy a number of DLL's from a Windows XP machine and place them in /system32 as winetricks doesn't provide these DLL's at this time.

msctf.dll
msimtf.dll
uxtheme.dll
xmllite.dll

WineTricks

Now download winetricks if you don't already have it and install the following Windows redistributables.

comctl32
comctl32.ocx
corefonts
gdiplus
gecko
msls31
msxml3
msxml4
msxml6
riched20
riched30
tahoma

After the install run winecfg set comctl32.dll back to builtin Wine.

IE 7 install in Wine

Download Windows Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP from Microsoft and save it to your home directory.

Now open a terminal and run $ wine IE7-WindowsXP-x86-enu.exe

The IE 7 install should now start, I didnt select the Windows security updates in my install.

IE 7 on Wine Screen Shots

Here's a few Screen Shots of IE 7 running on my Ubuntu 8.04 laptop.


Conclusion known problems

While IE 7 will run and render web pages just fine there are still a number of problems/bugs that remain to be resolved before you will want to use the browser on Linux on a daily basis.

Bookmarks and RSS feeds don't currently work and their is a number of problems related to comctl32.dll for example the forward and backward buttons background isn't painted and even worse if you select Help the browser will lock up. I also had a number of lock ups when trying to save Internet options.

The good news is you can select a homepage of your liking and choose Google as the default search engine. You can also view web pages as see how they render with IE 7 if your a web developer.

One way to help support further development of Internet Explorer support is to purchase CrossOver Office and then vote for IE 7 as the app that you would most like to see supported in a future release.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009