Dear Readers,
In an effort to reach out to a wider audience, I am introducing a new category on this site covering gaming on the Android or Linux platforms. My gaming experience may not be as deep as some of the hard-core gamers out there but I do have quite a bit of gaming experience on several platforms. Let's see where to begin.
I started out electronic gaming as a kid with games like Simon, Space Invaders, Asteroids and Pac-Man on video arcade game machines. As I grew older and used the PC more often, my best friend and I experimented with a DOS-based game on a Commodore computer that was merely a text based response to whatever you typed into the computer. It was a scavenger hunt type of adventure game. The computer screen told you where you where and what happened. But because you couldn't see what was available like you can with today's games, you had to guess what your next move was going to be based on your own imagination. Unfortunately for you, your imagination (list of alternatives) may have not been what was stored in the programs so you could have been trying out many alternatives forever and frustrated that there was nothing visually nor even a HINT button to help you narrow down your alternatives. Needless to say, gaming since then has evolved beautifully to an almost virtual experience with the Nintento Wii and other platforms.
Back in 1998, my husband and I both changed our careers simultaneously limiting our income, which meant that we had to change our budget because we still had a mortgage to pay. One way we got through those hard times was by limiting our entertainment budget to seeing a movie in the theater occasionally and playing Mario games on the Nintendo 64 platform. That's when I really got hooked into video games. Years later, I bought games I could play on my Windows PC. Times have changed a lot for me since then.
Today, I spend most of my time working on a Linux laptop which includes Video Editing, Writing, Web Development and web surfing for interesting topics. Despite my intense schedule, I also have time to read and play games. In fact, I have demonstrated that I can read Kindle content and play Windows games on my Linux Mint laptop in my Youtube channel. Heck, I can even play Steam games on Linux Mint or Ubuntu and play free games downloaded from GooglePlay to my Android smartphone. Pretty cool, huh? I saw something even more exciting. The Nvidia Shield is an Android gaming console that allows you to download games from GooglePlay, which means you can play practically an unlimited amount of games. Looks like Nvidia Shield has come up with a new way to take gaming to a new level, picking up where the Google Chromecast left off. Well, that's it for now. Hope what you've read whets your appetite to see more on this section as you explore new games and technology in the Linux arena.
Regards,
The Editor
Monday, October 28, 2013
Sunday, October 20, 2013
Amazon Cloud Reader Works on Linux besides Kindle
For those of you who may be using your Linux desktop PC's for most of your common PC tasks, here's another task you can add to your arsenal. In between working on a spreadsheet, document editing or design work, perhaps you want to read a manual or an ebook that you purchased from Amazon Kindle for an entertainment break. Well, now you don't have to reach for your Kindle Fire device all the time, you can access your Kindle content from your Linux PC as well. All you need is an Amazon Kindle account and logging into the read.amazon.com link.
See video tutorial on what it looks like to use Amazon Cloud Reader to read your Kindle content on your Linux PC.
See video tutorial on what it looks like to use Amazon Cloud Reader to read your Kindle content on your Linux PC.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Still to Come - Evolution Versus Thunderbird Email Clients
Dear Readers,
I spent a considerable amount of time evaluating both Evolution and Thunderbird email clients for Linux desktop users starting Monday of this week. I used the same gmail account to grab the same mail and calendar events which I have stored within Google Calendar as my central Calendar repository. I also have Google Calendar app on my Android smartphone so that whenever I create an appointment within my Samsung Stellar smartphone, it automatically syncs to Google Calendar which can be accessed by Evolution or Thunderbird. This also means that whenever I create a new appointment within Evolution or Thunderbird it also shows up on Google Calendar and my smartphone Calendar. Mail seems to be good for both as well as tasks. Running a couple more tests this week before I post my final evaluation. Having had previous experience working with Outlook, Lotus Notes and other email clients, this is a first for me to work with Linux email clients extensively. So far, if I had to choose between Evolution and Thunderbird, I would not be able to recommend one over the other. They both seem very comparable to Outlook, which is what most corporate users are familiar with. Stay tuned because I will be updating this post as needed.
The Editor
P. S. Here is a preview of what it's like to use Evolution on a Linux desktop.
I spent a considerable amount of time evaluating both Evolution and Thunderbird email clients for Linux desktop users starting Monday of this week. I used the same gmail account to grab the same mail and calendar events which I have stored within Google Calendar as my central Calendar repository. I also have Google Calendar app on my Android smartphone so that whenever I create an appointment within my Samsung Stellar smartphone, it automatically syncs to Google Calendar which can be accessed by Evolution or Thunderbird. This also means that whenever I create a new appointment within Evolution or Thunderbird it also shows up on Google Calendar and my smartphone Calendar. Mail seems to be good for both as well as tasks. Running a couple more tests this week before I post my final evaluation. Having had previous experience working with Outlook, Lotus Notes and other email clients, this is a first for me to work with Linux email clients extensively. So far, if I had to choose between Evolution and Thunderbird, I would not be able to recommend one over the other. They both seem very comparable to Outlook, which is what most corporate users are familiar with. Stay tuned because I will be updating this post as needed.
The Editor
P. S. Here is a preview of what it's like to use Evolution on a Linux desktop.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Resolving Android Issues
This section will help the end user resolve issues that may occur when using your Android device. In general, we want our Android devices to run smoothly when we download apps from Google Play or transfer video, music and documents to our PC's. In this section, errors that come up when interacting with both Google and our PC's will be covered as well as general Android Tips.
FIX DOWNLOAD ERROR: "Error retrieving information from server.[RPC:S-5:AEC-0]"
If you see the error above after attempting a download from the Google Play Store, do the following within your Android device Settings:
1. Remove your Google Account.
2. For the following apps or services, FORCE STOP SERVICE and CLEAR DATA within your Android devices' Applications Manager or Manage Applications sections:
3. Shut down and reboot your Android device.
4. Tap Google Play Store.
5. Sign in with your existing Google Account.
6. Download your app once again and it should work.
These instructions will vary depending upon your Android device. Mine is a Samsung Stellar Smartphone so the process I followed to remove the error will be slightly different than yours if you experienced the error on a different device. The error is due to an update in the firmware. Therefore, the corrupt data associated with the 3 apps/services above needs to be cleared from your Google Account.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR ANDROID CALENDAR EVENTS DISPLAY IN GOOGLE CALENDAR:
1. Create an Event in your Android Calendar.
2. Before you hit the SAVE button make sure the Event is associated with your Google Account. There should be an arrow that allows you to select your "yourname@gmail.com" account in the section that displays "my calendar" within your Event.
3. Hit SAVE.
If you already created Events which display "my calendar", you will need to manually go into each Event and change the "my calendar" display to your "yourname@gmail.com" account. Sorry. There is no quick way to do this unless some enterprising Android Developer has created an app that converts all your Android calendar events to your Gmail account. This is important especially for those of you who want to use the Google calendar as the central repository for calendar events created from multiple sources. Once you do this, you can now easily use that Google calendar within the Evolution and Thunderbird email clients for Linux.
WHAT TO DO IF YOUR BATTERY IS CHARGING SLOWLY OR LOSING CHARGE QUICKLY:
1. Backup your settings, files and contacts on Google or your Carrier's Cloud site.
2. Reset your phone to Factory Settings.
3. When setting up your phone or restoring your previously installed apps do not give permission for your location or make app always run when asleep. If you run the app and it notifies you that it cannot run without your location permission that's when you give it permission. (It's processes like this which run indefinitely that drain your battery quickly.)
4. Charge your phone via USB cord to your PC.
5. If steps 1-4 did not fix your issue, it is most likely an issue with the hardware as opposed to the software. Either the phone is damaged at the USB port or the USB charger itself is broken.
FIX DOWNLOAD ERROR: "Error retrieving information from server.[RPC:S-5:AEC-0]"
If you see the error above after attempting a download from the Google Play Store, do the following within your Android device Settings:
1. Remove your Google Account.
2. For the following apps or services, FORCE STOP SERVICE and CLEAR DATA within your Android devices' Applications Manager or Manage Applications sections:
- Downloads or Download Manager
- Google Play Store
- Google Service Framework
3. Shut down and reboot your Android device.
4. Tap Google Play Store.
5. Sign in with your existing Google Account.
6. Download your app once again and it should work.
These instructions will vary depending upon your Android device. Mine is a Samsung Stellar Smartphone so the process I followed to remove the error will be slightly different than yours if you experienced the error on a different device. The error is due to an update in the firmware. Therefore, the corrupt data associated with the 3 apps/services above needs to be cleared from your Google Account.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR ANDROID CALENDAR EVENTS DISPLAY IN GOOGLE CALENDAR:
1. Create an Event in your Android Calendar.
2. Before you hit the SAVE button make sure the Event is associated with your Google Account. There should be an arrow that allows you to select your "yourname@gmail.com" account in the section that displays "my calendar" within your Event.
3. Hit SAVE.
If you already created Events which display "my calendar", you will need to manually go into each Event and change the "my calendar" display to your "yourname@gmail.com" account. Sorry. There is no quick way to do this unless some enterprising Android Developer has created an app that converts all your Android calendar events to your Gmail account. This is important especially for those of you who want to use the Google calendar as the central repository for calendar events created from multiple sources. Once you do this, you can now easily use that Google calendar within the Evolution and Thunderbird email clients for Linux.
WHAT TO DO IF YOUR BATTERY IS CHARGING SLOWLY OR LOSING CHARGE QUICKLY:
1. Backup your settings, files and contacts on Google or your Carrier's Cloud site.
2. Reset your phone to Factory Settings.
3. When setting up your phone or restoring your previously installed apps do not give permission for your location or make app always run when asleep. If you run the app and it notifies you that it cannot run without your location permission that's when you give it permission. (It's processes like this which run indefinitely that drain your battery quickly.)
4. Charge your phone via USB cord to your PC.
5. If steps 1-4 did not fix your issue, it is most likely an issue with the hardware as opposed to the software. Either the phone is damaged at the USB port or the USB charger itself is broken.
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