Kombatant's Lair

I've used Ubuntu for the past few years, and I've watched it become more and more bloated, to the point that it was almost unusable on my work PC (P4, 2GB RAM). So I took a friend's advice and installed Debian Squeeze, and oh boy, what a difference it has been! More snappy, and half the RAM. Anyway, since then I've been adding stuff to my installation, and Plymouth was one of them. Here are the instructions to get it installed just in case someone actually uses Debian:

0. Install v86d package.

1. /etc/default/grub
Replace GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="..."
by GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset video=uvesafb:mode_option=1280x1024-24,mtrr=3,scroll=ywrap"
Replace #GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480
by GRUB_GFXMODE=1280x1024

Notice that grub2 supports different resolutions so you can put there a list
and grub2 will choose the first working one. (debian-edu grub background
image should be updated)

2. /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
Add a line containing: uvesafb mode_option=1280x1024-24 mtrr=3 scroll=ywrap

3. echo FRAMEBUFFER=y | sudo tee /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/splash

4. sudo update-grub2
sudo update-initramfs -u

Now you have the default setted theme.

sudo /usr/sbin/plymouth-set-default-theme --list (list available themes)
sudo /usr/sbin/plymouth-set-default-theme THEME (change theme)
sudo update-initramfs -u (apply to initramfs)

So I was looking for a tool that will enable me to blog easily from Ubuntu - Windows Live Writer is sorely missed, and unfortunately there is no way to make it run with Wine (yes, I've tried).

On the other hand, I found Gnome Blog, which is a nifty Gnome Panel applet, which connects to your blog and lets you post whatever you like easily. It supports all the popular blog platforms like Blogger and Wordpress, and it just works :) Hopefully this will enable me to blog more :p Here's the link: Gnome Blog

Wow, haven’t updated my blog in ages! I have promised to do so about one million times, so this one is no different :p For those of you that are interested, you can also catch me on Twitter, on http://www.twitter.com/kombatant :)

So I am off tomorrow morning to Georgitsi, a beautiful village in the Taygetos mountain near Sparta. I’ll be heading there with some friends to have a good time, and spend the Easter holidays. So unless excessive amounts of food and alcohol take up all of my time, I plan to do some reading as well; I’ll take Dexter by Design with me, the new novel by Jeff Lindsay, to see what happens when Dexter returns from his honeymoon in Paris

I return to Athens on Monday, but I don’t plan on sticking around. I’ll probably go to Larissa on Tuesday, and then to Kavala on Thursday to meet up with the gang there. And, of course, on Saturday, 25/04 I’ll be in Thessaloniki. The reason?

Yup, one week after ASOT 400 Armin van Buuren is back in Greece, this time in Thessaloniki and I plan to be there. A night to remember for sure, as only Armin can deliver. My next blog post will probably contain lots of info about that particular event, so until then, I want to wish everyone a happy Orthodox Easter and see you soon!

To be honest, it has been a while since I’ve played any game – mainly due to the fact that I got tired of them. You will of course argue that there have been many titles that deserved my attention the past year, and I fully agree. The only game that actually got some attention was NBA 2k9, and that’s because I could simply play a couple of games, leave it be for a while, and then pick it up again. It was funny, because even thought I was aware of all the new releases, I never actually played any of them; I used them for benchmarking, comparative analysis as far as IQ is concerned, but game playing? Nope. Even after I got myself lots of free time, I couldn’t find myself willing to install a game, and just play. Hence, I watched all 7 seasons of 24 in about 20 days (but that’s a different story altogether )

Well, a week ago I decided that this was going to change. I spoke to a dear friend of mine (and Catalyst beta tester) that I know is a game-a-holic, and asked him for suggestions. He recommended several titles, and I thought I should start with Wanted – Weapons of Fate. It seemed like a good choice, so I started playing, and I quite enjoyed it I must say. But then one day, I was browsing the Rage3D PC Gaming section, and one game was getting rave reviews : Braid. So I said, what the heck, I’ll try that one too, see if it’s any good. So I got it from Steam, and started playing. It was only when I looked at my watch and realised that 5 hours had passed, and it was 6am, that I knew this one was a true keeper.

For those of you not in the know, Braid is a platform/puzzle game. With a twist: you manipulate time. And that exact manipulation is what makes the puzzles brilliant, you have to manipulate things to your advantage, so that you can get all the map puzzle pieces. While you progress, you encounter even more complex puzzles, more time-manipulation variables (I am on World 4 right now, and when i go right, time goes by normally, when I jump, time freezes and when I go left, time rewinds; crazy ). Its graphics are excellent (you really need to see it in motion to appreciate it), and the music is also very atmospheric. Definitely one of the sleeper hits of the year, it’s getting rave reviews everywhere. So check it out and you will definitely get hooked, just like I am right now