chaslinux.com – Page 5 – Anyone can learn Linux

May 30, 2023

[FIX] Crashing after Kalypso startup screen – Vikings – Wolves of Midgard

Vikings – Wolves of Midgard (crashes after the Kalypso video) Vikings – Wolves of Midgard is a linear action role playing game (ARPG) that lets you go back and repeat quests several times until you’re overpowered. Recently I’ve tried a number of role playing games only to find they were lacking in graphics, the controls were too jank, or they just required obscene amounts of time to make any progress.…

May 18, 2023

Legend of Grimrock – a better Bard’s Tale III

Bards Tale III – my introduction to 3D like adventure Back in the late 1980’s I worked for Simcoe Computer Consultants at the 400 Market, outside of Barrie, Ontario. The 400 Market was a mixed market of many vendors, one of which was Simcoe Computer Consultants. I spent the weekends manning the company’s booth, selling the odd item, and spreading the word about the company’s computers and services. One weekend…

May 8, 2023

Why does Computer Recycling still use Xubuntu Linux?

There are so many other Linux distributions Xubuntu Linux looks very old fashioned when compared to DeepinOS, Linux Mint, Ubuntu, and other beefier Linux distributions. So why does the Working Centre’s Computer Recycling Project still use Xubuntu Linux when there are better-looking alternatives? Isn’t the idea to attract people to Linux? A collection of reasons There are a number of reasons Computer Recycling still uses Xubuntu Linux. The best place…

Exorcist set armour piece in Torchlight II

April 14, 2023

Torchlight II for SteamOS and Linux

Almost 11 years old, and still fun Torchlight II (opens to Steam page) was released in September of 2012, several months after the release of Diablo III. Max Schaefer and Matt Uelmen, both developers who worked on Diablo and Diablo II, helped form Runic Games, the company behind Torchlight II. While both Torchlight II and Diablo II are considered ARPGs (Action Role Playing Games), Torchlight II feels like it has…

March 27, 2023

findmonitor.sh – a Linux BASH shell script to create a PDF of monitor information

About findmonitor.sh The Working Centre’s not-for-profit Computer Recycling Project sometimes receives donations of many monitors all at once. Our previous method for handling monitors was to set them up, run them through a bunch of tests, print a label on our label printer, and enter the monitor into our point of sale. This method hasn’t worked very well for us when we’ve received a lot of monitors all at once.…

Xubuntu desktop background showing conky with 20 CPU cores displayed

March 20, 2023

Handbrake performance on more than 6 cores

Diminishing returns after 6 cores Handbrake is a video transcoder. It’s normally used to convert and compress video from a format into a more compressed format. Handbrake comes in a command line version, handbrake-cli, and a graphical version, handbrake. I’ve seen it mentioned several times that Handbrake is best at 6 cores or less, after that the encoding returns are diminishing. I thought this was the case with some of…

March 8, 2023

36 Extra programs Computer Recycling installs on our Xubuntu Linux systems

A mix of extra software designed to make transitioning to Linux easier The Computer Recycling Project at The Working Centre has been installing Linux on computers as far back as late 2001. Back then Linux wasn’t the primary operating system we installed on computers, but even way back in 2001 we saw the usefulness of Linux on the desktop. (If you want a real throwback, check out the distribution we…

February 22, 2023

Sometimes a newer computer isn’t better

Most of the time a newer computer *is* better Conventional wisdom dictates the newer a computer is, the better the computer is. This bit of advice generally holds true comparing an earlier version of a system with a later version of a similar system. A 12th generation i3-13100 processor will absolutely crush a 1st generation i7-970 in every aspect I can think of, and do it at less than 1/2…

February 17, 2023

If I was building a new Media Centre

I could cut corners, but… This evening I went through the exercise of thinking about the parts I would use if I was building a brand new computer to serve as our living room media centre. I went into this exercise thinking this is something I’d build if I wasn’t thinking about cost. The parts I’ve chosen are not necessarily optimal for the build, some, like the CPU cooling, are…

February 16, 2023

Updating Discord on Xubuntu

Discord is one of those applications that is a PITA (Pain In The Acetabulum). The problem is that updating Discord is not a matter of simply running sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade, the app likes to do its own thing. When Discord has an update, it starts the download of a new .deb (Debian Package) when launched. Discord won’t load if there’s an update waiting that hasn’t been…