Linux

I'm wondering if someone can explain this to me...

Tonight I tried running prboom with a copy of DOOM2.WAD I found on one of my old backup CDs. It worked fine, except it wouldn't let me save the game. After I renamed DOOM2.WAD to doom2.wad it was able to save.

Can anyone explain why the capitalization of the WAD filename makes a difference? As long as the correct capitalization is given at the command line it can read the file, and I know games aren't saved in the WAD file itself, so is there any reason for this problem to exist?

Bram Kaandorp said:
Heck, Linux itself is based on a fork of Unix. And wasn't Unix also a fork?
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No, it's BSD that's a fork of Unix. GNU/Linux is a Unix clone, or Unix-like OS, but isn't actually derived from Unix.

Unix isn't a fork of anything. It was the successor of Multics, an experimental operating system that had far too many problems to be of any commercial use, but it wasn't based on Multics. They started from scratch with Unics (which was later renamed Unix).
 
Donn said:
*Untested*
If your BIOS is advanced enough, it should allow you to boot off an external USB drive. If you set the boot order to include that drive FIRST then you might get what you want:
1. USB in: whatever o/s is on there gets booted.
2. USB not in/off : Next drive in line gets booted.

hth
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I've done that with Puppy Linux. Works fine. I think most newer versions of BIOS will support bootable USB drives.

elgarak said:
I cannot imagine going back to these bulky standard PC keyboards. Or these really old IBM keyboards that feel they came out of an IBM Selectric that some oldsters still swear on. Ugh.
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You mean the Model M? I'm a proud owner of one of those, circa 1990, and wouldn't want any other.

They don't only feel like they came out of an IBM Selectric, they use exactly the same patented buckling spring as the Selectric did. Apparently Unicomp still manufactures them.

But I've noticed (by playing around with keyboards in stores) that most of the higher quality keyboards available now have a similar feel to the old Model M (minus the click).
 
Brian-M said:
As long as the correct capitalization is given at the command line it can read the file, and I know games aren't saved in the WAD file itself, so is there any reason for this problem to exist?
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How are you saving it? Are you typing in the path to the save file, or are you pressing a "save" button? If the latter, maybe the save button isn't trying to save it to the existing folder with the capitalized name, but a lowercase equivalent (which, until you created it by renaming the capitalized one, it couldn't find)?
 
Lolly said:
How are you saving it? Are you typing in the path to the save file, or are you pressing a "save" button? If the latter, maybe the save button isn't trying to save it to the existing folder with the capitalized name, but a lowercase equivalent (which, until you created it by renaming the capitalized one, it couldn't find)?
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Prboom is a Doom emulator that allows you to play Doom-like games in Linux, Windows, or Mac. The games are stored as WAD files compatible with the original Doom WAD files, so you can use it to play the original Doom games if you still have them. (Or you can use the original Doom DOS program to run Prboom games.)

Saving the game is just like saving it in the original DOS version, by pressing the ESC button to bring up the menu and selecting SAVE GAME. Then you pick the slot to save it into, and give the saved game a name. But when the Doom 2 WAD file was capitalized, nothing happened when I pressed enter to select a slot in which to save the game.

It seems to save the game to the same place as it does when I run it with the FreeDoom WAD file that came with it (and presumably any other WAD file), because the game I saved in FreeDoom was visible in the saved games list when I went to save my Doom 2 game.

I find it very strange that an error occurs when the WAD filename is capitalized, given that Doom was released for DOS, in which all filenames were capitalized.
 
I loaded Ubuntu on one of my computers. My son wants to play a certain game that requires Java. I down loaded that no problem. Now Linux wants me to enter my password. I never gave it one, really I didn't. It doesn't believe me.

I read through the instructions for installing "Java self extracting" and they lost me at "change the executable.... "

Help.
 
DGM said:
I loaded Ubuntu on one of my computers. My son wants to play a certain game that requires Java. I down loaded that no problem. Now Linux wants me to enter my password. I never gave it one, really I didn't. It doesn't believe me.

I read through the instructions for installing "Java self extracting" and they lost me at "change the executable.... "

Help.
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Google is your friend.

However, I found this site, which might be of some help.

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/resetpassword
 
DGM said:
I read through the instructions for installing "Java self extracting" and they lost me at "change the executable.... "
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Have you got a link to the instructions you are trying to follow?
 
DGM said:
I loaded Ubuntu on one of my computers. My son wants to play a certain game that requires Java. I down loaded that no problem. Now Linux wants me to enter my password. I never gave it one, really I didn't. It doesn't believe me.

I read through the instructions for installing "Java self extracting" and they lost me at "change the executable.... "

Help.
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This sounds odd, though my experience may be limited.

All Linux installs that I am aware of, require the use of a root password which is asked for any time there is a change to the OS or other admin-type duty. This was done since basically Linux's inception which Windows only began to do so when Vista was released. This is called 'privilege escalation' and is a basic security function that all OS's should have (and I think they all do by now).

The root password is separate from any other user password (usually) though there are many who use the same password for both accounts.

Again, my experience has been that the root password is established upon first installing the OS, so if you had no part in it, then it would explain why you aren't aware of having or needing one.
 
Ubuntu, in fact, does not set a root password. Instead, privilege escalation is done using sudo, which asks for the user's password. (There is also a mechanism for controlling who can use sudo, but on desktop systems this is usually everyone.)

You should have been asked for some sort of password when installing Ubuntu (although I have not done an Ubuntu install for some time).
 
grmcdorman said:
Ubuntu, in fact, does not set a root password. Instead, privilege escalation is done using sudo, which asks for the user's password. (There is also a mechanism for controlling who can use sudo, but on desktop systems this is usually everyone.)

You should have been asked for some sort of password when installing Ubuntu (although I have not done an Ubuntu install for some time).
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Ah, yeah, you're right. I had forgotten about sudo, mainly because I don't do much work with Ubuntu and I also think that it's a 'dangerous' habit to get into by *not* requiring a separate root password.
 
He shouldn't even need a password to install java stuff into hiw own /home directory.

Just make a new 'folder', copy the java game in there and then attempt to run the game. Look for a filename that suggests itself and double-click it.

As to Java itself, you may have to install it from the repository of your distro. That will require your login password.
 
Thanks for all the help. I got the password to reset and Java installed through the "addons" (I think) tab.

I think my biggest problem is I'm way behind on the Linux OS learning curve (or have used Windows too long). I have to spend some more time on the system, maybe I'll try again to get Google Chrome working .

Thanks again.

:)
 
DGM said:
I think my biggest problem is I'm way behind on the Linux OS learning curve (or have used Windows too long). I have to spend some more time on the system, maybe I'll try again to get Google Chrome working .
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Once you learned it a bit better, and came around some "those things are done differently in Linux" issues, the following usage experiences are very rewarding, at least in my opinion. Plus, you can even use older hardware to get along ;)

Just be aware that Linux is not Windows, and as such does have different concepts.

Other than that: Good to hear you got it worked out!

Greetings,

Chris
 
The Norseman said:
Ah, yeah, you're right. I had forgotten about sudo, mainly because I don't do much work with Ubuntu and I also think that it's a 'dangerous' habit to get into by *not* requiring a separate root password.
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You might be able to get around that by having a different account from the one you made during installation for everyday use...

... No, I just tried it with a new account for "guest", and what I got was....

guest@brian~$ sudo nautilus
[sudo] password for guest:
guest is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
guest@brian~$ sudo nautilus​

Just for fun I logged in as root to see the report of the "incident", but nothing showed up. Maybe I'd have to set up mail?

I'd set up the root account earlier with: sudo passwd root
 
I found out today that Richard Stallman appears on the Alex Jones show sometimes. :(

One recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwz_vMdxmDU
An older one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoWRS3nfK9o

The comment under that video:
"Linux and the entire GNU project are Apple astroturf operations designed to take away market share from Microsoft and destroy Microsoft only to give rise to Apple as the new PC/OS monopoly. Microsoft market share and stock have dropped dramatically, and Apple market share and stock have risen dramatically. And now the Linux vendors are staging their own demise so Apple will have no competition.

Mark Shuttleworth and Richard Stallman are paid Apple operatives."
 
Good interviews, thanks. Stallman doesn't seem to do many interviews with US television networks. You know, the ones owned by media conglomerates that live by copyrights and lobby for the very laws that he opposes. This is exactly where marginal media like AJ shines.
 
Brian-M said:
You might be able to get around that by having a different account from the one you made during installation for everyday use...

... No, I just tried it with a new account for "guest", and what I got was....

guest@brian~$ sudo nautilus
[sudo] password for guest:
guest is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
guest@brian~$ sudo nautilus​

Just for fun I logged in as root to see the report of the "incident", but nothing showed up. Maybe I'd have to set up mail?

I'd set up the root account earlier with: sudo passwd root
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Yeah, one can edit the sudoers file, which I do hazily remember attempting a while ago. I used to read the back-and-forth regarding sudo and root and I'm pretty firmly on the side of a separate root account with no sudo command.

But that's just me. I prefer the security of what is essentially a two-password setup in case my user account password is compromised. Not that I'm worried about my home machine necessarily -- just it's simply best practices.
 
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