Battlefield 3 rant

This is just a short rant about Battlefield 3. Not about the game, but about how hard it is to actually get to play it.
I picked it up as a the giveaway from Origin. I had not noticed myself, but picked up the news about the offer from some blog. My bad for not remembering the link :-(.
This is were the fun started. First Origin was required. I already had it installed from the Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age II days, but otherwise I would have to install this piece of ... software from scratch. But I was greeted with an update, which was not any better. Why is it that after every update I have to enter my details again to log in? Steam manages updates without the need for the user to log in back into a software that is mainly used to play single-player games on a local machine.
When I finally found the well-hidden offer I commenced the download, but that was taking ages. It was certainly not my end of the connection that was slow. EA should really invest into their servers and make sure that their upload can match players' download speeds. I do not like having to wait all night for a game to finish downloading. At least the install went without problems.
But then the insult happened: A game developed for EA, distributed by EA's Origin platform, opened a browser window and demanded from me that I download a plugin to play the game. I do not want to go via my browser just to play a shooter! This only introduces security issues into the browser that do absolutely not be there. Why did they not implement the game activation and multiplayer matches with that piece of cr*p Origin? Why force everyone to install Origin as means for DRM control if EA is not actually using it for their own games? Why on earth do they want me to run a browser in the background? Even worse, I am not interested in the multiplayer, I just want to play the campaign on some quiet evenings!

EA, you have seriously fucked up!

Card game: Smash Up

Smash Up is a hilarious game for 2 to 4 players. The main feature of the game is that each player's powers are assigned at random based on a combination of two factions that have varying strengths (and a few weaknesses). Unfortunately, there are some balancing issues, and some combinations of factions are quite weak in comparison, but usually everyone can have a stab at winning.
Aim of the game is to reach 15 or more victory points. The players compete for bases by spawning minions and using actions. Victory points are assigned in ranking order to the players with the strongest force (in form of minions and enhancing effects) on the base. Unless someone interferes with that ...

The Smash Up box in all its glory. 

Also nice is that one can each of the extensions of the base game as 2v2 games. We have not tried that option yet, but it should make for some very quick and action-packed games.
We tried to play with more than 4 players once, but it turned out that there is a reason for the player limit: The turns were too long to keep everyone invested in the game, and the table became too messy with all the bases. It was nearly impossible to follow the game and see who had which minions on which base.

The contents of the box, holding three sets of rules (the same rules each time, really), 16 factions, and 2 sets of bases (some were duplicated for unknown reasons). Oh, and there are some victory point counters, but a piece of paper works quite well as an alternative.

Setting

Pure craziness. Fight the Pirate-Cthulu Worshippers with your Alien-Plants while keeping an eye on the Dinosaur-Robots.

Timing

If I can remember correctly, we needed a 3/4 hour for a 4 player game, and considerably longer a 6 player game, which we cancelled in the end because it was taking too long. Well, house rules can suck.

Space Requirements

Each player has a deck, a discard pile, and a hand, but the bases and the cards surrounding them will easily take up a medium-sized table for a 4 player game.

Conclusion

Go wreck them with whatever faction combination you get!

Smash Up on Board Game Geeks. And Awesome Level 9000. And of course the Obligatory Cthulu Set.

Kindle 3 (with keyboard) vs. Kindle Paperwhite

The Kindle 3 (the one with a keyboard) was my original kindle device. I had it for several years, but it died an honourable death during the Wilderness festival last year. Initially I thought that only the screen was bust, but the device was not reacting to restarts, resets, and USB connection any more. So I had to get a new reading device in order to be able to get access to the Kindle books I bought on Amazon. The disadvantage of being locked into a single service :-(

My broken Kindle 3: The screen is just a symptom of a completely broken system. Note the physical buttons to the side of the screen used to switch pages.

At least the replacement was much, much cheaper than a Crapple CrapPad. Delivery from Amazon was swift and reliable as usual. Nothing to complain about. Time for a short comparison of the devices.

Size

Both devices have the same screen size, and I cannot feel a huge difference in weight. The Paperweight is a bit thicker around the edges, which actually makes it for me a bit easier to grip, but the difference is not huge.

Light

The backlight of the Paperwhite improves contrast between letters and background. At full brightness the background becomes white, while the Kindle 3 background is always greyish-yellow (like the Paperwhite with the light off). At maximum intensity the backlight is too strong to comfortably read in the dark, I prefer a medium level then (and a reading light somewhere in the background).

Buttons

The physical buttons for page-switching are gone on the Paperwhite. I am missing them because holding the Paperwhite in one hand and turning pages using the touch-screen is more tedious than doing the same with the Kindle 3 using the physical buttons. I just find it easier to move a thumb slightly to press down on one of the rocker switches than tapping the screen.
I do not miss the physical keyboard of the Kindle 3. I was not and am not typing a lot of things on the kindle, only a few short notes here and there. The on-screen touch keyboard of the Paperwhite is working well; there is not much I can say about it.

Marking up words or sentences is more intuitive using the touch-screen of the Paperwhite, but in the end the D-pad of the Kindle 3 worked equally well. If you are just looking up a single word in the dictionary a long-tap with a finger is quicker than doing the navigation and marking with the D-pad,

Cover

The cover for the Kindle 3 had two hooks that clamped into corresponding nooks on the device to hold it in place. Release was simple using a spring mechanism. The cover is held shut by a rubber band, which seems quite flimsy and gets in the way of holding the device comfortably.

The cover for the Kindle 3.

The Kindle 3 cover with the device.

The closed cover of the Kindle 3.

The cover for the Kindle Paperwhite does not require the little plastic hooks to capture the device, but instead uses a tight-fitting mould. It is quite difficult to get the device out of there again. The lid protects the screen and also locks and unlocks it upon closing and opening the cover. The flimsy rubber band to hold it shut is gone.

The cover for the Kindle Paperwhite.

The Cover for Kindle Paperwhite with the device.

The closed cover of the Kindle Paperwhite. Closing the cover also locks the screen of the device.

Other Essentials

Unlike the Kindle 3 the Paperwhite comes without a charger. This was not a problem for me because I still had the old one, and there are several other micro-USB chargers around that I accumulated from several phones and my Raspberry Pi.

Game review: Elder Sign

Elder Sign is a card-based cooperative game for 1 to 8 players. The game "board" is created by drawing cards at random and is constantly changing.

Setting

Elder Sign is set in the universe of the stories of H. P. Lovecraft. One of several supernatural beings (chosen at random or after agreement of all players; among them the iconical Cthulu) is awakening and threatening to destroy the world. The players have to search the local museum for elder signs to ban this enemy while being hindered by its creatures and worshippers. These obstacles have to be overcome by fulfilling tasks based on dice rolls. The players can (and should) support each other.
Fulfilling tasks is based on getting a task-specific number of dice rolls together. Certain events increase (items) or decrease (monsters/ events) the number of dice available, and players can support each other by 'holding' a desired result. Up to three tasks make up an adventure, and passing an adventure gives access to rewards like elder signs required to stop the awakening elder horror.

Timing

Unlike its big brother Arkham Horror, Elder Signs can be finished in less than 2 hours. Also, each player's turn is shorter in Elder Sign, making it easier to keep all participants engaged in the game.

Space Requirement

Elder Sign is based on cards, but the cards representing the different rooms of the museum take up quite a bit of space. All in all the space of a standard board game is required; more Settlers of Catan than Talisman.

Conclusion

Elder Sign is a fun "horror" game that scales well with varying numbers of players, so it is easy to accommodate even larger groups (up to 8 players). Its cooperativeness keeps all players involved even if it is not their turn since all decisions affect themselves. 

Board game review: Bang!

Bang! is an easy-to-grasp, quick card-based game for 4-7 players. Part of its charm come from the different roles assigned at random to the players, and guessing each other's role is essential for succeeding in the game.

Setting

Bang!'s genre is the wild west. The player represent different roles (sheriff, deputy, outlaw, renegade) with different characters (humorously named after infamous wild west (anti-)heroes). The roles except for the sheriff are secret, and victory conditions are dependent on the role, so similar to saboteur a good part of the game consists of guessing each other's role. The bandits have to kill the sheriff, the sheriff have to kill the bandits and the renegade, and the renegade has to be last man or woman standing to win.
Combat occurs by shooting each other with everything from a revolver to a Gatling gun.The distance of the players from each other around the table determines if they can attach each other, with a number of items extending or shortening the range of each player.

Complexity

The rules are quite easy to grasp, which can already be discovered by going through the rules: There are 2 sets (English and Italian), which use the same cards. Although some descriptions on the cards are in Italian, the symbols are unique and easy to understand for English-speakers. And probably Germans. Not sure about the last since I have spent too much time in the UK.
The rules are short, but apparently all-encompassing. Sometimes it is necessary to read the explanations of two skills (used attack and defence) in order to sort out what is supposed to happen, but these occurrences are rare and so far have always been resolved non-ambiguously.
The main complexity actually comes from the different characters of the players. It is sometimes hard to remember what the special abilities of each character are, especially when they are triggered rarely. Also, the character abilities are the main cause for imbalances within the game, although everything evens out after a few rounds.

Space Requirement

All players need at least space for 2 cars (their role and their character) plus an indefinite number of additional weapon and equipment cards in front of them, but this gets rarely out of hand.

Timing

A round of bang can be easily finished within 1 hour, but this depends on the number of players and how easily they can kill each other.

Conclusion

Bang! is a very fun game. Its pace is moderate, and especially the last two players standing can have an extended stand-off. An additional bonus is that it can be played even on a camping trip given low space requirement.

Game review: Saboteur

Saboteur is a quick card game for 3 to 10 players.

Setting

Saboteur is set in a dwarven mine, where the golddiggers are trying to get to some gold nuggets, while the saboteur(s) are trying to stop them. This is done by laying out cards with representing mining tunnel segments. The players do not know each others's roles, and there is a chance that actually no saboteur is present. They can handicap each other by destroying tools or blowing up part of the tunnels. Part of the fun are the random accusations and wrong suspicions until the saboteur(s) reveal(s) themselves by their actions.

Complexity

The rules are easy to grasp, and after at most 2 rounds of "what does this card do?" all players can concentrate solely on the game and finding the saboteurs - or blowing shit up.

Space Requirement

The creation of the mining tunnel maze requires a fair bit of table space while playing, say most of a dinner table or nearly all the area of a 3-man-tent, but since Saboteur is based solely on cards it packs away into a small package about double the size of a poker deck.

Timing

Depending on how familiar all players are with the rules, 3 rounds of Saboteur can be finished within 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Conclusion

Saboteur is a nice quick time-filler. The rounds a short, so there is hardly any pressure if one has to finish by a certain time.

How to set up Arch Linux on a Raspberry Pi. Part 3: Network Configuration (the tidier version)

NETWORK CONFIGURATION

Wired Network

I had no problems with connecting to the internet using the wired connection during and after installation, so I am not going into any detail here. The only thing I did was setting up a hostname:

  # echo hostname > /etc/hostname

Alternatively, edit the hostname file with nano:

  # nano /etc/hostname

Save the change with [ctrl]-o and exit nano with [ctrl]-x.

Wireless Network

I am using the Edimax EW-7811Un nano USB adapter to connect my Raspbi to my wireless network. You can get it from Amazon.

This working setup was pieced together from the Arch Linux wiki, their forum, here, and on this site.

Driver Installation

This will not be fun. First a few tools have to be installed in order to be able to configure the wirless network.

  # pacman -S wireless_tools wpa_supplicant wpa_actiond dialog netcfg 

  # pacman -S base-devel unzip

The parameter -S will install packages from the internet. A simple confirmation will download and unpack them. Check the name of the wireless interface with 

  # ip link

but it usually is wlan0. The command will also spit out the MAC addresses of all connected network adapters, which is useful for configuring wireless card access lists of a router.

And now comes the nastiest bit: The installation of the linux drivers. You can download them from my Dropbox with

  # wget https://dl.dropbox.com/u/4563987/RTL8192xC_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20121105.zip

which will download and save the file to the current directory. This would be most likely the superuser home directory. 

Unpack the archive using

  # unzip RTL8192xC_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20121105.zip

This will unzip the file into the rtl8192CU_8188CU_linux_v2.0.939.20100726 directory. 

Change into driver directory within that directory via

  # cd RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20121105/driver/

and unpack the contained tar file with

  # tar -xvzf rtl8188C_8192C_usb_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20121105.tar.gz

The option -x tells tar to unpack the file, in this case using gzip via -z. The output is made verbose (i.e. putting out every action) with -v, and the input is the file defined by -f. Change into the new directory using

  # cd rtl8188C_8192C_usb_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20121105/

Now the driver module has to be compiled and installed. To do this we need a symbolic link to the kernel source:
  # ln -s /usr/src/linux-3.6.11-6-ARCH+/
i.e. create a link to the arm directory in the kernel source directory. Keep in mind that the kernel version can change depending on updates! 
Unfortunately, the Makefile lets make search for the system architecture, which will provide it with 'armv6l', but which does not exist in the source directory. For the compilation to work a change of the Makefile is necessary. Open the makefile with

  # nano Makefile

and search with [ctrl]-w for '($(CONFIG_PLATFORM_I386_PC)' and change in the block following this line 'ARCH ?= $(SUBARCH)' to 'ARCH ?= arm'. No need to worry about the generally wrong system architecture, i.e. i386 PC, it will work

Compile the driver (this will take a while) with

  # make

and install it with

  # make install

This will create a kernel module with the driver, which has to be loaded via

  # modprobe 8192cu 
Now it is time for a reboot with  # reboot
Hopefully the driver will load properly during start-up.

And now for the actual configuration of the wireless interface ...

The wireless interface can be fired up using

  # ip link set wlan0 up

and configured with

  # wifi-menu

The console will change to a menu view with that ugly blue background and a blue menu "in front" of it. At least that is what that black "drop shadow" suggests. The menu will show all detected wireless networks and their signal quality and encryption strength. Select your network using the arrow keys and
confirm with [enter].

wifi-menu: Selection of available networks.

The next menu screen will request the Wifi password. Enter it and hit [OK].

wifi-menu: Enter password.

The menu will then drop back into console mode. Apparently the error message "Failed to initialize driver 'nl80211' can be ignored; the wlan0 interface will fire up without problem. This can be tested with a ping:
  # ping -c 3 www.google.co.uk
The '-c 3' parameter will send out 3 pings. Google is a good choice because a) they answer to pings and b) they are always online. The configuration can be examined using
  # iwconfig
or
  # ifconfig
The former will give details about network mode, ESSID etc, while the latter reveals the ip addresses (which might be usefull if you want to SSH into the Arch system).

Hmm, this is way more chaotic than I intended. This article will need some clearing up some day. Maybe.

How to set up Arch Linux on a Raspberry Pi. Part 3: Network Configuration

Network Configuration

Wired Network

I had no problems with connecting to the internet using the wired connection during and after installation, so I am not going into any detail here. The only thing I did was setting up a hostname:

  # echo hostname > /etc/hostname

Wireless Network

I am using the Edimax EW-7811Un nano USB adapter to connect my Raspi to my wireless network. You can get it from Amazon.

This working setup was pieced together from the Arch Linux wiki, their forum, and this site.

Driver Installation

This will not be fun. First a few tools have to be installed in order to be able to configure the wirless network.

  # pacman -S wireless_tools wpa_supplicant wpa_actiond dialog netcfg

The parameter -S will install packages from the internet. A simple confirmation will download and unpack them. Check the name of the wireless interface with 

  # ip link

but it usually is wlan0. The command will also spit out the MAC addresses of all connected network adapters, which is useful for configuring wireless card access lists of a router.

And now comes the nastiest bit: The installation of the linux drivers. Download them from the Realtek website (the ones from the Edimax website are outdated and do not work on the Raspberry Pi Arch LInux) using

  # wget ftp://WebUser:n8W9ErCy@208.70.202.220/cn/wlan/RTL8192xC_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20121105.zip
[Update: The login for the FTP server does not work anymore]

which will download and save the file to the home directory of the superuser. Unpack the archive using

  # pacman -S unzip

and then

  # unzip RTL8192xC_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20121105.zip

This will unzip the file into the rtl8192CU_8188CU_linux_v2.0.939.20100726 directory. Change into driver directory within that directory via

  # cd RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20121105/driver/

and unpack the contained tar file with

  # tar -xvzf rtl8188C_8192C_usb_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20121105.tar.gz

The option -x tells tar to unpack the file, in this case using gzip via -z. The output is made verbose (i.e. putting out every action) with -v, and the input is the file defined by -f. Change into the new directory using

  # cd rtl8188C_8192C_usb_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20121105/

Just for safety (and because I did it for the non-functional drivers from the Edimax website) create a symbolic link with
  # ln -s /usr/src/linux-
i.e. create a link to the arm directory in the kernel source directory. Keep in mind that the kernel version can change depending on updates!
Now install the tools necessary for compilation with

  # pacman -S base-devel

Compile the driver (this will take a while) with

  # make

and install it with

  # make install

This will create a kernel module with the driver, which has to be loaded via

  # modprobe 8192cu 
Now it is time for a reboot with
  # reboot
Hopefully the driver will load properly during startup.

And now for the actual configuration of the wireless interface ...

The wireless interface can be fired up using

  # ip link set wlan0 up

and configured with

  # wifi-menu

The console will change to a menu view with that ugly blue background and a blue menu "in front" of it. At least that is wat that black "drop shadow" suggests. Nevermind, the menu will show all detected wireless networks and their signal quality and encryption strength. Select your network using the arrow keys and
confirm with [enter].

wifi-menu: Selection of available networks.

The next menu screen will request the Wifi password. Enter it and hit [OK].

wifi-menu: Enter password.

The menu will then drop back into console mode. Apparently the error message "Failed to initialize driver 'nl80211' can be ignored; the wlan0 interface will fire up without problem. This can be tested with a ping:
  # ping -c 3 www.google.co.uk
The '-c 3' parameter will send out 3 pings. Google is a good choice because a) they answer to pings and b) they are always online. The configuration can be examined using
  # iwconfig
or
  # ifconfig
The former will give details about network mode, ESSID etc, while the latter reveals the ip addresses (which might be usefull if you want to SSH into the Arch system).

Hmm, this is way more chaotic than I intended. This article will need some clearing up some day. Maybe.

How to set up Arch Linux on a Raspberry Pi. Part 2: User Accounts

This article is following the suggestions from r3v0luti0n. These are steps that are not fully described on that page though. Further information comes from the Arch Linux Beginner's Guide.

In the following the root shell will be denoted by #, while the user shell uses $.

Setting Up User Accounts

Set up a root password

Keeping the password "root" for the root account is rather dangerous. The command

  # passwd

will allow you to change the password for the root account. You will be asked to enter the password twice. If you want to change it later, use

  $ su -c passwd

The command su -c will grant you superuser privileges for a single command (-c) after you entered the current root password, and the passwd command will be executed afterwards.

Set up a normal user account

The use of the root account for daily work is strongly discouraged. A standard user can be set up using

  # useradd -m -g users -s /bin/bash yournamehere

The -m option creates a home directory for the new user, and the -g option allows you to set the groupid of the new user (users in this case). The -s parameter sets the login shell (/bin/bash) but can be omitted in order to use the default shell. Yournamehere is the name of the new account. The password can be changed later using

  $ su -c passwd

from the user shell. 

Remove a user account

Normal user accounts can be removed by

  # usderdel -r user

The option -r will delete the home directory, and user defines the username which is to be removed.

How to set up Arch Linux on a Raspberry Pi

This article was shamelessly stolen from r3v0luti0n. At least I didn’t simply translate it, but actually used it to configure Arch Linux on my Raspi.

First Login

You should see something like this:

  Arch Linux 3.1.9-20-ARCH+ (tty1)
  alarmpi login: root
  Password:

Both username and password are root. If you put in anything else you can watch the system trying and failing to start a graphical system.

  [root@alarmpi ~]#

Change of Keyboard Layout

Not done. I am fine with an English layout for now. The main problem is the switch between y and z anyway.

Test of Internet Connection

This was not really necessary for me because I knew from the previous Raspbian system that the internet connection was fine. If you want to you can do

  [root@alarmpi ~]# ping -c 3 r3v0luti0n.com

The r3v0luti0n.com can of course be replaced by an internet address of your choice which is known to be always available. So maybe not twitter.com or some other site similarly prone to outages.
I haven’t bothered with trying to set up a wireless connection at this point, so I am deviating even further from the guide.

System Update

One of the first steps for any linux setup is always a system upgrade. The Arch package manager pacman is said to be very fast and simple to use.

  [root@alarmpi ~]# pacman -Syu

The parameter -S requests packages from the preconfigured repositories, -y updates the resources and checks available packages against the system, and -u starts the upgrade.
The first upgrade will take a long time. Arch Linux uses a rolling upgrade and update system:There are no big system upgrades, but instead packages are continuously updated. This means that even after downloading the most recent image there might be quite a lot of updates waiting for you. I was luck with only 48 package updates, which took about 30 minutes.

Configuration of Locale and Keyboard Layout

As with most things the locale is defined in a text file. Use
  
  [root@alarmpi ~]# nano /etc/locale.gen

to start the nano text editor. Nano is a very simple text editor that runs in the command line. The main commands are explained at the bottom, and the rest is done by navigating with the arrow keys and typing text. The file contains some explanatory text and a long list of possible locales, i.e. language and localisation settings. Uncomment the ones you would like to use. For me this was the line

  #en_DK.UTF-8 UTF-8
  #en_DK ISO-8859-1
  en_GB.UTF-8 UTF-8
  #en_GB ISO-8859-1
  #en_HK.UTF-8 UTF-8

(The important line is highlighted in bold print). [Ctrl]-o will write the file (after a confirmation), and [ctrl]-x will exit nano. [I didn’t know that Denmark had a specific English keyboard layout, but you never stop learning …]
The command

  [root@alarmpi ~]# locale-gen

will generate the corresponding language files.

Main Configuration

There was no /etc/rc.conf present on my system, so I had to create it myself. It seems that quite a bit of the essential of the system configuration has changed since the r3v0luti0n guide was created, so from here on I am following the ArchWiki. Actually, there was a change to systemd as the default init daemon, so /etc/rc.conf is obsolete.

Keyboard Layout

The keyboard layout is stored in /etc/vconsole.conf. If you want to change from the default (US of course …) you can look up the available keymaps with

  [root@alarmpi ~]# ls /usr/share/kbd/keymaps/i386/querty

and set it by using
  
  [root@alarmpi ~]# nano /etc/vconsole.conf

[Ctrl]-o will write the file (after a confirmation), and [ctrl]-x will exit nano. My final /etc/vconsole.conf looks like this:
  
  KEYMAP=uk
  FONT=lat9w-16
  FONT-MAP=8859-1_to_uni

I haven’t touched any other settings than the keymap because I am not sure what they do.

Main Configuration File

I created a file using
  
  [root@alarmpi ~]# nano /etc/rc.conf

looking like this:

  # /etc/rc.conf - configuration file for initscripts
  #
  # Most of rc.conf has been replaced by various other configuration
  # files. See archlinux(7) for details.
  #
  # For more details on rc.conf see rc.conf(5).
  #
 
  DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network crond)
 
  # A reasonable DAEMONS array when using sysvinit is:  
  # DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network crond)
  #
  # When using systemd, it is recommended to only enable daemons that
  # do not have native systemd service files.
 
  # Storage
  #
  # USEDMRAID="no"
  # USELVM="no"
 
  # Network
  #
  # interface=
  # address=
  # netmask=
  # gateway=

Again, [ctrl]-o will write the file (after a confirmation), and [ctrl]-x will exit nano.

Reboot

After this ordeal I rebooted with

  [root@alarmpi ~]# reboot

This is particularly important if you want to use the GB keyboard layout right away. I really can’t get used to # being on [shift]-3 …

Later more.