Getting Fieldrunners From Humble Bundle for Android 3 to Work on 64bit Linux

18. August, 2012

I had several problems with Fieldrunners from Humble Bundle. The first problem is: There is only a 32 bit version, even though I get a download link for a 64 bit version – but both are the same.

The next problem is this error message:

cannot open audio device (Device or resource busy)
Fieldrunners: pcm.c:923: snd_pcm_state: Assertion `pcm' failed.

This is because Fieldrunners uses alsasound but on my system, PulseAudio blocks the audio device. To fix that, run the game with “padsp“:

padsp /opt/fieldrunners/Fieldrunners

which gives this error

ERROR: ld.so: object 'libpulsedsp.so' from LD_PRELOAD cannot be preloaded: ignored.

This is probably because padsp can’t find a 32 bit version of “libpulsedsp.so”. For openSUSE, you can find the package here: http://software.opensuse.org/package/pulseaudio Make sure you click “Show other versions” so you can select the 32 bit version (the browser will show you the 64 bit version if you use a 64 bit version of openSUSE).

Click on “32bit” to download the file (don’t use “1 Click Install”)

Use atool to unpack the archive (trying to install it with “rpm” or “1 Click Install” will fail since the package is for the 32 bit version of openSUSE). Copy the file “…/usr/lib/libpulsedsp.so” to “/usr/lib/libpulsedsp.so”. “padsp” will find it. Now you can run the game.

Unfortunately, the audio will be choppy for some reason. I have no solution for that (it’s also choppy when you disable pulseaudio). My workaround is to go to options and to disable sound effects and the game music.

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BundesGit: Tracking Law Changes With Git

10. August, 2012

 

Git is one of those tools with a thousand uses. Now, it’ s 1001. Stefan Wehrmeyer has started to put texts of German laws into Git to make it easier to track changes.

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Das Netz vergisst nichts!

9. August, 2012

Netter Comic für junge Leute, die sich wundern, wo denn das Problem bei Facebook und Co liegt:  Das Netz vergisst nichts!


Takedown Instead of Touchdown

7. August, 2012

Scripps News Service (one company of the E. W. Scripps Group. The same group owns United Media who publishes the famous Dilbert comic strip) sent YouTube a DMCA takedown notice claiming they were owning the copyright of one of the videos in NASA’s YouTube channel (again).

It’s like Einstein said: “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I’m not sure about the former.”

But now we have computers to bring dumbness to whole new levels.

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Terminal plug-in for Eclipse

6. August, 2012

If you’re like me, then you’re spending a lot of time using console windows because some tasks are just so much more efficient (recalling old commands, pipes, …). If you use Eclipse, you will always struggle to squeeze the terminal window on the screen somewhere.

To help with this situation, Google has developed a plug-in to embed a command-line terminal into your workspace: ELT

It currently supports Linux (x86 32 and 64 bit) and Mac OS X (PPC, x86 32 and 64 bit) only. ANSI escape sequences (incl. color codes) are supported as well a hyperlinks.


Order Your Own Mecha

3. August, 2012

Ever wanted to pilot one of those huge robots from Japanese Anime? Here is your chance:

Training video:

I especially liked “the system will fire when the pilot smiles. This feature is called ‘THE SMILE SHOT’. You will be able to take out all enemies with a single smile. Be sure not to cause a shooting spree by smiling too much!” 😉

And all that for a mere $2,051,200 US (with all extras enabled)!

Order form (needs flash)


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