HE GP2X is a Linux-based gaming console. It has fascinated me since the very first time I saw it. As a matter fact, I raved about it in my blog last year, well ahead of its release. Looking at that nostalgic perspective again, I believe one of the developers commented on that blog item. The unit was scarcely known at the time, so perhaps it effectively served a purpose.

I am pretty certain that information about this unit was originally brought to me by Slashdot, which I used to read more religiously than I do at the moment (typically in ‘feed mode’). Actually, I can vividly recall the day when I blogged about it. I picked up my work uniform, then returned to my office on a gloomy and depressing day. My future paths had me worried. Either way, I also happened to introduce and discuss the GP2X in some Linux newsgroups. And as the GP2X team made progress, there were more details to reveal and share.

A noble man called Mark Kent showed interest in the unit and pondered whether it would suit his children. He even raised a question that was directed at me, as well as the remainder of a newsgroup, about battery life and several other key factors. He was prepared to buy a unit. Several months went by and Mark has claimed a victorious stage appearance. With 15 minutes of fame in Linux.com, Mark’s review is now linked from hundreds of blogs and popular Web sites. Frankly, I share the satisfaction as it’s one giant step for GNU/Linux.

OOGLE Earth has been released for Linux (see my SUSE screenshot for proof), following the Mac OS X version and preceded by the Windows version.

Let us look further. Google Talk is another example of a similar ‘porting channel’. It began with Windows support, just like most desktop applications from Google. Then, there is Picasa, which was ported to Linux using the Wine layer, with several features disabled. There is a whole variety of applications that began as native Windows programs. This appears to be the trend rather than a mere coincidence. A few days ago, SketchUp from Google was ported to the Mac. No Linux version, as yet.

This simple observation leaves you wondering if Google, a company that is heavily dependent on Open Source software, even owing its success to Linux, perceives Windows (with a userbase majority) as a top priority. Only then come the Mac users, Linux being at the bottom (or top rather) of the pyramid. Considering the fact that Linux is more prevalent than Mac OS X (based on several surveys), it would seem as though Google unfairly favours Mac users while neglecting the loyal Linux users, whose number is underestimated. It is worth emphasising that even Google engineers use Linux (Goobuntu) on their desktops. Don’t they have a say?

Here are a couple of fun lists which I have recently come across:

• Top 10 Strangest Custom Gaming Systems
• Ten Products Google Should Develop (hypothetical)

Some even contain videos.

What happens when every time you receive a product and it breaks, time after time? You lose confidence, right? Here is the story of a rather stubborn guy.

Apparently, Szarek has had not one faulty Xbox 360, not two, not even three. No, he’s had four, count ‘em, four malfunctioning Xboxes, and he’s pissed, especially since he read that the console’s maker, Microsoft, feels customers who complain about faulty Xboxes should take their gripes elsewhere.

Older item: Xbox 360 Off to a Slow Start in Japan

[UPDATE: clip omitted as it caused the page to poison and crash the browser]

The above, by the way, is not valid XHTML. It contains attributes that are application-specific. For the very first time and after almost 1,000 blog posts, I permit an invalid element to exist. Then again, it is also the first video embedment, which fortunately is cross-platform.

T was only a few days ago that I came to ponder an interesting fact: I have never,ever in my life paid for a piece of software. I have never paid for a Web service either. I had some computer games bought for me as a gift while I was a teenager, or even younger than that. I was primary using freeware as a child and I do not think it ended up quite so miserably, despite my habit of relying on free and/or Open Source solutions.

The are a few exceptions to the above statement. Admittedly, I may have bought computers that had Windows pre-installed and thus a licence paid for. Anything commercial that I ever use nowadays, the University pays for (MATLAB which runs on Linux, for example). My Web host pays for cPanel too, I presume. Palm handhelds which I have owned have some programs bundled, but I never purchased any softwere for this platform where so much is already free.

Is it all something to take pride in? I do not believe so, but the observation is an interesting one nonetheless. Frankly, I can never recall pulling out a credit card for software purchase or a paid service on Web. On the Internet, if I ever pull out the CC numbers, it is for groceries, various items (primarily gadgets) and Web hosting bills. Never have I paid for a licence key or a binary file.

Bottom line: expensive proprietary software is not a necessity. That, however, is not what commercial software vendors would have you believe. Freeware and Open Source software are their greatest enemies and, given experience and orientation, they can achieve anything. They also have the merit of being transferable and readily available in abundant numbers.

Y habit of playing computer games has slowly faded over the years. There was a ‘hiccup’, however, last year: A particular game that I played very heavily, almost for entire days at a time. The game to blame: Enemy Territory (photographics evidence). Then emerged the effect of obsessive compulsive addiction (see a collection of previous write-ups on the topic). The fact that I installed and re-installed the game twice or thrice meant something. It penetrated the mind and its negative effects are best realised in retrospect.

I use the computer as a tool that simplifies life, whether it is a PDA that rids me from the need to remember or an application that helps me communicate with friends, family, and a variety of new and interesting people.

Computer games have not seen any dramatic change for many years; nothing on par with the exciting revolutions in the 80′s and 90′s at least. CPU capabilities, as well as memory capacity, frequently doubled as Moore’s law suggested and games are of course built to exploit the resources available to the extreme. Apart from graphics cards, hardware has not had the opportunity to extend much. A certain barrier has been reached. Having said that, only a couple of days ago, a graphics card with 4 CPU’s was announced. Issues regarding heat dispertion have been omitted. Will such hardware lead to yet another breathtaking leap in terms of gaming? I hope not. [cynical /]

I have played enough for one lifetime. I feel as though any genre of games and any type of actions or strategic games was played many times already. Rendering more polygons or having a few extra inches on the screen do not help. They do not excite as much as growing up to see groundbreaking resemblances to reality approached year by year.

Final advice, which is motivated by personal opinion: Use the computer primarily for work. If you wish to play, better stand up and enjoy our real world rather than escape by entering the fantasy world of your choice. Nothing can be as stimulating as reality, yet. In circumstances when the reality is harsh, however, I can see justification for gaming. Addiction to games can be harmful nonetheless and is inevitable. Let us be careful.

Check out this on-line church sign generator. You need only enter some text to get an image generated ‘on the spot’. Notice the nice embedment of the letters in the sign. This page was brought to my attention by Dr. Scott Tobkes.

Image/text generation tools:

• ASCII Banner Generator
• Cyborg Name Generator
• Polaroid Images