UbuntuHandbook

Want to play some games in Ubuntu desktop? Gamebuntu is a new project to make life easier for beginners!

Without searching for how to tutorials and struggling with Linux commands, Gamebuntu is an all-in-one app makes it possible to single click to install Steam, Heroic / Epic Game launcher, Minigalaxy GOG client, and/or Lutris game clients.

The app also offer buttons to easily install other useful apps for setting up Ubuntu for gaming. They include:

• OBS Studio for streaming purpose
• Discord for chatting
• MangoHUD for system details, frame time and FPS counter.
• GameMode to optimize game performance,
• OpenRGB to configure coolers and RAM modules with RGB.
• Piper to configure gaming peripharals.
• Polychomatic to configure Razer devices.
• Noise Torch – real-time microphone noise suppresstion.
• Low latency / xanmode kernel for critical runtime applications

And if the NVIDA proprietary drivers installed, it will offer shortcut for configuring Nvidia driver settings.

Install Gamebuntu:

Gamebuntu is a free open-source project in earlier stage. It’s so far recommended for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS only. The source code is hosted in gitlab page.

The developer used to provide the .AppImage package, so the app itself may run without installation.

Sadly, it makes itself NOT easy to beginners to install. See installation instructions in the project page:

And to keep track of the project, you may get in touch with the software developer by visiting this thread.

Many free open-source apps got new releases before new year 2022. The side-scrolling game SuperTux 0.6.3 is one of them!

The Super Mario Bros look like game added many exciting new features in v0.6.3, including:

• WASM compilation to play in browser.
• Swimming
• Wall jumping
• Autotiles
• New snow tiles, objects
• Add-on creator
• Optional integration with Discord
• Official binaries for FreeBSD, Linux 32-bit and Ubuntu Touch
• Custom particles, in-game progress statistics, skippable cutscenes.
• Updated animations, rework of the Revenge in Redmond worldmap.

How to Install SuperTux via PPA in Ubuntu:

The game offers official Linux packages via universal Flatpak, non-install AppImage, and 32-bit portable tarball. They are available to download at the link below:

For those prefer the native DEB package for Ubuntu based systems. I’ve uploaded the packages into this unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, Ubuntu 21.10, and Linux Mint 20, etc.

Besides 64-bit package for modern PC and 32-bit for old PC (Ubuntu 18.04 only), there are also armhf/arm64 packages for devices such as Apple Silicon and Raspberry Pi.

1. Add the Ubuntu PPA:

To add the PPA, firstly press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal (or search from start menu). When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/supertux

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

SuperTux also has an official daily PPA which builds the game packages almost every day. You may use the PPA instead for the bleeding edge version:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:supertux-dev/daily

2. Update package cache:

For Ubuntu 18.04 and some Ubuntu based systems, user may need to manually update the system package cache via command:

sudo apt update

3. Install / Upgrade SuperTux:

The package in PPAs is a little bit different. The stock versions in Ubuntu repository built the package into supertux and supertux-data. Apology for being lazy, the PPA packages built into single supertux.

Which means, upgrading from the stock Supertux version to v0.6.3 using “Software Updater” may not work. Instead, user need to run the command in terminal to install or upgrade the game package:

sudo apt install supertux

How to Remove or Downgrade SuperTux:

For any issue, user may purge the PPA repository which also downgrade the game package to the stock version in Ubuntu repository (change PPA name depends which one you use):

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/supertux

Or, remove the game package directly by running command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove supertux

And, user may remove the PPA instead of purging it via “Software & Updates” utility.

2D jump’n’run game SuperTux released 0.6.3 Beta recently with many exciting new features.

SuperTux is a free open-source side-scroller inspired from the Super Mario Bros. Player may control a penguin called Tux in game to run and jump through multiple worlds, fighting off enemies, and reclaim Penny.

By releasing the 0.6.3 Beta, the game supports for WASM compilation. So, it can be played directly in the browser. There are also many great new features introduced in the release, including:

• Swimming
• Wall jumping
• Autotiles
• New snow tiles, objects
• Add-on creator
• Optional integration with Discord
• Official binaries for FreeBSD, Linux 32-bit and Ubuntu Touch
• Custom particles, in-game progress statistics, skippable cutscenes.
• Updated animations, rework of the Revenge in Redmond worldmap.

How to Get SuperTux:

The game works on Linux, Windows and macOS. Its website provides the binary packages as well as the source tarball for downloading:

For Ubuntu and other Linux, it’s available in the system repositories. Just search for and install it via your system app store (Ubuntu Software).

And the package for the latest 0.6.3 Beta is available to download in Github releases via Assets. For Linux user, download the ‘.Appimage’ package, add executable permission in file Properties dialog, and finally click run it to start the game.

After more than 2 years of development, the new major Battle for Wesnoth 1.16.0 was finally available to download.

With Wesnoth 1.15.x development releases, it introduced new campaign: Wings of Victory, an Intermediate level Drake campaign with 11 scenarios. A new new single player or coop survival scenario, Isle of Mists is added.

The add-on World Conquest II (now called World Conquest) has translations support. And users now has ability to add translated titles and descriptions to add-ons.

It has overhauled the Dunefolk to improve balance against the six Default factions. Most of the Dunefolk faction’s units have new and-or updated animations. There is also a new unit called falconer, which is a branch in the skirmisher line.

For multiplayer, it added roll N chat command, new Information button in the lobby to show server related information and ongoing tournaments being held. It’s possible to press F1 to view in-game help in the multiplayer lobby. And, the Private Replay checkbox is available in the game create screen.

It also merged several experimental AI candidate actions (CAs). The campaign AI Controller feature is now deprecated, and has been removed from mainline campaigns.

Other changes in Battle for Wesnoth 1.16.0 include:

• Many changes to unit stats across the board
• Several new fauna units added.
• Many new zombified sprites, monsters, animations, and so forth.
• Campaign changes and fixes.
• WML and lua API changes.
• Require system higher than Windows 7 / macOS 10.11

How to Install Battle for Wesnoth 1.16.0 in Ubuntu Linux:

The Windows EXE, macOS dmg and source tarball are available to download at the link below:

Linux user may play the game via Steam or itch.io. It’s also available to install separately via the universal Flatpak package in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.10, Ubuntu 18.04 and even older releases. And below will tell you how:

1.) Setup Flatpak daemon.

Firstly, search for and open terminal from start menu (activities overview). When it opens, run command to install the daemon:

sudo apt install flatpak

For old Ubuntu releases, e.g., Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 18.04, you need to add this PPA first.

Next, add the Flathub repository that hosts the software packages via command:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

2.) Install Battle for Wesnoth as Flatpak.

After setting up the daemon, run the command below in terminal:

flatpak install flathub org.wesnoth.Wesnoth

Both Wesnoth 1.14.x and 1.16 are available in the repository. You need to type number to choose which to install, and type y to confirm.

When everything’s done successfully, launch the game from start menu (searching from activities overview) and enjoy!

Uninstall Wesnoth Flatpak:

For any reason, you may run command in terminal to remove the package:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.wesnoth.Wesnoth

And clear unused runtime via flatpak uninstall --unused command.