I was in the process of uploading a Beta 7c for Freeciv when I noticed that the 8th beta just came out. But, I am glad it did because an annoying bug with sounds was fixed. My package for it is here. However, it will eventually be moved to a more appropriate location here instead.

Things that have changed are as follows:

• Based on beta 8 source code
• Sound support enabled for both GTK+ 1.x and 2.x clients
• Added readline support to civserver
• Modified Freeciv Server slightly to accommodate behavioral change in civserver due to readline support

Enjoy!

I have finished putting together another release of my package for Freeciv 2.0.0 Beta 7. The primary goal of this release is to include the GTK+ 2.x game client.

However, the new package now weighs in at approximately 12.5 MB, roughly an increase of 250% over the previous package. The extra bloat is mostly due to the inclusion of the GTK+ 2.x game client.

You can either download the entire package, or just the pieces that have changed:

• Freeciv (GTK+2).zip. The GTK+ 2.x game client.
• Freeciv Server.zip. Version 0.2.1 of the civserver wrapper application.
• ReadMe.zip. The modified Read Me file.

If you choose to download only the changed pieces, note that you should place them in wherever you have your installation, replacing pre-existing versions of these files.

One thing that is still missing from my packages is sound support. I'll tackle that in a future package.

Lastly, I am ambivalent about including both game clients in my package due to the dramatically increased size. If you have suggestions on how I can handle this better, please let me know.

Enjoy!

I was sick most of last week (and the week before). On top of that, work was super busy. Between those two things and trying to lead a normal life, I didn't have much time to work on the GTK+ 2.x version of the Freeciv game client.

However, now that my fever has subsided, and work is not so time-consuming, I got a chance to pick up where I left off. The work to come up with a re-distributable package is almost done. I just need to tidy up some loose ends and produce the package.

As a matter of preview, the next release of my package will contain two game clients:

• Freeciv. This is the client everyone who has downloaded my package has been using.


• Freeciv (GTK+2). This is another client that also runs on top of X11. However, it has a richer UI that some might appreciate. Furthermore, it has UI elements that enables you to launch the game server executable civserver as well as manage the game server options, similar to what Freeciv Server is meant to do. Lastly, I am told this is the client of choice going forward for Freeciv.

You can get a feel of what the GTK+ 2.x client might look like by visiting the screenshots page on the freeciv.org site.

Stay tuned....

My packages for Freeciv are all built using the GTK+ 1.x client. However, the trend, from what a Freeciv developer tells me, is that the GTK+ 2.x client is the future. In fact, someone else has such a client compiled for Mac OS X already (see this thread in the Freeciv message forum).

The downside of this package is that it currently requires you to have Fink and the required packages installed. If you are a Fink user, give this alternate package a try, as the GTK+ 2.x client is richer. Personally, however, I appreciate the simplicity of the GTK+ 1.x client, especially since it runs faster on my aged B&W G3. :-)

I am in contact w/ the individual that created this build, and am currently working on making a build using the GTK+ 2.x client that does not require Fink (nor DarwinPorts).

Stay tuned....

After becoming increasingly irritated with how much I pay my local phone company versus how little I actually get out of it (I don't talk on the phone that much), I think I finally found a way out. That way is Vonage.

Instead of signing up online, though, I called 1-VON-AGE-HELP instead because I wanted answers to some specific questions. On top of getting answers, I was also offered a 14-day trial period plus free second month. So, I jumped on.

The 14-day trial period is somewhat bogus, because they didn't get a phone adapter into my hands until 10 days into the trial period.

But, so far, everything is good. I experienced two short semi-outages, where I was unable to make outgoing calls, but was able to receive incoming ones. Both resolved themselves within 5-10 minutes.

Another beef I have with them is the fact that even though they say you can change your phone number anytime you want, and make it all sound so easy, they don't say that it cost around $10 every time you change it, including when transferring my old telephone number over.

In light of the monthly savings, however, these are small points. Only time will tell....