Software

Solaar is software for more than just pairing wireless keyboards and mice Back on April 8th, 2025 I wrote about Using Logitech unifying devices with Linux in which I discussed how to use Solaar under Linux Mint, or Xubuntu, to pair Logitech unifying wireless devices. My goal with that article was just to provide simple instructions for people looking to pair their Logitech wireless unifying devices, but it turns our Solaar has other functions depending on the device. ...

OnlyOffice is NOT OpenOffice, nor LibreOffice! Whenever I’ve mentioned OnlyOffice to someone in person, it inevitably gets confused with the Apache foundation’s OpenOffice office suite. OnlyOffice and OpenOffice are not the same, they don’t share the same codebase, and they’re not from the same organizations. Because OpenOffice was at one time the main free alternative (until the LibreOffice fork, which we recommend over OpenOffice) to Microsoft Office, it’s fairly well known. OnlyOffice sounds a lot like OpenOffice, but similarities end there. ...

Prince of Persia - a classic game for DOS When I first ran Prince of Persia on PC-DOS I remember thinking, “finally, a DOS game that rivals the fun I had on Commodore 64 games.” I was never very good at the game (and that continues today), but it’s a classic game. The original DOS version has a port for Linux which you can find on github here: (https://github.com/NagyD/SDLPoP?tab=readme-ov-file) The simplest method to install SDLPoP on Ubuntu/Xubuntu Linux If you’re on Xubuntu, or another Ubuntu-variant, there is a snap for the game (called sdlpop). To install the snap simply open a terminal and type: ...

Paradroid, has a version for Linux Growing up in the Commodore 64 era, I’m particularly fond of the games of that age. Games in that era tended to be simpler, but sometimes within that simplicity were some really neat concepts. Paradroid was one of those games that was particularly unique and interesting. There’s a really good look-back at Paradroid on the LemonTube64 Youtube channel here: (https://youtu.be/kkEBccMEhXs) Freedroid “classic” is a port of the game to Linux. The website for Freedroid classic might be a bit confusing when you first arrive because the same developers also worked on an isometric 3D-like game they called FreedroidRPG. The web site for both is: ...

A dice game with a sense of humour If games like Torchlight II, Diablo III, or my favourite - Grim Dawn are your thing, Knights of Pen & Paper II will seem like a snooze-fest to you. While Knights has elements of a role playing game, it’s not an “Action” role playing game (ARPG), but more mimics the kind of play you might get from playing Dungeons and Dragons with a game master. Unfortunately the game is NOT multiplayer, so one of the best parts of D&D is missing from Knights of Pen & Paper II, but if you’re okay with playing solo, this might be a fun title for you. ...

Diminishing returns after 6 cores, but not for all media Handbrake is a video transcoder. It’s normally used to convert and compress video from a format into a more compressed format. Handbrake comes in a command line version, handbrake-cli, and a graphical version, handbrake. I’ve seen it mentioned several times that Handbrake is best at 6 cores or less, after that the encoding returns are diminishing. I thought this was the case with some of my experimentation, but it seems the answer is more complicated – it depends. ...