iTWire: Previously I’ve mooted an obstacle preventing Linux adoption is the need for more big game titles, rather than productivity apps. This week, in the wake of its Humble Indie Bundle debut, Tim Schafer explains what porting Psychonauts to Linux was like.

Here’s what I’ve written for iTWire this month …

Linux
Active Directory for Linux draws closer
Jolly new Cloud Computing OS seeks to bring netbook market back to Linux
Move over PC and Mac, it’s time for “I’m Linux”
Ubuntu 9.04′s blazing boot times
It’s 2009 and SCO are maintaining the Linux rage – what the ?
How does Ubuntu Linux differ from Debian?
How on earth does anyone make a dime out of Linux and open source?

Industry news and general tech
ASUS fighting at the top may spawn new brand
NSW Government job website hacked
Telstra release BlackBerry Bold software update
Xbox Live whets appetite with The Maw
Telstra mobile memo service suffers as Teletech offshores operations

Linux Australia elections
Congratulations Mr President – Linux Australia goes to the vote
Linux Australia elections results are in but is there a mandate?
Why didn’t people vote in the Linux Australia elections?

Microsoft Australia have a programming contest out right now – with (at the time of writing) 173 hours and three minutes remaining. There’s a nice bevy of prizes.

The challenge is to make something modern out of something retro – or even implement something retro using new tech.

My first thought was a modern .NET Commodore 64 emulator – but then I came across Sharp-64 – written two years ago by a fellow Australian. I pondered briefly whether a C64 emulator Vista sidebar gadget would be feasible but I’ve gone off this train of thought now …

Anyone got an idea for me?? Time is ticking down … and like with most great software, the coding likely isn’t the significant part of the challenge, it’s the big idea!

Hi Coders,

The next Coders Group meeting will be:

Date: 6.00pm Wednesday 1st October 2008
Location: Forsythes IT Training Room – 9 Denison Street, Newcastle West
Cost: FREE!

This month the topic will be the Lua programming language … And how to expand the World of Warcraft.

Lua (Portuguese for “Moon”) is a modern lightweight scripting language. In this talk, you will see the syntax and control structures that make Lua work – and then put it together to write add-ons for possibly the most famous Lua implementation – the engine for the World of Warcraft. Using Lua you can enhance your WoW experience, taking advantage of information happening around you in the world that you might otherwise miss. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how similar it is to familiar and more conventional event-driven programming.

By day, David M Williams is the Chief Information Officer for ResCo Services, a national mining support company. By night, he writes for iTWire and is a level 70 warlock.

For those of you who haven’t been before, the Newcastle Coders Group is a great place to learn about the latest technologies in software development. It’s also a great place to meet your peers in the local area. Everyone is welcome, so bring your friends and colleagues.

It should be a great night.  I hope to see you there.