MozillaQuest the on-line computer magazine

March 26, 2001

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Introduction

Linux Independence Means Choices

Brief Review of Setting Up the K Desktop

Starting & Playing Simple Games

Mine-sweeper

Free-Cell & Solitaire

Mah-jongg

Tetris

Chess

Soko-ban

Working on Your Own

Conclusion

Resources & Links

Linux for Microsoft Windows Users: #4-- Getting Started Using the Windows-Like Desktop for Linux

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FreeCell & Other Solitaire Games

Another popular MS Windows game that you can play on your Linux K desktop is FreeCell. In MS Windows, you can open FreeCell by clicking on Start > Programs > Accessories > Games > FreeCell.

To play FreeCell on your Linux K desktop, click on K > Games > Patience. Patience is a collection of some ten, solitaire games including FreeCell. To get to FreeCell, click on Games in the menu bar of whatever Patience game is showing and then click on FreeCell. (Please see Figure 3.)

The KDE version of FreeCell looks lots like the MS Windows version. However the play is not as smooth as the MS Windows version. There is a more smooth-playing FreeCell for Linux. However, since it is not part of the pre-installed KDE games package, let's not worry about trying to install it now.

Try some other solitaire games that are part of the Patience package while you are at it. For game-play instructions and hints, simply click Help on the Patience Menu bar.

Figure 3. The Linux, KDE version of FreeCell looks pretty much like the MS Windows version.

Mahjongg

Although Mahjongg is not part of the MS Windows Start > Programs > Accessories > Games package it's readily available for MS Windows. On the other hand, Mahjongg is included with the KDE games package. Simply click on K > Games > Mahjongg on your K desktop. (Please see Figure 4.)

Figure 4. Here, The K Menu was used to start the Mahjongg game application.

Tetris

Tetris is not part of the MS Windows Start > Programs > Accessories > Games package either. However, as with Mahjongg it's readily available for MS Windows.

If you are running Caldera OpenLinux 2.4, you can click on K > Games > Sirtet to open a typical original style Tetris game. (Sirtet is Tetris spelled backwards.) Please see Figure 5.

Figure 5. Sirtet, the KDE rendition of Tetris for Linux

Sirtet does not seem to have been included in Red Hat's KDE package. However, both the Red Hat and Caldera distributions include a Tetris-like game called Smiltetris. If you would like to try it, simply click on K > Games > Smiletris on your K desktop K Menu.