Linux Air Combat Files

Announcing the Linux Air Combat Menu Launcher


In late Sep2023 we began work on a new companion program, named "LacMenuLauncher", that will accompany Linux Air Combat hereafter. It has since been updated, and the current production version is LacMenuLauncher14. Here is a description, taken directly from its own "help" facility:



   This is the Linux Air Combat Menu Launcher, written in 2023-24 by Robert J. Bosen,
   publisher of the AskMisterWizard.com web site.

   It is needed by Linux Air Combat users whose desktop LINUX systems are incompatible
   with the menus that are built into Linux Air Combat (LAC).

   It expects to find a copy of LAC (version 8.49 or later) installed according to the
   usual pattern at /usr/bin/lac.

   It also expects to have regular access to the well-known firefox web browser.

   This program displays simple, text-based menus that are similar to LAC's built-in
   menus and which allow you to specify all of the same details to configure the way
   LAC works on your hardware and to designate your choice of aircraft, realm, team,
   mission, launch location, and CommunityHandle.

   Selection of a mission is of PARTICULAR IMPORTANCE because it automates traversal of
   the menu logic that is unresponsive within LAC's built-in menus. This is the primary
   purpose for which this LacMenuLauncher was created. Until a default mission is
   designated, there is no easy way to overcome LAC's failure to respond to mouse clicks
   on its built-in menu buttons.

   As you make menu decisions, this program gradually builds up a command line matching
   your choices, according to the command line arguments described when you invoke lac
   without this menu launcher, through a bash shell, with the -help argument.

   It is commonplace to make several passes through the menus, gradually building up
   your command line, with one or more options to be applied when you run LAC.

   As the new command line is built, it is displayed for examination. When you are
   happy with it, you can use main menu item e to execute it. LAC will immediately
   start up, configured according to your choices.

   When you finish your LAC session, you are returned back to this LAC Menu Launcher,
   which you can continue to use to manage LAC according to the manner that others use
   through its built-in menus.

   Note that LAC remembers your configuration. Once set up to your liking, you can re-
   launch it with a command line that simply designates:   lac




As you can see from the above description, the new "LacMenuLauncher" is a sofware utility that essentially duplicates LAC's internal menus. As a small, simple, text-based, external program relying only on foundational tools that have always been at the core of LINUX, it does not suffer from the mysterious incompatibilities that have sometimes rendered LAC's legacy menus useless.

Here is what LacMenuLauncher's main menu now looks like:



   Linux Air Combat Menu Launcher


   Here is the command line at present:

   ==================================================
   lac
   ==================================================


   MAIN MENU:

   a   HELP (WHAT IS THIS MENU LAUNCHER?)
   b   SETUP OPTIONS
   c   CHOOSE YOUR AIRCRAFT
   d   MISSION OPTIONS
   e   RUN LAC BY EXECUTING COMMAND LINE WITH OPTIONS SHOWN ABOVE
   f   RESET COMMAND LINE (ERASE ALL OPTIONS)
   g   LAUNCH MUMBLE (IT'S GOOD TO DO THIS ONCE BEFORE LAUNCHING LAC.)
   h   ONLINE DOCUMENTATION

   i   EXIT



   Designate your choice from a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, or i:




As you can see, the functionality is similar to the familiar menus that have long been offered by Linux Air Combat. Anybody having trouble activating any of those internal menu facilities will be able to use the LacMenuLauncher instead.

You will probably need to compile this LacMenuLauncher program from source code. Fortunately this is VERY easy because there is only one source code file, named "main.c", and all external libraries are always available in ordinary desktop LINUX distros with no need to install or link to any extras. Accordingly, to compile and run it from a bash shell, just follow these five simple steps:

1- cd to the directory containing the source code.

2- Issue the following command:

    cc main.c

3- Verify that it produced an executable named "a.out".

4- Rename a.out to "LacMenuLauncher" with this command:

   mv a.out LacMenuLauncher

5- Execute LacMenuLauncher by typing its name, preceded by "./" according to longstanding LINUX/UNIX norms:

   ./LacMenuLauncher

For maximum convenience, we recommend using "root" authority to copy LacMenuLauncher to the global /usr filesystem at /usr/bin with a command like the following:

   cp LacMenuLauncher /usr/bin/

Thereafter you can always execute LacMenuLauncher from a bash shell from anywhere in your filesystem, without remembering where you stored the executable and without preceeding the launch command with "./". Accordingly, the following command will work:

  LacMenuLauncher

You may also find it convenient to integrate LacMenuLauncher into your desktop LINUX main menu according to longstanding LINUX norms.

You can find a YouTube "PlayList" with 11 brief video clips showing exactly how we did all of this in Oct2023 here:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H03frBW1YjQ&list=PL1IYes9MY6lIw1rq19ewc5siwHg8u8NX3