Karma in 3-D

If, like me, you enjoy the occasional game of chess, Ubuntu comes with a chess (glchess) program as standard and available via the Applications → Games menu. The application isn't built on a particularly good chess engine, but for those five minute coffee breaks, it can provide an enjoyable diversion.

However, I was puzzled that I couldn't get the game to render in 3-D and the error messages that plagued my screen whenever I tried.



To be honest, it wasn't the most pressing of problems so I ignored it, making the ease at which this irritation is resolved doubly embarrassing!

If you want to play glchess in 3-D, open your Synaptic Package Manager (found in System → Administration) and, after entering your Administrative password, search for Python OpenGL using the search function. Scroll down the returned search results until you find the two packages required (python-opengl & python-gtkglext1). Simply mark the check-boxes (select mark for installation from the drop-down menu) and click the Apply button.





Follow the prompts and the accept the package review screen and close Synaptic when it's downloaded and installed the packages: that's it!

If glchess is open, close it and then re-open and select 3-D Chess View from the View menu.