I installed Linux Mint on our PCs to extend equipment life and to give our keiki additional resources to do their homework with. What I didn’t expect was how happy the kids are with the new operating system. For one, it runs flawlessly and rapidly. Web surfing has never been faster or more secure than it is now.
Just to test it out, I also installed the Minecraft executable. It’s also fast. The kids have now asked for Linux to be installed on all the laptops.
For those adventurous parents wading into the Linux arena, here’s how to do the install. First, go to the Minecraft download page at https://minecraft.net/download. Select the Linux version. The .jar file will download to your downloads folder. Move the .jar file to your desktop using drag and drop.
At this point, the executable won’t run when clicked. To get it to run, right-click on the icon and select properties. From the properties submenu, click the permissions tab and click the box marked “allow executing file as program.” Click the open with tab and pick the Java runtime program. Make sure you select “set as default” before closing. That’s it. From now on, when the icon is clicked, the Minecraft executable will run.
