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Apparently we missed the weekend and didn't ask you for your latest recommendations? Let's fix that. What have you been playing recently and what do you think about it?

For me personally, I've actually been doing something a little different. Since my 32nd birthday is coming up soon on July 30, I picked up a Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB model) and what a wonderful little device it is. I can finally join the world of tiny computers! Using the full Raspberry Pi 4 Desktop Kit, it couldn't have been any easier and what a joy it was to get going.

Snap it together into the little case, plug it in with the SD card that came with the 'NOOBS' installer so there's absolutely no fuss. Okay, that's a small lie, there was a tiny bit of fuss with KODI having a really slow mouse which was solvable by adding "usbhid.mousepoll=0" to the end of "/boot/config.txt".

Without much fuss then it was up and running—yes that's Halo: Reach with Steam Play Proton being streamed from a Manjaro desktop to the Raspberry Pi. Glorious. I also need to one day invest in a better camera but priorities…

So as you might expect, I've been testing out a lot of games with the Steam Link from my Linux desktop to my new Linux-powered Raspberry Pi 4 and so far it's handled it like an absolute champ. It's surprising how much better Steam Link works now than the last proper time I tested it, where it was quite rough, now it seems fantastic.

If you're also interested in the Raspberry Pi, Humble have a dedicated Raspberry Pi Book Bundle on until August 10.

Over to you: what have you been gaming on Linux lately? Serve up your recommendations in the comments.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Pangaea Jul 20, 2020
Quoting: CFWhitmanThere's no challenge involved with getting Bioshock Infinite running. The "native" version (I believe it's actually a wrapped Windows binary) for Linux seems to run perfectly for me.
Presumably that's the shteam version shackled by DRM, which will never get onto my computer :) To their shame, GOG does not have a Linux version. However, I installed Lutris and had a go. Looked like everything would go well. But upon launching the game, it first crashed once the intros were done. Trying again, nothing shows up besides a black screen after the intros. It's not in fullscreen either as I can see the bottom bar in Mint. Something is clearly amiss :-/
Dunc Jul 20, 2020
Quoting: brokeassben
Quoting: DuncAlso Assetto Corsa to unwind when I got cheesed off with E:D
How is your performance with AC? Did you get a wheel working with it?
No, I don't have one, sadly. Performance is really good with Proton-GE. Vanilla Proton still has that issue with the onscreen widgets wrecking the framerate (and in fact there seemed to be a regression in GE a version or two ago that reintroduced it - it also seemed to lock up on launch quite a lot - but the current one seems fine here).
CFWhitman Jul 20, 2020
Quoting: PangaeaPresumably that's the shteam version shackled by DRM, which will never get onto my computer :) To their shame, GOG does not have a Linux version. However, I installed Lutris and had a go. Looked like everything would go well. But upon launching the game, it first crashed once the intros were done. Trying again, nothing shows up besides a black screen after the intros. It's not in fullscreen either as I can see the bottom bar in Mint. Something is clearly amiss :-/

Oh, yes, it is the Steam version, and while not all Steam games have DRM, that one does. I wonder why there is no non-Steam Linux version.
CFWhitman Jul 20, 2020
I've been continuing to go through Bioshock Infinite and The Talos Principle. The Talos Principle did get much more engaging when connectors and fans were introduced to the puzzles. However, I don't care for the philosophical drivel, and a couple of the puzzles are annoying to execute rather than being difficult to figure out (these involve learning just how close you can get to mines before they will home in and kill you). I still like Portal 2 better. I'm getting close to the end, but I've been playing it a bit less and Bioshock Infinite quite a bit more.

I also got Steamlink going on a couple of Raspberry Pi 3s. I have noticed a couple of oddities. If more than one computer is running Steam with Steamlink connections enabled when you open Steamlink, it cannot distinguish between the two. It will pretty much invariably claim to be connecting to the same computer regardless of which one it is actually connecting to. The only way to stop it from randomly connecting to the wrong one is to shutdown Steam or disable remote connections to it.

Also, my rather old desktop in the cellar works for Steamlink to connect to, but controllers will only work in the Steam interface, not within games. When Steamlink is connected to my current desktop, controllers work fine. I suspect this could have something to do with the old desktop still being on Ubuntu Studio 18.04 (which is supported as an LTS version by Ubuntu but not by Ubuntu Studio), while my normal desktop is running Ubuntu Studio 20.04 LTS. It would be soon that I upgraded the one in the cellar to 20.04 either way, but I wonder if that will fix the issue. I'm much more likely to want to remote to the one in the cellar than my regular desktop for 2D games, since it is more likely that someone would want to use the regular one for something else.
CFWhitman Jul 20, 2020
Quoting: UnixOutlawI'm on my 2nd RPi4B now - saw the 8 GB model release, and couldn't resist...

However - I insist on running 64 bit on these, I've got 4 GB model running elementary 5.1 64 bit (which I'll probably end up switching to a headless server), and an 8 GB model running XFCE 64 bit - trouble is the Steam Link app for arm is only armhf, there's no arm64/aarch64 (I'm also running arm64 Raspbian on my RPi3B headless [pi-hole and openVPN server])

In fact I broke my original 8 GB XFCE install trying to get Steam Link armhf to run on aarch64 (did a series of "sudo apt install [thing]:armhf" to get all the dependancies that steamlink.deb required to install - and then it proceeded to replace ALL of my aarch64/arm64 binaries and libraries with armhf versions)...

No rush - I'll wait and see if a 64 bit release of Steam Link for Raspbian gets released, eventually, I waited 9 months for an "official" 64 bit Raspbian, I can wait... But it wouldn't be that hard surely, there's already a plethora of Single Board Computers out there running 64 bit Linux... Note - 64 bit Raspbian (now rebranded as RaspiOS I believe?) does let you "sudo apt install steamlink", but it doesn't work (and looks like it's trying to trash your system by replacing arm64 staff with armhf)...

Planning on making the 8 GB RPi4 model my portable workstation when Covid 19 isolation is over (getting a NextDock 2)...

I'm surprised you are having that issue. I was under the impression that 32 bit ARM applications were supported out of the box with a couple of exceptions related to changed library paths rather than the changed architecture. What is the output of the following commands?

dpkg --print-architecture
dpkg --print-foreign-architectures
Redneck Jul 21, 2020
I've been playing CSGO with my online buddies and Killing Floor 2!

I was also looking at the Raspberry PI to use it on the tv, is it smooth? Because I tried Steam Link on my Chromebook and it didn't go very well
scaine Jul 21, 2020
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Quoting: CFWhitmanI've been continuing to go through Bioshock Infinite and The Talos Principle. The Talos Principle did get much more engaging when connectors and fans were introduced to the puzzles. However, I don't care for the philosophical drivel, and a couple of the puzzles are annoying to execute rather than being difficult to figure out (these involve learning just how close you can get to mines before they will home in and kill you). I still like Portal 2 better. I'm getting close to the end, but I've been playing it a bit less and Bioshock Infinite quite a bit more.

I also got Steamlink going on a couple of Raspberry Pi 3s. I have noticed a couple of oddities. If more than one computer is running Steam with Steamlink connections enabled when you open Steamlink, it cannot distinguish between the two. It will pretty much invariably claim to be connecting to the same computer regardless of which one it is actually connecting to. The only way to stop it from randomly connecting to the wrong one is to shutdown Steam or disable remote connections to it.

Also, my rather old desktop in the cellar works for Steamlink to connect to, but controllers will only work in the Steam interface, not within games. When Steamlink is connected to my current desktop, controllers work fine. I suspect this could have something to do with the old desktop still being on Ubuntu Studio 18.04 (which is supported as an LTS version by Ubuntu but not by Ubuntu Studio), while my normal desktop is running Ubuntu Studio 20.04 LTS. It would be soon that I upgraded the one in the cellar to 20.04 either way, but I wonder if that will fix the issue. I'm much more likely to want to remote to the one in the cellar than my regular desktop for 2D games, since it is more likely that someone would want to use the regular one for something else.

Oh, that's a shame! I LOVED the philosophical drivel in Talos Principle! Sure, it's drivel, but it's so atmospheric and it does allude to the wider story of what happens to "you", the android, after you leave the puzzle chambers and "ascend" the Tower.

I also loved, although never completed, the meta-puzzles of the island. There are optional puzzles you can do in each area, which cause physical effects outside of that areas boundaries. Like, one I did caused a laser/ray to shine outside of its play area, over another play area. I think the intention is that you could then use that laser/ray in that new area to cause yet another effect in another area. The love and attention to detail is astounding.

I'm with you on Portal 2 though. That game just had more character and charm. Wheatley is great, GladOS is great... but it's Cave Johnson that makes it. JK Simmons absolutely knocked that character out of the park - the lines are great, but the way he delivered them was outstanding. What a game.
scaine Jul 21, 2020
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Quoting: RedneckI've been playing CSGO with my online buddies and Killing Floor 2!

I was also looking at the Raspberry PI to use it on the tv, is it smooth? Because I tried Steam Link on my Chromebook and it didn't go very well

How's KF2 these days? I'm thinking about getting back into it. I spent 8 hours getting to know it, but didn't feel the same love for it as I did for the original. But the gunplay is outstanding and very few games make zombie slaughter so enjoyable. My biggest issue with it is the same issue I had with the original - until you spend 100+ hours in the game, you don't know the maps well enough to be really effective.
tuubi Jul 21, 2020
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Quoting: scaineI also loved, although never completed, the meta-puzzles of the island. There are optional puzzles you can do in each area, which cause physical effects outside of that areas boundaries. Like, one I did caused a laser/ray to shine outside of its play area, over another play area. I think the intention is that you could then use that laser/ray in that new area to cause yet another effect in another area. The love and attention to detail is astounding.
Some of the optional puzzles do require using lasers from more than one puzzle creatively. I really enjoy this sort of stuff in games.
MeanOldBoomer Jul 21, 2020
Upgraded my Linux PC to a Ryzen 5 3600 with 16gb DDR4, still using the RX480 though....Basically retired my headless Windows gaming box (using Parsec), gave it's GTX 980 to my son and rebuilt this PC with it's motherboard/ram/cpu. Decided I needed the cpu grunt more for the music stuff I do than for the few games I played on Windows that wouldn't run under wine/proton.
Also discovered Lutris is much better than I thought, I'd just assumed it was a Wine frontend all these years and didn't really need another one of those...How wrong was I? It's FANTASTIC. It's replaced PoL for me, still keeping Crossover though, as being an advocate for a few apps I'll keep running those on it.
Also redid the entire home network with ethernet now going to every room in the house (except the bathroom lol) and even found some time to play No Man's Sky and some Elder Scrolls Online (must update my tutorial video's for that, as it's now pretty much plug n play now lol)
And finally, switched to KDE Plasma....not used that since KDE3! I've been a cinnamon desktop user for years since, but decided to try plasma out again...loving it :)



edit: ALso got a pi4 a few months ago, it's set up in my bedroom attached to a 40 inch TV, used to stream games from my desktop or just general TV box use...it's great...though more just a slightly amped version of the Pi3 setup I have attached to the TV in living room. May swap them over though.


Last edited by MeanOldBoomer on 21 July 2020 at 11:32 am UTC
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