Some of my first real experiences of using Linux as a child came through the use of Knoppix, one of the first distributions to popularize the use of Live CDs. This allowed me to explore a wide swath of Linux applications. One of these was a role playing game which I recall I never got to work well, but lingered on in my imagination regardless.

It's not going to win any awards on style but some of you may want to know that the classic free and open source RPG FreedroidRPG is now on Steam.

Another release of GE-Proton is already available, the third in the space of a week and GE-Proton 7-46 includes some DirectX 12 fixes for Steam Deck and Linux desktop.

Here we go! The next version of KDE Plasma is now in Beta and ready for wider testing, with some really great sounding changes.

There's another release of the community-made compatibility layer GE-Proton with version 7-45 out now, and this one removes a popular patch to help game performance but there's a good reason for that.

Anyone remember the original Stronghold from FireFly Studios? Well, there's an open source remake named Stone Kingdoms.

The community-built version of Proton, the Windows compatibility layer, GE-Proton 7-44 is out now and here's what's new.

Formerly named Agape, GameImage is a way to package up games with either Wine or an Emulator into a portable AppImage that could be useful for the Steam Deck.

Want a Tabletop Simulator like experience but prefer free and open source games? Keep an eye on Tabletop Club.

Valve released a fresh build of Proton Experimental on January 13th which include a few notable improvements across various games for Steam Deck and Linux desktop.

What are you up to Valve? Gamescope, software used on the Steam Deck for Gaming Mode that handles displaying everything recently had some VR work pulled in. Perhaps for the upcoming Deckard VR HMD?

0 A.D. is an in-development free and open source RTS, one that's very promising and looks pretty good and the next Alpha version will also feature experimental Vulkan support.

Seems more developers are warming up to the idea of open source. Pixeljam recently opened up the source code to Dino Run DX.

GOverlay is great! Giving you a real easy way to tweak the MangoHud performance overlay on Linux, along with it also working with vkBasalt and ReplaySorcery.

Back in October last year I wrote about the new open source NVIDIA Vulkan driver named NVK, and now it appears to be able to actually run games. Not particularly well though.

This is awesome and something more developers should do with games they shut down. Counterplay Games have made their mix of a collectable card game and a turn-based strategy Duelyst fully open source.

DOSBox Staging is a favourite of mine to follow that expands on the original DOSBox but with a focus on implementing new features and fixes. A new major update went out in December 2022 with some big additions.

Took a while huh? It's not quite as well-known or as loved as some other free and open source games, but worth pointing out: FreeCol 1.0 is out now. 20 years in the making for this Sid Meier's Colonization remake!

GameCube and the Wii emulator Dolphin had a progress report posted up in late December, and it's looking really good, especially so with their performance optimization work.

Decky Loader is a project I've covered before multiple times now because it can add a lot to the Steam Deck with plugins, and now it's even easier to use.