Latest 30 Comments
News - Linux smashes past 5% on the Steam Survey for the first time
By PlayingOnLinuxphone, 11 Apr 2026 at 2:48 pm UTC
After Steam Deck people realize Proton is a real game changer, a lot of people decide to switch soon. Now 2025 started, a lot of people already switched, told about it, and a lot of things happen in this year. Desktop Linux became for the first time a mainstream topic, Windows 10 became EOL, W11 became worse and many people do not want to switch to Windows 11 (a bigger issue than any previous Windows Version "upgrade"). That pushed Linux even further into the mainstream. People were starting organizing huge Linux installation parties world wide. In December the monthly digital independence day was started by 39C3. New major versions of Linux distros became a never seen amount of downloads from Windows PCs. There are first GPU benchmarks for desktop GPUs running on Linux, Valve announced new hardware, mesa drivers became huge performance improvements "30% here, 30% there, 500% for this low end setup, ..." KDE got donations far beyond everything ever seen ...
I probably told just a fraction of things happened last year and was a result of all the previous done work and W11 enshittification + W10 EOL all together in one year.
By PlayingOnLinuxphone, 11 Apr 2026 at 2:48 pm UTC
Quoting: CatKillerThe way I interpret the data is something like this:You forgot 2025, the year of Linux and Proton. For many years it was possible to play Windows games on Linux. I did it my own in 2015. But I run in so many issues, that it took not long to game on Windows again, which also means to work on Windows, because dual boot never worked for me (don't want to shut down PC 10 times a day just to switch). Valve was working towards improving the gaming experience with Proton on top of the awesome WINE developments. Now we reach 2021, your explanation is fitting well I guess.
After Steam Deck people realize Proton is a real game changer, a lot of people decide to switch soon. Now 2025 started, a lot of people already switched, told about it, and a lot of things happen in this year. Desktop Linux became for the first time a mainstream topic, Windows 10 became EOL, W11 became worse and many people do not want to switch to Windows 11 (a bigger issue than any previous Windows Version "upgrade"). That pushed Linux even further into the mainstream. People were starting organizing huge Linux installation parties world wide. In December the monthly digital independence day was started by 39C3. New major versions of Linux distros became a never seen amount of downloads from Windows PCs. There are first GPU benchmarks for desktop GPUs running on Linux, Valve announced new hardware, mesa drivers became huge performance improvements "30% here, 30% there, 500% for this low end setup, ..." KDE got donations far beyond everything ever seen ...
I probably told just a fraction of things happened last year and was a result of all the previous done work and W11 enshittification + W10 EOL all together in one year.
Quoting: LinuxwarperThat's what I meant, without the heavy lifting EOL wouldnt matter much. Imagine Linux in 2010-2015, people would have switched and had a lackluster user experience and then go back to Windows.2015 I was trying Linux, but it was not ready then, even with tinkering the troubles where too much. But Linux was otherwise that great, I knew I would come back in 5 years. Okay it was 10 years for desktop (8 considering my switch to mobile Linux, which was a consequence of Corona supply chain issues, otherwise 5 years would be on point). When I saw Linux becomes a thing for more people in 2023, I knew 2025 will be "the year" and the EOL will push it even further. I just never expected it become such a huge thing.
News - Pick up some quality adventure games in the Humble Golden Tales Bundle
By motang, 11 Apr 2026 at 1:24 pm UTC
By motang, 11 Apr 2026 at 1:24 pm UTC
This bundle seems packed, thanks for bringing this to my attention!
News - SteamVR Beta brings a number of fixes for Linux gamers
By Ehvis, 11 Apr 2026 at 12:46 pm UTC
By Ehvis, 11 Apr 2026 at 12:46 pm UTC
Gave it a quick try, but that didn't go well. First time the UI didn't come up at all. Other attempts either locked up the game or gave me an error -203. Stable version has many issues as well, but those only appear on some games.
News - Valve dev fixes up VRAM management on AMD GPUs to improve performance
By Leprotto, 11 Apr 2026 at 12:36 pm UTC
By Leprotto, 11 Apr 2026 at 12:36 pm UTC
Quoting: richarsonFor most users, like me, zram is just a failsafe not a graceful way to setup a swap in RAM. In most modern systems, you shouldn't need a swap space at all BUT, in those edge cases you still need it, zram gets on the rescue. Yes, eventually zram would just OOM but, at that point, things have already gone bad anyway.Quoting: MayeulCBesides a swap partition, you may consider swapping to compressed ram (zram).Hi there!
You should not be using zram anymore, zswap is recommended:
https://chrisdown.name/2026/03/24/zswap-vs-zram-when-to-use-what.html
News - Linux smashes past 5% on the Steam Survey for the first time
By Linuxwarper, 11 Apr 2026 at 12:22 pm UTC
By Linuxwarper, 11 Apr 2026 at 12:22 pm UTC
Quoting: CaldathrasVery much so. And it's hard to find Windows equivalents of these tools that work just as well as the Linux-based ones. I'm thinking of Mangohud in particular.There is someone developing a RadeonChill like feature called MangoChill: https://farnoy.dev/posts/mangochill. It seems promising.
News - Linux smashes past 5% on the Steam Survey for the first time
By Linuxwarper, 11 Apr 2026 at 12:19 pm UTC
By Linuxwarper, 11 Apr 2026 at 12:19 pm UTC
Quoting: PlayingOnLinuxphoneThat's what I meant, without the heavy lifting EOL wouldnt matter much. Imagine Linux in 2010-2015, people would have switched and had a lackluster user experience and then go back to Windows. Or potentially get new hardware (MAC?).Quoting: LinuxwarperI really dont think W10 EOL had as much to do with this.Don't you see the graph of the article? It has a lot to do.
You are totally right about all the work, but EOL is the final push many people required. At the end everything works together: software development, W11 sloperating system, hardware support, the increased user base over the last 5 years and finally the media that jumped on board last year to push Linux. Still, without W10 EOL we would be around 3.x% in best case scenario, I am pretty sure (which would also be 300% of 5 years ago, so the trend is present with or without EOL).
News - SteamInputDB is a new site to help you find Steam Input configurations for your gamepads
By Alia5, 11 Apr 2026 at 11:28 am UTC
https://www.steaminputdb.com/news/2026-04-11_new_frontpage_and_steam_integration_via_buddy_app
By Alia5, 11 Apr 2026 at 11:28 am UTC
Quoting: Serious_TableAs someone who plays only on my Steam Deck, this tool is a godsend already. Just being able to filter by the controller I'm using RIGHT NOW rather than "any controller that's attached to my Steam account" is immense. It's so frustrating to go to the Steam Community layout for controller configs and the first 7 entries are for an Xbox controller, a Dualsense controller, and a Dualshock 4, before finally finding Steam Deck, WHILE ON MY STEAM DECK.
Quoting: fenglengshunHm, yeah, having a decky loader / millennium plugin or a steamgriddb's sgdboop-like function would be perfect.You might be interested to hear, that a general Steam client integration of the site is now available ;)
Also makes it easier in case I need to restore my Desktop Mode controller.
https://www.steaminputdb.com/news/2026-04-11_new_frontpage_and_steam_integration_via_buddy_app
News - Valve dev fixes up VRAM management on AMD GPUs to improve performance
By sherminator, 11 Apr 2026 at 8:48 am UTC
By sherminator, 11 Apr 2026 at 8:48 am UTC
is it related to vram spilling ?
News - SteamVR Beta brings a number of fixes for Linux gamers
By Termy, 11 Apr 2026 at 7:56 am UTC
By Termy, 11 Apr 2026 at 7:56 am UTC
Quoting: Purple Library GuyNever get rid of an obsolete thing until you have the thing you wanted to replace it with.Yeah, generally not a bad idea - though i saw (or rather see) the prices for the Index dropping once the Frame is released. And as VR isn't exactly essential, i thought i can do without it for a few months rather than not getting much anymore when selling the Index. And i'm trying to lessen my clutter anyway 😆
News - Framework tease new hardware and something big for Linux too
By EWG, 11 Apr 2026 at 6:41 am UTC
By EWG, 11 Apr 2026 at 6:41 am UTC
Okay but, why does it look like that penguin is pooping?
😆😖
😆😖
News - Proton Experimental brings fixes for classic Resident Evil 1 & 2, Dino Crisis 1 & 2 and more
By t3g, 11 Apr 2026 at 2:27 am UTC
By t3g, 11 Apr 2026 at 2:27 am UTC
I couldn't get the GOG versions to run in Heroic with GE Proton (video driver error on AMD), so when GE Proton syncs with Experimental, hopefully the GOG ports will work.
News - Humble Choice for April 2026 includes Assassin's Creed Valhalla and more indie gems
By scaine, 11 Apr 2026 at 12:07 am UTC
By scaine, 11 Apr 2026 at 12:07 am UTC
Amazed to say that I only own one game from this bundle! I recommend it too - Planet of Lana. If you loved Planet Alpha, Inside, or Limbo, then this is probably the best of all those types of games, and the sequel just landed recently too!
I think I'll pick this bundle up for Artisan TD, which looks excellent, and Until Then, because despite not loving Visual Novels, the reviews are incredible.
I think I'll pick this bundle up for Artisan TD, which looks excellent, and Until Then, because despite not loving Visual Novels, the reviews are incredible.
News - Framework tease new hardware and something big for Linux too
By Linux_Rocks, 10 Apr 2026 at 11:46 pm UTC
By Linux_Rocks, 10 Apr 2026 at 11:46 pm UTC
Quoting: JarmerNo MacBook again? I get using Linux more, but macOS is still great with MacPorts and/or Homebrew.Quoting: kaktuspalmeI wonder how the System76 sales have been going since Framework is in the market. I have the feeling they are taking away a lot of their sales.I'm in the market soon for a laptop ... currently my m1 macbook pro is showing its 5 yr old age. I'm looking for a 13 / 14 in for portability and all amd for linux support / avoid the disaster that is intel.
News - Debian Linux waiting on further info for how age verification will affect it
By PlayingOnLinuxphone, 10 Apr 2026 at 11:30 pm UTC
Every piece of information, if true or not, is an identifier. You are above 18? Okay a lot of people cannot be you. You are living in China and are male? You are probably one of the 400 million people (out of 8 billion). You also can speak English? well ..
Every piece of information makes you more unique, until there is a single person left and at this point you are de-anonymized. While people over 18 right after the laws get applied have a very little identifier, teens will expose there real birthday in just a few years, because companies can save the date they switch the status from "below 18" to "above 18". Even worse when you have age brackets like 6-11, 12-15, 16-17, 18+ etc.
And don't think the current laws are the final goal. It is just the beginning to start with forcing more identifier, making them more reliable, because people can lie just as in the 2000ths with webpages "are you 18+?" "yes" "no". And soon we have an unavoidable surveillance mechanism everywhere (except for empowered users) while child abusers just put themselves into the 6-11 years bracket to get matched with children.
If you don't want to surveil your kids all the time, teach them about the dangers and talk the them in general. Or do you also take them on hand when crossing a street until they reach 18+? Parent our kids doesn't mean to control them, but to empower them to make the right decisions. I would set up the age of my kids straight up to over 18 when this comes, but also making sure they understand all dangers and chances.
And moreover Linux has parent control apps without any law and danger of data collection. If you think age restriction is the right way, you already have the option.
By PlayingOnLinuxphone, 10 Apr 2026 at 11:30 pm UTC
Quoting: KimyrielleAnyone want to guess how many seconds it will take for somebody releasing a de-age patch for whatever distros chosing to comply with that crap?Why guessing? [Ageless Linux](https://agelesslinux.org/). 😅
Quoting: EikeAge restriction can work without identity information (from just entering it in my computer to more sophisticated stuff e.g. the EU implements), and I as a parent do want age restrictions (and no, I don't want to observe every their step in a certain age).And river should be pink, because it's a beautiful color and doesn't look acid.
Every piece of information, if true or not, is an identifier. You are above 18? Okay a lot of people cannot be you. You are living in China and are male? You are probably one of the 400 million people (out of 8 billion). You also can speak English? well ..
Every piece of information makes you more unique, until there is a single person left and at this point you are de-anonymized. While people over 18 right after the laws get applied have a very little identifier, teens will expose there real birthday in just a few years, because companies can save the date they switch the status from "below 18" to "above 18". Even worse when you have age brackets like 6-11, 12-15, 16-17, 18+ etc.
And don't think the current laws are the final goal. It is just the beginning to start with forcing more identifier, making them more reliable, because people can lie just as in the 2000ths with webpages "are you 18+?" "yes" "no". And soon we have an unavoidable surveillance mechanism everywhere (except for empowered users) while child abusers just put themselves into the 6-11 years bracket to get matched with children.
If you don't want to surveil your kids all the time, teach them about the dangers and talk the them in general. Or do you also take them on hand when crossing a street until they reach 18+? Parent our kids doesn't mean to control them, but to empower them to make the right decisions. I would set up the age of my kids straight up to over 18 when this comes, but also making sure they understand all dangers and chances.
And moreover Linux has parent control apps without any law and danger of data collection. If you think age restriction is the right way, you already have the option.
News - Godot gets a funding boost from Slay the Spire 2 devs Mega Crit
By snowkeep, 10 Apr 2026 at 11:00 pm UTC
By snowkeep, 10 Apr 2026 at 11:00 pm UTC
Quoting: Avehicle7887It's easy to give money to support the engine. I am however not amazed, this developer has left the GOG version of their first game abandoned with several missing patches (I'm aware 1st game doesn't use Godot).Unfortunately, not just them. I've had other games on GoG abandoned because GoG supposedly makes it painful for devs to update games.
News - SteamVR Beta brings a number of fixes for Linux gamers
By Purple Library Guy, 10 Apr 2026 at 10:20 pm UTC
By Purple Library Guy, 10 Apr 2026 at 10:20 pm UTC
Quoting: TermyGood to see some more love for VR on Linux - although of course i've sold my index in hopes of the frame in H1/26...damn AI bubble 😭I have a general principle (which I have to repeat often to my wife, who is anti-clutter): Never get rid of an obsolete thing until you have the thing you wanted to replace it with.
News - SteamOS 3.8.1 now in Beta for more gamers to test new features
By MrBelles, 10 Apr 2026 at 10:17 pm UTC
By MrBelles, 10 Apr 2026 at 10:17 pm UTC
The Wayland change will be huge once out of Beta.
News - Humble Choice for April 2026 includes Assassin's Creed Valhalla and more indie gems
By walther von stolzing, 10 Apr 2026 at 10:13 pm UTC
By walther von stolzing, 10 Apr 2026 at 10:13 pm UTC
FWIW, AC Valhalla was surprisingly good; though it does get heavily discounted occasionally. I got it from the ubisoft store for the equivalent of ~$5 last year, IIRC.
Of course the DRM sucks, etc.
Of course the DRM sucks, etc.
News - Godot gets a funding boost from Slay the Spire 2 devs Mega Crit
By Purple Library Guy, 10 Apr 2026 at 10:11 pm UTC
By Purple Library Guy, 10 Apr 2026 at 10:11 pm UTC
Good stuff!
News - Legendary, the free and open source Epic Games Launcher, has moved to a new organisation
By richarson, 10 Apr 2026 at 9:49 pm UTC
By richarson, 10 Apr 2026 at 9:49 pm UTC
Quoting: hardpenguinThe power of open source! 🔥Ha! The exact words I was about to say 😄
News - Framework tease new hardware and something big for Linux too
By spacemonkey, 10 Apr 2026 at 9:45 pm UTC
Probably cheaper than Framework and lots of configuration options.
By spacemonkey, 10 Apr 2026 at 9:45 pm UTC
Quoting: JarmerI'm in the market soon for a laptop ...I'm very happy with my 14 inch Tuxedo laptop. Might be interesting for you as well.
Probably cheaper than Framework and lots of configuration options.
News - Valve dev fixes up VRAM management on AMD GPUs to improve performance
By richarson, 10 Apr 2026 at 9:44 pm UTC
You should not be using zram anymore, zswap is recommended:
https://chrisdown.name/2026/03/24/zswap-vs-zram-when-to-use-what.html
By richarson, 10 Apr 2026 at 9:44 pm UTC
Quoting: MayeulCBesides a swap partition, you may consider swapping to compressed ram (zram).Hi there!
You should not be using zram anymore, zswap is recommended:
https://chrisdown.name/2026/03/24/zswap-vs-zram-when-to-use-what.html
News - DOOM Eternal is now available on GOG
By GoEsr, 10 Apr 2026 at 9:21 pm UTC
By GoEsr, 10 Apr 2026 at 9:21 pm UTC
Quoting: ScottCarammell...You still have to have Steam running, that's why people like GOG. My point is that running GOG Galaxy once to validate the DLC isn't really any different than running the installers themselves, you have to go through their website to get them. It's digital rights management either way, the difference is that GOG's isn't persistent, whether with the installers or with Galaxy.
News - Debian Linux waiting on further info for how age verification will affect it
By Eike, 10 Apr 2026 at 8:34 pm UTC
By Eike, 10 Apr 2026 at 8:34 pm UTC
Quoting: ScottCarammellAge restriction can work without identity information (from just entering it in my computer to more sophisticated stuff e.g. the EU implements), and I as a parent do want age restrictions (and no, I don't want to observe every their step in a certain age).Quoting: GustyGhostAge (identity by another name) verification faces the same barriers that gaming anticheat has with Linux. They both seek to restrict users in some fashion on an operating system which is fundamentally built around not restricting users.except a lot worse because while people like what anti-cheat does when it works properly, *nobody* wants this on their system
News - Proton Experimental brings fixes for classic Resident Evil 1 & 2, Dino Crisis 1 & 2 and more
By Doktor-Mandrake, 10 Apr 2026 at 8:32 pm UTC
By Doktor-Mandrake, 10 Apr 2026 at 8:32 pm UTC
Was it just the steam versions that were having issues? Maybe it's related to their enigma drm?
News - DOOM Eternal is now available on GOG
By ScottCarammell, 10 Apr 2026 at 7:54 pm UTC
By ScottCarammell, 10 Apr 2026 at 7:54 pm UTC
Quoting: GoEsrThe difference to Steam is that you only have to do it once, just like downloading the offline installers.So...there's no difference? You can launch games with DLCs on Steam without being online you know, it doesn't make a difference once it's installed
News - Debian Linux waiting on further info for how age verification will affect it
By ScottCarammell, 10 Apr 2026 at 7:52 pm UTC
By ScottCarammell, 10 Apr 2026 at 7:52 pm UTC
Quoting: GustyGhostAge (identity by another name) verification faces the same barriers that gaming anticheat has with Linux. They both seek to restrict users in some fashion on an operating system which is fundamentally built around not restricting users.except a lot worse because while people like what anti-cheat does when it works properly, *nobody* wants this on their system
News - Proton Experimental brings fixes for classic Resident Evil 1 & 2, Dino Crisis 1 & 2 and more
By CyborgZeta, 10 Apr 2026 at 7:43 pm UTC
By CyborgZeta, 10 Apr 2026 at 7:43 pm UTC
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis works too; just tried all three classic RE titles. Not sure why it wasn't listed in the update.
News - Framework tease new hardware and something big for Linux too
By dmoonfire, 10 Apr 2026 at 7:26 pm UTC
By dmoonfire, 10 Apr 2026 at 7:26 pm UTC
Quoting: rea98715" AMD laptop with Thunderbolt 4 support would be amazing. Who am I kidding, it won't happen...I'm still hoping for a 19" with a mechanical keyboard with the full PC layout including inverted T for cursors. I have very big hands and bad eyes. :D
News - Bazzite Linux gets some major upgrades for the April 2026 Update
By Stella, 10 Apr 2026 at 7:21 pm UTC
By Stella, 10 Apr 2026 at 7:21 pm UTC
Quoting: CaldathrasSadly, Bazzite is not for me. They have very poor Nvidia legacy hardware support. CachyOS, on the other hand ...We have images for GTX 9 and 10 series. If you mean Kepler and earlier, they are no longer supported by Nvidia's own drivers. It's a Nvidia problem, not a Bazzite problem.
- Legendary, the free and open source Epic Games Launcher, has moved to a new organisation
- Valve dev fixes up VRAM management on AMD GPUs to improve performance
- Bazzite Linux gets some major upgrades for the April 2026 Update
- Godot gets a funding boost from Slay the Spire 2 devs Mega Crit
- Proton Experimental brings fixes for classic Resident Evil 1 & 2, Dino Crisis 1 & 2 and more
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