Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: PJ

Quoting: Purple Library GuyMint with Mate is IMO good, and very familiar to a classic Windows user, right out of the box.

but IMO that's the wrong approach. Why would you go for a Windows clone if you can actually use Windows?

Because Windows friggin' harasses you all the time.
I have no problems with the basic "stuff you do with a mouse" of Windows. Neither, I might add, do most people who already use Windows, who you're trying to get to move over. You are not going to generate enthusiasm for Linux among Windows users by saying "You'll get to do your whole workflow all different! Woo!" Nobody wants that. Even if it's an objectively (whatever that means in UI terms) better workflow, they still don't want it.

What's annoying about Windows is mostly all the Xtra Proprietary-ness. The way if you're not using Microsoft Edge as your browser (and who does?) it will keep on badgering you to start. The way it keeps popping up weird notifications that sound like something dire but if you think about it for a while is actually just them complaining that you set your settings not to hand over all your data. The other popups that are basically just incomprehensible and almost certainly irrelevant, but which sound like your computer is on fire or something. The "We just locked up your computer for a while so we can do updates" BS.
There's also the way that, since most of the software you're using is not open source and comes from various different vendors, they all separately and individually bug you about software updates (which half of them probably do badly), instead of your distro handling it all together. Software on Windows updates the way my games would if I bought each one individually from its vendor's own website instead of having Steam. Heck, even on my work machine, which is centrally updated by our fairly competent IT people, I still get a bunch of popups, from Firefox and Adobe and various ones that don't even say who they are just that it's desperately important for your software to update. Of course I have to tell them all no, because I know that if anyone's going to be updating any software on that desktop it'll be our IT people--but clearly they have no way of getting all that shit to shut up. Never have that on Linux. Just the little icon on the taskbar shows me there's updates I could install, and I can do them all at once when I'm not in the middle of something.
I also don't like the Windows non-tabbed file manager, and I don't like the way when I plug in a USB it just doesn't do anything, so I have to open some random folder and go find the USB in the Windows file manager's little list o' drives at the left side. And I'm pleased with Linux being somewhat less vulnerable to malware. And I like most of my software being open source and installable from one GUI. And I like that it doesn't phone home. And I'm pleased that, having the base vaguely Windows-like behaviour that I'm used to, I can then tweak things to suit, mostly in small ways, if I feel like it.

But the basic way stuff operates--what a left or right click does, the existence of the task bar that shows different things I have open, the menu at the lower left and so on, I have no interest in all the gee whiz clever stuff that people have come up with to make better, and I'd wager that if you took a poll among Windows users the majority would also be in that camp. So if you want to bring over Windows users to Linux, you might want to consider that they may not think their fundamental UI is broken and that therefore you might not want to try to fix it for them.

Overall, I agree with that.

When I made the switch (back in September 2019) from Windows 7 (which gave me full satisfaction by the way, but you know, end of support BS) to Linux, I wasn't looking for something arguably better or different. I wanted to find a replacement for Windows 7 look and feel, and Cinnamon filled that job for me.

I guess it would be the same for someone who would like to switch from Mac, they would probably be looking for something that resemble what they previously had. Because the DE is usually not the main reason to switch OS.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I hope these will help fixing the issues I am having with Jack over PulseAudio (this is the only way I found to have my Komplete Audio 6 to run semi-properly...)

View this comment - View article - View full comments

6 new chaos spells ? I think I know what I will try next, when I'm done with Loop Hero :smile:

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: denyasis

Quoting: grumpytoadI'm just glad they're calling it a PC, so we can finally put that mainstream mentality that a PC is a windows OS to bed.

Maybe I'm reading it weird, but from the context, I'm less certain they don't mean "PC is Windows" and thier understanding of proton is so poor they are confusing the basics.

I think it was a reference to mentions like "[New shiny game] will be released on XBox, PlayStation, and PC", when in fact "PC" should read "Windows", assuming that a PC can only be running Windows.

With the Steam Deck being announced both as a "PC" and running an OS built on Proton Linux, we can hopefully that theses annoucements will stop. Hopefully...

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I am glad to see I wasn't the only one to smell marketing behind the "Angstrom" naming...
(Sorry with the spelling, but is is indeed a pain to write properly on a keyboard)

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Do you dual-boot with a different operating system? No

I was wondering though, how would you consider Virtual Machines ?

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Teodosio

Quoting: Liam Dawe

Quoting: TeodosioI would like to see a new game from Valve, released on GNU/Linux only.

Exclusives are bad.

That would not be an exclusive, because anybody can download a GNU distribution and install it, free of charge, spyware and other restrictions. It would not be "excluding" anyone.

*: anybody with a computer (and the knowledge to setup a dual-boot, which is not a given for a lot of people)

But I see what you mean :wink:

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Purple Library GuyAfter musing a bit longer, I think Ethan Lee has a point, but it's a limited one. That is, I think he may be right that it's going to be hard to get work porting games to Linux, which is hard on him and I'm sorry for it, and yet I think going forward a successful Steam Deck will still lead to more native Linux games.
Let me lay out a couple of distinctions. So, up to now, most games have run on Proton as it were by co-incidence. The makers of those games have no interest in Linux, may have barely heard of Linux, and the fact that the games run is all down to the hard work and talents of the Wine and Proton and DXVK developers. There seem to be a few exceptions to this, we've lately seen game developers say things about trying to ensure their game runs well on Proton, but it seems fairly rare. So, we have a big population of games and developers that don't give a hoot about Linux, and many of the games run on Proton despite this.

So then there are the somewhat smaller group of developers who do care about Linux somewhat. What impact has Proton had, up to now, on that smaller group? Well, it doesn't seem to have really stopped people from developing games in cross-platform ways that include Linux, as far as I can tell. There's still a strong stream of new games supporting Linux from the beginning. Maybe it's tailed off a bit since the heady days when people thought the Steam Machines might be a thing, but that's been a long gradual thing and I haven't noticed it getting worse since Proton. One might have expected that to happen, but I don't think it did.

But it does seem like the existence of Proton has already reduced the viability of the porting business as such; note the way Feral has basically moved on from doing that and nobody has really replaced them. Why spend all that money and effort porting an existing game when it probably works fine on Proton already, or can be made to do so pretty easily?

If the Steam Deck succeeds, it seems like it will greatly increase the number of developers giving Linux a thought at all. Steam's increased emphasis on Proton, both in terms of telling developers about it and improving the technology itself, does make it even less likely that developers thinking about Linux will bother porting existing games. And even though there will be a lot more of them, Ethan Lee might be quite right that the chance they'll bother doing a port will drop so low that there will still be a lot fewer ports happening. Anyone who just started thinking about Linux because of the Steam Deck will, when looking at their back catalogue, surely conclude that as long as the games run on Proton that should be fine--any improvement wouldn't be worth the cost and effort of making a port. Ryan Gordon may indeed be disappointed if he tries to persuade more people to port their existing games.

But new games, and the decision to target Linux or not from the beginning, is a different question. Going forward, there will be two factors--on one hand, Linux has far more visibility and users than before; on the other, that target can at least somewhat be satisfied by paying attention to having it work in Proton. Which factor will dominate? Based on what we've seen to date, with that side being less impacted by Proton, I think it's likely the first factor will dominate and overall, while some developers may not build for Linux because Proton is good enough, the gain from it being a bigger platform will be greater.

So if I had to make a guess I'd expect, if the Steam Deck is a big success, in the end we'll see fewer ports but more games built Linux native from the start. Which suggests that Mr. Lee and Mr. Gordon's best bet might be to shift to consulting on how to properly do cross-platform Linux friendly development on new games, rather than porting old ones. Although I'd certainly be happy enough to see Valve hire Ethan Lee, as he suggests, to work on infrastructure.

I wanted also to point out that, while Valve is pushing for Proton, all sales that we be made from (unmodified) Steam Deck will count as Linux sales, which could help when deciding wether or not doing a native port/version. :smile:

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: picture£1000...
£900...
£1000...
£700...

Those scams are easily spotted: looking closer, all prices are nicely rounded values, but we all know retail prices always end by a 9 to make them more attractive to the consumer... Don't fall for it ! :tongue:

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Purple Library GuySo this lets people . . . play platformers and such . . . by typing in text.
Why?!
"Because it is there"

Well, technically, every time you play a game on a keyboard, you're typing text :tongue:

View this comment - View article - View full comments