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Latest Comments by CatKiller
Valve adds documentation for Steam Deck development, suggests Manjaro Linux for now
12 Nov 2021 at 8:09 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Liam DaweI'm aware they had some stuff available but nothing laid out as clear as this as a guide.
It's a definite upgrade. It's just that it's not like they had nothing before.

Valve adds documentation for Steam Deck development, suggests Manjaro Linux for now
12 Nov 2021 at 8:00 am UTC

Nice to see some more clear documentation go up, although it's a little crazy to think this has only just gone live considering the Steam Deck was supposed to launch next month.
The information about the dev tools has been up for quite a while already, and they previously had instructions for setting up a Linux test environment it's just that it was based on Ubuntu rather than Manjaro. The performance-equivalent hardware information should be pretty handy, though.

The Khronos Group officially announces the Dynamic Rendering extension for Vulkan
11 Nov 2021 at 6:22 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Liam Dawe
Quoting: ShabbyXSince when are Vulkan extensions aimed at consumers? :D
That was the point I literally made by saying that.
ShabbyX's point is that if you're saying that this extension is just for developers, then all those other Vulkan extensions must be intended for a wider audience.

System76 patches APT for Pop!_OS to prevent users breaking their systems
11 Nov 2021 at 2:42 am UTC

Quoting: F.UltraNot sure how Pop handles this but the full ISO from Debian and Ubuntu contains packages so until you do "apt update" you can install the older versions of packages from the disc, this is done in case you don't have Internet access.
True, but apt can already use the cached list if it can't contact particular online repository servers. So in the case of no Internet access it would simply try the update, not connect, and then use the existing list.

System76 patches APT for Pop!_OS to prevent users breaking their systems
11 Nov 2021 at 2:14 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: F.UltraI just wish they would get out of their "nobody should ever have to use the terminal mindset. The terminal is perhaps the thing that I love the most about Linux...
It lets me do anything on any of my computers from my phone without getting out of bed.

The change to apt that might make a difference (there's no sufficient hurdle that they could have put in front of someone like Linus to prevent this issue) would be to check when the last update was run before installing anything: if the package list is too old (say, if it hasn't been refreshed that day) then automatically update it before trying to install anything. I think Manjaro does something like that? There's no reason why it would be desirable for the package list to be stale, and people aren't generally on dial-up any more, so ensure that the list of versions and dependencies is fresh.

System76 patches APT for Pop!_OS to prevent users breaking their systems
11 Nov 2021 at 1:54 am UTC Likes: 5

Quoting: F.UltraBut there are more things to come
On the bright side, after they recorded the third video Linus said that once he'd settled in it was actually really easy to use, and Luke has switched his work laptop to Linux - not as part of the challenge, just because he prefers it for getting things done.

System76 patches APT for Pop!_OS to prevent users breaking their systems
11 Nov 2021 at 12:53 am UTC Likes: 4

Quoting: AussieEeveeA normal user is not going to run a command in the terminal to fix something that should not have broken

He ran the command in the terminal to break it. If he'd stuck with the GUI he would not have broken it.

It was a temporary packaging bug (fixed within a couple of hours, as I understand it). Yes, it's unfortunate that it happened, but turning that into removing xorg was Linus' choice. He literally typed in "yes, do as I say!" when his computer told him that removing xorg was potentially harmful and "should NOT be done unless you know what you're doing." From the command line, which you say normal users won't use.

System76 patches APT for Pop!_OS to prevent users breaking their systems
10 Nov 2021 at 11:20 pm UTC Likes: 8

There was nothing that Pop could have done here, except having 100% bug-free software 100% of the time, which is impossible.

If Linus has updated his package list, he wouldn't have had the problem. If Linus had just waited till the next day, he wouldn't have had the problem. If Linus had asked for help, he wouldn't have had the problem. The GUI prevented him from breaking his system. Those are the solutions for the new user that Linus claims that he wants to emulate.

Instead, he went into the command line and ran a command, read the output that said it would break everything and should not be done unless the user knew exactly what they were doing (which, obviously he doesn't), and typed out a specific phrase to do it anyway. Those are the actions of someone who's already said that they want an excuse to use Arch and wants some controversy to drive engagement and therefore revenue, rather than the actions of a new user that genuinely wants to use Linux.

Even after he'd broken everything, he managed to get to a console login. If he'd asked anyone for help at that point, or simply wanted to fix it himself, he could have used sudo apt install pop-desktop to get back to where he was. But he got his "engaging" content, and he got his excuse to run something Arch-based, so he didn't bother.

Valve delays Steam Deck, now starts shipping February 2022
10 Nov 2021 at 9:03 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Purple Library GuyA couple extra months could make a significant difference.
It does mean that 5.16 (with lots of handy dandy stuff for Van Gogh and the Deck) will be out before it launches, rather than probably out before it launches. So that's probably made someone a lot more relaxed.

System76 creating their own desktop environment written in Rust
9 Nov 2021 at 11:41 am UTC Likes: 1

If they can get other distros to help share the maintenance burden, that will make things a lot easier. The Ubuntu devs have also expressed dissatisfaction with Gnome's approach, and they're Pop's upstream, so they would be a good asset if they could be persuaded to join in. Of course, Ubuntu devs are going to be concentrating on their next LTS release right now and really won't want to swap out desktops just at the moment, and the Pop devs might be wanting to use their new DE to differentiate themselves from their upstream anyway. There was a third distro, too, that was grumpy with Gnome, but I can't remember which one right now.