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Latest Comments by tuubi
Embrace, extend, and protect? Microsoft joins the Open Invention Network to 'protect Linux and open source'
17 Oct 2018 at 8:03 am UTC

Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Kristian
Quoting: cprnDirectX can't be ported to Linux per se, it's a bunch of Windows core calls. Its API can be re-implemented on Linux, that's what wine does and yeah, maybe wine folks would benefit but nobody else, really.
Hypothetically DirectX would be suitable as an open standard, replacing Vulkan, right? I mean from a purely technical stand point, they could open source it and turn it over to some standard's body or something. I ask because I am not well informed enough on the technical aspects.
Neither am I, but I infer from what cprn said that DirectX is fundamentally different from Vulkan in that Vulkan is a sort of set of specifications of how stuff is supposed to work, which is then implemented in different OSes and stuff, whereas DirectX is instead an implementation of thingies that tell Windows specifically what to do in language Windows specifically understands . . . an implementation which no doubt has some documentation which may superficially look like a specification, except they aren't, because the specific code comes first and the description of what it does comes second.
DirectX 12, or more specifically the graphics API Direct3D 12 is very similar to Vulkan. Both APIs were built on AMD's Mantle, and I don't see a technical reason why hardware vendors couldn't implement both in their Linux drivers. Vulkan 1.1 even added a bunch of DX12 compatibility extensions which makes the difference even smaller.

However, even if Microsoft hypothetically released an open DX12 spec, (deliberately) breaking their own "standards" and making competitors scramble for compatibility with their own implementations would be par for the course. They don't exactly have a stellar record when it comes to playing fair. I wouldn't trust Khronos either if they had their own platform to push. Instead they have all the interested parties working on a common spec. (Note that even Microsoft is a Khronos "contributor" member.)

There's also the fact that MS would never give up total control of the API. They like their lock-in as long as they're the big dog with nothing to lose.

NVIDIA have released the 410.57 driver as well as a 396.54.06 Vulkan beta driver to help DXVK
15 Oct 2018 at 7:27 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Eike
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoFinally, about a month later, it has arrived to Ubuntu.
You're free to build PPAs at weekends.
Actually the PPA skipped 396.54.06 completely. Don't know why, not interested enough to ask. 396.54.09 on the other hand was added to the PPA with a delay of a single day, which should be good enough even for the impatient among us.

Saturday Mag: Linux gaming news odds and ends plus a look at a few things on sale
14 Oct 2018 at 2:43 pm UTC

Quoting: chui2chIs there any eta when the new Nvidia driver will end up in the https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/dev [External Link] ppa?
396.54.09 is now in the PPA.

Valve have updated Steam Play with the 3.16-1 beta based on Wine 3.16 and new DXVK
13 Oct 2018 at 9:09 pm UTC

Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: edoyou are not mentioning the most interesting aspect. D3D11's Stream Output, now games like Giana sisters and etc will work.

Btw, sad to see they dropped mac support with this release
I didn't think Proton had mac support.

Also that Giana Sisters game is really fun, but really hard! Granted, the same could be said of the original one as well. There is an improved version of that for the STe that actually uses proper scrolling and such :)
I think I saw news of a brand new Special Edition fan release for the Amiga as well with better graphics and audio etc. The original game was a great Mario clone but it wasn't exactly technically impressive on the Amiga. Mono sound, catchy music but crappy audio samples, limited (ST) palette etc. Not that it bothered me back then.

Embrace, extend, and protect? Microsoft joins the Open Invention Network to 'protect Linux and open source'
12 Oct 2018 at 1:36 pm UTC Likes: 6

This conversation is getting a bit surreal. People arguing about whether we should trust Microsoft? Really?

I don't see why I should trust Microsoft even as far as I trust other gigantic corporations like Google, Amazon, Facebook or Coca Cola. Which is about as far as I can throw a hippo. There's just no chance of any of them ever putting the consumer before the investor or ideals before profit. Except maybe where forced to do so by governments.

In fact, I think it's extremely naïve to ever truly trust a public corporation. We buy their products knowing (and ignoring) that while they might be cheap, or even the only convenient option due to a market monopoly or whatever, they sure as hell don't deserve our trust for either of these reasons. They are not cheap because they want you to have an opportunity to enjoy their products, and they aren't the only option because nobody else wanted a slice of the cake. Ideally we should be able to trust the system(s) to keep the corporations in check and protect our rights, but we all know that these multinationals have more power than some nations.

But hey, capitalism—in the form it takes in the real world—depends on people going against their best interests. Otherwise none of these businesses would have had the opportunity to corner their respective markets as they did.

Programming puzzler 'OCTOPTICOM' adds Linux support
11 Oct 2018 at 9:39 am UTC Likes: 3

I'd love to play this, but the rapidly flashing lasers would trigger my migraine. A less garish colour scheme could be a useful option. Reducing contrast might make it more tolerable.

The Steam Play whitelist just had a large update including The Witness and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
7 Oct 2018 at 7:06 pm UTC

Quoting: Salvatos
Quoting: g000hI'm a long term Debian user, and I use it properly... i.e. I install the packages from the regular repositories so that my system doesn't get messed up. I have tried backports and all sorts of things in the past, but generally find that forcing a later graphics driver onto the system ends up borking it.
I'm kind of in the same boat. I'm on Mint, but it's only offering me 340.107 and 390.48 so I'd rather stick to that. Didn't someone say that the newer drivers were only necessary for Vulkan games anyway, or something along those lines?
On Mint or Ubuntu there's no good reason not to use the semi-official graphics drivers PPA [External Link] maintained by Ubuntu staff. There's also the development PPA [External Link] for beta drivers with more up-to-date Vulkan support. Valve officially recommends the former in their Proton prerequisites document [External Link].

Sunday Mag: Linux gaming news odds and ends and a quick look at what’s on sale
7 Oct 2018 at 3:00 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: tuubi
Quoting: liamdaweThe laughs the “no tux no bux” comment got says it all, I’ve never particularly liked that saying and I’ve said numerous times before how it means nothing to developers—I think they proved my point.
It might not mean anything to developers, but it sure means a lot to me.

BTW, The Interwebs do not forget! [External Link] ;)
I've always made jokes about the saying, i guess the winky face there wasn't clear enough ;)
There was a winky face at the end of my comment as well.

Sunday Mag: Linux gaming news odds and ends and a quick look at what’s on sale
7 Oct 2018 at 1:20 pm UTC Likes: 8

Quoting: liamdaweThe laughs the “no tux no bux” comment got says it all, I’ve never particularly liked that saying and I’ve said numerous times before how it means nothing to developers—I think they proved my point.
It might not mean anything to developers, but it sure means a lot to me.

BTW, The Interwebs do not forget! [External Link] ;)

The Steam Play whitelist just had a large update including The Witness and Wolfenstein: The Old Blood
7 Oct 2018 at 9:14 am UTC

Quoting: Cyba.CowboyMy understanding however (based on something I read somewhere, can't remember where), was that Valve were using SPCR as a primary reference point.
They just wishlisted at least one game with a "Borked" rating on spcr. Maybe they found the list too unreliable. Or maybe they use it as an additional reference but prioritise and test games requested by developers themselves. That could (and should) happen.