Quoting: KithopYeah, I don't mind stuff like Flatpaks for devices like the Steam Deck, where you don't normally get write access to the entire filesystem, but on desktop?

Unless you have a need to sandbox something, just use your distro's packages - they will be compiled with the recommended versions of libraries for the whole ecosystem, instead of storing multiple, slightly different (and potentially way out of date!) versions depending on what you're installing.

Sorry, but it doesn't work that way and it's not even the main point of these package formats.

Snaps/flatpaks are there to make packaging and distribution easy for software creators and make them independent of distro maintainers who may or may not include a given piece of software, or may be including an ancient version of it.

They are also there for users who now can always have a piece of software available directly from the Snap store or a flatpak repo and have the latest version of it, regardless of whether the distro they use provides it.

Since you use Artix you may think every distro is like Arch where every piece of software ever written is included in the aur, but that is not even remotely the case for the vast majority of distributions. And there are good reasons for that, so there is a space for both.

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Quoting: CatKillerAt some point I'll probably try Witcher 3, but my copy was a GOG key that came with my GPU so I'd need to set up Heroic and stuff, and I haven't really been arsed

Heroic is completely painless and it mostly just works no problem.

That said, the latest version of W3 is broken on OLED SD (if you have that), as the game detects a HDR screen but SteamOS does not detect the game as running in HDR and it's all very gray and washed-out. Helpfully, HDR can't be disabled in the game.

If you can install the pre-finaldefinitiveedition, or whatever it's called, you should be golden.

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I did fall when walking the dog a couple of weeks ago. All the snow is now gone, unfortunately, and the forecast says we won't be having any before the year is out. Which means a muddy, rainy, soppy Christmas.

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Quoting: Purple Library Guyand I definitely hit the actual bookstore for them whenever at all possible

Huh. I had you pegged as more of a library guy.

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When it comes to Steam Deck support, they don't exactly say what they improved or added for the announcement. Big studios being as helpful as ever.

It means when you call them with a problem (yeah, right) they won't say "oh, we don't support that, please install Windows". They'll instead say "thank you for your report, we'll pass that on to the development team". Of course, the result will be the same.

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"Previously in Proton Hotfix: Fixed Baldur's Gate 3 not starting after a recent game update."

Now this worries me. It's been almost 2 years now and I don't see devs start caring about Steam Deck enough to even do a quick check to see whether an update breaks on it or not. A handful do, for sure, but generally they don't. They just ignore a bunch of their customers and leave it up to Valve to fix their mess.

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Yeah, the crackling sound is annoying, but it happens fairly rarely. In some games more than others. More annoying is that some games will just crash (themselves or Steam) when waking up, but that's been happening less and less lately.

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Quoting: Purple Library Guythere are things that say they're pay-as-you-go, but then you look at them slightly more closely and it turns out the money expires after a year whether you've used it up or not,

I'm in Europe and that's actually a standard thing. They'll require you to top up after some time to unblock the unused money you have on there and keep making calls.

I buy iPhones because privacy (perceived or real, I don't really know) and they get updates for many years before Apple stops supporting them. My current phone is 6 yo, works fine and I'll only buy a new one once they stop putting out security updates which I hope is still a bit away. The iPhone 6 from 2014 I was using for work got its last security update early this year and shortly after that Signal stopped working on it, so I should be good for another 2 years or so with this one.

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Quoting: BlackBloodRumRegarding e-waste, in my defence - my e-waste pile is in my own home. I quite literally have a computer in a cupboard behind me that has a Pentium II CPU in it that hasn't been powered on for years.

That makes me feel a lot better about myself. I took out a 486 in an AT case (no USB! Hard power switch!) the other day and unfortunately it refused to turn on. I'll take a look at it... before the turn of the century for sure.

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Quoting: BlackBloodRumBut admittedly my current deck still sits in its case a lot.

It's the opposite for me. I play everything on the Steam Deck, including all my PS5 games with Chiaki. The console isn't even connected to the TV any more, I just turn it on with the SD and then put it back to sleep.

As for e-waste, yes, that's a very valid point. Luckily, I have a very good use for my current LCD Deck so I don't feel like I'm adding to the huge waste pile just yet.

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