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Latest Comments by melkemind
Nova, a Rust-based Linux driver for NVIDIA GPUs announced
26 Mar 2024 at 8:23 pm UTC Likes: 4

Quoting: elgatil
Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: fenglengshunHm... and the NVK isn't a kernel driver? I think it's in Mesa, so does that mean it's the userspace driver? Sorry, really don't know about the details - all I've been hearing is about how NVK is supposed to be a replacement for Nouveau.
nvk is a Vulkan implementation that uses the kernel driver, so no, it's not a kernel driver itself. So it's either nvk + nouveau or nvk + nova.
Or NVK + Zink, which at this point seems the efficient solution. I do not know, I cannot bring myself to be interested in this project :neutral:
All this proves is that Free and Open Source Software has a naming problem. :grin: I still don't quite understand why people talk about Radv and amdvlk all the time but I've never found either on my AMD system. Having a bunch of names and alternate names for things just makes the barrier for entry that much harder for new users, especially for people coming over from the Steam Deck and trying Linux for the first time.

Playtron plan to launch PlaytronOS, a Linux-based system for gaming
18 Mar 2024 at 11:19 pm UTC Likes: 1

I think some people are confused by this announcement. They're not making another handheld. They're making an OS. This is essentially a new Linux distro. But I'm guessing it'll end up being more like ChromeOS (with proprietary bits on top) than your typical distro.

Get a bunch of Saints Row and Red Faction in this Humble Bundle
14 Mar 2024 at 3:09 pm UTC

Quoting: Belaptir
Quoting: melkemind
Quoting: GuestIt doesn't include Saints Row (2022). Good!
I've always found it a bit weird that people feel the need to publicly dunk on a game they don't like. Is it just for social media clout? There are tons of games I don't like, but I don't go around saying, "No Dark Souls. Good!" or "No GTA V. Good!" It just seems a bit odd.
Reasoning could be the same for publicly saying you like a game.
Why is it bad to say you don't like a game but it's good to say you like another one?
At the end of the day, both are unsolicited opinions for the rest of us reading them.
No, it's really not. Saying you don't like something and stating it as an opinion is fine. Stating you're glad people won't be able to buy a game in a bundle seems a bit more hostile. If someone could get a discount on a game I don't like, I'd still be happy for them.

When that latest Saints Row game came out, there were people actively trying to cut it down and trying to convince people not to play it like they were on some kind of righteous crusade. it's a bit much.

Get a bunch of Saints Row and Red Faction in this Humble Bundle
13 Mar 2024 at 9:00 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: GuestIt doesn't include Saints Row (2022). Good!
I've always found it a bit weird that people feel the need to publicly dunk on a game they don't like. Is it just for social media clout? There are tons of games I don't like, but I don't go around saying, "No Dark Souls. Good!" or "No GTA V. Good!" It just seems a bit odd.

Fedora Workstation 41 will drop GNOME X.Org session as fallback option
13 Mar 2024 at 4:25 am UTC

Quoting: pleasereadthemanual
Quoting: melkemindThat would explain why now, after all this time, Nvidia has suddenly shown interest in supporting open source drivers.
The open source kernel modules were more a result of discussions with Red Hat: https://blogs.gnome.org/uraeus/2022/05/11/why-is-the-open-source-driver-release-from-nvidia-so-important-for-linux/ [External Link]

And as the only linux vendor with a significant engineering footprint in GPUs we have been working closely with NVIDIA. People like Kevin Martin, the manager for our GPU technologies team, Ben Skeggs the maintainer of Nouveau and Dave Airlie, the upstream kernel maintainer for the graphics subsystem, Nouveau contributor Karol Herbst and our accelerator lead Tom Rix have all taken part in meetings, code reviews and discussions with NVIDIA.
That makes me wonder how much attention they'll ever give to gaming if their main focus is engineering and other technical uses. Has there been any disccussion around actual gaming use? Part of the problem with the proprietary drivers has always been their apathy toward Linux gaming. Any plans for that to change with the open source driver?

Fedora Workstation 41 will drop GNOME X.Org session as fallback option
9 Mar 2024 at 2:28 pm UTC

Quoting: ElectricPrismThat's a interesting postulate,

I'm curious why do you think this would be strategically in Valve's interest? How would they stand to benefit? And Are there any observable behaviors or things in the news that align with this hypothesis?

Genuinely curious, no pressure or need to even answer at all, I just found the concept intriguing.
I wish I could say I had some insider information, but sadly, no. It truly was just speculation. I'm just going off the little public information we have. Valve did say they intend to release SteamOS to the public eventually. People have been wondering what they're waiting for. I'm just speculating that they're waiting for certain Linux features to be ready for all systems. The biggest hurdle right now would be Nvidia proprietary drivers. That would explain why now, after all this time, Nvidia has suddenly shown interest in supporting open source drivers. Again, total speculation.

There's also the whole steam machine thing. Valve clearly did want Steam in the living room, but Steam Machines failed because of the general lack of support for games back then. They've largely eliminated that issue, and the only other possible hurdle, as I said, would be out-of-the-box Nvidia driver support since most PC gamers currently use Nvidia.

Fedora Workstation 41 will drop GNOME X.Org session as fallback option
7 Mar 2024 at 8:38 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: WYW
Quoting: ssj17vegetaI always wondered. What's in it for the end-user ? (Wayland)

I mean, I'm aware it has a much more modern architecture since Xorg codebase dates back to the 90s, but I heard it still had tons of problems with NVIDIA's proprietary GPU driver.

As a gamer myself, I wonder what could be the consequences of such a bold move.
I'm also a little worried about my Nvidia GPU in a world with no X11, but from what I've read newer Linux kernels 6.6.7+ and Nvidia driver 550+ fixes a lot of the Wayland issues. Over the next year or two things should only get better.

Then there is the new open source Nvidia Vulkan driver (that also does openGL) which is shaping up great and AFAIK it should work well with Wayland.
This is totally speculation, but I believe Valve is preparing a general release of SteamOS, one that can run on other handhelds, desktops and living room boxes. In order to do that, they need a working Nvidia driver. I would guess they're more interested in getting the open source driver working well with games than having to deal with Nvidia's proprietary one, which they wouldn't be able to ship with their OS. Given that, Wayland support should be in line with the open source AMD drivers once it's ready.

If what I'm saying turns out to be true, the only question is: when will it be ready?

EmuDeck removes Yuzu And Citra emulator support
7 Mar 2024 at 4:34 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: pleasereadthemanual
Quoting: F.UltraAnd the emulator would be completely useless without that guide and that key extraction tool, and any site hosting the tool and/or such a guide would violate the DMCA.
That is Nintendo's argument, but the emulator could still be used for Homebrew Switch games. For example, some indie game developers make games for the Gameboy, distributing the emulator and all (e.g. npckc distributing Marron's Day via Sameboy sometime in the next few months).

Yuzu would not be entirely useless without the keys, but Nintendo's argument is that this is not a significant use case and should be discounted. So you're completely correct in your analysis.
If that's indeed the case that it doesn't actually have the ability to circumvent Nintendo's protection on its own, then maybe a low-profile fork without any key extraction instructions would be OK or at least fly under Nintendo's radar.

Fedora Workstation 41 will drop GNOME X.Org session as fallback option
7 Mar 2024 at 4:30 pm UTC Likes: 6

After using Wayland for a couple of years, I could never go back to X.

EmuDeck removes Yuzu And Citra emulator support
6 Mar 2024 at 3:15 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: emphyThat was nintendo's claim, but they didn't even issue a dmca take-down notice to github, giving a strong indication that even their legal team had doubts as to some of their claims about the legality of the emulation itself.

From what I understand, yuzu's main legal problems were that their devs didn't strictly adhere to a "we can't tell you how/where to get the games"-policy.

Regardless, emudeck does not have the deep pockets required for an effective legal defence against a billion-dollar company in full extortion mode, so I suspect they'll pass up on the opportunity to paint a bullseye on their backs by supporting emulation of a device whose ecosystem is still being commercially exploited.
From what I understand, DMCA takedown notices are for digital content. If they had a claim that their code was used, they could issue a takedown notice. Their actual argument against Yuzu is from a different part of the DMCA (Section 1201), which prevents the circumvention of TPMs (technological protection measures). This is the same argument they used against Dolphin Emulator when they convinced Valve to block it from the Steam store.