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Latest Comments by slaapliedje
My experiences of Valve's VR on Linux
24 July 2021 at 4:17 pm UTC

Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: Valso
Quoting: tuubi
Quoting: ValsoYou would have saved the most of the troubles you had, if you had used Arch instead of Mint. Ubuntu, Mint and Debian need an enema in order to make them run any game, not just the VR.
You're skating awfully close to this (excellent) GOL rule:
QuoteDistribution wars that have plagued the Linux community are not welcome here. Bans will occur for people who engage in them or talk down to anyone for their choice.
You can find a link to the rules above the comment box.

Also, you're commenting on a year-old article about problems that by all accounts have since been solved. Just in case you didn't notice.
It wasn't my intention to start any war. I used Mint for almost 4 years, so what I said was based on my experience with it.
Each distribution has it's own quirks, and benefits and disadvantages. I've never really used Mint as it's Ubuntu based, and well I've just had issues with Ubuntu, both technical and their NIH syndrome. But you're in correct in stating that they need an enema. I can't even remember the last time I had to do anything on a debian based system (that includes Ubuntu/Pop_OS) to get SteamVR working besides enabling the 32bit architecture repo, enabling the repos for the nvidia drivers (contrib and non-free in Debian) and then installing Steam. Games work perfectly fine after that, as does SteamVR.
Just for the record, I use Mint and I've never had any problems with any of that stuff. F'rinstance, Steam installs from the Software Manager with a click. Maybe if you can't even remember the last time you had anything to do with a debian based system, and have never used Mint ever, you should consider your opinions on the subject might lack authority or relevance and, you know, not give them.
Did I bash Mint? I only said I don't use it as it is based on Ubuntu... I don't like Ubuntu either, though assuredly I would prefer Mint / Pop_OS, as both are not attempting to shove Snap packs down everyone's throat. I only use Pop_OS because it seems to treat Optimus the best I've seen out of any distribution out there.

And yes, if I really want to use the software store, I can do that too, I just prefer using apt, as it's faster, and well I've been using Linux for close to 25 years now, and have distro hopped many times, and always end up back in Debian's loving arms. Also get irritated when people pronounce it wrong... Deborah and Ian Murdock... Deb-Ian. I've heard it pronounced Deb-EYE-an, and I know the Gamers Nexus guy on Youtube was saying Dee-bian..

Then again, I was watching a video on Valheim and heard the word Hearth pronounced as Hear-th... I say it occasionally to a friend who also watched that video and we both laugh. Granted we all have words we've read and never heard spoken that we were hearing in our heads wrong. English language is kind of stupid :P

My experiences of Valve's VR on Linux
23 July 2021 at 7:09 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Valso
Quoting: tuubi
Quoting: ValsoYou would have saved the most of the troubles you had, if you had used Arch instead of Mint. Ubuntu, Mint and Debian need an enema in order to make them run any game, not just the VR.
You're skating awfully close to this (excellent) GOL rule:
QuoteDistribution wars that have plagued the Linux community are not welcome here. Bans will occur for people who engage in them or talk down to anyone for their choice.
You can find a link to the rules above the comment box.

Also, you're commenting on a year-old article about problems that by all accounts have since been solved. Just in case you didn't notice.
It wasn't my intention to start any war. I used Mint for almost 4 years, so what I said was based on my experience with it.
Each distribution has it's own quirks, and benefits and disadvantages. I've never really used Mint as it's Ubuntu based, and well I've just had issues with Ubuntu, both technical and their NIH syndrome. But you're in correct in stating that they need an enema. I can't even remember the last time I had to do anything on a debian based system (that includes Ubuntu/Pop_OS) to get SteamVR working besides enabling the 32bit architecture repo, enabling the repos for the nvidia drivers (contrib and non-free in Debian) and then installing Steam. Games work perfectly fine after that, as does SteamVR.

A new Valve game for the Steam Deck? It's not out of the realm of possibility
23 July 2021 at 4:45 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Jozua
Quoting: scaine
Quoting: elmapulunpopular opinion...
they should make their next game... linux exclusive.
otherwise people will keep seeing windows as capable of doing everything linux does, while they dont see linux as capable of doing everything windows do.

it need to be at least temporary exclusive.

It is an unpopular opinion - exclusives are generally horrible, and pretty much anti-Linux - we're the crowd that loves choice and freedom after all. But. BUT. It's extremely frustrating to have Sony (playstation), Microsoft (on their store, and with xboxxonexone, or whatever they're on these days), Nintendo (switch) and Epic... ALL push exclusives, but apparently Valve is meant to be above it all? Really?

I mean, Valve are the good guys, right? So therefore they're "not allowed" to push exclusives? Ever? Even a timed-exclusive?

A part of me actually wants them to play dirty - level the field. But then another part of me remembers when they made a single hat accessory for Team Fortress a Linux exclusive (you had to play TF2 under Linux to unlock it) and... wow. The anger, the vitriol, the sheer hatred over that. An unlockable hat. Jesus. I suspect it actually helped turn diehards away from Linux, rather than towards it.

I'm still torn though. So frustrating to see every other player use every dirty, anti-consumer trick in the book, but Valve are held to a higher standard.

I totally agree with this. It would be great to see Linux exclusives (or, for most people, "Steam Deck exclusives"), but it would also be something bad as in for freedom and choice. I'm torn too.

Funny thing is, if the Atari VCS manages to get any exclusive games, they would be Linux exclusive (as it's pretty easy to copy one of the games from it and slap it onto a Linux desktop and play it).

Ryan Gordon and Ethan Lee on Proton and the Steam Deck
23 July 2021 at 1:48 am UTC

One thing I will go ahead point out. Native Linux games vs Proton ones usually have a better go out of the box for gamepad support to just work. I have had a few through Proton that were just not detecting the gamepad at all.

Definitely something that needs fixing for this!

Valve has formally announced the Steam Deck, a portable handheld console with SteamOS
23 July 2021 at 1:42 am UTC

Quoting: Jozua
Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: JozuaOoh, if there is a way to load the Steam Buddy tool onto this and easily import GOG games... that would be absolutely amazing.
This is actually everything I wanted as a gaming system. Dockable too!
It is just Linux on there, so I don't see why you couldn't load up anything that works on Linux. I think it might be time for Lutris to get a BPM mode as well.

Yessssss Lutris making a BPM mode would be so awesome!
Also by the looks of it the main interface in SteamOS3 looks pretty slick... I hope they update the Steam client with that BPM eventually too
There is a post on the steam community forums saying that they are indeed bringing it to normal Steam.
I hope they add 32:10 support...

A new Valve game for the Steam Deck? It's not out of the realm of possibility
22 July 2021 at 9:36 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Corben
Quoting: subWhich is kinda sad but I have a hard time with Alyx already. :/
Aww, also when using teleport instead of locomotion?

I do have issues with locomotion myself, but I also learnt it depends on the game. Boneworks for example causes heavy motion sickness after 1.5h - 2h, and I have to sit down, stop playing and the sickness still lasts for quite a while.
I have no isses at all with teleport though, there I could play for hours and hours, without any issues.

But there is the VR mod for GTFO, where you also only have locomotion. And this is done so well, I can play the game for several hours without any issues.

This could either mean, I kinda got used to locomotion now (haven't touched Boneworks in a while though), or the way locomotion is implemented in GTFO VR is way better than in the other games I tried so far.

Back to topic though: Valve also has to release another VR game! *please*
Not sure if anyone has replied to this yet, as I haven't had time to read through all the pages... but anyone remember that Valve said they had 3 VR games in development... Alyx is just the first...

Valve corrects the RAM specs for the Steam Deck, games should run nicely from SD Card
22 July 2021 at 6:39 am UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: s8as8a
Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: s8as8aDoes anyone know if the Steam Deck can boot an OS (or at least a GNU/Linux OS) from a memory card?

Also, does anyone know if the Steam Deck can boot an OS (or at least a GNU/Linux OS) from a USB drive?

Also, does anyone know what the maximum memory card size that can be used with the Steam Deck is?
Well, you would have to ask Valve that as there isn't any out in the wild... but I would hazard a guess that at least USB seems logical. Depending on the SD card reader used, that would answer your other questions. I have never known a laptop that could boot off an SDCard, but I think it would be a cool feature. Make you feel like an old time console, where each 'cart' was a game. Imagine an AmikitDeck distribution on an SD card (minimal footprint instead of a liveUSB stick. Same reason I hate that Gotek went with USB instead of SDCard...)
I asked because people in the community sometimes notice things that I don't, so I thought it was worth asking just in case.

Having said that, thanks for your answer. :)

For what it's worth, in a handful of years, when my financial situation hopefully gets better, I'm thinking of getting one and booting Debian from the memory card (directly or indirectly, see below) and to use the internal memory as a cache (via LVM), so that it feels like a large and fast drive (at least, for frequently-accessed data).

Perhaps, if and when the time comes, assuming that I can't directly boot from a memory card, I can put a 1 GB boot partition on the internal memory and use the rest of the internal memory as the cache, and have the boot partition instruct the OS to boot from the memory card?
Hell, you could probably make a 1mb partition and just put grub into it, with it pointing to the SDcard for the boot. It's EFI likely, so should be very easy to do something like that.

Would be pretty funny if the EFI didn't support secure boot, so specifically blocked Windows 11 from working... or missed TPM 2.0, etc.

Valve corrects the RAM specs for the Steam Deck, games should run nicely from SD Card
22 July 2021 at 2:12 am UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: s8as8aDoes anyone know if the Steam Deck can boot an OS (or at least a GNU/Linux OS) from a memory card?

Also, does anyone know if the Steam Deck can boot an OS (or at least a GNU/Linux OS) from a USB drive?

Also, does anyone know what the maximum memory card size that can be used with the Steam Deck is?
Well, you would have to ask Valve that as there isn't any out in the wild... but I would hazard a guess that at least USB seems logical. Depending on the SD card reader used, that would answer your other questions. I have never known a laptop that could boot off an SDCard, but I think it would be a cool feature. Make you feel like an old time console, where each 'cart' was a game. Imagine an AmikitDeck distribution on an SD card (minimal footprint instead of a liveUSB stick. Same reason I hate that Gotek went with USB instead of SDCard...)

Valve corrects the RAM specs for the Steam Deck, games should run nicely from SD Card
21 July 2021 at 10:42 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: damarrinYeah, the information about the m.2 sockets is also new, it wasn't there before. As for not being user-accessible, I'm guessing it means you need to open the deck up to access it and it'll void your warranty.
Wasn't there a decision out there at some point some what recently that stated warranty stickers don't mean anything, and outside if a user modifying something in an extreme way, the manufacturer still has to honor a warranty?

Ryan Gordon and Ethan Lee on Proton and the Steam Deck
21 July 2021 at 6:02 pm UTC Likes: 8

Quoting: Lofty
Quoting: dubigrasuwe have a saying: befriend the devil until you cross the bridge.

we also have a saying: the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
And the road to diabetes is paved with good chocolates... hmmm, chocolate...