Quoting: liamdaweEven if Valve do reply about us getting one (or not if they changed their mind), I'm sure everyone would be interested to know some initial thoughts from a Linux gamer - so if you get one feel free to write it up for us ;) - happy to provide a game for someone to do so.

I still need to clear out my game space some more, but I'd be happy to write some reviews.

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Quoting: Sil_el_mot

Quoting: slaapliedjeThe Index seems much lighter than both the Original Vive (I had pre-ordered mine) and the Vive Pro.

I put it on a scale and its just 30g difference. But i had the impression at first too

Good part of it is I think it feels less bulky. Far more comfortable than either as well, and I bought the VR Covers for both.

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The Index seems much lighter than both the Original Vive (I had pre-ordered mine) and the Vive Pro. Yet at the same time it seems that all the tech in the link box is in the headset itself.

Most importantly it works in Linux, where I never had the Vive Pro working.

It also prompts right away if I wanted to change it to 120hz. Very nice!

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Quoting: beniwtvI should be getting mine today according to tracking!
I'll be doing a live-unboxing, installation and playing games tonight if it indeed does arrive :)

Ha, did not do the unboxing because I still need to straighten up my mess of an office.

Got the head calibrated, I am still using the original lighthouses, with the new ones sitting in the box.

Compared to the Vive Pro, it feels a lot lighter, fits on the head way easier. Lack of a link box is nice, but it does lose the power button that the Vive Pro has, so it seems to stay on whenyou turn your computer on. I will verify that again after work today when I have more time with it.

The Knuckles take some getting used to and I couldn't figure out how to turn off the safety on the sniper rifle in Hotdogs Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, but man could I hit things with a hand gun quite nicely in it!
Sadly there are some native games (Like Overload) that still want to only display on the desktop. I will try more games in Linux for sure.

Text clarity is amazing on it!

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Just got mine! Can confirm it actually works in Linux!! No screen tearing like I was getting on the Vive Pro.

Granted now I need to calibrate it so my head isn't on the floor.

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Quoting: Eike

Quoting: svartalf

Quoting: EikeI guess it depends on the value of the old stuff (high for many of us)

Uhm... How does 2/3rds or more of the Steam catalog sound to you as value?

Uhm... You did quote it...? (Quote shortened by me.)

Or do you mean to me personally? I'm torn... I tend to play games until I have finished/enough/given up and never revisit them. OTOH, I do want to be able to play them again. OTOH again, I guess I won't for all those 5 1/4 " discs either... But, yes, I want to keep being able to play 32 bit games.

Someone should create a list of software (not just games) that would no longer work if 32bit compatibility libraries went away. Then send that to Ubuntu and they can decide whether or not dropping full support is worth it.

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Quoting: elmapul

Quoting: slaapliedje

Quoting: elmapul" The issue then, is mainly software and libraries needed to actually run 32bit applications. This is where it sounds like there's going to be plenty of teething issues, with a number of people not too happy about the decision.'

in the mean time, you can run windows 1.0 applications on windows 10...
what is the point of the system being open source, if we cant even run the apps we want? where is the freedom on it?

yes i can use other distro, but what if all the major ones does the same (the ones which are base for the rest) i'm not planning to support my self.
windows never looked so good.

Ha, that's a STRONG maybe for running older Windows stuff in Windows 10. I mean I've seen many older applications run better with Wine than in Windows 10.

But the point here is, imagine if Windows 10 dropped 32bit support. I'd guess roughly 80% of things would stop working entirely. In the Windows world 64bit native applications were never that wide spread.

that is why microsoft would never do that, because they have something to lose by doing that, and that thing is $$ and marketshare.

companies like canonical who the main source of income comes from servers and support have nothing to lose in droping support for 32 bits applications, hell they may even gain money from doing it since their users WILL NEED support, paid support in some cases.

also you forgot to mention that linux break support with itself with an regular base, its a shame but if you want to install an old version of an software or an software made for an different distro, some times its easier to run the windows version on wine thant the linux version on linux.
and some times you absolutelly need the old version of such software because you need an plugin that only run in and old version and you dont have enough know how or time to port it to newer versions of the software (or its an proprietary plugin)

That's never been my experience with Linux. It may take some compatibility libraries for older stuff, but you can still get the old Loki games working on modern Linux systems.

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Quoting: riddleyAs a long-time Debian user, I have no dog in this fight, but man these comments are odd. First, Debian isn't difficult to install.

Second, we're half-way through 2019. When should we drop support for architectures that were obsoleted 20 years ago? Why is no one in these comments finding fault with Valve? Don't get me wrong, I'm very glad and grateful that they support Linux, but at the same time they don't do a very good job of it. Perhaps Steam is easy to install on Ubuntu, I'll never know. On Debain it's an exercise in frustration every time.

Technology moves forward. The people deserving of your ire are those refusing to move forward.

I want to be clear I agree with the first part, that Debian isn't difficult to install.

The other part... we support the libraries for compatibility because there is old software that is only available as binaries that we otherwise would not be able to run. This is why most people are pissed about this.

There are still many things that would break with ditching 32 bit library compatibility.
Someone should compile a list of all the things this breaks.
I know of Wine, dgen (genesis emulator), zsnes, PCSX2, steam.

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Quoting: gojul

Quoting: Thormack

Quoting: gojulSteamOS being Debian-based, recommending Debian or Mint/Debian would make a lot of sense. But it is true that Debian is not for beginners.

Agreed. Pure Debian is tricky to install, configure and maintain (compared to Ubuntu).
Perhaps Mint-Debian then...

Who knows.....

Installing Debian is tricky for newbies. Maintaining it is not harder than Ubuntu provided you're using stable.

Looks like Valve may not use a Debian-based distro : https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/155794864305471497/591834042437992448/Screenshot_20190622_053640.png [External Link]

It's true that from a packager perspective RedHat tools are much more handy than Debian tools.

I will personally help anyone who wants help switching to Debian. I've been using it for close to two decades.

Redhat/CentOS is iffy for Desktop use, outside if you're using it as a workstation. Fedora (in my experience) isn't stable enough, with a constant change in their package versions even within their own release.

Debian is great because they do a very stable release every year or so, only release when they're damn sure it's ready. And upgrades from one release to the next are very smooth. And with Backports, and steam already being packaged for it, it's a complete win!

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Quoting: Shmerlapt-get autoremove
is not the right way to use it though. Many forget to add purge:
apt-get autoremove --purge

By the way, they dropped the -get like a release or two ago. So now it's just
apt autoremove --purge
Though I prefer to not purge usually because occasionally I think 'crap, I wanted to keep that config file!' But then that's what etckeeper is for!

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