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Latest Comments by BlackBloodRum
Fedora threatened with legal action from OBS Studio due to their Flatpak packaging
14 Feb 2025 at 6:05 pm UTC Likes: 2

They said in the post that they don't have problems with redistribution, fedora also redistribute an RPM package and they don't have problem with that because it works, also the license say that you can't redistribute the trademark they just allow it in good faith
Even so, a blanket policy would be better. Either allow it, or don't. Choosing who can or cannot use your branding in FOSS selectively after they have begun redistributing it just causes more hassle than it's worth since anyone who wishes to redistribute may suddenly find themselves in a situation of having to remove it or be sued.

Redistributors shouldn't have to fear that the project might suddenly come along and revoke their right to redistribute it with the branding, knowing in advance whether it is permitted is better.

Fedora didn't do this with malicious intent, or with intent to harm the project - they merely redistributed it in their own flatpak. (functionality problems aside, that is all that occurred.)

That said, people should first report bugs to Fedora (or whoever is recompiling and redistributing it.) prior to going upstream as problems can and do occur when compiling with different options.

Fedora threatened with legal action from OBS Studio due to their Flatpak packaging
14 Feb 2025 at 5:19 pm UTC

@BlackBloodRum freedom to copy, freedom to use, freedom to modify, freedom to read, but not freedom to imitate the original dev.
If they were to take this to court it would be a trademark conflict, which is something essentially all free software licenses maintain(the gpl is explicit. Others just don't touch the subject.)
This is often used to combat phishing campaigns, build trust and theoretically make money from open source development.
Indeed but, if they did not want people repacking the software and redistributing it with the branding intact, they should have made this clear from the get-go that it was not permitted, as opposed to waiting until the software had been redistributed with the branding. Just like RedHat do, they make it very clear you must not redistribute with the logo's.

Fedora threatened with legal action from OBS Studio due to their Flatpak packaging
14 Feb 2025 at 11:12 am UTC Likes: 2

That's an interesting take on the FOSS freedoms. :huh:

Valve ban advertising-based business models on Steam, no forced adverts like in mobile games
11 Feb 2025 at 8:09 am UTC

Glad to see this policy!

Regarding the anti-cheat stuff. I suspect at some point valve might introduce a proprietary kernel module that can provide anti-cheat features.

They could even base it on this, if they liked:
https://github.com/carloslack/KoviD [External Link]

To give game developers proper peace of mind and hopefully bring more of the 'big' games that the normies need over to Linux. :grin:

That said, it will remain optional I think as making it mandatory wouldn't be well received. Plus, some of us (me) run kernels which are configured to not be able to load modules. :tongue:

Linux Mint 22.1 Beta released with Cinnamon 6.4 desktop and lots of Wayland improvements
18 Dec 2024 at 12:00 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: legluondunetDebian and Debian-like distributions are not, to my experience, the best Linux distribution for gaming, their packages are not enough often updated and lack libraries dependencies. Arch and Aur are the way to follow for Linux gamers, SteamOS is ARCH based.
For the DE I suggest a light one to keep your resources for gaming, like XFCE.
Just because SteamOS is arch based does not mean that all gamers should focus on using Arch stuff. Arch has its use case, but it's not necessarily suitable for everyone. Different distributions offer different pros and cons, the beauty of Linux is we can pick and choose the right one for us.

For some, that could well be Mint, Debian derivatives or even RPM based distributions.

That said, at some point we will need a 'central' distribution for new to linux gamers, that could and probably should be SteamOS itself once it's ready, since it would be the most commercially focused distribution and thus have the best user-focused commercial support for proprietary products, which is ideal for those types of users.

Meanwhile, the rest of us can enjoy our own things. :happy:

Xfce 4.20 desktop released with experimental Wayland support
17 Dec 2024 at 9:23 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: wvstolzingIn any case, I'm reminded by this ~1 year old article, which is a measured take on where Wayland is lagging behind, and what criticisms its developers should take seriously --

https://blog.tenstral.net/2024/01/wayland-really-breaks-things-just-for-now.html [External Link]

-- the comments section is pretty depressing though, with people putting words in his mouth. I get that there's *plenty* of BS hurled at Wayland, but not every criticism is badly informed/in bad faith.
Realistically, we can pull any name of some software randomly out of a hat and find criticisms/flaws it may have, it's the nature of software, or even computing in general. There's always room for improvement. Sometimes, it's not even the software itself the issue boils down to, it can be simple human opinions of the "I think it should do XYZ, but instead it does ABC." type. For example, Blender is an absolutely brilliant open source 3D modelling software, but you'll find lots of complaints about its UI and difficulty.

In my experience Wayland works really well, the way it handles dual monitors was part of the reason I switched over, and the lack of screen tearing (oh, that tearing in the x11 days with multi-monitors, I do not miss it.).

Multi-monitors was also why I switched from XFCE a few years ago, I put up with it for a long time, using multi-monitors on X11 and xfce. But then, when KDE made it work so much better.. and combined that with wayland.. well. I'm sorry XFCE, we had to part. :unsure:

The article does mention some important things which apply to people for different reasons but one which will hit most, if not all users or at the very least they will notice it, is the "Window icons" issue, it is an odd issue to have.

But Wayland has come a long way, there was a time where I'd tell you to steer clear, don't even bother with it. Now? Assuming I don't predict you might have issues with it (Think nvidia, or the use cases mentioned in that article), I'll happily advise using it.

The author does point out some key points and I agree with them that the future will be Wayland. We can't hang on to X11 forever. Generally I felt the whole thing was a good overview. I agree that the comments, particularly the first one appear to be written by someone who didn't read the article in its entirety. Although, to be honest when people start bickering like those comments I tend to 'switch off' and stop reading them. So, I stopped reading the comments. :unsure:

Edit: Also, more and more software supports wayland properly these days. Many of my applications are compiled with the use flags wayland and -x. Which means build only with wayland support, no X support. Librewolf an example of such. :grin:

Xfce 4.20 desktop released with experimental Wayland support
17 Dec 2024 at 7:47 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: wvstolzing
Quoting: BlackBloodRum
Quoting: wvstolzingEnd users not interested in scripting are also bitten by this, because they get frustrated that the desktop is unable to remember which window went where, when restarting a session.
I swear, I feel like I'm the only linux user whom regardless of the desktop environment heads into the settings to find and disable and session saving features. :whistle:

Literally the first thing I do. I consider every reboot a new session, so I don't like things opened up from last time automatically. :dizzy:

I know, I'm weird.
Maybe you turn them off because they don't work reliably? That's why I also (grudgingly) turn them off -- same with search indexing. (I remember being smitten by how well Spotlight search worked on OS X, back in 2007 ... file search on GNOME *or* KDE still isn't at the same level.)

When it works properly, though -- just put firefox and thunderbird in their respective desktops/positions, don't open 50 empty terminal windows, etc. -- it's a useful feature.
Oh, don't get me wrong. I can see the usefulness and why others might like it - so I'm happy for it to exist for those who like it. But for me, I just find it a little annoying.

I think it's more to do with the way I use my computers, for example if I were turning my computer on/off everyday, perhaps that'd be more useful - but my computer runs 24/7, so when I return I just tap the shift key, press the yubi-key and then enter my password, and everything is where I left it. :unsure:

Similarly, with my laptop if I want to pause/resume a session I'll just use suspend (shut the laptop lid (auto suspend), open it to resume - yes I do it that way, so sue me :tongue:).

In both cases, when I return to the machine everything is as I left it, so there's no need to move/open stuff.

On the other hand, when I reboot or start up a computer freshly I want it to start up as minimal as possible. Why? Well, I might not be planning to open for example firefox, or a file manager. I might instead just want to head straight into a terminal, similarly I might not want a terminal open already. Etc. So, I'd have to boot up and then close them, so in a way for me it feels like it's adding an extra step in the sense of "Now I need to close this, that I didn't need/want".

My second pet peeve is too many things starting up automatically, anything that starts automatically and isn't strictly necessary is stopped from doing that. :tongue:

I'm just weird. :tongue:

The best Linux distribution for gaming in 2025
17 Dec 2024 at 7:17 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Scattershot
Quoting: MohandevirBe careful. Because you have a great experience doesn't mean it's the same for everyone.
The same is true for any recommendation. See Linus Sebastian for how stable Pop_OS! is! :tongue:
Joking aside, I recently tried that distribution in a virtual machine, since I had recommended it to others. I couldn't get past the installer because it kept crashing out of X, googled the error message thrown and it's a known issue. :tongue:

Xfce 4.20 desktop released with experimental Wayland support
17 Dec 2024 at 7:13 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: wvstolzingEnd users not interested in scripting are also bitten by this, because they get frustrated that the desktop is unable to remember which window went where, when restarting a session.
I swear, I feel like I'm the only linux user whom regardless of the desktop environment heads into the settings to find and disable and session saving features. :whistle:

Literally the first thing I do. I consider every reboot a new session, so I don't like things opened up from last time automatically. :dizzy:

I know, I'm weird.

SteamOS 3.6.21 Beta "Update of the Year" fixes security issues, plus Indiana Jones and the Great Circle rendering issues
14 Dec 2024 at 3:37 pm UTC

Quoting: Liam Dawe
Quoting: Spyker
Fixed a rendering issue with characters' eyes in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
I wonder if this fix comes from a Mesa update or just a Proton one because it appears on Desktop Linux as well (at least with AMD graphics).
It's literally linked in the article. It's a Mesa update.
Oh, didn't see that. But don't worry, we read every word you write, promise! :grin: