Patreon Logo Support us on Patreon to keep GamingOnLinux alive. This ensures all of our main content remains free for everyone. Just good, fresh content! Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal Logo PayPal. You can also buy games using our partner links for GOG and Humble Store.
Latest Comments by ObsidianBlk
Flathub to verify first-party apps and allow developers to collect monies
28 Jan 2022 at 4:18 pm UTC Likes: 2

I'm an Arch user... have been for at least a decade. I've only really dabbled in Flatpak itself, but, honestly... given we're obviously all Linux gamers... Flatpak (or some iteration of it) is one of the core changes to Linux that will help break Microsoft. The simple reasoning behind this is, the biggest game developer complaint for Linux is "it's fractured". Flatpak (though not perfect) goes a long way to homogenize the distributions in a way that will make it easier for developers to develop their games for Linux and distribute them for Linux and not a specific distro. Furthermore, if we want more games, we need more players, and those players still find Linux complicated/confusing. While Flatpak will not automatically solve that problem outright, given that Flatpak (in theory) works for all Linux distros, then users will have a more reasonable expectation that if the package/game is on Flatpak it'll probably work on there distro. These are huge deals if we want more games. To get those games we need to make the road easier for the developer and the gamer.

Honestly, I don't really see Flatpak as being that drastically different than Docker, and docker has been a huge boon in the network space.

In the end, I doubt the traditional package manager is going away. At worst you'll see a duality in that Flatpak will be automatically installed along side your distro's native package manager and there'll be a toggle for which source if your default package source. Even more likely, the command line distro tools will remain separate, for the CL-jockies.

Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard
18 Jan 2022 at 2:27 pm UTC Likes: 18

I'm definitely all for Activision/Blizzard being bought out and, hopefully dismantling that cesspool of a company. That said, I agree that it is worrisome that every company gets umbrellaed under a larger monolithic company.

Ultimately, for me, however, I've become more and more of an indie gamer than a 3A gamer. Don't get me wrong, I still like a 3A game here or there, but, I find indie games, in general, to come out with way more interesting and complete (as in, few or no microtransactions) experiences than most of the shiz that 3A publishers have been putting out there.

I will say, though... I'm disheartened that nothing of substance ever seems to happen to the filth that runs these big companies with these disgusting, abusive cultures. A/B's management will either still be there or, at best, be let go with a generous severance package (in an amount of money most people would never hope to see in their life times). What needs to happen is for them (and those who have similar cultures, like Ubisoft) to be summarily fired with no financial payouts as all. Shiz, some of these people need to be behind bars, but they're way to rich for that. ... (takes a breath and steps down from soup box) ... Sorry. I'm done now.

My favourite 2021 games played on Linux
21 Dec 2021 at 5:29 pm UTC Likes: 8

Quoting: LoftyWhat this small list of games show is that you don't need a mega expensive GPU to enjoy quality games.

And Honestly it's not all that bad in some ways, If we keep seeing this as a trend then we can expect some really creative titles to come out that run on lower spec systems that optimize and take advantage of the existing power available.
Not to be too tangential, but I've felt, for several decades now (maybe since Windows became the OS for most people) that there's been a loss to the art of optimization. As our technology gets larger (in storage, not size) and faster, I hear a lot more developers (game developers, especially) kinda shrug off optimizing in many areas because "space is cheap". While I understand that mindset, I just wonder, if developers still nickel-n-dimed every bit and byte of their code-base like they used to with 8-bit and 16-bit machines of yester-year, how much more we might actually be able to pack into our games today!

Just look the first game of any console generation and compare it with the last game of any console generation. In general the hardware doesn't change, but the latter games tend to be far more sophisticated than their initial counterparts. So many optimizations to processes and compression of resources to produce greater effects with the limited hardware! Imagine if we kept up with that mentality!

I know this is an oversimplification, but I still wonder...

Ubisoft suggest posting on their forum for Proton support in Rainbow Six Siege
30 Nov 2021 at 6:34 pm UTC Likes: 10

Here's the funny part, to me...
By merely making this statement, Ubisoft is admitting they're seeing potential that a lot of gamers could be buying the Steam Deck. The stupid part is, I'm betting a vast majority of gamers that get Steam Deck are not going to be Linux users, and, therefore, may have no idea that BattleEye isn't enabled for Linux/Proton and, by extension, Steam Deck. The average gamer may not even equate the two. You'll get a bunch of people buying the awesome looking Steam Deck "console" and be utterly flummoxed when their BattleEye-using Ubisoft game won't run at all because Ubisoft basically only asked Linux users (those paying the closest bit of attention) to post in their forums.

In the end, it's going to look like, to Ubisoft, that virtually none of their player base wants this game on the Steam Deck while the reality is, the vast majority of players that'd be playing on the Steam Deck won't even realize BattleEye and Proton are an issue they need to care about at the moment.

So, I'm not sure of Ubisofts game here. Is their intention to hurt the Steam Deck (and/or Valve) by explicitly setting up something that's going to make the demand seem low... or are they just stupid?

That said, it's all academic to me. I won't knowingly touch Ubisoft or Activision with a 50 foot pole at this time, so...

APT 2.3.12 package manager released, will no longer let you break everything
23 Nov 2021 at 12:31 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: slaapliedje(he was even using apt-get which I have not used in years).
I'm going to be perfectly honest... I really wasn't aware that apt is an actual replacement for apt-get. I'd though it was just an alias being used. I haven't been using Debian-based distros as my daily driver for a few years.

APT 2.3.12 package manager released, will no longer let you break everything
20 Nov 2021 at 9:43 pm UTC

Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: AussieEevee
Quoting: slaapliedje2) Linus not being patient enough to read the warning.
Most newbie users aren't that patient, especially when it comes to walls of text.

The point is that apt should not have allowed him to break his system in the first place. That should not have happened, and the fault is 10% on that Steam package... and 90% on apt.
Apt is not a babysitter. It didn't even break his system. It was still working, it was just working in 'I have no Xorg anymore' mode. Which is a perfectly legitimate method of using Linux. :) It just was broken for what he was intending to do. It gave him ample warning that it was removing a bunch of crap. It's on the user to decide whether or not they want to remove all of that. He didn't even spend a second looking at it and just typed the 'yes, do as I say'. Also, has he seriously no clue that he shouldn't just copy / paste commands from random sites? That should be a known thing even for Windows users...
Would it have even been broken for what he was intending to do? It's been a loooong while since I even had to look, but wouldn't he have had XOrg back with a simple...
 
apt install xorg

That said... at the time, there still would have been Pop_OS!'s bug with the Steam package, so Linus still wouldn't have been able to get Steam (easily).

APT 2.3.12 package manager released, will no longer let you break everything
18 Nov 2021 at 4:08 pm UTC

Something that might help all distributions of Linux might be a central site where users can post their Linux tutorials, organized by Distribution, Distro Version, Topic, and Date. This way, when a user comes to the site looking for a tutorial, they should always get the most recent and relevant information up front. The site could also put up a warning at the top of the site if the tutorial being viewed is for an older distribution version, or if it hasn't been updated in some specified amount of time (like "Warning, tutorial is over 6 months old and may be out of date"). The site could also implement a rating system for how successful users have been using the tutorial.

I'm just spitballing. Honestly, though, there definitely is an issue with so many disparate tutorials out there from as far back as a decade or more, and, unless you pay close attention to distro version or date information that may, or may not be in the tutorial (depending on the whims of the author) you can easily have a newbie find an Ubuntu tutorial from 5 or 10 years ago, not realize its age, and be completely lost.

APT 2.3.12 package manager released, will no longer let you break everything
18 Nov 2021 at 3:55 pm UTC Likes: 6

Quoting: Guest
Quoting: robvvI can almost hear minds whirring away, thinking, "Challenge Accepted!"
Considering the original issue from a youtuber was following commands found online, this change won't solve anything. People will just read something from an old stackoverflow thread, or ubuntu forums, or somesuch, and blindly follow that while ignoring the massive neon warning signs that it could break the system.
I half agree with this. Those neon warning signs are there, but the user may be colorblind to exactly what those warnings implied. The other issue that Linus faced, as I understand the situation, was that Pop_OS! actually had a broken Steam package at the time. So, a combination of a brand new Linux user with little (if any) familiarity with the terminology of the OS and it's numerous package distribution systems combined with an admittedly broken package that ultimately caused the warning in the first place, how was the guy even supposed to think that the simple act of installing an application could trigger the removal of his XOrg system, even with an error (that is otherwise alien to him) sitting there?

On the flip side, Linus has been heavily in the tech industry for years. Granted, he's predominantly Windows focused, but he should be well versed enough in the quirks of computers in general to know that, unless you're familiar with a particular situation, you don't just blindly ignore warnings. I get that this whole challenge is them trying to work with Linux like an Average(tm) gamer, but Linus is not. He's got more IT qualifications than an average gamer and the fact he nuked his system kinda makes me feel like he almost intentionally played dumb in this particular situation. I don't actually think he did, but he definitely came off looking like a sloppy IT professional to me in that moment.

Check out this crowdfunding campaign to learn Godot Engine from GDQuest
15 Oct 2021 at 8:52 pm UTC Likes: 4

I haven't seen any of these lessons, but I did watch a lot of GDQuest's beginner YouTube videos when I was getting started with Godot and those were really really useful! I'd imagine these lessons would definitely be worth it to those wanting to get into the details of Godot.

Interplay updating many classic titles on Steam to add support for Linux
14 Oct 2021 at 4:24 pm UTC Likes: 8

Ummm... Interplay still exists?! I'll be honest, I thought they closed and/or was bought out years ago! That said, regardless of my memory, this is cool news!!