Quoting: VulphereNow we have official confirmation :)

Being steam deck verified isn't an official announcement from EA that they support it, right?

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Maybe we should understand

it does not support SteamOS

as "don't ask us if it doesn't work, we are not responsible of your experience with the game on steamOS"

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Quoting: RobertKrigCouldn't they just have a whitelist of kernels that they allow Fortnite+EAC to run against?
At least for steamdeck they could check the hash of valve's provided kernel to ensure it's not a custom compiled one. Sure, it would mean they would need to keep an updated list of allowed kernels, but I don't think that's such a gargantuan task.

I think the "We don't want to pay Valve's fees" is probably the real reason why fortnite won't be coming to steamdeck.

What guarantees that the hash of the kernel wasn't forged?

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Quoting: BeemerUgh...this whole thing about anti-cheat "whatever" is moot. I forget who said this, but it was 10 or more years ago : "The client is the enemy". I've never understood the server/client anti-cheat design that puts the anti-cheat *on the client*. No matter what you install, you cannot trust that the client is not compromised.

All the metrics we can get today should let companies like Epic or Steam aggregate the data to pull out the cheaters. Why don't the servers aggregate data on kills per sec or min? Or player time to return fire? Is the player aimed in on an opposing player for x amount of time while obstacles block the view? It's all data that can show when someone displays a super-human statistic.

Honestly, you don't even need to ban those folks. Use the data and match-makem against each other - keep them out of games where they'll simply dominate. Data will show those that are just good vs those that are artificially good.

It's like all the bots buying up the graphics cards. They're not completing purchases like a human. They bypass store pages and complete transactions within seconds. Why are those being allowed priority over legitimate retail purchasers?

It would make all this hoopla over installing anti-cheat non-existant.

I guess the difficulty comes from collecting and processing this data automatically.
Also that wouldn't help for certain games, like for instance, how do you tell if the player has a wallhack, or a aimbot? I mean you could hardcode some rules, but then the cheaters just have to find out those rules and try to act legit.
Furthermore it depends on what is processed on the client that isn't sent to the server.
The only way to ensure would be… Stadia or such. Then the only things that the clients can cheat on are the controller inputs.

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To ensure that a program hasn't been modified is impossible to get totally right, it's always a fight between the pirates and the security experts.
I don't think that not having access to the source code of the kernel helps much with security. Security through obscurity is bad. The source code of the kernel can leak, or Microsoft servers can get hacked, or people can try to make sense of the binary, although "illegal", I doubt that the cheaters are concerned about it.
I guess the pirates just don't have the skill or the patience to modify the kernel, closed source or not…
Sure it would require more effort, but still, security through obscurity is a poor way to secure a system.

Also, you have to release under the GPLv2 only the modified kernel code, not the module itself.

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Quoting: BlackBloodRumI can't help but feel those who compared the deck to the switch are those who either

A) Don't fully understand the steam deck and what it can / does do
B) Simply MS-Only developers, so have no interest in a Linux device
C) Don't have enough information about the device and feel it's just another handheld console

I think their opinions may change if they understood it a bit better.

But perhaps I'm biased, since I have one preordered 🤔

The comparison is easy, almost natural, it's a portable gaming device that can be docked.
It's Valve who insists on the fact it's "a portable PC", but the difference between PC and consoles are fading away anyway in my opinion, they use the same CPU/GPU architecture. Consoles just more or less guarantee the hardware to be known in advance, so probably easier to optimize for it, and that is the case of the Steam Deck. It's true that the software on console is usually more controlled though. But it's the case for macOS X, and yet it's still a PC, right?

The verification process for steam deck compatibility doesn't take into account if it's optimized for the hardware of the Steam deck at all. It's only about user experience on small screens, controllers, and game compatibility with Linux/proton.

It's like they don't want game devs to optimize for it like it were a fixed hardware, although they could.
And they also said they are open to other providers to implement their own Steam Deck.
It feels like Steam deck is a way to say « hey! Look, this is an example of what can be done, do your own »
Like they did with steam machines, but this time they have their own implementation, go for a portable device, and they "fixed" the poor library of games related to the linux based OS

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Quoting: Liam Dawe

Quoting: toorI remember when netbooks (those small computers) started being a thing

...heavily underpowered devices that couldn't really run all that much. I remember, I had multiple of them. I don't think the experience of those devices over 10 years ago has any real relevance on what happens in 2022+. As long as vendors don't repeat the mistakes of putting it on only super low-end devices.

The fact they were underpowered was actually probably the reason Linux was preinstalled instead of Windows Vista in the first place, because it made sense on a technical aspect. Yet people would rather buy those with Vista.

You think the power of the device is the big deal there? I would assume that you mean for games then, since you can run a web browser even on a raspberry pi. Well, I know a lot of developers who work with Linux every day and yet use Windows to play at home, and find me crazy to play on Linux, they are even surprised when I tell them it's decent enough to play on now.
Yet they have a powerful machine, and definitely know how to install Linux. So even among techies, Linux isn't even considered for gaming.

Steam deck is a great idea as it is not presented as Linux, the main thing is the device… gaming, the end user doesn't care which OS it runs.
Also Android is used a lot, and most people don't care that it runs a Linux kernel. It could take over because the concept was new: They could buy a smartphone cheaper than the iPhones, and well… it goes with this thing, Android. Now they are used to Android, good luck to make them change it.

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Hardware. Pre-installed. That's it.

Honestly, it really is that simple.

I disagree. I remember when netbooks (those small computers) started being a thing, most of them were at first shipped with Linux preinstalled. People just favored those having Windows on it, and then the market adapted and ended up selling them almost only with Vista.

Also, when people are forced to use Linux in some countries, like in Germany or in France for police or administration, the workers are usually not happy about it from what I heard, Linux was and still is built on a non-mainstream philosophy which is… tech passionate and open source.
It's intended for people who like to tweak their machine at least to some extent, because, as soon as you have a problem, you are on your own (most people don't try to fix their problem themselves). Of course if you just use a web browser, and read your mails, you don't really care. My grand parents are using Linux. But they do because I introduced it, and I fix their problems when they have some.

Furthermore there is the "free software" or "open source" philosophy that is hard for mainstream people to understand, and honestly, they don't care… why the hell would they? The concept of "source code" don't even ring a bell to them. Even I, as a developer, don't watch most of the code I'm running.

If you want to change people's habits, you better have a good reason.
And even reason isn't enough! Just look at qwerty layout… it was first designed to overcome a mechanical problem on typewriters. Those problem don't exist on modern keyboards, and there exist better designed keyboard layouts, such as dvorak [External Link]. Does the fact a better alternative exist change the fact that qwerty is used? No
I remember as a kid, I wondered why the keyboard wasn't simply the alphabetic order. Why did I naturally expect that? Because that's what I was used to. Once I was used to qwerty, it required an effort to learn how to use a dvorak based keyboard, and not many people would do this effort.

So my conclusion would be. People don't care about principles, only a minority does. If you want people to use something, force them to do so, or introduce that one thing in the first place. To be "mainstream", at least for future generations, it needs to be introduced to kids first, with obviously the fancy stuff, like video games :p

That's my 2 cents on the subject.

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Their bundles keep getting shittier and shittier. The time of humblebundle has gone. It's Steam time!

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actually, the steamlink doesn't play well yet with this new version of raspbian

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