Quoting: superboybotI can appreciate the advantages of this kind of sandboxing/isolation, but I want my software to be more interconnected, not less. For example, not long after I first switched to Linux, I installed some Snap packages. Later, I tried writing a script that, among other things, ran one of these packages using certain parameters. Trying to find the binary was a bit of a nightmare; it was obfuscated behind multiple folders and symlinks. If it had acted like any other package on the system, designed to play nicely with everything else, it would have been more user-friendly from my perspective.

I can relate to that. Microsoft introduced exactly that issue with its UWP apps. Forget about modding games...

With Flatpak I can't tell for lack of experience. But you'd assume that all programs would expose at least a "run program" shell interface to the system. And if they include multiple shell utilities, preferably all of them.

The existence of those shell interfaces is one of the major advantages I see in Linux software over Windows software, which is often "GUI only" or supplying very awkward command line interfaces. E.g. SpiderOak One, where the program is (at least on Windows) always run asynchronously, and command line tools cannot be invoked while the GUI is running.

It does however not invalidate the utility of the packaging format; It just means that there is an important aspect that hasn't been considered sufficiently. From what you tell, they apparently over-do the abstracting-away part of the package. That's also not exactly helpful for when you want to provide a useful bugreport...

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Quoting: superboybotI think Flatpak is fine (and to a lesser extent Snap, especially on distros that include it by default), but I don't really see the point unless it offers a package that isn't in your repo. AppImage is cool though, as a preservation method.

But other than that, what problem is it solving? It seems that some people use them for many (most?) installed packages. I find it a bit strange. For instance, why is Firefox even offered on Flathub? Are there distros that don't have Firefox in the repositories?

For background, I am currently using Open Suse at work for software development, but have always returned to Windows on private devices due to a variety of annoyances any time I've used Linux.

One of them, and the only one that really applies for desktop PCs, is software distribution. Linux works pretty great, if all you need is in the repository. Until it isn't.

The most common case for me is needing one or two graphical programs in the most recent version due to a bug fix I need, so it doesn't help me that there is a package in the repository. I could use a rolling-release OS, but at work that might not be my choice, and even then I would sacrifice stability of the day-to-day work environment because I need one package to be more up-to-date.

Even if things are in the repository, I've found that sometimes they are just configured questionably. For instance with LyX, font packages were listed as "optional" dependencies, when their absence would actually, without any warning, cause weird glitches at runtime.

DEB/RPM Packages, if available, may be broken or at least incomplete for any given configuration. Often the only officially supported Linux is Ubuntu, on OpenSuse I often have to install things more manually, or fix things afterwards.

Additionally, adding non-repostitory software to the system has its risk. Installing OnlyOffice from a package left me with .so files that suddenly interfered with the build-and-run process.

By contrast, I'm never seeing similar issues on Windows. Software comes prepackaged as an installer, and the installer contains everything that's needed. (But sadly, Windows installers integrate Software too deeply into the system for my tastes.)

From a software developer view, these issues translate into supporting not "Windows and Linux" but "Windows and Ubuntu and OpenSuse and Arch and Debian and ...". From a distribution view, it means you need someone to support every little program you want running on your environment for your specific distribution, whether it is the company behind the software or a maintainer. Even Linus Torvalds complains about that. [External Link]

As I understand, the application package formats try to solve these issues; Create a single package, and the package should be portable across all Linux systems, at least those running on compatible hardware architectures.

If desktop Linux is ever to compete with the install base of Windows, it needs to provide the conveniences that Windows-users take for granted.

The other part (mostly relevant for corporate environments) is that a natively or indistinguishable-from-native running version of Microsoft Office releases from the last ten years isn't optional. I tried with OnlyOffice and LibreOffice, but the moment your working with a customer who uses Microsoft Office, you will need it somehow, or the customer will be annoyed at you for breaking their documents; The only solution working properly here is a virtual machine with Windows and native MS Office.

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Quoting: CatKiller

They emailed to say "Linux won't be available for EA I'm afraid, but we will be working on getting it to you as soon as possible!".

That suggests that they're doing it wrong. Multiplatform from the start makes the whole dev process easier. Trying to shoehorn it in later makes everything harder, and you'll likely have to redo a bunch of stuff that you did wrong the first time, and assumptions you've made or third-party tools that you rely on might mean that you can't do it at all.

Agreed. I wouldn't hold my breath for official Linux support ever happening, if it is explicitly excluded from EA. Or if it happens, it will lack the polishing effect the Windows version gets during EA and suffer from all kinds of bugs and violations of platform conventions. A classic would be an inability to Alt-Tab out of the game without crashing it.

Wouldn't be the first game to work better with Wine than with a native build.

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I'd roughly echo a common mindset here: Steam will probably need it but I'm not sold.

My only use cases for streaming are trying before buying (the refund model already allows that, but best would be proper demos) and playing AAA games without buying a desktop PC. Given that I anyway don't have the time for AAA anymore, and usually prefer shorter indie games or games without defined playtime like Warband, I'd probably end up not using it at all.

Also, I'm worried about time limits for game licenses. Right now we buy the license, so it cannot be revoked freely (though it may become worthless on the event that Steam shuts down), while with streaming the licenses will come and go. No interest to play a he without a guarantee that it will be available until I'm finished, or if I want to replay.

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"Whalesale Games" alone made me chuckle. Gaming company names are the best :grin:

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Quoting: poisondApple isn't just not supporting repairs, it is actively suing companies that repair their products and doing everything in their power to make repair impossible. How this can be legal practice is beyond me. I just hope others aren't following Apple on this trend also, but seeing as they copy every atrocity Apple commits these days I see little hope.

And yet I have my iPad Air 2 without any issues for now nearly 6 years, while the iPad mini that I replaced is still going strong for my mother and only recently has started having issues due to the Youtube app not being updated anymore. No other mobile devices in the household have remained in service for so long. I got burned particularly bad with the Galaxy S7, because I learned only much after the purchase that SD cards are not fully compatible extension storage after all. Adding insult to injury, this is because Samsung first removed the adoptable storage option from the GUI, and when people started doing it by ADB, eventually patched it out on a lower level.

When I compare my previous longevity experiences, Apple comes of quite well compared to any portable Android or Windows device.

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Count me as a sceptic. Past promises of upgradable laptops, in particular work station notebooks with nominally upgradable graphics cards, don't have a good track record, of compatible upgrades actually being available.

I suspect it will be the same here -- an interesting concept, but you'll probably have a better device at any given time for the same total amount of money spent by buying standard mass-produced laptops.

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Quoting: TheSHEEEPObviously, if there is a security component (e.g. servers for multiplayer or MMO games), it is probably unwise to open up code, as it will make it much easier to find exploits.

Conventional wisdom is rather that open-sourcing leads to safer, not more easily attacked, code. Not sure though how this translates to MMO servers; It is usually stated in the context of trusting the security of a platform in terms of correctly used encryption etc.

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Trying right now. Pretty fun game :)

The way

Quoting: Anza... Weapons and enemies even change the gameplay in some way. Seems like developers know some good game design tricks. ...

Not only the gameplay though. The aesthetic of "2D pixel art, stretched in third axis" is pleasant, and the use of the camera is interesting too. Already in the intro-animation a slow movement of the camera is used to emphasize the perception of depth in the way of a parallax effect.

The strong perspective is probably unrealistically over-emphasized, but it really brings the "3D-ness" to life.

Depth of field also works well for this game, where usually I prefer turning it off. Probably related to the abstract graphics style, where having distance-dependent blurriness doesn't obscure details.

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Bought Carrion for the Switch after reading about it here. Also the Steam version, but I found click-to-move somewhat frustrating. Also, Steam offers refunds, Nintendo does not :( (Though I refunded to Steam wallet, hoping that it won't incur the chargeback fees on the developer.)

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