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Latest Comments by adolson
The rather good hack and slash Hammerwatch had a big update recently, great co-op game for Linux
31 Aug 2018 at 6:21 pm UTC

I love it. It reminds me a bit of a mix of Diablo and Gauntlet (but good). I haven't played it much co-op, though.c

Some thoughts on Valve’s new Steam Play feature and what it means for Linux gaming
25 Aug 2018 at 5:01 am UTC

Quoting: richipSpeaking of SteamOS: Isn't Steam Play available on SteamOS? I've got the Steam client running on both Fedora Linux and a dedicated SteamOS machine, but I don't see the option to "enable Steam Play" for supported nor non-supported games.
The options aren't there in Big Picture, you're right. You have to switch to the desktop client, enable it, restart, go back into the options and double-check the settings, possibly restart Steam again, then go into Big Picture and it will work.

(Edit: I am referring only to Steam in Big Picture on a regular distro, as I had read your question as for both SteamOS and Fedora. I haven't used SteamOS since the first release, and the process seems to be different - see next comment.)

Some thoughts on Valve’s new Steam Play feature and what it means for Linux gaming
25 Aug 2018 at 4:40 am UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: mylkahave you thought linux would ever have AAA titles like tomb raider or hitman?
...yes. During the first big wave of Linux gaming, starting around 2001, we had a bunch of great games, including some pretty big titles, years before Steam even existed.

Here are just a few of what I played back in the day: Civilization: Call to Power, Descent 1-III, Neverwinter Nights, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Quake III Arena, Unreal Tournament (and 2003, and 2004), FreeSpace 2, Heretic II, Soldier of Fortune, Heroes of Might & Magic III, Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns, Majesty Gold, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Postal 1+2, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Railroad Tycoon II, Rune, Serious Sam: The First/Second Encounter, Sim City 3000 Unlimited, Sacred: Gold Edition, and more.

I still have most of my game discs, too. Some are Windows versions with binaries released after the fact, some are ports published specifically for Linux (usually by Loki or LGP), and some had the binaries on the disc alongside the Windows version.

The Sims was also available for Linux, ever so briefly, thanks to Transgaming's "WineX technology" (later renamed to "Cedega" ). They even bundled it with Mandrake Gaming Edition... Nobody remembers this shit but me?

Some thoughts on Valve’s new Steam Play feature and what it means for Linux gaming
25 Aug 2018 at 12:08 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: jarhead_hThere won't be a magical year of Linux.
I know sarcasm is hard to convey over the internet without deliberately pointing it out, so here I am, pointing it out to you: I was being sarcastic. I don't believe there will ever be a year of the Linux desktop, whether "FOSS" works that way or not. People have been saying it every year as far back as I can remember, since the Loki days. Obviously it's not going to happen.

you will look around and realize one day that everything just kinda works, arrives with a couple keystrokes in the command line or GUI if you prefer, and that there are a lot more Linux users than there used to be.
That day came a long time ago, but it wasn't enough for many people, including you.

First it will the dual boot crowd that are still hanging onto their Windows7 partitions. Then it will be the techies that don't like being abused by Microsoft, followed by gamers that don't want to pay Redmond for another Windows version. Then it will be the passthrough crowd because that extra graphics card is expensive so they are gonna get their money's worth. The normies may someday switch along with a few Apple cultists, but by and large they will continue to use whatever happened to ship on their machine.
People have been saying variations of this for years.

As for the thought that that this is somehow history repeating itself..... that's just plain wrong. What Valve is doing is simply unprecedented due to the size and scope of the venture.
Running Windows programs under Linux is not new. It's easier, sure. But Lindows was an entire distro devoted to it, and people thought it was going to bring people over in droves. WineX was a thing too, at one point, and it essentially disappeared, too.

I've never bought into the hype about Linux exploding before because the hype was stupid before. People were never going to to switch from Windows because of a better gui or anything else they have been hyping.
But they'll switch now because they can run a few extra games with Proton? Right. At least you admit that hype existed previously and was stupid. We agree. And I'm saying, I think the hype now is also stupid. You disagree and think it's the Second Coming. We'll see. Frankly, I hope you're right, but I don't buy it.

The fact is that what we have now is the perfect blend of ingredients that have never before been all in one place. All of them are required. In order, we have 1)gui based distro with Ubuntu/Mint/etc where the command line is optional
There have been distros for SO LONG that have had a GUI and no requirement for a command line. Mandrake is what allowed me to drop Windows and convert my technology-challenged wife, back in 2002.

2)a crossplatform API in the form of Vulkan
OpenGL was cross-platform, so I don't see your point. Vulkan is obviously better, but cross-platform technology has existed for a long fucking time. And graphics is only one part of the DirectX problem. SDL has been around since the first wave of Linux gaming. Cross-platform APIs is not a new solution.

3) a company with deep pockets funding development 4)seamless integration with an existing standard such as Steam.
Valve has done a lot of good for Linux gaming, no question. More than anyone else has, single-handedly. I'm not going to debate that.

All of this combined in one place reduces the friction needed to switch to Linux to the point that even the very reluctant will consider it, because of the last ingredient that we have in spades 5) EVERYONE HATES MICROSOFT. People love Windows, they just wish that Microsoft wasn't around to ruin it.
I don't know anyone in real life who hates Microsoft. Even I don't hate Microsoft. I hate Windows. Or what I remember of it; I haven't touched it in a long, long time, and intend to never again. I have a good friend and three family members that approached me, requesting I install Linux for them - not because they hate Microsoft, but because they hate Windows and what comes along with the territory. Anecdotal evidence, sure, but you have provided no evidence whatsoever for your argument.

You see, the true beauty of all of this is that all we need to do from here is let Microsoft be Microsoft, and they will inspire people to come our way now that an escape route exists.
It's existed for a long time... Just because you're only getting off that ship now, doesn't mean there's some magical threshold that's suddenly been passed for the entire population in general. People have been able to jump ship for a long time already - 16 years for me, more for others, less for others. Your own experience is just that.

Our real problem is that Microsoft has got to know this, and may in fact back off, taking away the pressure needed for people to make the jump.
This has been said many times before as well.

It's not enough to have a place to go to, you have to have a place that you want to leave.
That's partly true. Some people just want to go new places. My wife didn't want to leave Windows. She just wanted to switch to a new OS that had a cute penguin. Again, that was in 2002.

I liked Windows 7, but I never paid for it. Like I never paid for Vista or XP Pro or Win2000 or Win98. I've been looking to leave Windows behind for almost two decades and Linux has finally matured enough for me to do that in just this last year thanks to WINE+DXVK&Lutris. Now I don't even have to worry about WINE+DXVK&Lutris thanks to Steam Play, which I did NOT expect this year. I got rid of my Win7 partition months ago after not using it for several months.
Congrats.

I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE LIKE ME.
And I am not the only one like me. Not sure your point, here.

You started out your reply saying that there won't be a big magical influx of Linux users, and then you went on to say that conditions are right, yadda yadda, for a big magical influx of Linux users. So really, I don't think anything you said makes much sense, nor have I not heard it all before.

The difference between every other time and this time, is Valve. That much, we agree on. Whether the outcome will be different this time? That remains to be seen. And so, we wait...

Some thoughts on Valve’s new Steam Play feature and what it means for Linux gaming
24 Aug 2018 at 10:17 pm UTC

OK, so now we just sit back and wait for the market share to rapidly and magically increase... Or we watch as people keep making excuses as to why they can't switch to Linux. I'm glad some of you are optimistic, but this just feels like history repeating over and over and over again. 2019, the year of the Linux desktop! For real this time!!!!

Some thoughts on Valve’s new Steam Play feature and what it means for Linux gaming
24 Aug 2018 at 3:52 pm UTC

Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: adolsonIf I'm a developer, I don't see why I should put any effort into a Linux version.
Because supporting your users is proper. If you don't want to do that - you'd be a bad developer.
Tons of developers already don't support Linux. And now that their games can possibly easily be run on Linux with zero effort on their part, you think they're going to suddenly start to care? Give me a break.

Some thoughts on Valve’s new Steam Play feature and what it means for Linux gaming
24 Aug 2018 at 3:30 pm UTC Likes: 1

If I'm a developer, I don't see why I should put any effort into a Linux version. Especially now that Valve has a solution in place that removes any effort on my part. Plus, I can see that Linux users are buying my games even without me lifting a finger.

But whatever. I'm getting too old to care anymore. Linux gaming has come a long way since I deleted my Windows partition, back in 2002... But still so far away. If Valve has given in to Wine, so have I. Gone is my No Tux, No Bucks avatar and attitude. If this is how it ends, so be it. I hope not. I hope it goes the way the optimistic among us think it will. But at the end of the day, I just don't care enough anymore. Most of my gaming time is spent with designer board games these days, which are compatible with any platform large enough for players to sit around.

Valve officially confirm a new version of 'Steam Play' which includes a modified version of Wine
22 Aug 2018 at 12:00 am UTC Likes: 3

Considering how many Linux users still dual boot or buy Windows games, this seemed like a very unfortunate, but necessary, step for Valve if they want to make any kind of headway with the whole Linux situation.

An update on the Linux version of Twilight Struggle, four years after the Kickstarter
9 Aug 2018 at 7:48 am UTC

I buy a lot of digital board games these days. In fact, I mostly play board games compared to video games these days. I don't care about Playdek's past sins; if they start releasing Linux content, I'm in - at least for games I care about. Ascension on Linux would be nice. In the meantime, I see DIGIDICED is still supporting us, and they recently released Isle of Skye on Linux. Hopefully Handelabra will bring us Aeon's End and Spirit Island, as they did with One Deck Dungeon, Bottom of the 9th, and Sentinels of the Multiverse.

Dead Cells, probably one of the best Linux games this year is now out
8 Aug 2018 at 7:27 am UTC

Good game! I grabbed it a while back but didn't play a ton. I'm currently hooked by Chasm, but I'll jump back into Dead Cells when I'm done. Unless, of course, Ghost Song or Eitr release before then (not likely!).