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Latest Comments by Appelsin
Canonical want help testing their Steam snap package for Ubuntu
20 March 2023 at 2:47 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: LinasI don't have anything against snaps as such, but the way Canonical are pushing them onto users feels disrespectful. Like if you apt install firefox, it will pull in snapd, and install the snap package of Firefox. Not quite what I expected the system to do.

A truly classic way of getting those people who initially don’t really care one way or the other to start caring in the wrong direction.

Anyway, I generally find that deb works best, but I’m always curious to test apps as either snap or Flatpak. Both are really interesting, but I usually end up with the deb version as the stayer installation.

E.g. when trying to handle profiles in Thunderbird under flatpak. It’s not straightforward to find the right directiry in which to pop your old profile directory.

No true next-gen Steam Deck for 'a few years' Valve say
11 March 2023 at 5:19 pm UTC Likes: 4

Releasing a new Deck too soon would only hurt both the Deck and Valve (and by extension Linux gaming), since the people who already bought it will feel a bit cheated, it will create hardware fragmentation, and publishers/developers will be less likely to bother with it. Valve would seem like they got greedy, and pushed a not-proper-upgrade just for a quick cash grab. It is a very fine line to be walked here. They must convince game publishers that the deck is a stable and serious target, that will get and hold customers, while also convincing customers that the device will be relevant for long enough to feel like you didn’t just waste your money on an overhyped underpowered gaming tablet.

Plasma 5.27 Beta live with Flatpak settings, multi-monitor upgrade, SteamOS updater
23 January 2023 at 7:15 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: mr-victoryThis time KDE stole from Microsoft, the new tiling feature is probably inspired by Win11's corresponding feature. (was it called snapping?) But they didn't just copy pasta but slightly improved it.

To be fair, tiling and snapping was a thing long before Windows 11 came around. The built-in support for more extensive tiling has been a user request (and in the works) for quite some time, instead of having to rely on user-made scripts and plugins :)

Valve fix new EA app in Proton Experimental for Linux and Steam Deck
3 November 2022 at 3:22 pm UTC Likes: 6

Quoting: LanzAmazing that EA quality control allowed it to ship while breaking Proton/Steam Deck.

Call me cynical, but I’m leaning more towards “does it break Proton/Steam Deck? Yes, you said? Alright, ship it!”.

And you’re making a big assumption that EA QC actually exists in the first place 😂 if it does, the two people still employed there likely have their hands full testing the ”surprise mechanics” of FIFA 2023.

EA begins swapping out Origin for EA app on Steam
26 October 2022 at 3:29 pm UTC Likes: 4

Quoting: KuduzkehpanEA app feels like electron app with very ugly desing

Spoiler alert: I’m quite certain it actually is an electron App.

And it follows all the modern design trends of having big bloaty UI elements, an interface made to look like a twitterfeed or something and is generally cumbersome and confusing to use. At least EA is current and keeping up with the industry in that department…

Valve starts roll-out of the Steam Deck controller configurator to desktop Steam
24 October 2022 at 8:01 am UTC

Quoting: MayeulC
Quoting: rcritI found it amusing that the three intro screens for the new configuration tool demonstrate using a Steam Deck. It made my Steam controller jealous that it didn't have its own screen.

That makes me wonder, will they facilitate the use of a steam deck as a "simple" controller at some point? Connected via USB or network. It could also be more advanced and show stuff like inventories on-screen, or contextual (action layers) actions.

Then we could properly run WiiU games on a PC 🤩 Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD! In 4K!

Ubuntu 22.10 'Kinetic Kudu' is out now
22 October 2022 at 6:54 am UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: heidi.wenger
Quoting: fagnerlnfirefox improved a lot the startup time on snap and it's performing better in benchmarks than non-snap version.


So, the official snapped Firefox now works better than the old fashion one. How things change. And what negativity Canonical got from small but feisty band for this work in progress


I think most of the shit Canonical got was due to them literally trying to force you to use the snap, if you wanted to or not. Not because it shipped as a snap, which of course is up to them, but you couldn’t even uninstall it and sudo apt install “normal” Firefox, since *buntu was set up to install the Snap version even if you did the command to install apt/deb version. That, I think, was a mistake on their part, to think would go over well with people.

That’s some Microsoft level asshattery. “We know you tried to install Firefox, but we installed Edgeium instead.”

YouTube thought my Steam Deck video was 'harmful and dangerous'
25 August 2022 at 7:18 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: AppelsinAnd it doesn’t discriminate if it’s brainwashing in favor of crazy left or of crazy right.
There is some evidence this may not be the case in practice, and this is understandable theoretically: While the radical left and radical right would both make significant differences to the average person's life should they take over, the radical right wouldn't make much difference to the prosperity of the very rich, and might actually increase their wealth and power still further. So owners of platforms have no reason to see them as a serious threat. Whereas the radical left could significantly impact the fortunes of the very wealthy even if they merely became influential enough to shift the "Overton Window" to where 70s-style redistributive taxation became feasible. So owners of platforms have strong motivation to keep left wing talk out of view.
Disclaimer: I'm a crazy leftist, so my position may be biased.

A very good point, which I do agree with.

However, this depends on what is meant by "crazy left/right". Since I do consider myself among the crazy left to which you refer (those in favour of redistributive taxation and other such policies), this is of course not what I mean by "crazy left", though it's still crazy according to other points of view than mine This is more the classical skandinavian socialist / social democratic left, to which I'm a card carrying memeber (being Norwegian, that may not be so strange).
This is, as you say, not something which the platform holders (or anyone else with lots of power and money) wish to promote. And even if it is somewhat in vogue these days, even in the US, it's not the sexiest part of modern leftism, and doesn't elicit the same emotional response as other lefty interests.

To specify what I mean by "crazy left": The modern emotional Twitter-left, which more or less acts as the current counterpart to the "alt-right", i.e. the radical (racist anti-racist) parts and offshoots of the BLM movement, the anti-biology gender crowd (e.g. in sports, "a man who became a trans-woman and have gone through male puberty doesn't hold any physical advantage over a biological woman, because there's no biological difference between men and women, it's only social conditioning"), and the "disagreeing with me, or giving me information that I don't like, is equivalent to an assault on my mental and physical person", where a heterodox view on anything is unacceptable.
Like the conspi-right, this part of the left is easly manipulated by those with the power to do so, either for profit (Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, etc) or foreign interests (e.g. it's known that Russia have used social media and the racial tensions post-Floyd to stir up and mobilise Twitter-left outrage, to further deepen the US political tribalism).

Thankfully, in Norway, we're not quite at US levels of hysteria (on either side), but we're slowly but surely importing the culture war here too, since neither far side want to miss out on the action and the opportunity to be ahead of the curve.

YouTube thought my Steam Deck video was 'harmful and dangerous'
21 August 2022 at 10:16 am UTC Likes: 5

Quoting: ShabbyXWhile this was obviously a bug in their algorithm, said algorithm is also preventing brainwash videos from turning your child into a terrorist, racist etc.

Except that it doesn’t, though. Isn’t rabbit-holing just what the algorithm does? To keep you in the platform, which is the task/goal of the algorithm that recommended the next videos, you will be shown incrementally more and more “extreme” variations of what you seem to react positively too (positive, as in you click it and stay on the platform, not that it actually affects you in a positive way).

And it doesn’t discriminate if it’s brainwashing in favor of crazy left or of crazy right.

Also, if they’re big enough, they mostly get away with what would otherwise be deemed “extreme” views if uttered by a less prominent/profitable figure, no matter which of the «mainstream extremes» they promote. And from there, down the hole you go.

Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered is Steam Deck Verified ahead of release
4 August 2022 at 10:29 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Beamboom
Quoting: PhlebiacI loved it on Playstation 4. Gameplay is *very* similar to Batman Arkham games.

Sounds great! Spiderman was my childhood hero so as long as they've made a fairly good implementation of being him in a fairly living and breathing city I think I'll have a jolly good time. :)

If you love Spider-Man you’ll love the game. It’s an absolute blast, hands down :) takes the best from the Arkham style combat and makes it even better and more fluid. Slinging through the city is so nice and enjoyable that you’ll rarely use fast travel, I shit you not.