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Latest Comments by Desum
Frictional Games (SOMA, Amnesia) begin teasing something new
6 Jan 2020 at 12:59 pm UTC Likes: 3

Soma would have been as good of a book as it was a game. Take that as praise or not depending on how much you like reading.

GB Studio, a free and open source retro adventure game creator
29 Dec 2019 at 11:36 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: GuestHmm only Ubuntu/ Debian and Fedora/Redhat Support? I mean sure just build it from Source then but wouldnt a universal Linux build be better?
Flatpak is great, but it still has its share of kinks to workout yet. Same with Snaps, so I guess AppImage would make the most sense for something like this.

Free and open source racer 'SuperTuxKart' has a new test release out, online play improvements
21 Dec 2019 at 9:54 pm UTC

The GPL is going into an even harder decline anyway without a certain someone around to boost for it. Accept the inevitable as far as that goes.

Dreamcast emulator Flycast adds a Vulkan renderer
13 Dec 2019 at 3:22 am UTC

Quoting: linuxcityredream only costs $5 if you want hd,its still free.well worth it and i paid the $5 seeing it runs mostly all the games i want.
Proprietary emulation is really not a thing we should be encouraging. Flycast is doing more good work with this and the OSS bios replacement anyway.

Dreamcast emulator Flycast adds a Vulkan renderer
12 Dec 2019 at 7:03 pm UTC

It's nice to see Saturn AND Dreamcast emulation finally making big strides.

The open source Nintendo Switch Emulator 'yuzu' now has a Vulkan renderer
7 Dec 2019 at 1:29 am UTC

Quoting: chr
Quoting: Purple Library GuyMmm, I think this conversation is over.
Quoting: DesumOh? Alright then~
I don't mean to intrude on your conversation which is over, but if either of you have some links to some videos or articles or podcast episodes or something which to some high degree overlap with your complicated but interesting-sounding views on the copyright system, then I might appreciate links (private or public). Not insisting though. Also don't easily forget to value your time and give it away to internet strangers who might not even watch your link. :)
If you want my basic views, just look up RMS's Copyright vs Community videos. Oh, are we not supposed to mention that name anymore? Naughty me~ And the book Free Culture by Lessig.

The open source Nintendo Switch Emulator 'yuzu' now has a Vulkan renderer
5 Dec 2019 at 9:01 pm UTC

Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Desum
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Desum
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: DesumYes, like those half dozen scholars interested in stories like Beowulf other ancient works.
Yes, exactly like. And I was serious when I said I think scholarship is important. I've taken Beowulf courses myself. But nonetheless, you were giving an overstated impression of your point.
(In fact, I probably like copyright less than you do; it's an antiquated system intended to preserve the profits and control of owners of early industrial revolution printing presses. To this day it remains mainly a tool for top-down class warfare, but now it's a tool poorly adapted to current technologies. There are other possible models for encouraging and supporting creative work. But IMO the biggest problems with the current copyright model aren't really about the deep future)
Copyright paired with a short duration is worth the trade for the works in the arts it generates. But that's another topic. If you are in favor of doing away with copyright in total, whatever issue is there you could have with piracy? Even I don't advocate making unauthorized copies of games less than twenty years old and passing them around. But without any copyright, that is exactly what one could do.
You're reading into my words. I never said a thing about piracy, pro or con. Something can be true and yet there can be false arguments for it; I can agree that something is true but still insist that some specific reason has nothing to do with why. So for instance, I believe the world is round, but if someone was trying to convince a flat earther by saying that obviously, people's heads are round and God made the world in our (heads') image, I'd be saying hang on a moment.
So no, I'm not arguing against piracy, I'm just saying a particular argument you made for it is overblown. In fact I'm not particularly bothered by piracy as a rule, although I don't think it's a cut and dried question. For instance, I become a lot more uneasy if it's piracy of small developers' stuff. And I do think there is some value in sticking to the law until it can be changed, even if it's not a good law . . . although there are limits. And I'm not in favour of replacing copyright with nothing, I'm in favour of replacing it with something else. I could discuss some suggestions for that something else, but it would get pretty wordy. But without any alternative in place or even very widespread perception that there could be alternatives, I will have to accept copyright limping along a while longer. On the other hand, piracy helps make the current copyright regime gradually less viable, which is fine by me . . . so yeah, my views on it are complicated.
Oh, preserving cultural artifacts is an overblown reason? M'kay. Are video games the only thing you feel that way about?
Mmm, I think this conversation is over.
Oh? Alright then~

The open source Nintendo Switch Emulator 'yuzu' now has a Vulkan renderer
5 Dec 2019 at 7:48 am UTC

Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Desum
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: DesumYes, like those half dozen scholars interested in stories like Beowulf other ancient works.
Yes, exactly like. And I was serious when I said I think scholarship is important. I've taken Beowulf courses myself. But nonetheless, you were giving an overstated impression of your point.
(In fact, I probably like copyright less than you do; it's an antiquated system intended to preserve the profits and control of owners of early industrial revolution printing presses. To this day it remains mainly a tool for top-down class warfare, but now it's a tool poorly adapted to current technologies. There are other possible models for encouraging and supporting creative work. But IMO the biggest problems with the current copyright model aren't really about the deep future)
Copyright paired with a short duration is worth the trade for the works in the arts it generates. But that's another topic. If you are in favor of doing away with copyright in total, whatever issue is there you could have with piracy? Even I don't advocate making unauthorized copies of games less than twenty years old and passing them around. But without any copyright, that is exactly what one could do.
You're reading into my words. I never said a thing about piracy, pro or con. Something can be true and yet there can be false arguments for it; I can agree that something is true but still insist that some specific reason has nothing to do with why. So for instance, I believe the world is round, but if someone was trying to convince a flat earther by saying that obviously, people's heads are round and God made the world in our (heads') image, I'd be saying hang on a moment.
So no, I'm not arguing against piracy, I'm just saying a particular argument you made for it is overblown. In fact I'm not particularly bothered by piracy as a rule, although I don't think it's a cut and dried question. For instance, I become a lot more uneasy if it's piracy of small developers' stuff. And I do think there is some value in sticking to the law until it can be changed, even if it's not a good law . . . although there are limits. And I'm not in favour of replacing copyright with nothing, I'm in favour of replacing it with something else. I could discuss some suggestions for that something else, but it would get pretty wordy. But without any alternative in place or even very widespread perception that there could be alternatives, I will have to accept copyright limping along a while longer. On the other hand, piracy helps make the current copyright regime gradually less viable, which is fine by me . . . so yeah, my views on it are complicated.
Oh, preserving cultural artifacts is an overblown reason? M'kay. Are video games the only thing you feel that way about?

The open source Nintendo Switch Emulator 'yuzu' now has a Vulkan renderer
5 Dec 2019 at 3:54 am UTC

Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: DesumYes, like those half dozen scholars interested in stories like Beowulf other ancient works.
Yes, exactly like. And I was serious when I said I think scholarship is important. I've taken Beowulf courses myself. But nonetheless, you were giving an overstated impression of your point.
(In fact, I probably like copyright less than you do; it's an antiquated system intended to preserve the profits and control of owners of early industrial revolution printing presses. To this day it remains mainly a tool for top-down class warfare, but now it's a tool poorly adapted to current technologies. There are other possible models for encouraging and supporting creative work. But IMO the biggest problems with the current copyright model aren't really about the deep future)
Copyright paired with a short duration is worth the trade for the works in the arts it generates. But that's another topic. If you are in favor of doing away with copyright in total, whatever issue is there you could have with piracy? Even I don't advocate making unauthorized copies of games less than twenty years old and passing them around. But without any copyright, that is exactly what one could do.

The open source Nintendo Switch Emulator 'yuzu' now has a Vulkan renderer
5 Dec 2019 at 2:21 am UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Desum
Quoting: cere4lI'm a bit on the fence about this one, strangely enough I have no issues with emulation, or with paid games.. and yet it seems so odd to have to pay for what is effectively.. pure piracy in 99% of the usecases if not more.
Hundreds of years from now, it will be thanks to "pirates" that people will be able to play the games we have enjoyed in our lifetimes. NOT the large corporations who cannot even be trusted as custodians of their own source code. "Piracy" isn't even a necessary evil, it is an absolute good for humanity in the long run because of the oppressive copyright scheme we had foisted on us.
Hundreds of years from now, maybe half a dozen historians will be interested in playing the games we have enjoyed in our lifetimes. And that's assuming civilization survives the next 40 years. Mind you, I think scholarship is important, I'm just saying--in terms of ordinary people, in hundreds of years they'll want to play their games, with maybe a little vogue for playing those retro games from only (hundreds - 20) of years in the future.
(Well, maybe the Koreans will still be playing Starcraft, kind of the way we still play chess. In competitive matches they will ceremoniously have a drink of tea before the match, except for reasons nobody remembers they will have to chant "Do the Dew!" after the first sip)
Yes, like those half dozen scholars interested in stories like Beowulf other ancient works. Or the pittance of people who care about more "recent" public domain works like Alice in Wonderland, A Princess of Mars or The Night Land. Never mind all the diverse pieces of music and art that are used and remixed to this day.

Perhaps YOU don't care about playing games from before your time (or preserving cultural artifacts in general), but more people than you seem to think do. And emulators and "piracy" are how that's going to happen with video games by and large. Most games will NEVER get source code either released or rewritten. Hell, in the case of SEGA, nearly their entire Saturn catalog's source code is gone.

I'm not in favor of abolishing copyright either, but what we have now is far past excessive and is going to cause a lot of works, not just games, to be lost.