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Steam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages
By Mal, 31 October 2024 at 7:45 am UTC

Quoting: PhiladelphusWhat does "requires manual removal" in the second screenshot mean?

Like any good old proper spyware, once it infests your kernel it won't just go away with a "pretty please".

Steam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages
By Ralimba, 31 October 2024 at 7:22 am UTC

Time to boycott those kernel anti-cheat games.

Fedora 41 is out now with plenty of enhancements like easier NVIDIA driver installs
By Phlebiac, 31 October 2024 at 7:19 am UTC

Quoting: dziadulewiczIt is beyond any normally thinking user *why there are no couple of simple boxes to tick* during install to achieve this totally basic functionality to watch videos.

It's been quite a while since I did a fresh install (I've updated in place for years), but I seem to recall they did add a third party repositories checkbox as part of it.

I see I've got the fedora-workstation-repositories package installed:
Description : Repository files that make some select non-Fedora software available via search in gnome-software.

$ rpm -ql fedora-workstation-repositories
/etc/yum.repos.d/_copr:copr.fedorainfracloud.org:phracek:PyCharm.repo
/etc/yum.repos.d/google-chrome.repo
/etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-nonfree-nvidia-driver.repo
/etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-nonfree-steam.repo
/usr/lib/fedora-third-party/conf.d/fedora-workstation.conf

Which covers Chrome, the Nvidia driver, and Steam - but not multimedia, I see. As noted before, I prefer the fedora-multimedia negativo17 repo to the rpmfusion one.

However, the base fedora-repos package does cover h.264 browser support:
/etc/yum.repos.d/fedora-cisco-openh264.repo

Steam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages
By Pyrate, 31 October 2024 at 7:02 am UTC

Quoting: Phlebiac
Quoting: PyrateGreat news. Hopefully this starts a similar "game contains Denuvo" sentiment from Steam users (on Linux or otherwise), so that it slowly builds more disliking to the concept on a wide scale, not just Linux players.

You can follow this curator to mostly get that:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/26095454-Denuvo-Games/

Yep, and we need something similar set up for kernel anticheat games now.

Steam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages
By Phlebiac, 31 October 2024 at 6:53 am UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: PyrateGreat news. Hopefully this starts a similar "game contains Denuvo" sentiment from Steam users (on Linux or otherwise), so that it slowly builds more disliking to the concept on a wide scale, not just Linux players.

You can follow this curator to mostly get that:
https://store.steampowered.com/curator/26095454-Denuvo-Games/

Fedora 41 is out now with plenty of enhancements like easier NVIDIA driver installs
By fenglengshun, 31 October 2024 at 6:51 am UTC

Quoting: dziadulewiczIndeed. It's an absolute shitshow. It is mandatory to use terminal and somehow *know* commands and what else. You are expected to just *know* there is this thing called RPMFusion (that you have to manually enable, and from where to start with, also a mystery as not any website or link is given). The installer doesn't express any of this. You also need to install additional codecs.

Fedora doesn't ship patented media codecs by default as for example Ubuntu and Linux Mint do.

It is beyond any normally thinking user *why there are no couple of simple boxes to tick* during install to achieve this totally basic functionality to watch videos.

So basically a new comer "can't watch YouTube, Dlive and Twitch on Linux" OOTB if you happen to choose Fedora as a first distro.
It's codecs. It's related to patents. Patent laws are a mess. Ubuntu, and its downstreams, choose to ignore the issue. Fedora follows a stricter guidelines. There's really not much you can do with what Fedora's rules vs Patent rules.

If it doesn't fit your preference, then use one of its downstreams like Nobara, Aurora, Bazzite, UltrarisiOS, or risiOS which are more newcomer-friendly. Fedora is meant to be a very unopinionated and cleanly-operated community project

COVEN is a fresh 'hyper-violent' retro FPS now in Early Access
By Phlebiac, 31 October 2024 at 6:43 am UTC

Quoting: officernice"Fresh". Same tired aesthetic as the rest of them.

I've also noticed a lot of "boomer shooters" lately are using what *I* would call ugly graphics - uglier than the classics.

COVEN is a fresh 'hyper-violent' retro FPS now in Early Access
By Phlebiac, 31 October 2024 at 6:41 am UTC

Quotewrongly accused of witchcraft... resurrected by an unknown force and seeks revenge

... using witchcraft. Maybe not so wrongly accused? :-D

COVEN is a fresh 'hyper-violent' retro FPS now in Early Access
By officernice, 31 October 2024 at 6:13 am UTC

"Fresh". Same tired aesthetic as the rest of them.

Fedora 41 is out now with plenty of enhancements like easier NVIDIA driver installs
By Phlebiac, 31 October 2024 at 6:10 am UTC

Quoting: wvstolzingas packages eventually get built with the newer version of rpm, the warnings should go away.

Sounds like they need to build the packages with an old version of rpm, or update the spec files to use the newer RPM functions. Annoying that they didn't get that properly sorted before release.

Quoting: dziadulewiczthis thing called RPMFusion (that you have to manually enable

If you use Nvidia drivers, I recommend this repo instead:
https://negativo17.org/multimedia/

As noted on that page: None of these packages can be distributed inside the main Fedora repositories as they are presented here due to patent and licensing issues or simply because they are coupled with non open source software.

Steam Beta adds plenty of Game Recording improvements plus a Steam Play update
By Phlebiac, 31 October 2024 at 5:56 am UTC Likes: 1

They recently made Steam launch the compatibility tools during startup; it was most obvious with Luxtorpeda, which popped up some UI. There was an update to Luxtorpeda to work around it (now notes on the console it's bailing due to bogus launch), but you can see errors for other tools (Boxtron, Roberta, etc.) in the console output.

Not sure if that was an intentional change Valve made to work around some other Steam Play (Proton or "native runtime"?) issues, or if it's just a stupid bug.

Bazzite updated to Fedora 41 with expanded PC gaming handheld support
By CyborgZeta, 31 October 2024 at 5:05 am UTC

I've been using Bazzite Desktop Edition for about a month and have had zero issues. ISO is kind of big, but I didn't have any issues flashing and installing. Setup was very easy, so it didn't take me long at all to get going again after having replaced my Kubuntu install. It helps that picking up where I left off with my programs is as easy as copy pasting my Flatpak files into the .var folder.

If I had a non-Deck handheld PC, or wanted to setup a tiny PC to hook up to my TV for emulation, I would put Bazzite with Gaming Mode on it.

I use Aurora on my laptops since I don't use Steam on those. Like Bazzite-KDE, it's a modified Kinoite. Also like Bazzite, it's very easy to set up and get going.

I really like what the guys over at Universal Blue or doing. I was very hesitant about changing to another distro from Kubuntu, as I've used it for several years and my system was very stable. However, Canonical's further push into Snaps (they made CUPS a Snap in 24.10!), I had to leave Kubuntu behind. Discovering Bazzite and Aurora was quite timely, and I'm very pleased that they've been working so well. Bazzite (and Aurora) have been so stable and zero maintenance that it's boring; which is what I want.

Also, being Fedora-based means I get newer drivers and stuff than Ubuntu, but without being bleeding edge like Arch. After my experience running EndeavourOS for just about a year, I've sworn off using Arch or anything Arch-based. SteamOS on my Deck is the sole exception.

KDE's end of year fundraiser is live
By CyborgZeta, 31 October 2024 at 4:56 am UTC Likes: 1

I already donate to KDE monthly. I am glad to donate to KDE, as I am big fan of their software.

Beelink have open-sourced their Multi-Functional EX Docking Station for mini PCs
By TheRiddick, 31 October 2024 at 1:11 am UTC

This would be neat for getting a encoder card attached to a mini-PC which I would do as a compact stream server, but $250usd is just not something I'd pay for it.

Wonder if I can make my own. I just don't know how exactly things connect to Mini-PC, do they all have a MINI PCIe slot or something on the side?

Luma Island devs spent an 'enormous amount of effort' to make it smooth on Steam Deck
By TheRiddick, 31 October 2024 at 1:05 am UTC Likes: 2

Probably means they spent a lot of time optimizing their game and including graphical settings that offered good performance for low end hardware.

Honestly that will help anyone with a low end GPU or laptop play this game which appears to be the target audience, not the pro-gamer with a $1000 GPU!

Beelink have open-sourced their Multi-Functional EX Docking Station for mini PCs
By klh, 31 October 2024 at 12:51 am UTC

QuoteI can't find anywhere that lists a specific license, so it may not be OSI approved "open source" by their definition of it

Why not find another term to use then? People complaining about "OSI dictating what open source is" clearly don't know/remember OSI was founded by people involved with coming up with the term.

"the interface definitions, technical specifications, and patents" is not even close to anyone's definition of open source - it's interoperability docs at best.

Stop giving corporations free marketing by repeating their lies.

Beelink have open-sourced their Multi-Functional EX Docking Station for mini PCs
By BlackBloodRum, 30 October 2024 at 10:39 pm UTC Likes: 1

I'm sorry, but I find it comical that the GPU is bigger than the entire PC in that setup.

Steam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages
By BlackBloodRum, 30 October 2024 at 10:29 pm UTC Likes: 1

Good! They shouldn't be able to hide something like this.

Steam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages
By Mohandevir, 30 October 2024 at 10:11 pm UTC Likes: 5

Now I'd like a store filter to filter out these games from my search results/propositions.

Fedora 41 is out now with plenty of enhancements like easier NVIDIA driver installs
By slembcke, 30 October 2024 at 9:37 pm UTC

Quoting: Fester_MuddIf things like video playback doesn't work OOTB how could anyone recommend this to any new user ..

I rather like Fedora for reasons, but I actually wouldn't recommend it to new users for exactly (and maybe only) that reason. I actually had a friend that was thinking about giving Linux and specifically Fedora a try, and I felt compelled to warn them that it's not hard to deal with, but it is annoying that it doesn't "just work".

Steam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages
By poiuz, 30 October 2024 at 9:03 pm UTC

Quoting: ElectricPrismReasons like these are why I continue to patron Steam and make it rain . No other store even comes close.
Quoting: Vortex_AcheronticAgreed. Steam and apparently Valve are awesome! I just hope they will not change direction some day in the future if maybe Lord GabeN is no more :/
Yes, really great that they're notify about the shit they're distributing & installing on the user's PC. How forthcoming, I mean where would we be if they'd simply ban the stuff nobody wants.

Bazzite updated to Fedora 41 with expanded PC gaming handheld support
By Samsai, 30 October 2024 at 9:02 pm UTC

Quoting: Purple Library GuyGiven the actual plain meaning of the word "immutable" I think that's kind of understandable. What I find weird is deciding to go Humpty-Dumpty and use the word to mean something that's apparently completely different.
And the system still works according to the plain meaning, you just need to actually look at how state change happens. Deployments are immutable unless unlocked (we will ignore overlayfs for now). What is allowed is creation of new deployments, which can add, change or remove packages. Whether the user can affect how deployments are created or not does not affect whether the system is immutable. So, nobody is going "Humpty-Dumpty" here, the terminology is consistently applied, you just have a preconceived notion of what an immutable OS is like, which doesn't match the reality on the ground. I mean, it sure would be a bit awkward if SteamOS was "immutable" in the sense that not a single bit on the root filesystem was ever allowed to change. :)

Steam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages
By Vortex_Acherontic, 30 October 2024 at 8:55 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: ElectricPrism
QuoteSteam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages

Reasons like these are why I continue to patron Steam and make it rain . No other store even comes close.

(GOG is my second favorite. After the Internet is cancelled over "The New Red Scare" I'll happily be playing my mountain of games offline for quite some time.

Agreed. Steam and apparently Valve are awesome! I just hope they will not change direction some day in the future if maybe Lord GabeN is no more :/

Steam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages
By Schleichfahrt, 30 October 2024 at 8:53 pm UTC

Quoting: scaine
Quoting: PhiladelphusWhat does "requires manual removal" in the second screenshot mean?
Might be wrong, but I think some of these tools install outside of the game itself, adding themselves to the "add/remove software" tool in Windows, or whatever that's called these days.

So you install the game, it installs the kernel-based rootkit/spyware, you later uninstall the game, but the rootkit/spyware is still there, potentially still running at startup, until you remove it.

We Linux users have it lucky in that regard. We might still install the "rootkit/spyware" element in some cases, but because it's tied to Proton emulating (shut up pedants!) the Windows environment, when we stop the game, we also stop all the anti-cheat crap. In our cases, it only gets to run when the game is running.

Exactly, I played the Delta Force demo on my Windows machine during Steam Next Fest and later uninstalled it. Noticed that the "ACE" anti-cheat was still there with 3 services (ACE-BASE, ACE-GAME and a third one). They weren't running, but it's shady to leave the anti-cheat behind after the game has been uninstalled.
(Yes, I realize that installing kernel-level anti-cheat is insecure in the first place and at least in theory renders that machine compromised.)

Regarding the store page anti-cheat disclosure:
That's a fantastic change. Guess there's no chance to make it a bright red box?

Bazzite updated to Fedora 41 with expanded PC gaming handheld support
By Purple Library Guy, 30 October 2024 at 8:43 pm UTC

Quoting: Samsai
Quoting: Purple Library GuyGotta say, this sounds kind of . . . mutable.
Not really any more than functional programming being able to represent a changing state despite immutable values. Some people just don't have a good grasp of what immutability in this context means, because it definitely doesn't need to mean that nothing is ever allowed to change.
Given the actual plain meaning of the word "immutable" I think that's kind of understandable. What I find weird is deciding to go Humpty-Dumpty and use the word to mean something that's apparently completely different.

Steam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages
By ElectricPrism, 30 October 2024 at 8:36 pm UTC Likes: 7

QuoteSteam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages

Reasons like these are why I continue to patron Steam and make it rain . No other store even comes close.

(GOG is my second favorite. After the Internet is cancelled over "The New Red Scare" I'll happily be playing my mountain of games offline for quite some time.

Fedora 41 is out now with plenty of enhancements like easier NVIDIA driver installs
By Pyrate, 30 October 2024 at 8:29 pm UTC

Iguess I'm the only newcomer to Linux who picked Fedora and never looked elsewhere, I think I downloaded codecs at one point just to follow what everyone else is doing, but I don't remember ever having an issue prior to when I randomly thought of installing them.

I'd say Fedora is perfect for newbies who aren't afraid of their devices and don't mind "learning" the OS that they'll be using all the time. Dsitros that "just work" and tolerate tech illiteracy and laziness also have their place of course, it's cool that we have both options.

Steam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages
By scaine, 30 October 2024 at 8:23 pm UTC Likes: 18

Quoting: PhiladelphusWhat does "requires manual removal" in the second screenshot mean?
Might be wrong, but I think some of these tools install outside of the game itself, adding themselves to the "add/remove software" tool in Windows, or whatever that's called these days.

So you install the game, it installs the kernel-based rootkit/spyware, you later uninstall the game, but the rootkit/spyware is still there, potentially still running at startup, until you remove it.

We Linux users have it lucky in that regard. We might still install the "rootkit/spyware" element in some cases, but because it's tied to Proton emulating (shut up pedants!) the Windows environment, when we stop the game, we also stop all the anti-cheat crap. In our cases, it only gets to run when the game is running.