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Latest Comments by Linas
Steam Deck Verified has issues, Grand Theft Auto V edition
13 March 2022 at 12:12 am UTC Likes: 3

I certainly hope that this will not end in a disaster. Right now only a few people have their Steam Decks, so the situation is still repairable. But once they start shipping to the masses, you really don't want to promote broken games. Better to have a smaller library that works, instead of a large one with unreliable ratings and broken games. Could really backfire in the worst way possible.

Google plans their own version of Wine to run Windows games on Stadia
11 March 2022 at 8:04 pm UTC Likes: 5

I really don't think that it matters, but let's play.

Wine is not a Windows emulator, because it does not provide a Windows environment: it does not allow using of Windows drivers, does not emulate devices, or network interfaces that would normally be found on a Windows system, etc. That is why most software that interacts with hardware will not work in Wine. Also why anticheat and DRM software does not work.

It's much more like what Mono is to .NET, or like Pipewire to Pulseaudio, or like FNA to XNA, or DXVK to DirectX, etc. They implement the same API, which allows to use them interchangeably without modifying the clients. At least in theory you could write a native Linux application against Wine API and there would be no emulation involved.

But API itself is not quite enough to trick actual Windows applications. That is why Wine does indeed emulate parts of Windows, like filesystem structure and drive names. And the Wineserver process provides roughly the same services as a Windows kernel would.

Wine is largely not an emulator, but has some traits of an emulator. Just enough emulation sprinkled on top to make us nerds worldwide argue over nomenclature.

Google plans their own version of Wine to run Windows games on Stadia
10 March 2022 at 1:26 pm UTC Likes: 6

Quoting: AsciiWolfOne of the good things about Stadia was that it could potentially bring new native Linux ports (that could also be made available for regular GNU/Linux systems outside of Stadia).
Unfortunately we have seen none of that as none of the games that were ported to Stadia came to desktop Linux afterwards.

I remember developers commenting that Stadia is quite different from desktop Linux. I have no idea what is actually different, but I could easily imagine that they have their own stuff for input handling, rendering, etc. You know, just like Android is technically a Linux system under the hood, but the API's that you are actually coding against are completely custom.

Google plans their own version of Wine to run Windows games on Stadia
10 March 2022 at 11:32 am UTC Likes: 7

I would be shocked if they actually wrote an emulator from scratch. Maybe it is something more akin to the infamous eON from Virtual Programming? Very curious indeed.

Although I fully expect that Google will not release the source code, and that we will benefit from it not at all.

RimWorld upgrades for Steam Deck delayed by the situation in Ukraine
25 February 2022 at 9:51 pm UTC Likes: 1

What Putin is doing to Ukraine is pure insanity. Pointless destruction and death with no goal. A sick power play by an absolute madman. The old man has completely lost it, and millions will suffer because of it.

1 week from release, Steam Deck hits well over 640 Playable games
18 February 2022 at 10:56 am UTC

Quoting: mZSq7Fq3qs
Quoting: VulphereAlien: Isolation is now verified
awesome! Also not awesome. There is no way that i am gonna touch that game.
A while ago I started playing it on hard, because I am no pussy that's why. Big mistake.

It is actually a really good game. One complaint I have is about the alien behavior. Without spoiling anything, sometimes it felt like in some older shooter games, when the enemy is behind a wall and does not see you, but still points their gun at you when you move around. Like it's not aware of you, but also is aware of you at the same time. Breaks the immersion a bit.

Anyway, don't play on hard.

iFixit did a teardown of the Steam Deck, official partner for parts
15 February 2022 at 9:57 pm UTC Likes: 12

Quoting: elmapulits amazing how valve is changing the industry for better, with good/consumer friendly pratices
It's hard not to be a Valve fanboy at this point. Say what you will, but they are one of very few tech companies that actually treat their customers with trust and respect.

Check your Steam Library against Steam Deck compatibility easily
15 February 2022 at 10:33 am UTC

This may become more useful as more games get listed, but for now ProtonDB is still the way to go.

Doom Shinobi is my new favourite GZDoom mod
14 February 2022 at 1:02 pm UTC Likes: 1

This is the most hardcore thing I have seen in a while. Ghostrunner has nothing on this one.

Eggnut decide not to bring Backbone to Linux officially
10 February 2022 at 9:29 am UTC Likes: 22

The devs would go "yeah, we can make a Linux version", then develop the whole thing on Windows, include a bunch of third party libs without checking compatibility once, and then at the end would be like "uhmm, we're releasing next week, anyone here knows anything about this Linux thing? no? alrighty then".

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