Quoting: pb

Quoting: pleasereadthemanual

Quoting: pbSo what's so special about this box that it costs $60-70 more than the one with preinstalled Windows? I appreciate that they're trying, but I fail to see the point.

It comes with a copy of CrossOver Linux, valued at $59USD per year. I don't know whether it's a lifetime copy, annual, or some variant of their CrossOver One product.

Worth it? Maybe, especially if it's a lifetime copy, which generally goes for about $499.95USD.

"the first 1,000 orders get a free copy of CrossOver Linux"

Fair point about only the first 1,000 orders; I doubt the price will go down after that.

As for a "free copy", what does this mean? There is no free version of CrossOver Linux. There's a 14-day free trial. There's a yearly subscription. There's a lifetime subscription. And there's the CrossOver One one-time purchase (which doesn't exist right now). So based on what version it is, that will determine the value of it. Given that they don't say "1 free year", I suppose it's meant to be lifetime or a particular version (CrossOver 21) forever.

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Quoting: pbSo what's so special about this box that it costs $60-70 more than the one with preinstalled Windows? I appreciate that they're trying, but I fail to see the point.

It comes with a copy of CrossOver Linux, valued at $59USD per year. I don't know whether it's a lifetime copy, annual, or some variant of their CrossOver One product.

Worth it? Maybe, especially if it's a lifetime copy, which generally goes for about $499.95USD.

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I still don't really get what the audience for the Steam Deck is. I kind of want to buy one, but then I remember I have no use for it. I can play games in bed with my laptop. I have 4 GNU/Linux computers already. If I'm outside, I don't want to play games, otherwise I wouldn't have gone outside.

I guess I don't really understand the portable gaming idea to begin with. I did play Pokemon a lot as a kid, but those days are long gone. I played a lot of mobile games when I was younger, too, but that was mostly the novelty of it rather than them being any good. I don't think that phase lasted very long.

I guess it doesn't help that a lot of the games I play involve using Textractor, copying text to the clipboard, looking it up in a J-J dictionary, and creating an Anki card. Not really the type of gaming suited for a small, portable device without a keyboard.

I just have no idea what to think, because I am clearly not the target audience for this.

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For proprietary games, sure. And for distributions on a slow release schedule with frequently like Debian, Ubuntu LTS, and even Ubuntu proper, sure.

On a rolling-release distribution like Arch? No way. All of the packages are up-to-date, and if they're not, they are up-to-date in the AUR. Flatpak is way too much complexity for me. I tried it when I was new to GNU/Linux and it confused the hell out of me. I'm sure I could manage it now, but I don't want to. I don't mind AppImages because they tend to manage themselves and aren't particularly ambitious. However, even they tend to have less features than the non-sandboxed version (see the Cinelerra-GG handbook for the differences).

I'd rather games come with a .sh install script like GoG games do than be required to deal with Flaptak. I see no place for it on distributions like Arch Linux.

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Quoting: MayeulCIronically the Proton version works better than the native version in the Steam Flatpak.

Quoting: pleasereadthemanualI love the format; it's so simple, gives the developer a lot of control, and solves the age-old issue of dependencies being updated over time.

There's plenty of issues with the format too: it's harder to update said dependencies, it still relies on a bunch of dependencies on the host, it also relies on a couple of weird tricks.

Basically, the most interesting part of the format is that it's delivered as a single file. Great for running multiple versions side-by-side, and easy to use in a portable way. Besides that, not much.

Flatpaks are relatively portable too, it would probably be pretty easy to provide one-file exports, although it would require flatpak on the target computer as well to run :)

I'm not a developer, but as far as I'm aware, it's up to the developer what they include in the AppImage. And they also get to decide how they want the AppImage to be updated—it's in their hands.

On the flip side, assuming these two points are accurate, that means a lot of the onus is on the developer to do things correctly. AppImages aren't really "standardized" in the way that Flatpak is, so there's a lot less direction. Just look at Audacity 3.0+; all of the AppImages they've ever shipped have been broken in some way on GNOME 41+.

I do have concerns about whether a Flatpak would hold up in 10 years time. I'm sure an AppImage would with the right dependencies; you just need to flip an execution bit and execute it. Flatpak just seems like a more complex system with reliance on a considerable amount of infrastructure existing in the same way it does today. Also, sandboxing makes things more complicated.

From an end-user perspective: I already have to manage both the main repositories for my distribution and the AUR for a choice few packages, I don't want to manage another package manager like Flatpak (and I really don't like the CLI interface; actually, I think I hate all package manager's interfaces except for pacman). AppImage makes things simple; I just open the application and it tells me whether it wants to update, and I update (or not).

Yes, I would rather Flatpaks than Snaps, of course.

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Quoting: JpxsonSince they have packaged the Steam version as an AppImage it also won't work with Flatpak Steam. I've asked on Discord if they would consider switching to using the Steam Runtime Soldier instead, since that would solve both this and the Manjaro issue. They answered that they would look into it.

It's disappointing that Flatpak is incompatible with AppImages. Personally, I would love it if GOG, for example, distributed all their games as AppImages. I love the format; it's so simple, gives the developer a lot of control, and solves the age-old issue of dependencies being updated over time.

It would be nice if Steam offered a middle ground that allowed the user to choose which version of the game they download; the Flatpak or the AppImage, in much the same way that software like Gnome Software does.

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I didn't receive the email others appear to have received from Humble. I suppose because I'm not subscribed to the right emails.

However, I did make a support inquiry with some of my questions and received this response:

QuoteHi,

Thanks for writing in! The Humble Games Collection is replacing the Humble Trove. Starting February 1, Mac and Linux versions of the DRM-free games currently in the Humble Trove will no longer be available. The ones provided from the Humble Games Collection are all DRM-free, but the are Windows-only. You can find more information about this here: Changes Coming to Humble Choice FAQ

Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns!

It appears that all games shipped with the Humble client will be DRM-Free. But only available on Windows.

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Quoting: TuxeeJust got this mail

QuoteWindows PC versions of many of these games will still be available to download in the upcoming Humble app, alongside the brand-new Humble Games Collection.

So, the Humble Trove (Vault) library will be smaller than the original and support only one platform?

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Quoting: thoughtfulhippo

Quoting: pleasereadthemanualFrom the sounds of it, the only way to get games from the Humble Games Collection is through the launcher, and no statement has been made on whether they will be DRM-Free

Quoting: nullzeroHumble Games Collection (presumely non drm-free)

Games in the Humble Games Collection will not be DRM-free. The point of requiring the launcher is so that they can revoke access if you skip/cancel your plan.

From the announcement:

QuoteNote that you’ll lose access to these games if you skip a month or cancel your membership

While this may be likely to be true (and I speculate it is), this is how Humble Trove works now. Once you pause your Humble Monthly membership, you don't get access to the Humble Trove to download the games anymore.

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Quoting: Termy

Quoting: pleasereadthemanualI personally don't mind at all that GOG Galaxy is not available on GNU/Linux, and I'm not sure I want it anyway. I use Lutris for GOG games.

Well, Lutris doesn't offer cloud saves unfortunately, so that's a big downside of Galaxy being Windows-exclusive.

This is a downside that doesn't really bother me, as I tend to play particular games on particular computers. Or maybe I just haven't tasted the convenience of cloud saves before, because I'm used to losing all my progress when installing a game on a different computer.

I can see how this might be disappointing for other users, but in the end it is a convenience feature. I'm sure one day minigalaxy will include a feature that allows you to setup your own server as a central point for cloud saves, in the same way that there's a self-hosted alternative to AnkiWeb.

Maybe someday.

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