Quoting: CreakEDIT: looking at Flatpak's wikipedia page, the support out-of-the-box seems as important if not more than for Snap:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatpak#Support

Quoting: slaapliedjeWhere flatpaks and AppImages are open.

Well I have repeatedly stated above that this is the reason I think FlatPak is the superior "next-generation" package manager... I find that Snaps have noticeably better performance and they have certain technical advantages over FlatPak; but at the end of the day, being more "open" is more usually more important in the Grand Scheme of Things (at least in my opinion, anyway).

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Quoting: CreakWell there is at least a huge difference between AppImage and the others (AppImage being merely a huge dump of files that are uncompressed at a specific location and run there).

Meh.

I meant similar in the sense that AppImage loosely has similar goals... There are of course, some obvious differences (such as the fact that it doesn't usually provide libraries, it's not isolated, etc...); but the general idea is the same.

It is quite clearly the "most" different of the three, though...

Quoting: CreakBut overall I don't think the fragmentation is that bad because:
* Snap is basically Ubuntu-only

Not really.

According to Wikipedia, Snaps are supported "out of the box" by at least:
* Ubuntu (plus most of its deviations)
* Gallium OS
* Manjaro
* Zorin OS
* KDE Neon
* Solus
* Li-f-e

I'm not familiar with some of those operating systems, but Manjaro are KDE Neon are certainly big names, and Snaps can be optionally added to a MUCH bigger list of operating systems... In theory, it can run under almost any Linux-based operating system.

So no, not Ubuntu-only.

Quoting: CreakBut overall I don't think the fragmentation is that bad because:
* Flatpak is cross-distributions

Snap is too, so I don't understand your point.

As I wrote above, FlatPak is slightly more "open" - which is the primary reason why I think it is the superior of the two (though I find the performance much better under Snap); but it is certainly not the only one of the two that has cross-distribution support.

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Quoting: fagnerlnIt's surprisingly that they are using flatpak, they should release Steam officially on flatpak or create a sandbox solution with their Steam Runtime, most of the users of rolling distros are having problems on CSGO because of the new glibc, which not happens with the flatpak version.

Ignoring all of the people in the "I Hate Canonical" camp, a decision by Valve to officially release Steam as a Flatpak could start to sway developers towards Flatpak; given how fragmented the "next-generation package manager" field is at the moment, this would be a good thing.

There's not really all that much difference between most of the "next-generation package managers" (Snap / Flatpak / AppImage / etc...), but there is an awful lot of fragmentation and it is incredibly annoying to either be stuck using many "unofficial" ports if you stick to one particular package manager (e.g. Snap); or maintain a Frankenstein-like system, if you stick to the "official" ports via the bazillion different package managers (i.e. some apps as Snaps, others as Flatpaks, etc).

You're never going to get everyone using the same package manager "officially" - but you could sway most developers towards Flatpak, with a major company like Valve behind it... That in turn would likely lead to less fragmentation, which is a good thing.

Quoting: 3zekielGood new is, they did not use snap package, so everyone can have access to it already, and without all snap issues.

Here we go... And what issues are you talking about? Snap seems to work fine for me.

Stop spreading FUD - Snap and Flatpak are almost on par with each other in most areas, with the only significant difference being that the latter is slightly more "open" (which is a good thing and in my opinion, makes Flatpak the superior option).

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Quoting: TheSHEEEPVideo-wise I try to get into a habit to look at odysee.com first before I have to go to YouTube since most people I follow are unfortunately not on both.

LBRY / Odysee.com are slowly getting better... I've been looking for alternatives to YouTube for several years, and LBRY / Odysee.com is the first time I can put my hand on my heart and say I have found something comparable to YouTube.

Sure, YouTube still has a lot of advantages over LBRY / Odysee.com - but the latter is quickly catching up and every day, the content is getting better.

By the way, have you seen the "Watch on LBRY" extension for Firefox? It seems to work pretty well, and with more and more content coming over to LBRY / Odysee.com, it's certainly handy to have installed (it only supports LBRY at this stage though).

Quoting: DrMcCoy

Quoting: TheSHEEEPE-mail wise, I thankfully host my own (or, well, pay a provider to host it for me)

Yes, and then Google just randomly throws half the mails you send to people with gmail accounts into their spam folder, where the recipients never see them...

I have two domains (my surname is different to the rest of my family) and whilst that the domain I use for myself (a ".id.au" domain) has this happen from time-to-time, it never happens with my other domain (a ".com.au" domain that the rest of my family uses).

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Quoting: Purple Library GuyI can imagine a downside to that kind of effort to retain your privacy: Somewhere in an NSA database, your record has a flag saying "One of THOSE people who want privacy--keep an eye on".

That's pretty funny, and I'll pay that...

All joking aside, I find that certain ISPs / telcos have restricted performance for or actively block VPN connections (or at least what they think are VPN connections)... Though depending on which particular access point I happen to be using, this doesn't always work.

Then there's the geo-blocking thing... Some online stores and payment systems actively block certain IP addresses (which occasionally includes that of my VPN), a small number of websites are not available unless I'm using an Australian access point, etc.

Content which is available online seems to vary slightly depending on what VPN access point I'm actively using, too - and no, I'm not just talking about "that" stuff (though "that" stuff is probably the best example here!)... Sometimes stuff that you or I would consider fairly innocent will be seemingly blocked in a certain country - I've seen this on occasion recently, whilst using certain access points in Europe to look-up content as innocent as news articles.

Aside from using "that" stuff as an example here, content relating to privacy and / or freedom-of-speech is one of the best examples on different content being available via different VPN connections... Quite often, the differences between two countries can be "like night and day" (I'm not just talking about the obvious countries, such as Russia, either).

The upside is that most of these issues can be easily worked around, usually by doing something as simple as changing the access point to something else (e.g. I usually change my access point to one in Australia when I want to make a purchase online).

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Quoting: Whitewolfe80But it kind of was I am old enough to of played the og Duke 3d when it was new, way younger that i should of been as it was 18 rated and i think i was about 8/9 but the sequel was kind of trash 2 gun limit wait what the og let me have 11 guns plus a melee weapon Did not have the real version of the ripper, way to many turret sections and the jokes werent edgy so much as worryingly shite.

I'm gonna show my age here, but... I am old enough to remember when Duke Nukem (no, not Duke Nukem 3D - which was actually the third game in the franchise - the original Duke Nukem) was brand new and to be honest, my only complaints with Duke Nukem Forever were that:

• It felt rushed, particularly once you got about halfway through the game;

• It looked incredibly dated, but the time it was finally released;

• Most of the jokes were so old they were no longer relevant, which for me made them less funny and for everyone younger than me, just served to confuse them.

I get that the there's a lot of reasons for these issues and to be honest, I kinda wonder whether they should have released it at all, considering some of these issues were inevitable... But since they did release it, I wish they'd port it to Linux-based operating systems.

Quoting: Whitewolfe80Really even knowing that your ISP tracks everything you do even when your using a vpn, they sell it same as google will privacy in 2021 means no internet no phone no credit card no debit card and everything paid for in cash and literally nobody does that now.

Actually, not all VPNs are created equal and some VPNs make it near-impossible for one's ISP to see their activity, using various methods (such "over-the-top" strong encryption and obfuscution is not without its own issues - but that's another story)... Granted there are plenty of other ways to track someone if you're dedicated enough / have access to the "right" resources, but Google is one of the three biggest data hoarders in the world (the others being Facebook and Amazon) and with the exception of Kindle eBooks (they're the easiest to strip DRM from, in my experience), I don't use any products from those companies, let alone have an account (nor do I have social media accounts).

Does that affect me in the Real World? No, not really - DuckDuckGo has served me well for years now (though I'm currently assessing a couple of other privacy-focused alternatives), and there are countless alternatives to Facebook / Google "things" that are equal, if not superior. Much of my spare time also involves regularly reviewing ways to further increase my privacy (e.g. "Can I replace 'x' with 'y' and gain more privacy?" or "Can I cut-away 'x' entirely and still get by?").

Obviously this doesn't guarantee my privacy - anybody with half-a-brain knows that there are plenty of other ways to track someone in the Modern World (your credit card example being a perfect example here) - but it does minimize how much data "The Big Three" have on me, which is a good thing, considering that between them, they control approximately 3 / 4 of the data on the Internet, in one way or another.

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Quoting: BeamboomSurely business became difficult after the dramatic drop in gaming on Mac.

Never understood Apple's hatred of gaming.

As most of us know, they had their big falling-out with NVIDIA and so have been anti-NVIDIA since - but Apple go further than having "just" a falling out... They proactively take steps to make gaming on Apple hardware difficult and / or pointless.

I mean, where's the logic in that?

Quoting: ErzfeindWhooo! Hope this leads to a Linux port for Borderlands 3, now that Gearbox and Aspyr are practically the same company :)

I just want Duke Nukem Forever... It wasn't a spectacular game - but I thought it wasn't as bad as people made out.

Quoting: pb

Quoting: ErzfeindWhooo! Hope this leads to a Linux port for Borderlands 3, now that Gearbox and Aspyr are practically the same company :)

It's already ported (to Stadia).

A Google product? I value my privacy, so I think I'll pass...

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Quoting: LinasHas Sony done anything out of kindness of their heart ever?

Sony has had their "You Can" program in Australia here, to recycle mobile phones and donate the relevant proceeds towards youth cancer... It looks like the program has finished-up now, but I'm skeptical it's the only Community-focused thing Sony has ever done.

If you're specifically referring to the Open Source and Linux Communities, well a quick search online shows that Sony have contributed towards making Open Source software available for renewable energy, they have various Open Source projects for the film industry and they've been especially passionate about making the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) work with some of their mobile devices (in fact, they've probably put more effort into this than all of the other "major" manufacturers!).

And that's just the stuff I could find on DuckDuckGo in the space of two or three minutes; I'm sure there's plenty more.

Granted Sony is far from perfect, but this is not the first time they've done something like this...

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Quoting: EhvisThe problem with US stores is that when you've added tax, shipping and customs fees, it's not really worth it. So not that surprising that US stores remain fairly unknown in Europe.

This is why I won't buy System76 stuff - by the time you add on customs fees, GST, the so-called "Australia Tax" and everything else, even their cheapest computers compare to high-end computers here (in Australia), with regards to price... It's simply not worth it, when for the same price, I can get something much, much better locally and put a Linux-based operated system on it with similar compatibility.

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Quoting: JuliusAlthough to be honest, as a phone OS Ubuntu Touch is actually better than desktop Linux.

This.

I used an "official" Ubuntu Touch smartphone (the bq Aquaris E5: Ubuntu Edition - which I still have on my desk) as my "daily driver" for about a year, and it was fantastic.

Was it as polished as Apple iOS or Google's Android? Admittedly, no - but it showed an awful lot of promise, well until Canonical abandoned it, anyway.

Had Canonical not abandoned the project though, I truly believe that Ubuntu Touch could have become a viable alternative to the iOS / Android duopoly... Not enough to break the duopoly, but enough to warrant further pursuit.

I also believe that certain major manufacturers missed the opportunity to jump on the Ubuntu Touch train do something with it, when they were struggling to differentiate themselves in the world of Android.

Quoting: kaimanthere are a few essential apps forced on me by the likes of my Bank (for 2FA) or the local public transport (for buying tickets when there is no ticket machine, or it isn't working) or all those "smart" things that want to pair with my mobile device (because why provide a web-interface for configuration when it can have an app instead!?).

I found the same thing (refer to comments above about using Ubuntu Touch) - that there were too many "critical" applications I couldn't go without, which were not able to run under Ubuntu Touch... For me, it would be certain work-related applications (staff portals, scheduling / rostering applications, etc...), drone applications (for operating my drone) and "smart" appliance applications (for controlling / updating my Philips "Hue" lights).

Unfortunately, it was always a "horse and cart" situation - developers won't come if there are no users, and users won't come if there are no developers.

Quoting: kaimanBut then again, in that case I'd likely still be running my trusty Blackberry ...

God I miss my BlackBerry... I spend half the day swearing at my iPhone, because I miss my physical keyboard (my wife and daughter think it's the funniest thing in the world)!

But I can't bring myself to make the jump to Google's Android (which is what is run on "modern" BlackBerry smartphones); with the level of privacy I would have to give up, I just cannot justify it (not to mention the lack of updates / upgrades for Google's Android).

Quoting: yndoendoThis industry really needs a solid Linux phone that will have long term security updates. 2-3 year only security updates is just a lot of e-waste. Current phone works 100% but no more security = bad.

Aside from the laundry list of privacy concerns with regards to Google's Android, this its biggest problem... We've got a whole house full of Android devices (smartphones, tablets, TV set-top boxes and "smart" TVs), most of which are mid-range or high-end, mostly from major manufacturers (e.g. Samsung)... And probably 90% of those have seen not seen updates (e.g. 6.0 to 6.1) for more than 12 months; when it comes to upgrades (e.g. 6.x to 7.x), that number would easily be 99% of them.

In stark contrast, our Apple gear (which we've mostly changed over to) has seen update / upgrade after update / upgrade after update / upgrade.

And every 12 months or so, Google makes this big song and dance about how they're going to do this and do that to address this problem... Yet after 5+ years, nothing has changed (well, unless you buy one of Google's own devices).

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