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Latest Comments by Alm888
Seems the Valve Steam Deck has been impressing people with some hands-on time
8 August 2021 at 10:03 pm UTC

Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: Alm888There is no "/etc/os-release" on Windows. Not even "/etc".
Sure there is, it is in Windows\System32\drivers\etc. 😜
No, it is not. ;)
The "etc" thing there is only for "hosts" file (that's right, a plain text file without an extension in its name on Windows. One of a kind!). And that is only because Billy (I believe it was still Him at the helm back then) felt lazy that day and just decided to rip off BSD network stack, complete with configuration files and directory structure (yeah, that level of laziness).
Apart from that the directory serves no purpose and holds no identification data. So, no, there is no "os-release" there.

Seems the Valve Steam Deck has been impressing people with some hands-on time
7 August 2021 at 9:03 pm UTC Likes: 6

Quoting: whizse
Quoting: F.UltraWell to be honest in order to fulfil "that will tell games if they're being run on the Steam Deck" that API could be just /etc/os-release :-)
Z:\\etc\os-release
Wrong!
 
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\Version

Quoting: ArtenI don't think that windows game runing under proton can access linux filesystem.
It can (by default root directory is mounted as Z: drive). So a Linux-aware Windows virus can access ones "host" filesystem and, let's say, encrypt all the files it can grab.

WINE developers warn everybody: WINE is NOT a sandbox!

Seems the Valve Steam Deck has been impressing people with some hands-on time
7 August 2021 at 8:38 pm UTC

Quoting: F.Ultra
Quoting: Alm888New API? I wonder, what will it be?
In my impression developers just need to target WIN32 API releasing for Windows and Valve will do the "magic". Well, that and Vulkan is preferable. At least Valve has said as much…

Well to be honest in order to fulfil "that will tell games if they're being run on the Steam Deck" that API could be just /etc/os-release :-)
There is no "/etc/os-release" on Windows. Not even "/etc".
But I guess, a new function in Steam API returning 0 or 1 on whether it is a Steam Deck will suffice.

Seems the Valve Steam Deck has been impressing people with some hands-on time
7 August 2021 at 4:31 pm UTC Likes: 1

New API? I wonder, what will it be?
In my impression developers just need to target WIN32 API releasing for Windows and Valve will do the "magic". Well, that and Vulkan is preferable. At least Valve has said as much…

Frozenbyte are now telling Linux users to use Proton, even for their older games
28 July 2021 at 4:25 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: gradyvuckovicThat part in the quotes tells you everything you need to know.
The fact that they did not bother to fix sound issues in "Shadowgrounds: Survivor" (the sound subsystem would just crash after 10 minutes making entire game mute) and just told Linux players GTFO has told me everything I should know about Frozenbyte.

Speaking of which, I've tried to run "Shadowgrounds: Survivor" two months ago on a modern system. Guess what? It worked! After the usual "padsp" trick in order to emulate ALSA for this piece of game. So… What "game preservation" are we talking about? I do not see a problem, let alone think dependency on closed-source proprietary and ever-shifting WIN32 API (which even Microsoft is trying to bury) would "preserve" anything.

P.S. "Just Use Proton" strikes again! Another bookmark in my "Just Use Proton" collection. :)

Faster Zombies to Steam Deck: The History of Valve and Linux Gaming
23 July 2021 at 3:04 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: CatKillerI don't know, but it seems to me that Microsoft are on the back foot.
I'm not so sure. Recently Microsoft introduced the new "Windows 11" and made some vague hints about its plans to integrate Steam and other 3rd-party stores into its own Windows app store. And I'm sure some portable gadgets will follow (be it "Surface Go", "Xbox on Wheels" or whatever).

Round two! Fight!!!

Quoting: CatKillerPeople have already experienced what it's like to have the whole industry under Microsoft's control, and I don't think they're keen to have that continue indefinitely.
Honestly, IMO, most people do not care about underlying technology. They do not even know what kernel SteamOS uses (Thanks to Valve obscuring "Linux" -- the heck, Valve does not even show a Tux icon on its store, replacing it with its own logo), much less about OS of Sony's "PlayStation", "Nintendo Switch" or Apple's "MacOS". When Steam Deck comes, most people will not care either. And those who will, do know right now that yes, one will be able to install Windows on it and enjoy full Windows experience on a rather cheap and powerful portable hardware.

Faster Zombies to Steam Deck: The History of Valve and Linux Gaming
23 July 2021 at 2:11 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: GuestPretty sure CDProjekt wouldn't speak in German to GOG.
Did not want to use the infamous polish curse word there.

Overall, if we look at the picture as a whole, it seems this is a market share war and Microsoft seems to be the lead in this "dance". Valve does not act; it reacts to Microsoft's input.

And CDProjekt? A reaction to a reaction… Does English have a word for that?

P.S. (I still remember CDProjekt's top brass dude saying he does not see Linux support "in a foreseeable future"… six months before GOG hastily added its initial support)

Faster Zombies to Steam Deck: The History of Valve and Linux Gaming
23 July 2021 at 12:08 pm UTC Likes: 19

Short story (2013->2021)

Microsoft to developers in 2012: "Let us introduce our Store to you…"
Valve to developers in 2013: "Hey, we have ported to Linux our sore app and most of our games, so you probably should do the same!"
CDProjekt to GOG in 2013: "Wut?! Achtung! Hey, GOG, get your store on Linux ASAP! We do not care how, just do it!"
Microsoft in 2014: "OK, OK! Our store is not mandatory! Relax, everything is fine!"
Developers and Valve in 2015: "Nah, false alarm."
GOG in 2015: "… "
Microsoft in 2021: "Let us introduce our…"
Valve to developers in 2021: "Hey, don't listen to them! We have this new shiny and cheap PC/Console everyone will (thanks, microchip industry crisis) have soon! Trust us, you do not want to miss it! Don't bother with porting or anything, we'll handle this for you, just make sure your game is on our store!"
Game porters in 2021: "… "
Valve: ""

Star Drifters talk their Linux sales for titles like Danger Scavenger, plus a key giveaway
2 June 2021 at 6:52 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: DebianUserNot a surprise, a game on linux market has way less concurrence than on the Windows one, % of users is meaningless if the offer is not the same !
But if you count the Proton™, there is almost no disparity in available games.

Granted, the Always online and competitive multiplayer games will never accept Proton™ and will never work (everyone who thinks the anticheat software will ever accept unsupported non-trusted environment like WINE with its potential of side-loading 3rd party DLL's is delusional, IMO), but in case of this game, I doubt its target audience (single player "roguelike") overlaps that much.

Linux Kernel dev bans University of Minnesota for sending malicious patches
21 April 2021 at 5:44 pm UTC Likes: 1

Quoting: Photon
Quoting: Alm888I have a research proposition: let's get ourselves a pharmaceutical company and force this company to introduce poison in some of its medications and distribute those poisoned drugs trough common distribution network. In the name of research, of course! I think we must determine the pharmaceutical industry's ability to identify and block malicious drugs!

Have you seen the list of side effects on drugs? I think pharma's do that on their own.
1) Those are documented side effects;
2) Sadly, no drug is flawless (no panacea was invented yet).
What those "researchers" have done was experimenting on unwitting victims with possible lethal "side-effects".
Quoting: MohandevirSo, following that logic, we are better served with closed source proprietary code that got well know unpatched and exploited flaws for years... Yeah right!

Edit: Wondering who paid for this non-sense "research"? Could we follow the money, please?
What mind-bending yoga has made you to come to this conclusion? Since when prohibiting "scientific" rm -rf /* patches leads to "closed source proprietary code" propaganda?
There are other means of code audition/inspection/scrutiny than willful injection of malicious code into working industry-level software possibly managing critical infrastructure objects like hospitals, nuclear power plants, stock exchange servers or ship navigation systems.
It is all joy and games only until someone gets killed due to this kind of "research".