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jf0314 ,

I tried building a Steam box with the bootleg version of SteamOS from the deck... Can't remember the name of the distro. Steam Games ran great for the most part, but getting Epic, EA and Ubisoft to work was a nightmare. If Linux can get that sorted, I'd never use Windows again.

Traister101 ,

I mean doesn't sound like you're missing out on anything tbh

Kedly ,

I wanted to say this, but I mean, people can choose to consume garbage if they want

jf0314 ,

Right. Snob all you want, but I thoroughly enjoyed Div1 and 2. AC Origins was also a lot of fun, especially for someone that grew up fascinated by ancient Egypt.

Civ6 is on EGS... Battlefield 1and5 on EA, plus the Mass Effect series...

But hey... Those games are awful, right... The chi chamber is loud today.

Kedly ,

Are those games not available on Steam and GoG? And like I said, you do you. I cant stand EA and Epic, but everyone has their own lines in the sand that they will or wont cross. I specifically called EA and Epic garbage though, not the customers who'd be willing to do business with them

LodeMike ,

What games were you trying to play

Suburbanl3g3nd ,

Most EA and Ubisoft games I've played run fine on Deck. Just need to run the game in desktop mode first and then it boots in the Steam UI side of the OS just fine.

Secret300 ,

Yeah, it's definitely better now then it was before believe it or not. I honestly just avoid them at all cost even on windows. I hate games that ship their own launcher even though I bought it on steam

CosmicCleric ,
@CosmicCleric@lemmy.world avatar

protondb.com

jaemo ,

So, literally every game I've bought on steam is playable on my Manjaro box.

Additionally, a recent KDE6 upgrade messed up my config and necessitated a full system reinstall. After remounting the partition where my steam games were installed on in the old sys, they....just worked. Even the ones that don't cloud sync, saved games all there, DLC all there.

I don't know how long reinstalling ~1TB of games would take on windows.... a lot? Pretty sure you have to fully reinstall them, not just "point steam to the drive where they live"

Frankly I just don't see why people tolerate windows anymore. It's just laughably bad.

jf0314 ,

Like I wrote, Steam games were generally good, other storefronts, not so much.

mint_tamas ,

I used to keep my steam games on a separate windows 10 partition and it worked exactly as you describe after a reinstall, it was all there. It’s still incredibly cool that this works on Linux and we get to use it as daily driver without being forced to dual boot for games. A windows installation still lingers on my desktop but it’s been years since I booted into it.

Llewellyn ,

If you have games in a separate partition, then you will have no need to reinstall it even in case with reinstalling Windows, though.

You haven't really highlighted any of the linux advantages here.

jaemo ,

You haven't really highlighted any of the linux advantages here.

I wasn't really on that side quest, I'm only asserting it's (apparently) as easy as Windows is. If you don't see "not having to use windows" as an advantage, or if it's actually an impediment to your non-game-related computer use, that's totally fair; subjectivity is absolutely part of this.
I'm just glad it all works for me in my life and that I'm lucky enough to be able to get to work on the platform I prefer.

praise_idleness ,

Not a video gamer myself and can't love linux enough. No more searching for installers. yay all the way.

pBaesse ,

Epic runs nice using Lutris 😃😃

jf0314 ,

I want able to get it to work unfortunately. This was a few years ago though.

rach ,

I have really tried getting epic to work, but both ea and Ubisoft launchers work quite well now through Lutris

pBaesse ,

Strange, was it recently?? My Epic install have been working for years (installed again a few times)

rach ,

I just realized that I missed a word. I have not tried getting epic to work. Sorry for the confusion 😅

pBaesse ,

HOhOHOhoHOh no problem. Anything, just ask 😁

citrusface ,

Different now - works flawless with lutris

kaputter_Aimbot ,

You don't need the bootlegged version of SteamOS, there is ChimeraOS (GitHub).

Also Steam runs great on a lot of distros, I use Arch Mint btw. ;-)

For Epic Games, GOG and Amazon you can use Heroic Games Launcher (GitHub).

Piece_Maker ,
@Piece_Maker@feddit.uk avatar

Heroic is amazing. Rather than running the crappy Epic client via Wine, you just install this native piece of software that then launches each game via Wine/Proton/whatever else and pretty much just works every time, complete with things like EAC

Bulletdust ,

I run both the Epic Store as well as the EA App via Bottles, and I had both up and running in about ten minutes.

You can also install both launchers under Steam via Proton. The process is a little more involved, but far from difficult.

spikederailed ,

Bottles and Lutris would help in this case for you.

jf0314 ,

It didn't work before, maybe I'll try it again when I have the time.

Gullible ,

In total, I expect this to cost about a minute or two of my life if they never remove the ads. This figure is fairly typical for daily windows users, of which ~400kk are on win11. Microsoft will steal ~1.5*400,000,000 minutes with these ads. Ads that nearly no one will even consider clicking. 600,000,000 minutes=10,000,000 hours=1140 years. Multiple lifetimes in aggregate, all to be thrown away for nothing. I’d like to send a very strongly worded knot tying tutorial to Satya Nadella and Brad Smith.

hubobes ,

Now figure out how much that is in lost revenue and write a headline like „Microsoft to lose economy one million gazzillion $“.

Kelly ,

lost revenue

You can be sure this is retail only.

Enterprise Windows won't have this feature and now appears to have added value for corporate customers.

ChowJeeBai ,

That why I pay my gold partner friend for a copy of enterprise he gives to his developers.

psud ,

Lots of people will spend a few hours then several tens of minutes monthly or so finding out how and then disabling the ads after each update

tsonfeir ,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

https://neon.kde.org/

Squeak ,

As much as everyone pushes Linux, it’s not a suitable replacement in a lot of scenarios

Dagamant ,

But it is a suitable replacement in a lot of scenarios. Most scenarios. The only time it isn’t is in niche specialty situations.

Squeak ,

Not really. Adobe creative cloud is used my almost all graphic/media professionals, yet doesn’t work on Linux… that’s not very niche

bamboo ,

And fwiw, most computer users still aren’t Adobe CC users.

Dagamant ,

That is a niche. its a large niche, but its still a niche.

TunaCowboy ,

graphic/media professionals adobe users

Drummyralf ,

Although it's a bloated mess, it's the standard for a reason. Affinity is starting to catch up, but the complete Adobe suite has no real competition.

Drummyralf ,

The problem is mostly that those niches count up, so that quite a lot of people fit in one of those niches.

I happen to fit in 3 niches at the same time: VR, Music and Professional design.

VR? No linux.
Music production? Depending on your VSTs, No linux.
Playing Music live? Depending on VSTs, No linux.
Professional design? No Linux.

I currently actively trying to switch to Linux, despite its apparant shortcomings in above applications. It's quite the challenge. Wine seems to install quite some stuff, but from what I've read it's a crabshoot if stuff breaks after every update...

tsonfeir ,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

What are some of these scenarios?

moon ,

It is in far more situations that it isn't

Nothing productive mentioning the situations it can't do while ignoring the massive amount of situations it can do far better

Matriks404 ,

Is there something like PowerToys Run for KDE? That's one of the utilities I would miss the most when switching to Linux.

Sekoia ,

PopOS's COSMIC menu is like that I think (you can search files, the web, even stuff like turning volume up and down)? But I've never tried to run it outside of PopOS.

Tick_Dracy ,
@Tick_Dracy@lemm.ee avatar

I use Pop_Os on my desktop, but that’s nowhere near PowerToys. Even the search is barebones when you compare it with PowerToys using the Everything search plugins.

Also PowerToys has a lot more to offer than the search: mouse shake features, keyboard remapping, a great window manager with shortcuts, files preview and much more.

I know there are some decent alternatives in MacOS, but I haven’t found a proper replacement for that on Linux.

Sekoia ,

Fair. Powertoys is really extensive. I quite like Pop (or gnome's? Not sure) tiling window manager though.

TheGrandNagus ,

That's a Pop addition, although you can easily use it on any other Gnome desktop by installing it as an extension

Blisterexe ,
@Blisterexe@lemmy.zip avatar

kde really has a LOT of power, most of the stuff you mentioned afiak.
its not a 1 to 1 clone of powertoys obviously, so it has a lot of stuff thats not in powertoys, and is lacking some stuff thats in it,l but the kde desktop also has support for plugins, so you should be able to fill in the gaps

Tick_Dracy ,
@Tick_Dracy@lemm.ee avatar

But in order to use that, I need to get replace the current Pop_Os Gnome interface, right?
I cannot use that as an application, like PowerToys does, or can I?

Blisterexe ,
@Blisterexe@lemmy.zip avatar

ok so the thing with kde is that you can replace your pop_os gnome interface with it, but it would probably cause issues, so itd probably be simpler to just switc hto a different distribution instead.
Id recommend tuxedo os

realbadat ,

Albert maybe?

gaylord_fartmaster ,

Yeah, KRunner, and it's been around longer than Powertoys.

I never really used it on Windows so I don't know if it has all the same features, but there's probably some way to make whatever you need from it work.

The whole point of PowerToys was essentially to implement the features Windows was missing that the Linux DEs had already.

vext01 ,
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Bloat vs. Bloat. FIGHT!

tsonfeir ,
@tsonfeir@lemm.ee avatar

No.

theonyltruemupf ,

Explain what you mean by bloat please

psud ,

There is nothing you can't uninstall on Linux. Linux distros, let alone desktop environments, really can't qualify as bloat

There are even enough mainstream distros to let you choose one that meets your needs with little or nothing you need to trim

vext01 ,
@vext01@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Yeah thanks, i know. Just saying, KDE is massive.

puchaczyk ,

All that AI can't pay for itself, I guess.

MudMan , (edited )
@MudMan@fedia.io avatar

Wait, so this is not about the power menu, it's about the pop up when clicking on your account picture bubble if you're signed in to a MS account. They aren't adding a step to logging out of your local Windows user, just to logging out of your Microsoft account if you're using that as a login for Windows, OneDrive and Office365.

The "Lock" button also has a new home—it now sits in the power menu alongside "Shut down," "Restart," and "Sleep" options.

THAT is where the Lock button was? Not gonna lie, I've been Windows-L-ing so long I didn't even know they had moved that to the account bubble.

I'll be honest, the article is a bit overdramatic. Yeah, they are surfacing your services there to upsell you on the ones you don't have, but it's actually not a useless piece of info (currently finding your subscriptions is an ordeal) and none of the functionality is gone. It is true that a lot of UX things around Win11 have gotten worse, though. I'm currently using additional software to replace the taskbar (which will do the Start menu, too, if you want) because the inability to move it to the sides is ridiculous on the OS you're most likely to pair with an ultrawide monitor.

deweydecibel ,

I'll be honest, the article is a bit overdramatic. Yeah, they are surfacing your services there to upsell you on the ones you don't have, but it's actually not a useless piece of info (currently finding your subscriptions is an ordeal) and none of the functionality is gone.

Look up "boiling a frog"

They count on this exact reaction.

Every time they implement these little bullshit changes, people inevitably go "It's annoying but it's not that big a deal." And then they do more of it a few months later.

The article isn't being hyperbolic because it's reacting to the overall trend that this is yet another step forward in. Because the writer and everyone here knows it will get worse and worse over time.

Dark patterns are, by design, slow and incremental so as not to trigger too much pushback at once. People need to start being more aware of it and pushing back on it when they see it.

And yes, that information is probably useful to some people, but that doesn't in any way justify hiding the options that used to be there.

elvith ,

Do you know the term "trust thermocline"?

Basically it described a problem with the boiling the frog technique. There's a point for every user at which they're fed up with the bullshit, lose all trust in you(r company) and are hard to impossible to get back as a customer. Every customer leaving has a little unnoticeable effect on you, but with time there will be so many people that you lost that all your tactics to lock your users in will fail.

huginn ,

Look up "boiling a frog"

You mean the myth?

catloaf ,

It's a metaphor.

TheGrandNagus ,

It's a widely-understood phrase/metaphor. Nobody is saying Microsoft literally boils millions of frogs.

What is it with Redditors/Lemmings taking a turn of phrase, interpreting it extremely literally, and completely missing the point?

huginn ,

  1. Autism, personally speaking.

  2. I knew it was a metaphor, but it's also a lie and does not actually happen.

  3. That's actually the result of "looking it up", which was the instruction.

What is it with you that makes you so incapable of reasoning that someone might know what it means and also want to point out that it's bullshit?

TheGrandNagus ,

It doesn't matter that interpreted literally, it's not what happens to frogs. That's not the point of the phrase, and certainly not the point the other commenter was making.

They were trying to talk about Microsoft's business practices, not about what happens if you were to literally start boiling a frog. Yes, we know they aren't fine with it, it's extremely well-known and completely irrelevant.

oo1 ,

That's what the win XP search dog was for.
They'd send it out hunting for frogs so that they can boil them all.

Bill Gates first programme was a reverse frogger game, he'd get to drive the cars and score get points for squishing frogs.
I think it was called Grand Theft Amphibian or something. The dude just really hates frogs.

MudMan ,
@MudMan@fedia.io avatar

Yeeeeah, but this isn't a dark pattern, though. That's what I'm saying.

The article really wants it to be, but... well, it's not. The option to log out remains in the same place as the rest of your account info, and the account info they are surfacing is actually useful and relevant to how much money you're spending. They are making it easier to subscribe, for sure, but also to cancel, which used to be pretty hidden away.

I get that this fits into a wider pattern for both MS and other major software companies, but if they inch towards the boiled frog at this pace we're probably fine.

Now, if they ever try (again) to make MS accounts mandatory for Windows or to move Windows to a sub, we can have this conversation. As others said below, when you try to inch people towards dealbreakers you can find yourself losing ground very quickly. Especially if a new comparable alternative surfaces at the same time.

Matriks404 ,

Jesus Fucking Christ. They really want people to switch to Linux, don't they?

Microsoft should stop trying to become another Apple. This is not going to work.

originalucifer ,
@originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com avatar

as soon as they require a microsoft account to use versions of windows, they are apple... minus the mobile, but plus a metric shittone of things apple doesnt.

not that any of that is good, microsoft should die in a fire.. but theyve spent 20 years building an OS-as-a-service platform and its coming to fruition. they might be slow, but rest assured they will get their captured, vertically integrated audience.

waz ,

You don’t need an apple account to use a Mac.
If you just want to enter a username and set a password, that’s all you need to do. If you want everything synced between another Mac or iPhone and so on, sign into iCloud. But you don’t HAVE to, just skip it.

ekZepp ,
@ekZepp@lemmy.world avatar

This sound like something they would totally do.

NotMyOldRedditName ,

Next up, an ad anytime an executable is run!

catloaf ,

Everything could be operated by ads. Run a program? Watch an ad. Open the start menu? Watch an ad.

MeDuViNoX ,
@MeDuViNoX@sh.itjust.works avatar

You don't HAVE to watch the ads, just subscribe to Windows 11 platinum for 20$ a month. /s

dch82 ,

Are you sure you want to run an untrusted executable? Microsoft Store contains lots of safe, curated apps that are 100% definitely not crappy ad-filled spyware.

nyan ,

So they want people to pull the plug instead of signing out properly. If they don't can this before it leaves the Beta Channel, they're going to need to beef up their tech support, because the many office workers who use Windows mostly as a launcher for Excel won't have a clue.

Resol ,
@Resol@lemmy.world avatar

I guess the family computer will be entirely useless to everyone else in the house but me.

fubo ,

People pay for this?

AlexanderESmith ,
@AlexanderESmith@kbin.social avatar

Usually they just over-pay for their computer because you can't really buy a system without Windows pre-installed (unless you build it).

I have so many computers that came with Windows installations that I never even booted into.

EngineerGaming ,
@EngineerGaming@feddit.nl avatar

"Can't really buy a computer without Windows pre-installed"? Weird, that's not my experience. The stores allow filtering by "no OS" and you can see quite a lot of options.

SaltySalamander ,
@SaltySalamander@fedia.io avatar

Which retail store have you ever walked into that had a PC on display with no OS?

tehbilly ,

I don't know if the people walking into a brick-and-mortar for a prebuilt PC are making decisions beyond "what's available" and "what's in my budget".

AlexanderESmith ,
@AlexanderESmith@kbin.social avatar

There are absolutely online stores that do that, but they're usually gamer-focused, so there's three issues;

Note: I'm taking about laptops, because it's all I've bought for the last decade or more;

  • The non-gamer focused stores rarely (if ever) have the option (Lenovo, Dell, Microsoft, etc).
  • The gamer focused stores usually sell hardware that runs Linux like shit because the hardware needs extremely specific drivers (which isn't necessarily an issue for Linux, but if it doesn't exist yet, you're either building them yourself, or waiting for someone else to do so).
    • Note: Most Clevo systems - that are private-labeled by the likes if IBuyPower, OriginPC, etc - run Linux really well. Some of these sellers make custom hardware, or sell other private-label systems, so your milage may vary.
  • The gamer focused stores are usually patroned by people who are all in on Windows gaming, because they don't do much else with the system, so they don't experience the kinds of annoyances that power users would gripe about (which is why the above point doesn't compel those sellers to do anything different).
    • And before someone corrects me: Gamers are not inherently power users, they just have powerful systems. It used to be that powerful systems were only buildable and maintenable by power users, but that hasn't been true for years. If all you do is install and click "play", you aren't a power user.

As for desktops, I really couldn't say. Haven't been paying attention for years. It's possible that you could buy a system without a hard drive, never mind an OS.

ObviouslyNotBanana ,
@ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world avatar

Great to know. Not that I ever fucking use that menu, opting to use the sleep button on my keyboard instead.

Anyone who can should switch to Linux. Most of us can, I have done so on my laptop. I have tried gaming on Linux too and it's fucking fantastic though I personally had an edge case issue that barely anyone will ever meet and had to go back. Do not let that discourage you from trying, however. Cyberpunk, as an example, was wonderful on Linux. No issues. As soon as my issues are sorted, something that will happen sooner or later, I will switch that pc in an instant!

original_reader ,

Is there somewhere a guide in how to get started with gaming on Linux?

ObviouslyNotBanana ,
@ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world avatar

Tbh it's pretty easy. Install Linux, install Steam.

Diplomjodler3 ,

Try Linux Mint, specifically. Very easy to install, runs on everything, just works. And gaming really is as easy as installing Steam, even for non Steam games.

ObviouslyNotBanana ,
@ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world avatar

Mint is great! Not my personal choice but it does work out of the box and is easy to use!

Diplomjodler3 ,

It's perfect for anyone who wants to switch from Windows with minimal hassle. There are plenty of other great distros, of course, but choosing one can be a bit overwhelming at first. That's why Mint is such an easy recommendation. It'll get you started, may well be all you ever need and once you're more into it, you'll better understand what to choose.

ObviouslyNotBanana , (edited )
@ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world avatar

Exactly! I think Mint is a great choice. I wouldn't recommend anyone unfamiliar uses anything else unless they have very specific needs.

original_reader ,

What of Indie games that I download from the developer's page or other stores?

Also, how is the update process of Mint these days for make versions? Is it a complete reinstall of the system? I might opt for a rolling distro for that purpose.

Hexarei ,
@Hexarei@programming.dev avatar

You can add non steam games to steam and it'll run them via proton, can be pretty effortless in most scenarios. Otherwise, you can install Lutris and there's a significant chance there'll be an entry for how to run the game you want

original_reader ,

I read that a lot. Somehow I'm not into adding all my games into the Steam client, though I am not totally opposed if there's no other option. That's due to my inherent trust issues with gaming platforms.

Might give Lutris a shot.

Whatever happened to PlayOnLinux?

Hexarei ,
@Hexarei@programming.dev avatar

POL is still around, it's just not quite as user friendly as Lutris. I use Lutris for Battle.net games and older titles where I have a physical disk. Easier than trying to add them to steam IMHO.

FilterItOut ,

I tried a while ago to get SC2 working, but didn't have luck. Are there any tricks to it these days?

Hexarei ,
@Hexarei@programming.dev avatar

I haven't tried SC2 in a while but I seem to recall it working fine for me a few years ago. Dunno. Lutris has good details on the website for tons of stuff, no idea what that looks like for SC2 tho

original_reader ,

SC2?

Diplomjodler3 ,

The major updates can be done though the software manager and have been completely painless for me so far. If you are concerned with always having the latest stuff, Mint might not be ideal for you. They're pretty conservative with updates so they can be a few versions behind on some stuff. That's the downside of the "everything just works" mantra.

Blisterexe ,
@Blisterexe@lemmy.zip avatar

use heroic for gog, epic and amazon games, and bottles or lutris for random exe's and the other stores.
you can also add random exe's as non-steam games to run them.
Also do keep in mind to install things from the app store, not the web

ABCDE ,

When will VR be a thing in Linux?

BreakDecks ,

The Quest is Android based, which is Linux based, so kinda if you're cool with two layers of megacorp between you and the kernel.

dubyakay ,

When Valve decides to.

invertedspear ,

WTF happened to Microsoft? What a fall. Is this a leadership thing?

richmondez ,

Turns out you can make more money by reducing usability and user choice in an entrenched product because hardly anyone will baulk and jump ship to a different product.

Diplomjodler3 ,

They were always about screwing over consumers to make money. The only thing that changed is that they've become increasingly unsubtle about it.

rottingleaf ,

Their way to screw customers with W2K was very persuasive. Such a clean UI, everything looking so relaxed and, eh, not commercialized. That startup sound. Those wallpapers.

Later I learned that that's also when they released those Unix services for Windows (may have swapped words), with which you really could have something practical with an X server and POSIX-compatible applications and so on.

And compared to W9x it was very stable.

theneverfox ,

I feel like they go through cycles of "hey, we just remembered we have de-facto monopolistic power, what are we doing with that? Let's do stuff with that" And "everyone got mad at us for anticompetitive practices again... Let's lay low and play nice until governments stop threatening to break us up"

phoenixz ,

Just install Linux already, get rid of this Microshit crap

terminhell ,

Bruh

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