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I'm a bit skeptical of all the positivity here. Heck if I can't edit mouse acceleration with ease, how hard is it going to be to watch Netflix? Do I need to do

I'm a bit skeptical of all the positivity here. Heck if I can't edit mouse acceleration with ease, how hard is it going to be to watch Netflix? Do I need to downgrade chromium to 30.4 just to install some plugin incompatible with the v32 chromium? These are real issues that you'd expect Ubuntu to have working from defaults. I'm not asking for every porn website to work, but all FAANG websites to work.

yxhuvud 6y ago
Netflix works, at least in Firefox.
johnchristopher 6y ago
Something's off but I chalk it up to beefy config and some specific games. None of my games run on my laptop (hd 520 igpu) I can play games like the witness on windows, hl2, the cave, the talos principle, portal 2, dead cells, etc. and none runs easily on Linux. Except Dott and kentucky route zero.
- vetinari 6y ago
  The Talos Principle has had a linux version for years, never had any problem running it.
  - johnchristopher 6y ago
    Good for you. But I re downloaded it and it still doesn't work: https://postimg.cc/TygMLfX8 https://postimg.cc/TygMLfX8
    - vetinari 6y ago
      That's interesting... On this end, it looks this way, when windowed: https://imgur.com/hlrBFc9 https://imgur.com/hlrBFc9 And it's not even Xorg session, it is under Wayland -- Wayland won't allow to set a display mode to apps, and for Xrandr it is faked using overlays with correct density.
      - johnchristopher 6y ago
        I looked a bit and: > I guess your videocard does not support Vulkan. Open game properties, Betas tab, switch to "legacy" version. Beware, it will download several gigabytes from internet. Legacy version has support of OpenGL unlinke modern one, which uses only Vulkan. https://steamcommunity.com/app/257510/discussions/0/1640915206453390199/ https://steamcommunity.com/app/257510/discussions/0/16409152... But this option is behind a beta and I need a code to activate it (what ?). edit: Digging a bit more https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/6/1742227264188882438/ https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/6/17422272... This did the trick: apt install libvulkan1 libvulkan1:i386 mesa-vulkan-drivers mesa-vulkan-drivers:i386 It now runs. I only did it because you lured me into it though :)p. My point still stands ^^.
        vetinari 6y ago
        Sorry for vasting your time :P I actually run Steam inside flatpak - I installed Steam from flathub, launched it, downloaded the games and almost (see below) everything worked. Flatpak runtime has all the necessary Mesa drivers (for AMD and Intel, not sure how Nvidia and flatpak works). The only thing I had to configure myself in the host system was udev rules for Dualshock gamepad. That one breaks the otherwise nice experience of everything working out of the box. And wrt the Vulkan requirement: that's why I bought The Talos Principle originally. It was one of the first games with Vulkan renderer and I was curious, how well it works.
        johnchristopher 6y ago
        Ah, I remember trying the Flatpak version of steam but the performance difference was huge (Dead Cells and the dishwasher - vampire smile) with the Steam version of the official site but it was two years ago with an HD4000. Now that you mention it I also remember not wanting to deal with DS controller setup (for games that need it). I'd have to do some testing with Talos (vs windows version) but I think that The Cave runs smoother now.
- bozzcl 6y ago
  Could be Intel's graphics drivers. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't properly optimized on Linux. Out of curiosity, what distro did you try?
  - johnchristopher 6y ago
    I am on Kubuntu 18.04. Quite frankly I don't expect much from gaming on Linux regarding ease-of-use and I am okay with that. I am sure all those games could run but when I want to play a game I don't want to fiddle with config files so I either boot a console or reboot into windows. It's been my experience for years that ubuntu/Linux isn't as versatile and as accommodating as windows regarding gaming but it doesn't mean that those games couldn't run with a bit of elbow grease (they most likely would but it's not pain-free). I always try to stick to Intel IGP because I read (and I suppose it's still true) that they have the best support for desktop usage. I don't want to fight nvidia or ati drivers, I don't even know wwhich's the darling of gaming GPU for Linux these days. Been there, done that.
nightfly 6y ago
> Heck if I can't edit mouse acceleration with ease Mouse/trackpad/trackpoint configuration can be one of the most painful things to do on Linux. Netflix and friends are easy (unless you want HD sometimes >.>)
themodelplumber 6y ago
> Heck if I can't edit mouse acceleration with ease Not sure if this is you, but those of our community who are really into the objective sensory aspects are not a terribly good sell for Linux right now IMO. Usually they're looking to rep their OS to other people, whatever that OS ends up being, so rather than build on its strengths, they look for a specific set of strengths to which they're already attuned over time spent with other OSes. Ergonomics and sensory aesthetics are big preferences of this group. Good refresh rates, overall feeling of smoothness, little wastes of their time eliminated, etc. Mouse acceleration is IMO a good pointer to this kind of sensibility. Unfortunately if that's really important to you (not that you can / can't tweak it, but the _way_ in which you need to do some perceived extra work to configure it) it's important to know that it may be best to build on and adapt to Linux's other strengths, or try it on the side in something less important, or stay with what you already like. Other phrases like "people should expect" or "things like X should just work" are also good clues here. Nothing wrong with that, but Linux brings really huge subjective strengths to the table (a deeper connection to what do _you_ need or want, starting closer to bare hardware, vs. what do _people_ need or want, starting closer to end user experience) unless you are doing specific types of work where Linux is already a known dominant solution for groups of people.
deckard1 6y ago
Netflix not playing in Chromium is a Chromium problem, not a Linux problem. Don't blame Linux for Chrome and Netflix making the web a proprietary DRM shithole. If you want Netflix in Linux it's as simple as installing the official Google Chrome browser.
- ajvs 6y ago
  Netflix works fine for me in Chromium on Kubuntu.
  - deckard1 6y ago
    you probably have widevine installed. https://github.com/proprietary/chromium-widevine https://github.com/proprietary/chromium-widevine And I really can't believe I have to explain this at Hacker News of all places (jesus christ), but this is the difference between Chromium and Chrome. Those people defending HTML5 DRM really have a lot to answer for here. "It'll be fine" they say. Proof right fucking here that consumers are oblivious.
rospaya 6y ago
This line is getting really boring, especially on HN, which should be at least a bit more tech savvy than the regular forum. I got a laptop. Removed it from the box. Installed Ubuntu, tweaked the dock drivers a bit. Everything works as it would on a Windows machine and no I don't need to downgrade Chrome to have Netflix, Spotify, Facebook, HBO or whatever work. Zero, zero compatibility issues and I can't be the only one since millions of people use Linux daily.
- boogies 6y ago
  > Everything works as it would on a Windows machine A fresh install came with ads, tracking, and forced updates?
young_unixer 6y ago
I agree with you on the mouse acceleration part. Linux distributions are bad in some aspects, and mouse acceleration is one of them. About the Netflix part, I don't think that's Linux's fault.

yxhuvud 6y ago

Netflix works, at least in Firefox.

johnchristopher 6y ago

Something's off but I chalk it up to beefy config and some specific games. None of my games run on my laptop (hd 520 igpu) I can play games like the witness on windows, hl2, the cave, the talos principle, portal 2, dead cells, etc. and none runs easily on Linux. Except Dott and kentucky route zero.

vetinari 6y ago
The Talos Principle has had a linux version for years, never had any problem running it.
- johnchristopher 6y ago
  Good for you. But I re downloaded it and it still doesn't work: https://postimg.cc/TygMLfX8 https://postimg.cc/TygMLfX8
  - vetinari 6y ago
    That's interesting... On this end, it looks this way, when windowed: https://imgur.com/hlrBFc9 https://imgur.com/hlrBFc9 And it's not even Xorg session, it is under Wayland -- Wayland won't allow to set a display mode to apps, and for Xrandr it is faked using overlays with correct density.
    - johnchristopher 6y ago
      I looked a bit and: > I guess your videocard does not support Vulkan. Open game properties, Betas tab, switch to "legacy" version. Beware, it will download several gigabytes from internet. Legacy version has support of OpenGL unlinke modern one, which uses only Vulkan. https://steamcommunity.com/app/257510/discussions/0/1640915206453390199/ https://steamcommunity.com/app/257510/discussions/0/16409152... But this option is behind a beta and I need a code to activate it (what ?). edit: Digging a bit more https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/6/1742227264188882438/ https://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/6/17422272... This did the trick: apt install libvulkan1 libvulkan1:i386 mesa-vulkan-drivers mesa-vulkan-drivers:i386 It now runs. I only did it because you lured me into it though :)p. My point still stands ^^.
      - vetinari 6y ago
        Sorry for vasting your time :P I actually run Steam inside flatpak - I installed Steam from flathub, launched it, downloaded the games and almost (see below) everything worked. Flatpak runtime has all the necessary Mesa drivers (for AMD and Intel, not sure how Nvidia and flatpak works). The only thing I had to configure myself in the host system was udev rules for Dualshock gamepad. That one breaks the otherwise nice experience of everything working out of the box. And wrt the Vulkan requirement: that's why I bought The Talos Principle originally. It was one of the first games with Vulkan renderer and I was curious, how well it works.
        johnchristopher 6y ago
        Ah, I remember trying the Flatpak version of steam but the performance difference was huge (Dead Cells and the dishwasher - vampire smile) with the Steam version of the official site but it was two years ago with an HD4000. Now that you mention it I also remember not wanting to deal with DS controller setup (for games that need it). I'd have to do some testing with Talos (vs windows version) but I think that The Cave runs smoother now.
bozzcl 6y ago
Could be Intel's graphics drivers. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't properly optimized on Linux. Out of curiosity, what distro did you try?
- johnchristopher 6y ago
  I am on Kubuntu 18.04. Quite frankly I don't expect much from gaming on Linux regarding ease-of-use and I am okay with that. I am sure all those games could run but when I want to play a game I don't want to fiddle with config files so I either boot a console or reboot into windows. It's been my experience for years that ubuntu/Linux isn't as versatile and as accommodating as windows regarding gaming but it doesn't mean that those games couldn't run with a bit of elbow grease (they most likely would but it's not pain-free). I always try to stick to Intel IGP because I read (and I suppose it's still true) that they have the best support for desktop usage. I don't want to fight nvidia or ati drivers, I don't even know wwhich's the darling of gaming GPU for Linux these days. Been there, done that.

nightfly 6y ago

> Heck if I can't edit mouse acceleration with ease Mouse/trackpad/trackpoint configuration can be one of the most painful things to do on Linux. Netflix and friends are easy (unless you want HD sometimes >.>)

themodelplumber 6y ago

> Heck if I can't edit mouse acceleration with ease Not sure if this is you, but those of our community who are really into the objective sensory aspects are not a terribly good sell for Linux right now IMO. Usually they're looking to rep their OS to other people, whatever that OS ends up being, so rather than build on its strengths, they look for a specific set of strengths to which they're already attuned over time spent with other OSes. Ergonomics and sensory aesthetics are big preferences of this group. Good refresh rates, overall feeling of smoothness, little wastes of their time eliminated, etc. Mouse acceleration is IMO a good pointer to this kind of sensibility. Unfortunately if that's really important to you (not that you can / can't tweak it, but the _way_ in which you need to do some perceived extra work to configure it) it's important to know that it may be best to build on and adapt to Linux's other strengths, or try it on the side in something less important, or stay with what you already like. Other phrases like "people should expect" or "things like X should just work" are also good clues here. Nothing wrong with that, but Linux brings really huge subjective strengths to the table (a deeper connection to what do _you_ need or want, starting closer to bare hardware, vs. what do _people_ need or want, starting closer to end user experience) unless you are doing specific types of work where Linux is already a known dominant solution for groups of people.

deckard1 6y ago

Netflix not playing in Chromium is a Chromium problem, not a Linux problem. Don't blame Linux for Chrome and Netflix making the web a proprietary DRM shithole. If you want Netflix in Linux it's as simple as installing the official Google Chrome browser.

ajvs 6y ago
Netflix works fine for me in Chromium on Kubuntu.
- deckard1 6y ago
  you probably have widevine installed. https://github.com/proprietary/chromium-widevine https://github.com/proprietary/chromium-widevine And I really can't believe I have to explain this at Hacker News of all places (jesus christ), but this is the difference between Chromium and Chrome. Those people defending HTML5 DRM really have a lot to answer for here. "It'll be fine" they say. Proof right fucking here that consumers are oblivious.

rospaya 6y ago

This line is getting really boring, especially on HN, which should be at least a bit more tech savvy than the regular forum. I got a laptop. Removed it from the box. Installed Ubuntu, tweaked the dock drivers a bit. Everything works as it would on a Windows machine and no I don't need to downgrade Chrome to have Netflix, Spotify, Facebook, HBO or whatever work. Zero, zero compatibility issues and I can't be the only one since millions of people use Linux daily.

boogies 6y ago
> Everything works as it would on a Windows machine A fresh install came with ads, tracking, and forced updates?

young_unixer 6y ago

I agree with you on the mouse acceleration part. Linux distributions are bad in some aspects, and mouse acceleration is one of them. About the Netflix part, I don't think that's Linux's fault.