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FreeBSD has poor hardware support; the modern graphics acceleration drivers are simply ports of the Linux kernel code. Sure, Valve could port or rewrite the dri

FreeBSD has poor hardware support; the modern graphics acceleration drivers are simply ports of the Linux kernel code. Sure, Valve could port or rewrite the drivers for the limited set of devices they support, but why would they? Valve supports Linux not because of its technical advantages, but simply because it helps mitigate some of the Microsoft- and Apple-related business risks. Linux is undeniably a safer, more conservative business decision than FreeBSD.

lmm 5y ago
> the modern graphics acceleration drivers are simply ports of the Linux kernel code. Does that matter? If there is a stable driver that's what's important, and FreeBSD has if anything a better track record for maintaining drivers for longer, even if those drivers were originally ported from elsewhere. > Linux is undeniably a safer, more conservative business decision than FreeBSD. I disagree; safe and conservative is exactly what FreeBSD does better than Linux.
- lewispollard 5y ago
  Safe and conservative isn't what's needed for gaming. For example, a lot of the tricks that Proton relies on explicitly use patches to the Linux kernel to do with FUTEX_WAIT implementation, which have only been patched into mainline since 5.16 afaik, as well as bleeding edge Mesa/xorg versions, the current state of things is that it makes sense for them to base on a rolling release where they can frequently push system images with bleeding edge versions to the deck hardware. Maybe a few years down the line it'd make more sense to base on something more stable like BSD, but things are moving very quickly in Linux+wine gaming support and it's actually helpful right now to be on experimental/unstable versions of certain things.
  - eternityforest 5y ago
    Tech almost always reaches a good enough point eventually. SSDs made electron apps good enough and IMHO somewhat made lightweight kind of an outdated idea. Bullseye is the good enough point for basically everything other than gaming on debian distros, not much you can't do with juat the bullseye repos. Now that Valve has decided Linux gaming is a real thing, within a few years Debian will probably be good enough for that.. Not that it will stop them from constantly changing stuff in breaking ways for 3% better performance....
boondaburrah 5y ago
I mean that didn't stop Sony from using it as the base for the PS4. Of course you're using the playstation userland on top of it though as Orbis OS.
- sph 5y ago
  It was _their_ hardware, Sony didn't care about generic hardware support, since they need to support their own only, and only they know how it works. Not at all the same thing. The only thing Sony needed from FreeBSD was x86 support and generic kernel facilities such as memory, process and IO management. Everything else they wrote themselves for their proprietary hardware and userspace.
  - boondaburrah 5y ago
    My brain's still on Steam Deck, sorry. In that context it would make sense.

lmm 5y ago

> the modern graphics acceleration drivers are simply ports of the Linux kernel code. Does that matter? If there is a stable driver that's what's important, and FreeBSD has if anything a better track record for maintaining drivers for longer, even if those drivers were originally ported from elsewhere. > Linux is undeniably a safer, more conservative business decision than FreeBSD. I disagree; safe and conservative is exactly what FreeBSD does better than Linux.

lewispollard 5y ago
Safe and conservative isn't what's needed for gaming. For example, a lot of the tricks that Proton relies on explicitly use patches to the Linux kernel to do with FUTEX_WAIT implementation, which have only been patched into mainline since 5.16 afaik, as well as bleeding edge Mesa/xorg versions, the current state of things is that it makes sense for them to base on a rolling release where they can frequently push system images with bleeding edge versions to the deck hardware. Maybe a few years down the line it'd make more sense to base on something more stable like BSD, but things are moving very quickly in Linux+wine gaming support and it's actually helpful right now to be on experimental/unstable versions of certain things.
- eternityforest 5y ago
  Tech almost always reaches a good enough point eventually. SSDs made electron apps good enough and IMHO somewhat made lightweight kind of an outdated idea. Bullseye is the good enough point for basically everything other than gaming on debian distros, not much you can't do with juat the bullseye repos. Now that Valve has decided Linux gaming is a real thing, within a few years Debian will probably be good enough for that.. Not that it will stop them from constantly changing stuff in breaking ways for 3% better performance....

boondaburrah 5y ago

I mean that didn't stop Sony from using it as the base for the PS4. Of course you're using the playstation userland on top of it though as Orbis OS.

sph 5y ago
It was _their_ hardware, Sony didn't care about generic hardware support, since they need to support their own only, and only they know how it works. Not at all the same thing. The only thing Sony needed from FreeBSD was x86 support and generic kernel facilities such as memory, process and IO management. Everything else they wrote themselves for their proprietary hardware and userspace.
- boondaburrah 5y ago
  My brain's still on Steam Deck, sorry. In that context it would make sense.