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This week we closed the doors on our Linux gaming podcast, which has run continuously for the past 13 years. No fuss, no drama. With the announcement of Steam M

by Venn1 11mo ago

This week we closed the doors on our Linux gaming podcast, which has run continuously for the past 13 years. No fuss, no drama. With the announcement of Steam Machine II (we also covered the original launch), it just seemed like the right time. Proton has evolved to the point where most things work out of the box. Few people are bothering with native support, and it’s become difficult to find new things to cover. It really feels like everything is lined up for the year of Linux in the living room, and it’s great to see.

abnercoimbre 11mo ago
Wait, what was the reason for winding down the podcast? > Few people are bothering with native support Was the podcast an attempt to increase porting efforts to Linux? But Proton (and now Steam Machine II) took the wind out of your sails?
J_McQuade 11mo ago
I never listened to the podcast, but I see where you're coming from and thanks for doing it anyway. Twenty years ago I was in university and had a Debian install on a cheap-ass Acer laptop and I managed to get exactly two and a half games working under Wine: the first two Fallouts and about three hours of Civ IV before crash. Getting games to run at all was A THING so a podcast for that makes a lot of sense. Today I have a full-time job and deleted the Windows partition from my expensive PC about three years ago... pretty much every game I've ever wanted to play since then has just WORKED. Better than on modern Windows, even. Not a lot to talk about there, I guess. One thing I wish is that Valve could publish a 'Proton spec' that people could build against to ensure compatibility, but I imagine that that this would be an IP nightmare.
pabs3 11mo ago
Can we have a link to the podcast?
- watermelon0 11mo ago
  I'm quite sure it's this one: https://linuxgamecast.com/podcasts/ https://linuxgamecast.com/podcasts/
  - pabs3 11mo ago
    Hmm, nothing about shutting down on that site?
johanvts 11mo ago
Anticheat is a big issue that nobody seems to mention. I had to go back to windows for online games and it’s my understanding that there are deep technical reasons why anticheat on linux can’t be done the same way as on windows.
- Gareth321 11mo ago
  Because it's intractable on Linux and advocates don't want to admit that. The entire security model on Linux is resistant to deeper levels of access and control for applications, which is required for kernel level anti-cheat. While these forms of anti-cheats can't stop cheating, they are clearly more effective than user-space anti-cheats. For 99% of users, we gladly accept these more "invasive" anti-cheats because it means less cheating in the games we enjoy. Linux developers will never allow this kind of access because it is antithetical to their ideological beliefs around security. They gladly exclude any kernel level cheats to maintain the security model. It is a permanent impasse. One which I believe will never be solved with user-space or server-side detection. This is why the most common retort is: "just play different games." To be frank, the argument that kernel level anti-cheats are invasive has never been all that accurate or compelling. Any user-space application already has numerous privileges which could ruin your day. You trust a developer and application every time you run it, irrespective of its access level. Valve has an opportunity now with SteamOS to impose technologies like SecureBoot and "safe" deeper layer anti-cheats which actually work. Yes, Linux enthusiasts would be up in arms, but it would mean that the most popular online FPS games would be supported on Linux, and I think that's far more important.
  - keyringlight 11mo ago
    The other side is linux totally permits you to do whatever you like to your system, and then it's similar discussion to DRM (digital rights management, not direct rendering manager). When you're trying to the user from doing things they're not allowed to and the same user can fiddle with the system, there's no starting point for trust.
  - hhmc 11mo ago
    > For 99% of users, we gladly accept these more "invasive" anti-cheats because it means less cheating in the games we enjoy. The modal user likely doesn’t even know anti-cheat exists, and if they did, wouldn’t care at all. They just want to play the game.
5350-uiop-1130 11mo ago
> where most things work out of the box i really doubt this very much. i hope i am wrong.

by Venn1 11mo ago

abnercoimbre 11mo ago

Wait, what was the reason for winding down the podcast? > Few people are bothering with native support Was the podcast an attempt to increase porting efforts to Linux? But Proton (and now Steam Machine II) took the wind out of your sails?

J_McQuade 11mo ago

I never listened to the podcast, but I see where you're coming from and thanks for doing it anyway. Twenty years ago I was in university and had a Debian install on a cheap-ass Acer laptop and I managed to get exactly two and a half games working under Wine: the first two Fallouts and about three hours of Civ IV before crash. Getting games to run at all was A THING so a podcast for that makes a lot of sense. Today I have a full-time job and deleted the Windows partition from my expensive PC about three years ago... pretty much every game I've ever wanted to play since then has just WORKED. Better than on modern Windows, even. Not a lot to talk about there, I guess. One thing I wish is that Valve could publish a 'Proton spec' that people could build against to ensure compatibility, but I imagine that that this would be an IP nightmare.

pabs3 11mo ago

Can we have a link to the podcast?

watermelon0 11mo ago
I'm quite sure it's this one: https://linuxgamecast.com/podcasts/ https://linuxgamecast.com/podcasts/
- pabs3 11mo ago
  Hmm, nothing about shutting down on that site?

johanvts 11mo ago

Anticheat is a big issue that nobody seems to mention. I had to go back to windows for online games and it’s my understanding that there are deep technical reasons why anticheat on linux can’t be done the same way as on windows.

Gareth321 11mo ago
Because it's intractable on Linux and advocates don't want to admit that. The entire security model on Linux is resistant to deeper levels of access and control for applications, which is required for kernel level anti-cheat. While these forms of anti-cheats can't stop cheating, they are clearly more effective than user-space anti-cheats. For 99% of users, we gladly accept these more "invasive" anti-cheats because it means less cheating in the games we enjoy. Linux developers will never allow this kind of access because it is antithetical to their ideological beliefs around security. They gladly exclude any kernel level cheats to maintain the security model. It is a permanent impasse. One which I believe will never be solved with user-space or server-side detection. This is why the most common retort is: "just play different games." To be frank, the argument that kernel level anti-cheats are invasive has never been all that accurate or compelling. Any user-space application already has numerous privileges which could ruin your day. You trust a developer and application every time you run it, irrespective of its access level. Valve has an opportunity now with SteamOS to impose technologies like SecureBoot and "safe" deeper layer anti-cheats which actually work. Yes, Linux enthusiasts would be up in arms, but it would mean that the most popular online FPS games would be supported on Linux, and I think that's far more important.
- keyringlight 11mo ago
  The other side is linux totally permits you to do whatever you like to your system, and then it's similar discussion to DRM (digital rights management, not direct rendering manager). When you're trying to the user from doing things they're not allowed to and the same user can fiddle with the system, there's no starting point for trust.
- hhmc 11mo ago
  > For 99% of users, we gladly accept these more "invasive" anti-cheats because it means less cheating in the games we enjoy. The modal user likely doesn’t even know anti-cheat exists, and if they did, wouldn’t care at all. They just want to play the game.

5350-uiop-1130 11mo ago

> where most things work out of the box i really doubt this very much. i hope i am wrong.