The only bastion left is anticheat. Everything else are just (bad) old habits fueled by marketing.
this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2024
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Anti-cheat systems already have to make changes, since Microsoft have plans to significantly restrict kernel mode access after the major Crowdstrike issues earlier in the year. Kernel mode code is very invasive, difficult to get correct, and can result in major security holes or stability issues if not written correctly.
A bug in userland code may crash that one app. A bug in kernel mode code can (and often does) cause bluescreens, that people blame Microsoft for. I'm sure they're tired of being blamed for buggy code written by other companies.
Running the anti cheat code in userland will (in theory) make it easier to run on other OSes too.
Yes indeed, I've followed that from afar (as I generally mostly play offline, definitely not competitively) so I hope this will be the final missing piece.
I also only play games offline, and these days it's usually on my Xbox rather than on PC, but I've been following this since I'm a software engineer and it's interesting from a development perspective. Kernel-mode anti-cheat has a lot of similarities with malware/rootkits.
Well put.
...and VR. VR is already finicky on its own, gaming on Linux can be finicky in different ways, and the issues multiply if you have two things like that.
Tends to depend on the headset you own, some work perfectly. Also, Valve is very likely releasing a headset based on SteamOS, which should help.
I work in VR, I play in VR, including Windows games, all on Linux. No specific problem for me on that front.
How do you work 'in' vr?
Apologies I wasn't clear. I actually I work "on" VR, namely I'm a software developer who write VR/AR code.
Still though... I also do work "in" VR as I have numerous demo where I'm coding in the headset. Most recently you can check this 1min video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGvc4kNXiUY that I did for https://futuretextlab.info/ and it's all open source, cf https://git.benetou.fr/utopiah/text-code-xr-engine/src/branch/fot-sloan-companion . To clarify a bit I drag&drop file on my (Linux) filesystem and they are reflected in AR in that example. I can open them, manipulate them, if it's code (here JavaScript and AFrame) it can live reload part of the scene, etc.
I'm also working "in" VR for the NLNet sponsored project xrsh aka XRshell https://nlnet.nl/project/xrsh/ where thanks to WASM we basically put a (small) Linux system with its terminal on a Web page and thus can code and work in the headset.
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I'm hoping to see more software support for Linux from this
Once the userbase becomes bigger, those folks will move over. Capitalist will follow the money, they don't care what OS it is as long as they can make their lords shareholders happy.
It already started with a lot of gaming communities, but most of what I use is already in Linux so no Biggie for me, productive apps being moved is likely very far into the future
I've already seen a lot of work for audio production in Linux but still would love to see more from other industries
To anyone reading this thinking "once SteamOS comes out, I'll switch", you should know:
Gaming on Linux is already here. Pick a distro and game. You can take advantage of Proton right now. You don't need to wait for one specific distro.
I've personally been gaming on Linux exclusively for about 3 years. Windows games, not Linux games.
Edit: based on other commenters' suggestions, I'll give you some.
I have gamed for those three years on PopOS. It is a distro based on Debian, ultimately, which means it's also related to Ubuntu and Mint. Realistically, you can pick any of those 4 and you should have a nice experience.
Arch is popular with the übergeeks, and I do use it on my laptop, BTW, but you shouldn't use it as a first distro.
The concept of "distro" doesn't really exist for Windows, because you pretty much get one monolithic product. But basically, it is a specific mix of software that works together and relies on the Linux kernel. Imagine it as a "version" of Windows with specific goals, some of which are overlapping (e.g. Mint and Ubuntu tend to cater to the same audience).
If you get far enough into it, the freedom that Linux allows means that you can turn any distro into any other distro.
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To paraphrase the gay chant from the 90's: 4% is not enough RECRUIT RECRUIT RECRUIT!
I jumped into Linux, via Mint, about a year ago when I refreshed my hardware. The transition was pretty easy, and I haven't looked back. Steam runs fine and I haven't had a modern game that didn't work under default proton settings except for things I've run outside Steam and mods. Most of my personal PC's workload is gaming and handful of web-based apps that are effectively OS-agnostic; Everything else has an easy equivalent in the apt repos.
I would say that my decision to embrace Linux as my OS was primarily influenced by my Steam Deck. Gaming on it has been simple and the desktop UI was easy to adapt to. I replaced my laptop with the Steam Deck, bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and a USB-C dock with HDMI out (all things I already had for the laptop). I now just hook into whatever TV is handy as a monitor when I need a computer on the go.
I was a tech enthusiast when I was younger, and am thus familiar with fucking around on the command line, but now I'm an old man who just wants his stuff to work and it just has... The barrier of entry for the Linux Desktop is effectively gone. We just need PR now.
Also, I think I'd replace Mint on my primary PC with SteamOS, given a simple way to do so. About a year ago, the desktop/beta SteamOS was not fully baked.
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the biggest wall imo is still getting companies with anticheat games on board.
IMO, no one should be playing games with kernel level anticheat. There is no way I would let any big gaming company have that level of control over my PC. It's a security nightmare.
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When SteamOS releases on all devices people will say "I'll switch when every peice of Windows software is compatible" or some other unreasonable and impossible accomplishment. Even if every peice of Windows software was compatible people would say "ill switch to Linux when it looks and functions identically to Windows".
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A Linux distro with a great OOTB experience for gamers would go a long way.
- Steam pre-installed
- trustworthy Flatpak packages for popular gamer apps like Discord (not uploaded by some nameless rando)
- TeamSpeak for curmudgeons like me and my friends
- desktop environment tailored to Windows users
- auto-install and configure graphics drivers for AMD and Nvidia
- configurable automatic updates and system backup
- choice between Chromium, Firefox, etc. for default browser during setup
- included in Steam Deck compatibility testing
Luckily for you this already exists, and it's effectively SteamOS:
You can even put this on a Steam Deck as a drop-in replacement.
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I saw a post on bluesky saying Steamdeck can't be widely adopted because of linux. I asked why is that the case? He says "Linux doesn't run as many games as windows ". I said "only a few and the anti cheat ones". He kept arguing. I asked him about nintendo and he goes "It has the games to back it up" and I blocked him lol.
Millions of games are not enough because its FOMO.
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I've been using Linux exclusively for ~14 years now. Heavily gaming on Linux only for the last ~8 years.
It was possible (though sometimes headache inducing) to play most games back then (Wine and soon Proton to thank) the biggest change IMHO came with SteamPlay since it turned the headache into one click on most games (thanks to the amazing work of wine/proton developers and the tinkering of the community).
When the SteamDeck released people seemed surprised at the breadth of games that were running on day one. To me it was not really a surprise since I had been Linux gaming with SteamPlay all the time and was almost expecting games to "just work" (though I still would and still am checking ProtonDB before purchase).
What the SteamDeck changed in my view was
- Showing "everyone" that Linux Gaming is a thing that's happening and been happening for a while. So maybe check it out?
- That a Handheld that doesn't have to work around Windows but uses a purpose built OS just makes a lot more sense
I feel that the SteamDeck with SteamOS has really put Linux, especially Linux gaming on the map. Even though I want to be like "Linux Gaming has been a thing forever, I was doing it before it was cool" ;) I have to recognize that fact. In the past years I've seen so many people setting up Linux especially by the way of SteamOS (using HoloISO, Chimera ...) just to play/mess with it which is also why I think an Official SteamOS release will make a huge difference.
Tl;dr: Gaming on Linux was a thing before. But the SteamDeck/SteamOS 3 made a huge impact nonetheless.
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