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Comment by dev_snd | Hacker News Reader

Once steam OS is available to the general public for all kinds of computers this is definitely the last nail in the coffin.

I use Windows solely for the reason of gaming and otherwise have switched to linux and never looked back

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I remember that feeling from when Steam Machines were supposed to take over the world about a decade ago, and here we are.

A key difference, aside from the general Linux experience back then being even worse than it is today, is that they only supported native Linux games. Valve quickly discovered why people generally didn't port to Linux even when Steam provided them a stable targetable runtime.

Now they've come back with a new plan: screw it, we'll just run Windows games on the damn things instead. Combined with FlatPaks and an immutable base system (with KDE instead of user-hostile GNOME), I think they actually have a pretty good shot at replacing Ubuntu as the new de-facto Linux Desktop distro. From there, Year of the Linux Desktop, for gamers at least, looks a bit more plausible.

It's hard to feel secure in the long-term success of Proton, as impressive as it is. As long as the plan is heavily reliant on playing new Windows games, it seems like Microsoft might be able to make some anti-competitive play which some makes it much more expensive, difficult, or slow to maintain or advance Proton. (If targeting Proton becomes a priority for many developers, so that they are hesitant to do Windows development without considering Proton compatibility, I think that risk is mitigated significantly.)

I agree that the other things work in favor of Linux gaming as well. An immutable base system with strong separation from containerized apps seems like an approach more in line with Windows and Mac users' expectations for how app installation works, and clears important footguns away on behalf of power users. KDE also seems like a good base for Windows power users, who value customization but also want a sensible GUI for making such tweaks.

Shouldn't we also note that the Steam Deck seems to be a genuine success where Steam Machines never were? What's the install base of the Steam Deck, and what can we hope for it to grow to? If the Steam Deck can build respectable market share as a 'console', that could be a really, really crucial foothold for making sure that Linux/Proton is worth targeting for publishers.

Once steam deck acquires enough popularity the game developers themselves will make sure their next game works on it

By letting Valve do the work ensuring Windows games run smoothly on Proton.

At first, right now, yes. But if the Deck continues to be popular then developers themselves will ensure that their games work with proton the same way they make sure their games work on the Switch.

Yeah, there's a chance this all ends like OS/2, but considering how hard Microsoft is working to tank Windows among power users (and who else even still uses a Desktop?) at this point, I'm betting it doesn't.

The plan to follow the OS/2 footsteps, turned out great.

Steam Machines were not popular but they paved the way (they never stopped working on Proton) for Steam Deck which is very very popular.

Now making a game work on proton doesn't mean it works on Linux, means it works on a new popular portable console.

This thing runs God of War [1] at the same performance than a regular PS4 but on Linux over Proton in a handheld, it's incredible.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xvZkRSpQoE

FWIW I've been using Steam+Proton on Arch for a month now, and it's like fucking magic. Other than the peculiarity of having two AMD graphics drivers to pick from, I'd say it's 90% there. No crashes, glitches, etc after picking the better of the two drivers for a particular game.

Yeah, the Switch never happened.

Anti-cheat is still a big problem. Most of the games I play with my friends won't run on my steam deck specifically because of that. Really hoping the industry comes together and solves linux support for it; I'm not sure it's possible to just work around with a compatibility layer

That's hilarious, I switched to linux for gaming and use windows because customers need their products written for windows machines! Even things like League through wine play so much more smoothly without input latency when run atop a linux kernel.

With Valve's take on being one of the few companies to stay in Russia, with details on how to get around sanctions stickied in their forums by official forum mods for quite a while after the sanctions were put in place (and with no response from steam when I submitted complaints that they were allowing sanctions evasion thinly veiled as simply (official steam moderators) posting this information) I don't see Valve as being some sort of virtuitious savior.

The gaming industry was not sanctioned and there are no export controls on video games. What do you want them to do? If by "sanctions evasions" you mean telling people to buy virtual cards to pay for games or gift cards I will tell you none of that is illegal. How exactly would banning Russians from Steam save anyone anyways? Savvy Russians have been using VPNs for everything for a long time now, it would make no difference.

A lot of people seem to support collective punishment of the entire Russian population. It’s somewhat alarming to me.

I will never miss an opportunity to admit that plenty of thoughtful people in Russia don't support this war and feel awful about that. But there is a chance to get a fine or to be commited in crime for that kind of speech. Gamers use vpn, trukish accounts and prepaid cards. Also a lot of steam deck salers on local cragelist. Peace

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