420 karma · joined March 31, 2022
Heroic Game Launcher: https://heroicgameslauncher.com/
RPM/Deb/Flatpack/TGZ/AppImage for Linux
DMG for MacOS Intel/M1+
EXE for Windows
Heroic supports GoG, Amazon Luna, and the Epic Game stores.
Heroic even streamlines the app updates so you don't have to figure that out.
* Literally every game console
* Literally every smartphone
* Microsoft, with their Win11 requirements, is moving there
* John Deere (read on their own hardware attestation efforts to block DIY)
* Car companies (require specialized tooling and software subscriptions to make certain repairs)
* Anything that requires a signed bootloader and signed software updates
* Snapdragon CPUs and e-fuses that burn when you use unsigned software, and brick
* Apple hardware, literally crypto-signed so you can't use aftermarket parts
* Google Chromecast
* Amazon Kindle, locked hardware
* IBM has locked hardware to their laptops for *years*. Ever try upgrading a wifi card in an IBM laptop? They're already invested in this
Like John Deere. Read about how they use that sort of thing
The problems with systemd are:
* that once it was adopted, every single package started requiring it
* which meant that packages that previously could run everywhere, now could only run on systemd-based systems
* binary logs - a solution that solved nothing but created problems
* which locked out any system that wasn't linux
* which locked out any linux system that didn't want to use it
* which led to abominations like systemd-resolved
* "bUt yOu DoNt hAVe tO uSE it" - tell that to the remote attestation crowd, of which Poettering is a founding member of. see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46784572 - soon you'll have to use systemD because nothing else *can* be used.
The systemD developers don't care about any of this, of course. They've got a long history of breaking user space and poor dev practices because they're systemD. I mean, their attitude was so bad they got one of their principal devs kicked from the kernel because they overloaded the use of the kernel boot parameter "debug", which flooded the console, and refused to modify the debug option to something compatible like "systemd.debug", broke literally every other system, and then told everybody else "hey we're not wrong, the rest of the world is wrong." And this has been their attitude since then.
Look, if people want to use systemD, that's just fine. But it is a fact that the entire development process for systemD is predicated on making Linux incompatible with anything else, which is an entire inversion of how Linux and Free Software works.
I actually like unit files. But if systemD was just an init system, it would stop there.
See Android; or, where you no longer own your device, and if the company decides, you no longer own your data or access to it.
You'll be free to run your own Linux, but don't expect it to work outside of niche uses.
The banking apps still won't trust them, though.
To add a quote from Lennart himself:
"The OS configuration and state (i.e. /etc/ and /var/) must be encrypted, and authenticated before they are used. The encryption key should be bound to the TPM device; i.e system data should be locked to a security concept belonging to the system, not the user."
Your system will not belong to you anymore. Just as it is with Android.
the guys that copy your bitlocker keys in the clear
it will be railroaded through in the same way that systemD was railroaded onto us.
Thanks, @dang! keep up the good work.
As the owner of a rusty 1985 pickup with manual windows and no radio, I can tell you there is great demand for utility pickup trucks that the manufacturers WILL NOT MAKE.
The first problem is CAFE rules. Congress legislated the light pickup truck out of existence. To get around CAFE rules, manufacturers increased the size of trucks and added a back row so they could be reclassified in a way that skirted CAFE rules.
However, there's a big demand for pickups, so people bought these because they needed trucks, and nothing else was available. Manufacturers took advantage of demand and started adding features normal pickup drivers didn't want or need, to access a high-market class of buyers. "Where else are you gonna go?"
$100k pickups, here we are.
Manufacturers are in no hurry to go back to the low-margin pickup days, even though that is what classic pickup buyers actually want.
Then there are those of us for whom social situations are a 3-billion-line case/esac statement.
case situation in
shesmiledandlaughedafterthejoke)
shelikedthejoke()
;;
shesmiledandlaughedafterthejokebutlookedsideways)
shesboredanddidntlikethejoke()
;;
thejokewasfunnyoncesoitmustbefunnyeverytimeeven200times)
crashandburn()
;;
etc)
;;
esac
Somehow, I managed to get married. My wife helped me understand what I was missing - it was like gaining eyesight after never having it or even understanding eyesight was a thing people had.
Yes, many people lack empathy. That is no excuse for you (or me!) to learn and use empathy.
algorithm-driven social media amplifies this nonsense. I had to cut myself out of all social media because I found myself unreasonably angry every day. this new cycle and social media cycle was literally poisoning my life.
it’s not like we didn’t have negative news or negative stories or flame bait back in the days of usenet, but it was easier to escape. Now, with all the TikTok and Twitter/X and Facebook embeds, it’s not only impossible to escape, it literally follows you around now.
The only way to win is not to play at all.
I didn't want Microsoft to poll my machine for data Microsoft would not describe to me in detail, so I uninstalled the patch and deselected it so it wouldn't re-install. I generally didn't read through the patches at the time, and and usually just let Microsoft update do it's thing, so I wasn't really in the habit of refusing Windows updates, though.
The problem with KB2952664 was that Microsoft kept re-issuing this stupid patch, which re-selected it for upgrades. This happened quite a number of times. Then, when they discovered that people kept blocking KB2952664, they re-issued the patch, again, but this time numbered KB3068708 so it wouldn't be blocked, and did in fact bypass my then-current setting that disabled automatic Windows updates.
Then, Microsoft added the telemetry, again, but this time they included it with a patch labeled as a security update: KB4507456.
Right before Windows 10 came out, Microsoft added what they called an optional prompt to allow Windows to automatically upgrade to 10. I refused the upgrade, but on launch day, came downstairs to find that Microsoft had upgraded my PC anyway, and did so clean - I lost every file on my system.
The dark patterns that Microsoft uses to trick non-computer-savvy people into using OneDrive, or non-local accounts are downright diabolical. They couch the OneDrive setup in terms like "Your computer and your data are not protected! You are at risk of lowered file and computer security. Click here to resolve these issues."
Microsoft relies on ignorance to push this absolute bullshit on unsuspecting people, and in a just world, the execs that dreamed this up would be prosecuted under RICO.
And yet, there are serious computer professionals that clearly understand what Microsoft is doing here, but continue to use Windows. Convenience trumps all, apparently.
Some of the latest shooters, will get you banned because anti-cheat.
That said, there's nothing in my library (180 games!) that doesn't run in Linux, and I have a number of games that you can't even get to run in Windows at all anymore.
I think the gaming community should all send Gabe Newell a Valentines Day card, or maybe a Christmas gift, or something. Seriously, the man has done so much for gaming, think of where we'd be without him. Windows App Store, Sony Game Store, walled gardens...
Source: Had LASIK in 1999. Severe myopia and astigmatism, corrected to 20/10 and 20/15 (right and left eye).
My night vision was definitely worse after the surgery, but improved over a year or two. I still get blurry when my eyes are dry and tired, but otherwise remain glasses-free at 50+.
I feel like there’s a vi joke in this submission subject…
At the time, I worked for a company with a large training room full of computers. The room had locking doors, and a small, narrow window in only one door. We made a cardboard cutout that fit into that window perfectly, and painted it flat black. If you put it in the inside of the window, it appeared as if the room was empty and dark. We called it the "beat-down screen".
We loaded up the UT demo on every machine in that room, and used to get a bunch of like-minded gamers to come down at the end of the work day and we'd play the three demo maps for hours. We eventually added Half-Life deathmatch (I loved the snark pit map) and Counterstrike. None of those machines had discrete video cards, so we had to run in software rendering mode on all games, at something ridiculous like 320x200, but it was glorious.
Good times.