With the Legion Go S, we can now directly compare performance between official builds of SteamOS and Windows
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In Software Design terminology, Wine and DXVK are "adaptor" layers (each convert one kind of API interface into a different kind - Wine doing Windows API to Linux API conversion and DXVK doing DirectX API to Vulkan API - and nothing more) whilst Proton is more a controller that just manages those things and adds some more functionality on top such as Steam integration for ease of use.
Without Proton users would have to know a bunch of command lines parameters and environment setup to launch all the right components with the right configuration so that they can first install and then run their Windows game in Linux. In fact this is the situation if you use Wine directly without something like Lutris to do a similar work as Proton.
Personally I prefer Lutris since it's more flexible - for example I can configure it to run games sandboxed with networking disabled - and it's not tightly bound to a single games store.
I used to use Lutris, but I found Heroic more consistent and convenient for filling the same purpose. It's quite good at downloading just the diff needed for GoG game updates these days, for instance, which is key for big games like Baldur's Gate 3.
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There is plenty of software that doesn't, and plenty of games that don't run on Linux, even beyond anticheat games. If it wasn't true, we wouldn't need protondb telling us what is and isn't. You can advocate for Linux all day, but you have to admit there is still software that is 100% Windows only.
I was specifically referring to games as a subset of software in general. Generally, I haven't run into a game that doesn't "just work" on Linux unless the developer has non-working anti cheat. Are there any major games you've tried that that wasn't the case?
As for all software, we still have work to do there.
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"any computer"? Come on, what is that hyperbole? My desktop runs Wilds stable just fine.
I was kinda joking, but the game still stutters and has fps drops regardless of the hardware it's run on. Digital Foundry has a pretty scathing performance review of it.
It's certainly playable on good hardware (assuming you aren't super bothered by dips), but it also performs way worse than it should at any hardware level.
I don't consider the game a good performance benchmark for any piece of hardware because it's performance is abnormally bad, and there's no hardware where it can run without issues.
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It’s impressive that’s still the case when SteamOS is running a translation layer that Windows doesn’t have to.
Also, SteamOS is actually a pretty fully-featured OS, and it’s based off of Linux, so it’s not that specialized, besides the UI.
Yeah it's basically Arch with KDE Neon/gamescope that runs Steam in Big Picture mode with an immutable file system. That's why Bazzite is able to make a StramOS-like experience. The hardest things are the hardware-specific tweaks.
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Because they aren't just optimizing for gaming.
Any change they make would influence their other markets as well, like general and office use.
Realistically the design goals of a gaming OS vs a general desktop OS aren't that different. You want to balance performance, batterlife/power consumption, and making sure it withstands insane abuse by users and software doing anything you could never imagine that nobody should have ever tried to do. About the only design goal that separates SteamOS from Windows is fleet manageability features
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That's fair, but unless what you do requires windows in some way (like, say, Photoshop), Linux tends to be better for productivity as well, if you learn it
But of course, I understand that it takes some upfront work and learning to change your workflow, so I don't blame people for not doing it
i’m using photogimp and haven’t looked back, it’s surprisingly robust
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Back in ~2010, my first dual boot was an Ubuntu. It was fairly easy to run WoW from Linux and it gave me a solid >15fps while Windows ran at less than 10fps.
I was very young at the time but still aware that this was super impressive with extra compatibility layers. That definitely took part in selling Linux to me.
I could barely get Minecraft to run 20fps on this old laptop I had given to me a few years ago. Loaded Ubuntu on it and Minecraft ran near 60fps. Blew my mind.
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So a specialized OS wins over a general OS in their specific tasks?
Amazing ...
SteamOS is able to launch a desktop environment where you can do anything you want. It is just an OS like Windows, but better.
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I was specifically referring to games as a subset of software in general. Generally, I haven't run into a game that doesn't "just work" on Linux unless the developer has non-working anti cheat. Are there any major games you've tried that that wasn't the case?
As for all software, we still have work to do there.
I was going to put an explanation on why I can't use Linux, but it doesn't matter. I'm someone who can't make the leap yet with the software and game services I use. I want to be, but I just can't yet.
This is why the original commenter shouldn't get downvoted for asking about 10 iot benchmarks because I, too, am looking to convert to this version when consumer 10 support ends this year. If it works on my desktop well, I'd likely try it on my Rog Ally.
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Because they aren't just optimizing for gaming.
Any change they make would influence their other markets as well, like general and office use.
They made an attempt. It's called Windows RT. It's a sandbox more locked down than iOS.
The Win32 desktop environment isn't built to support stuff like "timer coalescing" for all the API calls which all the software is designed to run continously in the background. Changing how it idles would change so many things which all kinds of software depends on that it would barely be the same OS anymore.
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the gains come from the reduced overhead that linux has compared to windows
literally the next line
..the games here are being run through proton
I really hate the dismissal of the heavy lifting proton does. Proton is what makes gaming on Linux so great. So many native linux games perform worse on Linux vs their windows counterparts. Then again, I'd expect nothing less from Dave2D
I really hate the dismissal of the heavy lifting proton does.
What part of this did you interpret as a dismissal?
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What's nice is that Microsoft today doesn't have capability to improve in the short or even medium term. They could drop a billion dollars into it and it would still take them years to improve their offering, if they can at all.
I disagree. Take Windows, remove the bloat, slap a game-focused GUI on it, call it XBOX and Bob's your uncle.
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Source is this video:
Windows Was The Problem All Along - Dave2D
We could obviously compare performance between windows and steamOS before on the steam deck, or between windows and Bazzite on other handhelds. But this is the first time we have had official windows and SteamOS builds for the same hardware.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I’d love to know what windows figures would be like with a stripped down guts ripped out windows, such as revi.cc.
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Don't forget educational institutes. Linux should be the defacto OS at such places. The younger generation's first interaction with a PC is at school. If they are used to Linux from a young age, this is greatly help them ease into the Linux mindset (package manager, terminal).
wrote last edited by [email protected]Which is exactly why Google and Apple give free computers to public schools. Good luck getting them to turn that down.
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They said make electric cars fast, and you'll get car guys to buy in. It was true.
Now they're making linux make video games faster and prettier...
I dont know if there will ever be a year of the linux desktop, but this is the kind of stuff you gotta do to get there.
I dont know if there will ever be a year of the linux desktop
There won't be. It won't happen that quickly. If anything there will be a "decade of the Linux computer".
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Can it play MH Wilds?
The processor is not terribly power, so probably not.
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I'd still take this with a grain of salt. Not many games tested, and the SteamOS build might've been tweaked and worked on more to be more optimized.
SteamOS build might've been tweaked and worked on more to be more optimized
What does that mean? Of course it was. Why would I take that with salt?
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Windows Gamers (who will never switch to Linux): Linux still isn't ready for mass adoption
I’m still waiting for games with big anticheats to run on Linux. Until I can play Fortnite with my nephew on Linux I won’t swap over.
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And why would they? They're printing so much money, this niche probably doesn't make a dent.
It doesn't matter if Windows is the best system for gaming. It just matters if people believe it is.
You can always justify using Windows. "How do I get Game Pass to work on my handheld?" is probably something people care about.
Granted this is an expensive way to lock customers into your platform, but they're already doing it anyways, so no need to pour money into the OS experience when you can just sell services building on customer data.
It’s not about the short term, it’s about the long term.
Windows should consider proton and steam an existential threat.
MS (and APR) give away their keystone software windows, office, etc in order to “get them young” and make sure that young kids grow up using their software.
Majority of kids interactions with computers is mobile, gaming, and schoolwork.
MS has nothing in mobile, gaming is getting more crowded and school both Apple and Google are muscling in
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My partner and I have been transitioning to Linux over the past month or so, dual booting for now.
Linux still isn't ready for mass adoption.
If you don't mind me asking:
What problems did you run into?
And what distro were you using?
