Spyke

Replies

Comment on

Escape Simulator drops the Linux build to focus on supporting Proton

At my studio we maintain a native Linux version with a custom game engine, and it indeed takes a lot of time. I don't consider Proton a viable option as we lost the ability to integrate with Linux-specific stuff such as Wayland APIs or better input, but I can definitely see the appeal of switching to Proton... if your team uses Windows. If you have some developers on Linux, you naturally get a Linux build (if using cross platform APIs ofc) and it's actually faster to cross-compile a Windows build every once in a while (skip the slow ntfs I/O) and ship that. But it requires getting more of the team on Linux :)

linux

Comment on

Can someone get through college on GNU Linux?

I did a bachelor of videogame programming in Belgium 99% on Linux (minus exams), but it was definitely a huge struggle. All the courses and assignments were Windows-only, and 90%-ish required Visual Studio (non-Code) and Windows-only libraries like DirectX or Win32. I got by writing my own tooling to auto-convert these to CMake projects and convincing each teacher to allow me to hand in CMake projects. I wrote SDL backends for most of the win32 assignments, falling back on clang's excellent cross-compiling for stuff that requires e.g Windows.h. I wrote a blog post about this: https://blog.allpurposem.at/adventures-cross-compiling-a-windows-game-engine And using e.g DirectX natively on Linux, easier than expected: https://blog.allpurposem.at/directx

I also wrote a small wiki on my general experience + a summary of courses and main problems encountered... Windows was non-negotiable during exams: https://dae-linux.allpurposem.at/ I maintain tools, converted assignments, and information on this for future students who want to attempt something like me, but it's hard to recommend the Linux challenge if you are totally new to programming!

Hope some of this is helpful!

privacy

Comment on

No, Android is not doomed. No, Android is not as bad as iOS. It takes 5 clicks to opt out of Gservices. If you are unable to do that, theres Degoogled Phones. Your Bank? Theres cheap used Phones.

While degoogling is accessible right now, what worries me is that all of these projects are 100% dependent on Google's whims because they use Android as the upstream. Same reason why I don't use Chromium browsers: yes, they can patch over things, but they can't fight the direction of the upstream project and they are powerless if the upstream stops publishing commits / source, like Google seems to be moving toward. Additionally, what "the big distros" aka stock ROMs do to prevent FOSS apps being installed means a much much smaller potential userbase for them. I develop an Android app, and (while I don't have analytics) I don't find it unlikely that at least half my users are on stock roms that would lose access to my app with this policy. It's much less motivating to develop something when I know less people will benefit, and especially knowing I'm supporting only custom roms that are 100% beholden to Google. Degoogling is a good first step. I've been on Lineage for many years now. But I believe that the step that will truly make us independent is moving to Linux phones.

Comment on

What are your Homelab goals for 2025?

I want to move my whole server to NixOS. It's gotten to the point where I have no idea where all the Ubuntu config files went, and handling half of it via Docker vs baremetal. I hope this will allow me to set up proper backups as well, and maybe get better at Nix! I started a few days ago using the VM feature, but it's tricky to work on for now, perhaps I haven't found the right workflow.

linux

Comment on

*Permanently Deleted*

Awesome! I hope he will help share this with more folks, the friends who I've talked into finally giving modern non-Ubuntu Linux a shot love it, but there's a lot of work to get over the damaged image created by the countless "linux user installing a browser" memes. I'm sure someone with his reach can help though :)

linux

Comment on

Okay why is your distro the best?

I (maybe) ended distrohopping last year when I gave NixOS a shot. I can't recommend it for beginners but once you understand generally how things work on Linux (and have an interest in programming) it's a superpower to be able to define your entire setup as a single git repository. If something ever breaks, I can reboot into an older commit and keep using my computer, or branch off in a different direction... I've only scratched the surface of NixOS and yet I can already make a live USB containing my setup with a single command, or deploy it ("infect") to another machine and manage e.g my work desktop and my personal laptop sharing most settings. Also it taught me about Nix (the package manager, which also runs on any distro and macOS independent of NixOS) which I now use to set up perfect development environments for each of my projects... if I set up dependencies once (as a flake.nix shell), it'll work forever and anywhere.

Comment on

Life as a teen without social media isn't easy. These families are navigating adolescence offline

I can echo the frustrations expressed about social media becoming a necessity as it becomes the primary channel for communication by an institution. Both my university and student dorm use exclusively Discord to communicate events, exams, and general announcements. I don't run Discord on my phone and due to this I have come close to missing several important things, if not for a friend letting me know. I'm not sure what if anything could be done to change this...