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It really is difficult to be excited about games when hardware to play them is out of reach for most.

Personally, this makes the Switch a little more enticing. It's relatively easy to get and even though the games are not pushing max framerates and resolution, just simply for gaming it's pretty decent.

The new Metroid looks really cool and the rumors that Metroid Prime is getting a remake is exciting for me.

I'm on the Pixel 5. Haven't really had a reason to switch to anything else. Has a top of the line camera and runs stock Android OS.

Would like a Pixel 6 but just spent money on other things so I'll wait a year or two before I upgrade again.

I'm really enjoying it. Loved the Captain Carter episode. I'm hoping some of these turn out to be seen in a proper MCU movie.

[Official Linux Ports]

@CreepinDeth is there a difference that you are noticing between using Windows and linux for gaming?

There are a ton of differences that mainly involve the OS and how you go about playing games that don't have official Linux ports. However, once they run, there's not much differences. I'll try to outline a few.

Official Linux Ports
The only official ports that I've tried so far are the latest Tomb Raider trilogy games (Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider & Shadow of the Tomb Raider.)

They run pretty well and don't need much tweaking. However, I learned about CPU Governors trying these out as I got a message from the game saying that my CPU is not set for Performance which could cause issues. So I installed CPUFreq and I can switch it on the fly from the desktop.

Overall though, it's as simple as installing Steam and then installing the game. It's good to go just like on Windows.

Windows version on Linux
Steam has come a long way to have Windows versions run on Linux. You do have to set in the preferences that you want to use Steam-Play and select the version of Proton you want to use and you're usually good to go. Proton is a WINE compatibility layer that has been modified by Valve to help games run on Linux. There is also Lutris which helps you play games that are not acquired through Steam but I haven't tried that yet.

I've played Doom (2016) and even the original DOS Tomb Raider from 1996 and both ran with no fuss. I have yet to try out more but, so far, it's been fairly painless.

I did try Batman Arkham Asylum but that one requires some tweaks to Proton to run. Don't feel like doing that right now though.

There is currently a site called Proton DB which is a database that lets you know which games work with Proton and those that still need work from Valve to become playable. Valve is looking to have 100% compatibility by the time the Steam Deck releases.

If I can think of anymore, I'll post them.

So now I might jump back to Zorin OS. Version 16 has just been released and the developers are claiming it's now much more gaming friendly. It honestly looks pretty good.

I was already thinking about dual booting Zorin and Pop!_OS. Pop for gaming and Zorin for daily driver. Might not have to anymore.

Zorin OS 16

Might jump on this weekend on Xbox. I played it last weekend and it was decent. Definitely had a L4D feel but slightly updated.

Not sure how I feel about the card system but maybe if I jump back in it'll make sense. If anybody else is playing on Xbox I'll see if I jump in over the weekend.

New impressions from people other than IGN have gone up -




As for this being a Switch killer, I don't think it will be. I deliberately tried to be a little click-baity with the title and the reason why I have a question mark in the there as well.

However, I do think it will affect the Switch negatively. For example, a lot of PC gamers have a Switch and double dip on games because they want the portability. Now, they can have a portable PC and not have to double dip on games. Which could cause some developers to not even bother with a Switch port. Also, online multiplayer is free. Sure, it's fairly cheap for a Nintendo Online subscription but it's one less thing to buy.

I'm also excited about this because it pushes Linux gaming forward. Valve is putting in a ton of work towards the kernel and other software making it a viable alternative to Windows. Especially since Windows 11 is not going to support a lot of hardware pre-2019 or so. Which is pretty crappy.

@BLUEVOODU - I've heard good things about MATE. I've also been reading that KDE has come a long way and is very nice now too.

I would like to try something other than GNOME. From all of the reading I've done, the developers of GNOME tend to be a little arrogant and seem to want to dictate what you should or shouldn't have. Which seems to go against the spirit of open-source/Linux.

I believe SteamOS 3.0 will be KDE, so I plan on installing that once it releases.

@BLUEVOODU - I don't believe it's that bleeding edge. System76 still does a lot of testing before they release updates (and sometimes hold them back a few days, if necessary) but because they also cater to gamers, they try to make getting drivers and other libraries easier and automatic.

They are Steam/WINE/Lutris friendly.

@BLUEVOODU When you say desktop, do you mean the desktop environment like Gnome, KDE, etc? Or do you mean distro?

I don't really have a favorite of either one at the moment. I'm in the testing phase of my linux adventure. Started out with Zorin which uses Gnome and if I didn't want to game, it would be my daily driver. However, since I want to game on my machine, I installed Pop!_OS. It also uses Gnome so not much different than Zorin.

As for apps, Steam is a big one. I also use Firefox and Google Chrome. I wish I didn't have to use chrome anymore but there are some sites that I need that don't seem to like Firefox. I also installed Discord, Wine and Winetricks (for gaming purposes.) For game overlays, I installed Goverlay so that I can see my framerates and CPU/GPU usage in games. Although, I'm having a little trouble having it appear on games right now.

Here are the apps I've installed so far -

• Steam
• Wine/Winetricks
• Discord
• VLC
• OBS
• KDENLIVE
• Goverlay
• GIMP
• qBittorrent
• Google Chrome

Pop!_OS is a relatively new distro. It's only been around for like 3 years I think? System 76 (the developers of Pop!_OS) also make hardware that is tailored with their distro. It's actually really nice hardware.

So I had to switch from Zorin OS over to Pop_OS. Turns out Zorin 15.3 is based on Ubuntu 18.04, and since I also plan to game on this machine, makes it too old for my needs. It's actually a nice OS and if you don't plan to game it's solid.

Switched over to Pop_OS since they are still supporting 32bit libraries that are required for Steam and automatically installs the latest Nvidia drivers for you if you happen to have one of their graphics cards. So far, so good. It uses Gnome so it has a lot of the aesthetic features of Zorin. I'm enjoying it so far.

Greetings from Zorin OS!

I finally got my spare PC going and installed Zorin on it. Enjoying it so far. Feels much cleaner and minimalistic than Windows. Haven't done much yet. Just getting it all setup with software that I might need. 

Happy Belated Birthday!!

Theaters are just looking for a reason to blame something other than the pandemic. Rather than helping get rid of Covid by encouraging vaccinations, they'd rather just deflect. The more people get vaccinated, the more people are going to be willing to go in a room full of people.

The reality is, the people who wanted to see it at a theater already did. The rest probably don't feel comfortable and last I heard, Black Widow did really well streaming. So not sure if I'm going to believe the theater companies.

I grabbed the 256GB version and my wife got the 64GB version.

Both her and I ran into issues that most people did by getting locked out for "attempting to many purchases." Fortunately, the Deck was still in our carts and we were able to finish our reservation but we're looking at Q1 2022 because of it. Oh well, just stoked to have a reservation.

Hopefully they are able to make more than expected and can sell directly on day one.

That's why I like the way Microsoft is handling Backwards compatibility these days. It's not perfect by any means, but the fact that a good amount of Xbox & Xbox 360 games work on my Xbox One means I don't have to fetch an emulator or try to find outdated equipment that can't fit in my living room. Not to mention that there's a very good chance they'll run even better than on original hardware.

I recently bought the Splinter Cell games for about $3 each digitally and I don't have to bust out my original Xbox. More companies need to do this.

I do miss seeing movies in theatre... but it worked out well.  Good idea @CreepinDeth

Happy it worked out for you, too! It's nice to watch at home once in a while.

Steam Deck



Valve just revealed this today. Handheld with the latest AMD RDNA2 graphics and Zen 2 CPU. Starts at $399. Pre-orders start July 16th and you must put down $5 to reserve. I'm honestly thinking of reserving one.

Runs on Valve's Linux distro, SteamOS, and can hook up to a monitor to be used as a full sized PC. Comes with a 7" screen and full size analog sticks. Storage is expandable with Micro SD cards just like the Switch.


Full specs below.

Loved the show overall and glad that it brought more implications to the MCU. S#!t just got real.

Yeah, I said screw it and just watched it at home. Wife and I just popped some popcorn and bought a bunch of candy from the store. Was actually really nice.

Will probably wait until Spider-man in December to watch a movie in the theater.

Watched it and thought it was good. Not perfect but definitely more fun than Thor 2.

Was not happy with...

Spoiler: ShowHide

how they handled Task Master. This villain is supposed to be extremely tough and formidable and they weren't. Very lackluster in my opinion

For me, the Humble monthly has so far satisfied my steam collection. It already got me Metro: Exodus, Shenmue III, Control and a bunch of other games for about $1 each.

As for any steals, I would just recommend looking at the "Under $5" list. Most of the latest games are still $20 or more.

I really like what I watched so far. I've stopped trying to figure out what's going to happen and just let it ride.

It flows pretty good. Not really any slow/boring parts in my opinion.

@BLUEVOODU - It's on Netflix, unless you don't have that.

Turns out that Disney/Marvel have deemed Agent Carter not canon. I don't understand why but I guess maybe they're trying to distance themselves from non-Disney+ shows that are actually canon.

@BLUEVOODU - Here is the press release from Sony's blog -

PlayStation store on PS3 and PS Vita will continue operations.

@BLUEVOODU - I don't know much about CentOS and don't know Rocky Linux at all. I decided on Zorin because it seems to have the closest experience to a windows desktop (even moreso than linux mint) and is based on debian/ubuntu without actually using ubuntu.

I was thinking that I might create tutorial videos for people who want to convert over from windows. That's another reason I went with a debian based distro since the apps are easily installed through the app "stores". It's also gaming friendly.

I'll probably look at Red Hat distros as I get more experience, but for now, I'm treating this as a project from someone who just wants an OS that is stable and works "out of the box" so to speak compared to windows.

I'm about to take the plunge again. I'm going to force myself to use Linux as my daily OS along with linux native apps. I'm going to stay with Zorin and eventually move on to Arch Linux as the end goal. I'd also build a PC around it.

I'll have a Windows PC if there is ever that off chance something does not exist on Linux but not before I try every avenue. I think it's going to be fun. 

I thought it was pretty good but low ratings caused them to shut it down after two seasons so the storylines didn't get a chance to properly breathe.

It's more canon than Agents of Shield so it's worth watching if you're an MCU completionist.

They reversed this and are not shutting the stores down any time soon. Which is good because...

...this revealed a flaw in the PS3. When the stores do inevitably go away, if your PS3 CMOS battery dies (and it will), then you can no longer play your games, even physical copies. On PS4, only digital games are affected.

The trophy system is dependent on these servers, so if they go away, then your console becomes a paperweight. Huge oversight on Sony's part.