Linux Challenge 2

[MrMagic13]

I watched some of the wan from last night. Does anyone know when Linux challenge season 2 will be rolling out, or at least the first part?

 

Thanks

[manikyath]

when it's ready, plus 1 week early access for floatplane.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, manikyath said:

when it's ready, plus 1 week early access for floatplane.

Such a kind welcoming to a newbie, with a non-answer. 

I think the challenge will last one month, and it must have started just before the Whale LAN February 21, so considering 1 week editing perhaps later than April 5th on floatplane and a week after in YT? This is pure speculation, AFAIK nobody knows. 

Only tangentially related, there is another thread about the requirements on the Linux Challenge here.

[manikyath]

1 minute ago, rhermans said:

Such a kind welcoming to a newbie, with a non-answer. 

I think the challenge will last one month, and it must have started just before the Whale LAN February 21, so considering 1 week editing perhaps around  April 5th?

we never know how long they'll go before making the video, we never know how long editing will take.

wildly guessing april 5th is as much of as unhelpfully wild guess as "when it's ready".

 

in fact, i doubt anyone internally at LTT knows at this point when the video will be ready.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, manikyath said:

wildly guessing april 5th is as much of as unhelpfully wild guess as "when it's ready".

 

I didn't feel like your response was kind at all, and while I did acknowledge that nobody knows a date in detail, that doesn't mean that there is no information whatsoever. Edits are not instantaneus and the challenge does have a minimum runtime, so yes, there is something to say about the date that is way more helpful  and kind than "when it's ready".

[Needfuldoer]

We don't know when the next Linux Challenge video is going to come out. The best answer anyone but Linus and Luke can give you is Soon™.

 

An LTT video is never late, nor is it early, it drops precisely when it means to.

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

5 hours ago, rhermans said:

Such a kind welcoming to a newbie, with a non-answer. 

I think the challenge will last one month, and it must have started just before the Whale LAN February 21, so considering 1 week editing perhaps later than April 5th on floatplane and a week after in YT? This is pure speculation, AFAIK nobody knows. 

Only tangentially related, there is another thread about the requirements on the Linux Challenge here.

So instead of answering with a non-answer, you answer with pure speculation and a disclaimer that nobody knows? How is that more helpful, if anything it is misleading and raising false expectations.

 

Also, why do you feel like advertising a forum thread? There's no information regarding the original question in there.

 

6 hours ago, MrMagic13 said:

I watched some of the wan from last night. Does anyone know when Linux challenge season 2 will be rolling out, or at least the first part?

Welcome to the forum. We don't know. Floatplane people might give you a one week warning for the release.

[Guest]

What a disappointing culture some of you are cultivating here. It’s quite  pedantic to provide non-answers to a new user on their very first post just to flex your 'Veteran' status.
 

To manikyath and GarlicDeliverySystem: You are being remarkably shortsighted if you believe a meaningful answer must contain an exact date. In any project management or production environment, a date can be 'unknown' while still being 'bounded' by logic and previous data. Speculating based on known filming events isn't 'misleading', it’s engaging with the topic with the little info that is available. If my estimation was flawed, why don't you point out the shortcoming or even make a better one?
 

Furthermore, criticizing the sharing of a related thread is absurd. Linking to further discussion about the Linux Challenge requirements is objectively more helpful than roasting a newcomer for the crime of being curious about a topic that you don't know how to answer. 
 

If you've appointed yourselves the gatekeepers of what is 'helpful', you should take a look at your own contributions to this thread. Being abrasive and unwelcoming to new members is far more 'unhelpful' and 'misleading' for the health of this community than a reasoned guess could ever be. You aren't 'protecting' the forum; you're just making it a toxic place to ask a simple question.

[GarlicDeliverySystem]

2 hours ago, rhermans said:

To manikyath and GarlicDeliverySystem: You are being remarkably shortsighted if you believe a meaningful answer must contain an exact date. In any project management or production environment, a date can be 'unknown' while still being 'bounded' by logic and previous data. Speculating based on known filming events isn't 'misleading', it’s engaging with the topic with the little info that is available. If my estimation was flawed, why don't you point out the shortcoming or even make a better one?
 

Furthermore, criticizing the sharing of a related thread is absurd. Linking to further discussion about the Linux Challenge requirements is objectively more helpful than roasting a newcomer for the crime of being curious about a topic that you don't know how to answer. 

No, I don't believe a meaningful answer must contain an exact date. I just find it hypocritical to criticize someone for giving a none answer, only to then just answer with pure speculation. And I don't have to make a better one to be able to point that out.

We have also heard on a few occasions on the WAN show that with some of the highly anticipated/involved videos, things can change/delay a lot in production, and that the release is not always immediately when it is done. 

 

I also don't see how we roasted anyone in this thread so far.

[dogwitch]

43 minutes ago, GarlicDeliverySystem said:

No, I don't believe a meaningful answer must contain an exact date. I just find it hypocritical to criticize someone for giving a none answer, only to then just answer with pure speculation. And I don't have to make a better one to be able to point that out.

We have also heard on a few occasions on the WAN show that with some of the highly anticipated/involved videos, things can change/delay a lot in production, and that the release is not always immediately when it is done. 

 

I also don't see how we roasted anyone in this thread so far.

roast garlic bread

[Millios]

On 2/28/2026 at 2:17 PM, rhermans said:

Such a kind welcoming to a newbie, with a non-answer. 

I think the challenge will last one month, and it must have started just before the Whale LAN February 21, so considering 1 week editing perhaps later than April 5th on floatplane and a week after in YT? This is pure speculation, AFAIK nobody knows. 

Only tangentially related, there is another thread about the requirements on the Linux Challenge here.

Long-winded way to say the same thing @manikyath said with speculation for a date you have no evidence for. 

You don't know if they started, if they are doing prep work beforehand or going in blind, how long their editing actually takes, if they encounter any bumps along the way etc.

4 hours ago, rhermans said:

What a disappointing culture some of you are cultivating here. It’s quite  pedantic to provide non-answers to a new user on their very first post just to flex your 'Veteran' status.
 

To manikyath and GarlicDeliverySystem: You are being remarkably shortsighted if you believe a meaningful answer must contain an exact date. In any project management or production environment, a date can be 'unknown' while still being 'bounded' by logic and previous data. Speculating based on known filming events isn't 'misleading', it’s engaging with the topic with the little info that is available. If my estimation was flawed, why don't you point out the shortcoming or even make a better one?
 

Furthermore, criticizing the sharing of a related thread is absurd. Linking to further discussion about the Linux Challenge requirements is objectively more helpful than roasting a newcomer for the crime of being curious about a topic that you don't know how to answer. 
 

If you've appointed yourselves the gatekeepers of what is 'helpful', you should take a look at your own contributions to this thread. Being abrasive and unwelcoming to new members is far more 'unhelpful' and 'misleading' for the health of this community than a reasoned guess could ever be. You aren't 'protecting' the forum; you're just making it a toxic place to ask a simple question.

Yeah, you are just taking the piss.

 

On 2/28/2026 at 1:15 PM, MrMagic13 said:

I watched some of the wan from last night. Does anyone know when Linux challenge season 2 will be rolling out, or at least the first part?

 

Thanks

Nobody can give an answer to that. Probably not even Linus if we are honest.

[manikyath]

4 hours ago, rhermans said:

What a disappointing culture some of you are cultivating here. It’s quite  pedantic to provide non-answers to a new user on their very first post just to flex your 'Veteran' status.

i rarely look at people's post count before starting to form my answer, and the only reason i watch my own is because i'm defenately gonna throw a silly nerd party at 32768.

 

perhaps the only way in which my 'veteran' status is in any way relevant here is that i've probably seen hundreds of threads asking "when will X be released", to the point i ran out of ways to make crystal ball jokes. and unlike some other veterans with the same fatigue, i at least bother to give the dry "we dont know" answer.

 

4 hours ago, rhermans said:

If my estimation was flawed, why don't you point out the shortcoming or even make a better one?

that's the point "when it's ready plus one week" is the best estimate you're gonna get, because we literally have no point of reference for a release timeline other than "they've started working on it". we dont even know in what style they're gonna be presenting the video(s), and what release cadence we're gonna see if it's a multiparter.

 

i'm of the opinion that when you're old enough to be on the internet, you're old enough to face the fact that some questions just simply get a non-answer.

 

the timeframe is literally between "sometime in the next week", and "perhaps may? maybe the last part in july?", which is just as useless of a timeframe as saying "when it's ready".

 

and while i'm very aware i'm not exactly an example member of the "welcome squad" very often.. creating a strawman argument where it's clearly my veteran status wanting to scare away new members is not quite the example either.

 

4 hours ago, rhermans said:

If you've appointed yourselves the gatekeepers of what is 'helpful', you should take a look at your own contributions to this thread. Being abrasive and unwelcoming to new members is far more 'unhelpful' and 'misleading' for the health of this community than a reasoned guess could ever be. You aren't 'protecting' the forum; you're just making it a toxic place to ask a simple question.

and yet, you're appointing yourself the gatekeeper of what is helpful, and being just as abrasive.

 

as for the unwelcoming.. i didnt notice the first post thing until you pointed it out.

 

i do also love how you've edited your own post after the fact to be less "absolute" than the version i replied to.

[AbsoluteWoo]

On 2/28/2026 at 12:17 PM, rhermans said:

Such a kind welcoming to a newbie, with a non-answer. 

Is this non-answer in the room with us?

[Jatzu]

I suspect going with pop os was a mistake.

 

Either way I look forward to this when it comes out.

[DeerDK]

I just wanna know if a SteamOS machine is a viable option for a non-work machine at this point. 

[manikyath]

1 hour ago, DeerDK said:

I just wanna know if a SteamOS machine is a viable option for a non-work machine at this point. 

for gaming: look at steamdeck compatibility for the games you care about, and you've got your answer, realisticly.

 

beyond that, did you ever at some point need to install anything for the other miscelaneous tasks you do? if not, you're golden.

[Ha-Satan]

1 hour ago, DeerDK said:

I just wanna know if a SteamOS machine is a viable option for a non-work machine at this point. 

Is there a particular reason you want SteamOS and not a different, less locked-down distro?

[Kisai]

4 hours ago, Ha-Satan said:

Is there a particular reason you want SteamOS and not a different, less locked-down distro?

Because that's the only OS by which the Proton layer is supported.

 

Like make no mistake. People will not switch to Linux based on it's ability to do something almost nobody gives a care about. People switch based on how easy it is to just use it out of the box, as most people will never do more than that.

 

That's why MacOS is the winner when it comes to user friendliness. It's been relatively unchanged since the PPC era, even then a lot of that user language was established by System 7 on the 68K. The only thing the Mac has ever been moderately inconsistent about is mouse buttons. Apple's own mouse is still one button. So all the UI is designed around only using one mouse button, which is funny enough, compatible with touch displays, which makes emulating the iPad or iPhone on it easy. It also means that there is no handiness to MacOS. Left handed and right handed is supported equally with the same hardware and software.

 

Windows has always used two-buttons, and every application designed to use Windows uses right-click as a context menu. Hence why the 104 key keyboard, has a context-menu meta button (located between Control and the Window key on the right side on my keyboard.) Windows is implicitly right-handed. But Windows has changed the UI handling multiple times. Windows 2.x, Windows 3.x/NT3.x , 9x/ME/NT4/2K/XP, Vista/7, 8.0/8.1/10/11. Like that really absurd 8.0 UI update had to be dialed back. It was terrible, and was designed around capturing a touch-only UI experience on an OS that was never designed to be that way.

 

Linux depends on what desktop environment you ultimately use is. But out of the box the most friendly UI is ... what? I don't know. One that emulates the look and feel of Windows? Or emulates the look of MacOS?

 

The most common use of Linux is a headless use case. That is what is propping up Linux as an OS. Not SteamOS/SteamDeck, not Android. Nvidia's refusal to support Linux as a gaming platform is ultimately eroding it as a gaming target. Nvidia's loss is AMD and Intel's gain here. So if you're team Nvidia, you should not even think about using Linux. Android vendors don't sell SoC's that you can just install Linux on, because they hide behind binary blobs.

 

 

 

[DeerDK]

3 hours ago, Ha-Satan said:

Is there a particular reason you want SteamOS and not a different, less locked-down distro?

I have no experience with Linux and given how Windows is degrading (I don't like the direction they have gone with 11) I feel like it's a good time to dip my toes. And since 95 % of my usecase is gaming it seems like a reasonable choice, as well as the path of least resistance. 

4 hours ago, manikyath said:

for gaming: look at steamdeck compatibility for the games you care about, and you've got your answer, realisticly.

 

beyond that, did you ever at some point need to install anything for the other miscelaneous tasks you do? if not, you're golden.

Its mostly gaming, a bit of browser/office package work (I have Microsoft 365 and I hope I can just use the browser versions of that if I change) and some ttrpg with my weekly group, which is also browser based, so I figure it should be doable. 

 

 

Alternatively I consider putting a secondary pc together that can serve as back up storage for fotos ect and media pc/pseudo console by the TV. 

[Needfuldoer]

5 hours ago, Kisai said:

The only thing the Mac has ever been moderately inconsistent about is mouse buttons. Apple's own mouse is still one button. So all the UI is designed around only using one mouse button,

Apple mice have implemented right-click since the Mighty Mouse in 2005 (the plastic bar of soap with the tiny scroll trackball), and context menus have been part of Mac OS since 1997. The Magic Mouse we all know and love today has been around since 2009 and uses capacitive touch to implement right-click and gestures.

[Kisai]

38 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

Apple mice have implemented right-click since the Mighty Mouse in 2005 (the plastic bar of soap with the tiny scroll trackball), and context menus have been part of Mac OS since 1997. The Magic Mouse we all know and love today has been around since 2009 and uses capacitive touch to implement right-click and gestures.

I didn't say it didn't have context menus, you usually had to invoke them another way (eg ctrl click.) But the design language of the OS and Apple apps designed this way was around one-button operation and is how iOS applications are designed.

 

 

 

[Ha-Satan]

17 hours ago, DeerDK said:

I have no experience with Linux and given how Windows is degrading (I don't like the direction they have gone with 11) I feel like it's a good time to dip my toes. And since 95 % of my usecase is gaming it seems like a reasonable choice, as well as the path of least resistance. 

What's the hardware on the PC you want to use?

[DeerDK]

17 minutes ago, Ha-Satan said:

What's the hardware on the PC you want to use?

Probably my current b550i ROG motherboard + Ryzen 5600x. 

GPU would either be my 9070 xt if I decide to use my main system for this experiment, or some smaller amd card or Intel card if I decide to build a secondary system. Could go Nvidia if I can get a good deal, but as I understand it only amd cards work with SteamOS in its current form

[Ha-Satan]

Just now, DeerDK said:

Probably my current b550i ROG motherboard + Ryzen 5600x. 

GPU would either be my 9070 xt if I decide to use my main system for this experiment, or some smaller amd card or Intel card if I decide to build a secondary system. Could go Nvidia if I can get a good deal, but as I understand it only amd cards work with SteamOS in its current form

You could try Bazzite or Nobara in order to get a distro with most of the "gaming stuff" built in, but honestly I'd recommend just trying Fedora KDE. Since you don't have an Nvidia card you shouldn't need to fuck around with the Nvidia drivers, and Fedora is an up-to-date and well-supported distro with lots of documentation surrounding it. It won't come with things like Steam preinstalled but nothing about the setup needed for gaming is actually hard to do.

 

You gotta keep in mind that switching to Linux is not like getting married. If you install a distro and you don't like it, you can always switch to another distro or even back to Windows and all it costs you will be some time. There is no downside to trying.

[DeerDK]

1 hour ago, Ha-Satan said:

You could try Bazzite or Nobara in order to get a distro with most of the "gaming stuff" built in, but honestly I'd recommend just trying Fedora KDE. Since you don't have an Nvidia card you shouldn't need to fuck around with the Nvidia drivers, and Fedora is an up-to-date and well-supported distro with lots of documentation surrounding it. It won't come with things like Steam preinstalled but nothing about the setup needed for gaming is actually hard to do.

 

You gotta keep in mind that switching to Linux is not like getting married. If you install a distro and you don't like it, you can always switch to another distro or even back to Windows and all it costs you will be some time. There is no downside to trying.

Some very good input. I may give it a shot. 

My issue is that right now I don't have much time to learn a new OS and troubleshoot, as it would eat up the time I can take off to game. Young kids win in the priority game.