Response to "Linux Gaming Finally Doesn't Suck" video

[MEC-777]

It's great that Linus covered gaming on Linux in a couple videos over the last couple months, but there is some incorrect information and I just wanted to clear the air of those few things so people wouldn't be getting the wrong idea. The Linux Gamer on YT made a great video about this so I'll let him do all the talking.

 

This is not meant to be hate on Linus' video, just constructive criticism. 

 

 

 

[AlTech]

1 hour ago, MEC-777 said:

snip

Yeah.

 

"Proton API" - It's quite clear Linus doesn't know much about software.

 

Edit:

Nvidia drivers install using Sudo and Apt - The drivers he downloaded via APT was not the right way to go.

 

He should have downloaded the ones canonical provides as they're more up to date and generally more secure.

 

Generally Linus just tries to do the things in this video the way a Windows user would which isn't necessarily the right way to do it.

[Guest]

Enjoyed that. I really like that there's no Linus bashing. If I were to use an analogy, Linus is like Apple. Once he brings something up, it has a better chance of becoming mainstream. Anyone picking him apart because he made minor errors or didn't quite get the lingo is part of the problem when it comes to pushing it into the mainstream. The Wendel video should have been the part 2 and this the part 1. That's for sure.

[Dujith]

Minus a few things they did wrong (some basic research on how you install things on Linux would have been nice)

Overall he seems to agree with it, more a sort of adding to the video then burning it down.

 

My own experience with Linux has been with setting up servers and following guides as i have little knowledge of it.

But video's like Linus his does make me want to try it out.

 

Like AluminiumTech said as much ^^ This will be the view of most windows users, and that needs to be changed.

[EPENEX]

I'm sure 2019 will be the year of the Linux desktop, guys.

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Nvidia drivers install using Sudo and Apt - Definitely shows has no idea how things are done and the writer doesn't either

Sorry, but I gotta stop you right there, while it can be installed using Apt and a more recommended way (And sudo is only necessary if you do not have root permissions, which it temporarily gives), the .run from their site is in no way an invalid method to install. For one it does install even if you type it exactly as Linus did as it's an executable and those can be executed as is with just the file name. Also don't forget that there are far more package managers than apt such as zypper, packman, and yay, but I'll ignore that as this is a video using Ubuntu

 

On topic though, the one area that drivers haven't matured well is in NVidia Optimus, still a bunch of third party hackery, no Windows style Optimus either unless you can deal with a lack of vulkan (*E.g. no DXVK). (And before you say Xterm, you need to have another tty/session open, which in my case crashes other x sessions if I switch back to them)

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

I think he's over critiquing it, he complains how Linus didn't find the latest driver and had v390 (which came on 03-09-2018), he assumes he made the video like yesterday (v396 come on 23rd, he made the response video on 24th of sep). just saying. 

[AlTech]

21 minutes ago, [REDACTED] said:

Sorry, but I gotta stop you right there, while it can be installed using Apt and a more recommended way (And sudo is only necessary if you do not have root permissions, which it temporarily gives), the .run from their site is in no way an invalid method to install. For one it does install even if you type it exactly as Linus did as it's an executable and those can be executed as is with just the file name. Also don't forget that there are far more package managers than apt such as zypper, packman, and yay, but I'll ignore that as this is a video using Ubuntu

Oh rip. I forgot to explain myself properly in the post.

 

What I meant to say is that the drivers he downloaded via APT was not the right way to go.

 

He should have downloaded the ones canonical provides as they're more up to date and generally more secure.

[MEC-777]

With regards to Nvidia or AMD graphics drivers, depending on the distro you're using, you don't even need to use the terminal or download anything (separately) to install the latest drivers. Mint, for example, has a driver manager which after opening and providing your root PW, updates and shows the latest available graphics drivers (both open-source and proprietary). You simply select the one you want and click apply, then restart the system. 

 

Alternatively, you can manually add the repos, use search aptitude for the latest stable version and then use the command: sudo apt install nvidia-XXX (where XXX is the version number). 

 

There's multiple ways to do things in Linux, which is one of the cool things about it.  

 

Here's the driver manager in Mint 18.3 on my laptop: 

[wasab]

if you download from nvidia site for linux graphics driver, you automatically failed as linux literate. 

Same if you donwload from oracle for the java JDK if your distro repo has it. bunch of my computer science classmates found it out the hard way. 

 

also, proton api, what?

 

[wasab]

12 hours ago, Densetsu said:

Enjoyed that. I really like that there's no Linus bashing. If I were to use an analogy, Linus is like Apple. Once he brings something up, it has a better chance of becoming mainstream. Anyone picking him apart because he made minor errors or didn't quite get the lingo is part of the problem when it comes to pushing it into the mainstream. The Wendel video should have been the part 2 and this the part 1. That's for sure.

sooner or later, proton and api will  be the most abused compound words on his tech channels. 

[wasab]

5 hours ago, MEC-777 said:

With regards to Nvidia or AMD graphics drivers, depending on the distro you're using, you don't even need to use the terminal or download anything (separately) to install the latest drivers. Mint, for example, has a driver manager which after opening and providing your root PW, updates and shows the latest available graphics drivers (both open-source and proprietary). You simply select the one you want and click apply, then restart the system. 

 

Alternatively, you can manually add the repos, use search aptitude for the latest stable version and then use the command: sudo apt install nvidia-XXX (where XXX is the version number). 

 

There's multiple ways to do things in Linux, which is one of the cool things about it.  

 

Here's the driver manager in Mint 18.3 on my laptop: 

Jesus, that is even older than ubuntu's drivers. You really need to use third party PPAs mentioned in the video you posted. 

[Guest]

17 hours ago, EPENEX said:

I'm sure 2019 will be the year of the Linux desktop, guys.

I’ll join you guys 2030 when I remember to make sure the WiFi Adapter I buy is linux compatible. 

[MEC-777]

6 hours ago, wasab said:

Jesus, that is even older than ubuntu's drivers. You really need to use third party PPAs mentioned in the video you posted. 

I know, but I don't really game on this device and it's stable, so I have no reason to use the absolute latest.  It's because Mint 18.3 is based on Ubuntu 16.04. 

[MEC-777]

It should also be noted that using the absolute latest graphics drivers may not be the most wise thing to do as you might be installing a beta driver that has not yet been completely tested with your specific distro. Adding the 3rd party PPAs may give you access to newer versions, I would just recommend not using beta drivers. 

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

ok, i think this guy comes off as a jerk. 

[MEC-777]

14 minutes ago, Rohith_Kumar_Sp said:

ok, i think this guy comes off as a jerk. 

I agree, he shouldn't have complained about the driver version in relation to when the video was shot and posted. The specific driver version isn't really the point of these videos anyways, so it seems a bit nit-picky on his behalf. Also I don't think he knows about LMG's production process and flow, where some scenes from some videos could be recorded months prior to us seeing it on FP or YT. Kinda shot himself in the foot there, lol. 

 

Overall though I think he was (mostly) fair to Linus, aside from that, and added to Linus' video rather than tore it apart, IMO. 

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

2 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

Overall though I think he was (mostly) fair to Linus, aside from that, and added to Linus' video rather than tore it apart, IMO. 

 

exactly, he made some good points but was also too picky, if he can criticize someone else's work it's also fair that other people can criticize his. // off topic , total-biscuit also did the same wrongdoings.

[asus killer]

22 hours ago, EPENEX said:

I'm sure 2019 will be the year of the Linux desktop, guys.

i've heard this for so many times in the past now i'm immune to this

[wasab]

5 hours ago, MEC-777 said:

I know, but I don't really game on this device and it's stable, so I have no reason to use the absolute latest.  It's because Mint 18.3 is based on Ubuntu 16.04. 

It's not just about performance. Newer driver sucks less battery and have less bugs. 

 

I don't mean the beta. The newer stable releases. 

[ZacoAttaco]

I really enjoyed that video, The Linux Gamer was fair in his criticisms (probably could have been way tougher) but clearly Linus doesn't have much experience with Linux, so for someone like me, it puts us in a similar situation.

 

While I wish the content was a little more accurate, this video is for Linux newbies and not those experienced with it and so it at least encourages me to give it a try, I already have Ubuntu running on a VM so I plan to spend more time with it now. I'll probably end up installing Steam and trying some games out. Thanks for sharing @MEC-777.

[MEC-777]

5 hours ago, ZacoAttaco said:

I really enjoyed that video, The Linux Gamer was fair in his criticisms (probably could have been way tougher) but clearly Linus doesn't have much experience with Linux, so for someone like me, it puts us in a similar situation.

 

While I wish the content was a little more accurate, this video is for Linux newbies and not those experienced with it and so it at least encourages me to give it a try, I already have Ubuntu running on a VM so I plan to spend more time with it now. I'll probably end up installing Steam and trying some games out. Thanks for sharing @MEC-777.

Glad you're interested in giving Linux a try.  Are you running Ubuntu in Virtualbox?

[MEC-777]

5 hours ago, ZacoAttaco said:

I really enjoyed that video, The Linux Gamer was fair in his criticisms (probably could have been way tougher) but clearly Linus doesn't have much experience with Linux, so for someone like me, it puts us in a similar situation.

 

While I wish the content was a little more accurate, this video is for Linux newbies and not those experienced with it and so it at least encourages me to give it a try, I already have Ubuntu running on a VM so I plan to spend more time with it now. I'll probably end up installing Steam and trying some games out. Thanks for sharing @MEC-777.

Glad you're interested in giving Linux a try.  Are you running Ubuntu in Virtualbox?

[ZacoAttaco]

17 minutes ago, MEC-777 said:

Glad you're interested in giving Linux a try.  Are you running Ubuntu in Virtualbox?

Actually I'm using VMware Workstation 14, I'm also running an OpenBSD VM. So that I can learn more about secure Unix server operating systems.

I can't say I use them a lot, but it's a good way to gradually learn the OS, if something goes wrong, just create a new VM. Ta Da...

[Giganthrax]

What I get from this discussion is that gaming on Linux takes so much effort and extra know-how that even Linus who has multiple people helping him with the research and preparation still up making a bunch of mistakes.

 

Conclusion: stop trying to fit a square in a round hole, and just game on Windows 10 like the almighty intended.