Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
I just tried to install a cross-platform file manager for a review in FCM. I downloaded the MSI file for Windows and tried to install it. The very first thing it tried to do was download Microsoft Edge components. I don’t allow anything “Edge” on my system; in fact, I have removed it completely, by the roots, even in windowsSXS. Let’s face it, the time of the Windows desktop is over. Now, I know gaming is the number one reason touted for Windows use, and I agree; however, there are still things that need work FOR gaming on Linux to function as it should, like fan control. I want my fans to ramp up sooner and keep my machine cooler – as I have seen too many times what heat does. (Remember MSI afterburner? I don’t know now, as it does not work on my current machine, but it was pretty nifty.)
That said, Canonical was recently looking for a Linux Desktop Gaming Product Manager https://canonical.com/careers/3776036/linux-desktop-gaming-product-manager-remote. What is interesting about the advert, was the second last point: “tell the story of Ubuntu for gamers”. For one, I really don’t think you need to sell anyone on it, simply make it work and work better, and it will sell itself. Youtubers will fall over themselves to report on Ubuntu beating Windows on the same hardware, like they do with video cards and CPUs.
This makes me excited for the Linux desktop. Not just for games, but for what will pop up around it, like the fan control I mentioned earlier as an example, or HUDs, game streaming, gaming kernels? The possibilities are mind-boggling.
Fast forward to April 2022, and one of the Ubuntu desktop team members, “Kevinvandine” posted an interesting tid-bit on the discourse: “Canonical is going all in on the gaming experience on Ubuntu and we’ve started building out a team dedicated to working on just that.“ (https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/introducing-early-access-to-the-steam-snap/28082).
He exits with: “In addition, we’re already looking at further future improvements for the gaming experience, such as providing easy ways to get more bleeding-edge components like Mesa drivers, and even newer kernels and proprietary drivers.“ I must admit, bleeding -edge drivers was not what I had in mind, but, to grab headlines and screen time from the gaming shills, you need to have those 3 extra frame rates over the Windoze version, right? I suppose it is like dominoes, get one falling, and the rest will follow? Ubuntu being the de-facto face of Linux, and probably the most well- known and talked about, it is marvelous to see them make Ubuntu attractive for PC gamers.
Kevinvandine also states that, “As part of these efforts, our first step is to simplify the process of getting your gaming environment set up without the need to add PPAs to get bleeding-edge packages or kernels. With Steam being the number 1 platform for PC gamers, it was the obvious choice to focus our efforts here first.“ Steam has the most user friendly interface and is probably the most well-known, so it is natural to start there, not just because of the Steam Deck, am I right? “ I bet Humble are sorry now: https://www.pcworld.com/article/605285/the-humble-choice-subscription-is-ditching-mac-and-linux-gamers.html. Who knows, maybe they will come around?
This will put the focus back on Canonical, I think, because we have to face facts, that they have been slacking the last few years, focussing on Snap and letting things like the Software centre die. Speaking of the software centre’s UX… if they could adopt something like Solus’s proposed software centre (not sure if it is only mockups), or even the Electron Apps store. I would contribute to something like that. It makes Linux SEXY.
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