Linux OS Module 21

hotfrostworm · July 2021

I am not detecting any graphic or audio abnormality, mail, and menus all seem to work as intended. I still get the odd chat issue where swapping between characters turns chat off, but as a work around, I can log out and back on to chat with players.

Note: Cryptic Studios doesn't endorse or support WINE, Play on Linux, or Mac OSX. Irregardless they still work should you need it.

tornnomar · July 2021

Chat issue exist on Steam as well using Proton. Fix is the same

hotfrostworm · July 2021

tornnomar said:
Chat issue exist on Steam as well using Proton. Fix is the same

Yes, Proton is Steam's fork of WINE open source project. Since this issue is how WINE handles the changes with Cryptic's chat program, it will be a while before anyone can figure out how to correct it. I questioned a developer at Cryptic about the issue, they wouldn't even so much as hint as to what change was made to their chat back on module 18. I assume he didn't want to admit he had no clue, how or what they did on module 18 to alter the chat. I am not saying the developers don't know what they are doing, it is more likely some team member introduced a new Windows exclusive API module (dll) and it now kicks you from the chat server without reconnect. Unfortunately this will be an extremely low priority issue for the WINE developers as it only covers this one game and will not attract a lot of attention. Proton will take even more time to receive any update after it gets fixed within WINE.

A minor inconvenience at best.

auron · September 2021

will be intresting to see how it behaves when the windows 7 support is dropped

hotfrostworm · September 2021

Windows 7 support ended back in 2020, but does not affect much. Microsoft dropping support, in most cases, means if you continue using Windows 7 and get an error, the only support you will get is from the public at large and not from Microsoft. I am certain there are some still running XP and Vista. I am not a huge fan of Windows these days.

If I were making a PC game, I would first develop a proprietary OS from Linux. I would most likely use a Lubuntu fork. In essence, the game would have its own operating system, turning your PC into its own personal console. This could be done by burning a boot CD/DVD or even a bootable USB thumb drive. The game files would be installed on the users HDD/SSD as normal, the game would have 100% of the users PC power, and not be sharing it with another redundant processes unneeded for playing the game.

If the user couldn't burn a CD/DVD or didn't own a simple USB thumb drive, I would offer those in an online store at cost. This would assure the end-user, would have no issues what-so-ever of running the game, regardless of OS version, software drivers, and other compliance and hardware.

Currently Linux WINE 6.0 supports all versions for Windows up to 10. All us code monkeys just have to jump on the Windows SDK for 11 and find out what changes have occurred between Windows 10 and 11. Then we implement those changes into the next WINE update. Setting Linux WINE to run in any Windows version from XP to Windows 10 is just a matter of running the Wine Configuration.

Proton being a fork of WINE, it is going to be a wait for Steam to update their version.

blargskull · September 2021

hotfrostworm said:

If I were making a PC game, I would first develop a proprietary OS from Linux. I would most likely use a Lubuntu fork. In essence, the game would have its own operating system, turning your PC into its own personal console. This could be done by burning a boot CD/DVD or even a bootable USB thumb drive. The game files would be installed on the users HDD/SSD as normal, the game would have 100% of the users PC power, and not be sharing it with another redundant processes unneeded for playing the game.

If you made a game such as this with its own OS, I would constantly complain on your forums. "Every time I want to play your game, I have to reboot the PC! Waahh!" You would never get a good night sleep with me beating on your door and shouting at 3 am, "The servers are down for maintenance again! Waaaah!" and the ever so loved, "Hey! Don't you ever beta test this stuff?! Waaaaah!".

Go ahead make your own MMO ... I dare you!

hotfrostworm · September 2021

blargskull said:

hotfrostworm said:

If I were making a PC game, I would first develop a proprietary OS from Linux. I would most likely use a Lubuntu fork. In essence, the game would have its own operating system, turning your PC into its own personal console. This could be done by burning a boot CD/DVD or even a bootable USB thumb drive. The game files would be installed on the users HDD/SSD as normal, the game would have 100% of the users PC power, and not be sharing it with another redundant processes unneeded for playing the game.

If you made a game such as this with its own OS, I would constantly complain on your forums. "Every time I want to play your game, I have to reboot the PC! Waahh!" You would never get a good night sleep with me beating on your door and shouting at 3 am, "The servers are down for maintenance again! Waaaah!" and the ever so loved, "Hey! Don't you ever beta test this stuff?! Waaaaah!".

Go ahead make your own MMO ... I dare you!

oh?? Well you see that is where you are wrong. If I ever make game, you will be perma-banned before alpha testing. You should feel honored by being the only gamer who has been perma-banned from a game before it existed. In fact, should I ever go crazy and build such a game, I will grant you the title, Banned Before His Time. Which will be in the game, just for you, but never claimed for obvious reasons.

blargskull · September 2021

BTW thanks for the title I can never use with honor!

ALSO I forgot to ask, how much longer do you think it will be, when Google buys out Microsoft, and makes Chrome OS the new Windows 12?

...
Did you feel that? I felt a great disturbance on the internet, as if millions of programmers suddenly groaned and then sighed in silence.

auron · September 2021

@hotfrostworm out of curiosity what distro of linux are you and your wife running? is there any particular one you like?

hotfrostworm · September 2021

@auron#6793

Short answer:
Wendy has returned to using Windows 10 these days. While I am sticking with the Ubuntu family, mine is a custom build based on Lubuntu.

Lengthy dissertation:
Back when Microsoft was selling Vista, I was still enjoying XP and 64 bit OS wasn't in full swing yet. I disagreed with some changes made at Microsoft and decided to move to Linux in October 2010. I tried several out, Debian, Ubuntu, and Slackware. I never got around to Red Hat, mostly because I selected to use Ubuntu with K Desktop Environment called Kubuntu. Ubuntu itself branched off of Debian back in 2000. Ubuntu comes in multiple varieties of builds; KDE, Mint, LXDE, LXLE, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, so many others including a Christian edition and Muslim edition. All of these run the Linux kernel, in essence they are the same OS with alternate options.

Like baking a cake, you can choose what flavors you like, and how much or how little ingredients to put in the mix. Kubuntu ran great for many years. There was some memory issues with the release of Plasma 5 graphical workspaces. Searching for a solution, I stumbled upon a blog by John Ramsden, I then decided to drop the KDE, and make my own custom build from Lubuntu, the "L" stands for lightweight. The default desktop environment was LXDE, I replaced with OpenBox and I use PCManFM 1.2.5 for my file manager. My file manager also selects and displays the wallpaper on startup.

Unlike Windows OS, demanding you use only their programs, you are open to a universe of options. Five years ago Khronos Group started working on a better option for OpenGL and DirectX. Vulkan is cross platform that allows greater development of 3D games. Compared to OpenGL and DirectX 12, Vulkan is intended to offer higher performance use of the CPU and GPU.

I admit I am a bit of a stick in the mud, I am still running the OpenGL, just as many Windows users are still running DirectX. This crossover graphics API can open new paths between Windows and Linux. The problem is getting game companies to use it. Games using the Vulkan API will benefit knowing the clients appear identical in all OS environments.

Mr. Blargskull's little joke above was poking fun at what I suggested to him about Google. Google has been buying up properties and own Chrome OS and Android OS, both are Linux OS. I never said, they would acquire Windows or the Microsoft company itself. I think I said, more people use Linux today and are unaware of it.

If anyone plans to test drive any distribution of Linux, most Ubuntu versions can be booted and operate well from a USB thumb drive. Many don't require more than 10 GB of drive space.

auron · October 2021

hotfrostworm said:
@auron#6793

Short answer:
Wendy has returned to using Windows 10 these days. While I am sticking with the Ubuntu family, mine is a custom build based on Lubuntu.

Lengthy dissertation:
Back when Microsoft was selling Vista, I was still enjoying XP and 64 bit OS wasn't in full swing yet. I disagreed with some changes made at Microsoft and decided to move to Linux in October 2010. I tried several out, Debian, Ubuntu, and Slackware. I never got around to Red Hat, mostly because I selected to use Ubuntu with K Desktop Environment called Kubuntu. Ubuntu itself branched off of Debian back in 2000. Ubuntu comes in multiple varieties of builds; KDE, Mint, LXDE, LXLE, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, so many others including a Christian edition and Muslim edition. All of these run the Linux kernel, in essence they are the same OS with alternate options.

Like baking a cake, you can choose what flavors you like, and how much or how little ingredients to put in the mix. Kubuntu ran great for many years. There was some memory issues with the release of Plasma 5 graphical workspaces. Searching for a solution, I stumbled upon a blog by John Ramsden, I then decided to drop the KDE, and make my own custom build from Lubuntu, the "L" stands for lightweight. The default desktop environment was LXDE, I replaced with OpenBox and I use PCManFM 1.2.5 for my file manager. My file manager also selects and displays the wallpaper on startup.

Unlike Windows OS, demanding you use only their programs, you are open to a universe of options. Five years ago Khronos Group started working on a better option for OpenGL and DirectX. Vulkan is cross platform that allows greater development of 3D games. Compared to OpenGL and DirectX 12, Vulkan is intended to offer higher performance use of the CPU and GPU.

I admit I am a bit of a stick in the mud, I am still running the OpenGL, just as many Windows users are still running DirectX. This crossover graphics API can open new paths between Windows and Linux. The problem is getting game companies to use it. Games using the Vulkan API will benefit knowing the clients appear identical in all OS environments.

Mr. Blargskull's little joke above was poking fun at what I suggested to him about Google. Google has been buying up properties and own Chrome OS and Android OS, both are Linux OS. I never said, they would acquire Windows or the Microsoft company itself. I think I said, more people use Linux today and are unaware of it.

If anyone plans to test drive any distribution of Linux, most Ubuntu versions can be booted and operate well from a USB thumb drive. Many don't require more than 10 GB of drive space.

Thanks, reason i'm asking is because Microsoft (windows 11) is basicly telling me to throw away a perfectly functioning gaming pc just because it doesn't have some silly bios chip and the latest cpu. But if Linux can save this perfectly functioning $1k rig from the landfill that's awesome.

hotfrostworm · October 2021

@auron#6793 You can continue to use Windows 10 until 2023 (I think) and beyond, it will just no longer receive the updates. That will give you plenty of room to explore your options. The only games I have issues with running, are the ones with "Anti Cheat", but good news is Easy Anti Cheat is making a Linux version. That will help greatly.

Wendy has returned to using Windows 10 for only 7 months now and constantly complains how "slow" it is browsing. Last week I removed 23 trojans from her PC. I have added Avira and Panda Dome, both are free, plus whatever Windows Defender blocks. Apparently it didn't block the 23 trojans. No virus, trojans, or worms on my Linux for 11 years now. Never ran any anti viral because hackers target and attack Windows more often.

rockster · October 2021

Hey @hotfrostworm did you hear about some older windows operating systems soon no longer being able to access the internet? I think I heard those more than 6 years old, xp was one. Saw it on my Twitter feed the other day.

hotfrostworm · October 2021

rockster#6227 said:
Hey @hotfrostworm did you hear about some older windows operating systems soon no longer being able to access the internet? I think I heard those more than 6 years old, xp was one. Saw it on my Twitter feed the other day.

XP was 2001 release, 20 years ago, they ended support for it in 2009 when I felt it had reached it's peak with Window XP SP3. It deserved better than an early grave. I am unaware of any issues with old tech connecting, the browser will be outdated. There are browsers offering backwards compatibility to 32 bit OS. They did make Windows XP 64 but it would be rare for someone to have it installed.

The issue I had with Microsoft was more about how they marketed the product Windows Vista. They ran a series of obviously faked blind Pepsi vs Pepsi taste tests. Watch it here. I found this insulting to the public and Microsoft lost my complete respect as a professional. They ran these spots to reinforce users to make the switch from XP to Vista. They didn't make any point other than users are just stupid morons who can't decide for themselves. Sorry didn't mean to rant.

Over the last few weeks, I have read some weird things posted on blogs about an Internet Blackout on Sept. 30th. Well that didn't happen again? If I may, I recall an old war story about two IT warriors of Y2K. My good friend Chris Lentz, from the college, was working at Consumer's Energy back in 1999, and I was working for Saginaw GM Powertrain. We sat at a greasy spoon and drank coffee talking about our deployment for Y2K. Chris told me, this whole thing is just crazy, people are out buying backup generators should the power fail on New Years. He asked me, Do you know what happens, if I fail to do my job, worse case scenario? When the meter man gets back to work after the holiday, instead of getting a page of meters to pull, he gets handed a bible. There is still a human that needs to go to the places and pull a meter to turn the power off! I told him GM was just as bad having me replace PCs that have no critical date function or the BIOS could just be flashed. I told him the companies we work for have money, we can spend it for them. I tried to get them to calm down but they insist I must replace the PCs.

That was then and this is now. These Internet Blackout articles are based upon the expiration of the IdentTrust DST Root CA X3. If there is some article in particular you would link, I would be more than willing to read and review it.

rockster · October 2021

It wasn't an article, it was a clip of a news item from the States. I'll try and see if I can find it and link it here if I do.

rockster · October 2021

OK I found it, took me ages to trawl through my history. I got it wrong, it was an Australian news item not a U.S. one, it was from 29th Sept and has to do with digital certificates. Here it is:

https://twitter.com/7NewsMelbourne/status/1443140057645268997?s=20

blargskull · October 2021

This means my PlayStation 2 won't be able to access the internet!!

I cannot find any upgrades for this 4.0 disk I have. This is just horrible news, I won't be able to access the internet with my PS2 after September of this year. Why didn't Bill Gates step back into Microsoft and save the PlayStation 2?

hotfrostworm · October 2021

@rockster#6227
I believe there was very few sites and issues with the IdentTrust issue over the past few days. Most browsers use https the "S" is secure. If you go to any http the browser will say there is no encryption meaning the data between the browser can be seen as plain text while in transit. If you try to force http in Facebook or Google, it will change to https. There are not many sites still using http without the SSL. IdentTrust is a company in Utah, they issue key certificate authority that provides digital certificates to financial institutions, healthcare providers, government agencies and enterprises. They don't do your hardware or make changes to your browsers. These are the people who supply the encryption keys for business.

As late as yesterday (Oct. 4th), Wendy noticed Wal-Mart's shopping page had no images. All I had to do was, close out the browser and revisit the site. They obviously did a sloppy job of installing the new key. There might be others out there unaware their certificate needs to be updated and that just sad they don't keep up on the tech. This process will happen again December 2030.

Once more, Mr. Blargskull amazes us with his comedic standup act. BTW he works internet security for a large company and could have told you this himself. What a troll!

Linux OS Module 21

Comments

This means my PlayStation 2 won't be able to access the internet!!