Nah, most of the windows ones don’t get updates any more and the Linux ones can get a script that updates on boot. Takes longer to start up but handles the job itself.

I did this back in 2008 using virtual box. Had a dual boot system and got curious as to whether or not I could boot the Linux partition as a VM. I don’t remember it being difficult to do but this was before EFI and secure boot so those may cause trouble. I’m not 100% sure I used virtual box either :/

I also don’t know which outcome would be worse but I do know which one I really wanted in that moment.

The Linux-libre Wikipedia entry sums it up pretty well:

“According to the Free Software Foundation Latin America, Linux-libre is a modified version of the Linux kernel that contains no binary blobs, obfuscated code, or code released under proprietary licenses.[7] In the Linux kernel, they are mostly used for proprietary firmware images. While generally redistributable, binary blobs do not give the user the freedom to audit, modify, or, consequently, redistribute their modified versions. The GNU Project keeps Linux-libre in synchronization with the mainline Linux kernel.[8]”

Basically; some stuff in the kernel is either not free or not open but is included for convenience.

You would think so but that didn’t work

Yeah, POP has its nvidia version that comes with it installed. I was using that til I switched to AMD and just reinstalled the OS instead of dealing with removing the nvidia stuff.

I don’t even play it and it upsets me. Online service models are a huge reason I don’t buy a lot of games. I hate the idea that major features of a game will be removed when it is no longer profitable.

I want to be able to go back to games after a long time to relive the experience. If there are someone else’s servers involved then I won’t be able to do that.

Spoken like a true League of Legends player

I didn’t know that. I usually recommend LXDE because I have used it for a really long time. LXQt is also a great option, I haven’t used it in a few years but I remember it being nice and lite.

I second Debian with LXDE. I run it on much older hardware with no issue.

You have to go a bit further and remove any package manager and customized utilities. Probably remove a bunch of scripts and aliases from the command environment as well.

While others are saying “no one cares about your personal photos” personal info is not the target of backdoor attacks like this. It’s more likely an attempt to get access to lots of processing power for a crypto mine or botnet.

It’s best practice to have the minimum packages required to run whatever service you are running, don’t add other stuff that you won’t be using. Using a distro that is “outdated” like Debian stable can help since the packages have had more time out in the wild to be tested.

I am sure that the xz incident has raised a lot of alarms across many projects.

I am really looking forward to this feature. One of my biggest frustrations was finding a ship with all the bits I liked except the color. I mean, it does kinda remove 1 reason to system hop all over the galaxy but I guess that’s fine.

The duration is different depending on where you view it. I will be in an area where totality will last 4 minutes and 20 seconds so I have a different plan of action.

The steam release came with a lot of cleanup. It’s a bit less than it was right before but it’s more accessible. Still quite difficult to learn the ins and outs, I think it took something like 30 forts before I had royalty move in. But the game is all about learning through failure, it’s just difficult to find where that failure is most times, lots of pausing and reading to track down which dwarves are having issues with what.

It took me longer than I like to admit to realize that reading a lot was key to knowing what would keep the dwarves happy.

Or when dwarves would go blind because they had liquid in their eyes and no way to get it out. Dwarves have eyelids because of that.

Yeah, I should have mentioned that the text version gets the same updates as the steam version just without the graphical overlay.

These guys are the kind we need more of. Dwarf Fortress is very much a labor of love and well worth the price on Steam. They have over 20 years of development put into it and even though the steam version got a fresh coat of paint, the text mode version is still free.

Anyone curious about Dwarf Fortress should check out Kruggsmash on Youtube. He has been making Dwarf Fortress videos for years and really does a good job of revealing the stories that evolve during gameplay.

Most problems I run into with Linux are caused by me doing weird things. Linux doesn’t prevent you from messing with things you don’t understand but if you just want to use it as a standard desktop then you shouldn’t have many issues aside from finding replacement applications for things you are used to using.

If you decide to start tinkering, just keep a backup of your home directory since it contains all your settings and files.

Last time I did it was 2008 or 2009, the only game I played much was World of Warcraft and it ran great under WINE at the time. I don’t remember exactly why I switched back to windows back then but it was probably games. I know I needed it when I got my VR headset back in 2016 but it’s been a while since I sold that. I don’t know if Steam VR works on Linux or not, I want to have a headset again.