Thank you Lord Gaben
7 years later, Valve's Proton has been an incredible game-changer for Linux
Submitted 14 hours ago by Davriellelouna@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
Magnum@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 hours ago
DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 57 minutes ago
I’m glad he’s not as evil as the other billionaires, but can we stop with the billionaire simping? Ironic that an account on a left-wing anarchist instance made that comment lmao
SpookyBogMonster@lemmy.ml 4 hours ago
Thank you to the workers who actually programmed, tested, and implemented the thing*
nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 hour ago
to his credit as a billionaire he could have paid all those people to do something that sucks way more
lightrush@lemmy.ca 2 hours ago
To Gaben’s credit he collects a lot less of the surplus these workers create than most other billionaires. But yes.
maniajack@lemmy.world 2 hours ago
He’s still a billionaire tho 🤮
MiltownClowns@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
Proton is the reason I daily drive Linux. That is a simple, unequivocal fact.
grue@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
Not me! I switched in 2017, right around the time Windows 10 “telemetry” (read: spyware) was getting backported to Windows 7.
It was a rough first couple of years, gaming-wise, but I managed to get by playing mostly Linux-native games and using PlayOnLinux with pre-Proton WINE for the one or two games important enough to justify the hassle.
(INB4 “weird flex but OK”)
I gotta admit, I was pretty conflicted about Proton when it was first announced, since there was a lot of fear that it would reduce developer impetus to make proper Linux-native games. I’m not actually sure whether that came to pass or not, but I feel like the issue is a lot less important than it seemed at the time.
devolution@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
Whatever allows us to leave the clusterfuck that is Windows is a blessing. M$ has had a monopoly for too long and I’m not paying for MacOS.
floo@retrolemmy.com 13 hours ago
macOS has been free for, like, 15 years.
lichtmetzger@discuss.tchncs.de 1 hour ago
there’s not a lot that non-Apple users can do with them
Oh, there is.
I am a web developer and I use this to run Safari and the iOS simulator without paying Apple’s “debugging tax”.malwieder@feddit.org 11 hours ago
macOS is included with every Mac, not free.
Tortellinius@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Bruh what? Did you really just say that not having to buy software exclusive to a certain hardware makes the software free?
That’s like saying the OS on a PlayStation is free because you only had to pay for the PlayStation.
Nah man, you purchased the OS with the hardware. That’s why it’s exclusive.
atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 10 hours ago
Anybody can download Windows images too. That doesn’t mean the OS is free.
ClassyHatter@sopuli.xyz 12 hours ago
Hackintosh is a thing (or at least used to be), but it’s against the EULA.
androidisking@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
This is a dumb argument. Apple does provide you the OS upgrades for free but getting an ISO file and installing it on a non-Mac computer is impossible so no it’s not really free
BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
I want it to evolve to support more desktop applications. This is the one thing that will continue to hamper Linux adoption. Games are the best place to start, but we need all those old obscure, irreplaceable desktop apps to work now.
Natanael@infosec.pub 8 hours ago
It’s built on Wine, any general improvements to compatibility will generally support desktop programs using the same APIs
Patches@ttrpg.network 6 hours ago
Get it to run Office and you’ve a game changer.
Yes, yes I know Libre/Open Office but try telling Shelly in Accounting who still struggles with Excel 35 after 36 years of experience.
Electricd@lemmybefree.net 5 hours ago
Or Adobe, that’s the most frequent complaint
rdri@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
I would imagine older versions can run properly, no? Like maybe 2007 or 2010. Later ones got too integrated with the OS which must be the main difficulty.
pyre@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
well what has it been doing for the first 6 years
Patches@ttrpg.network 6 hours ago
Building momentum for the year of the Linux.
Any day now…
Electricd@lemmybefree.net 5 hours ago
Bro actually said it’s the year of Linux
SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 10 hours ago
This is what finally let me transition to Mint :3
MehBlah@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
I still use wine for most of my games on the desktop.
OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 2 hours ago
Proton upstreams to Wine a lot. You can tell by the number of patches they have keeps fluctuating
deur@feddit.nl 14 hours ago
This is not a battle between Linux and Windows. It is a battle between the Steam Deck versus the Desktop PC platform (windows users). Stop with the claiming Linux marketshare over it.
I’m off to celebrate how widely BSD is used because technically the Playstation and Switch(es) use it. BSD derivitives are the most popular game console OS. It’s the year of BSD!
charizardcharz@piefed.world 13 hours ago
Fortunately Valve publishes monthly hardware statistics so we can back claims with statistics. Linux comprises 2.89% of their surveyed share. Of that 28.31% are using Steam OS. Using the wayback machine we can check the statistics from last year. Checking the July 2024 results using the Wayback Machine shows Linux at 2.08% with Steam OS comprising 40.97% of that.
From that we can see that Linux is growing, while Steam OS is becoming less of a contributing factor to the Linux share.
YoSoySnekBoi@kbin.earth 11 hours ago
Someone citing actual facts on the internet?! Impossible!!
PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.uk 10 hours ago
the deck is a gateway drug for linux
ClassyHatter@sopuli.xyz 12 hours ago
www.gamingonlinux.com/steam-tracker/ has some statistics from the Steam Survey. Somewhat interesting bit is that if you only take users who use English as the language in Steam, the Linux market share is 6.3%.
gray@pawb.social 14 hours ago
Proton existed long before the Steam Deck, and before that as DXVK.
This is a battle between closed proprietary OS and open source. Proton enables translating DirectX/Windows APIs not only to Vulkan/Linux x86, but even to ARM and others.
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 12 hours ago
Proton is mostly Wine, not DXVK. Wine does the translation of Windows and some DirectX APIs. DXVK translates Direct3D to Vulkan. Proton pulls it all together with some game specific patches, integration with gamescope and other Steam specific integrations.
All of this being open source means it can also be compiled for ARM and BSD. Though to get x64 games to run on ARM you need an additional emulation layer like Box64.
Though rumor has it that Valve is already experimenting with x64 emulation for their Deckard project, which is likely to be their next VR headset.
orclev@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
Couple technical nitpicks.
First it’s debatable if Proton existed long before Steam Deck. I’m not sure the exact timeline but I think it was created as part of the Steam Box effort which wasn’t all that long ago. On the other hand though Wine which Proton is built on top of most certainly has existed for a very long time before either the Steam Deck or even Proton (I have fond memories of LAN gaming with it back when Diablo 2 was new).
Second Proton doesn’t enable ARM (at least by itself) so that claim is a little misleading. There is a project to realtime translate x86 instructions into ARM but that project (Box86) although it fulfills a similar role and could be used in conjunction with Proton isn’t actually Proton. Using Proton by itself will not enable you to play x86/Windows games on ARM.
Lastly Proton is kind of irrelevant to the whole Linux vs BSD thing. Technically what enables that is that both implement POSIX standards plus use mostly the same libraries, frameworks (like Vulkan), and applications. Yes running Proton on BSD will let you game on BSD but that isn’t really a result of Proton doing the work so much as it’s a side effect of the fact you can run Proton on BSD in the first place. Additionally while there are technical and philosophical reasons why the distinction between Linux and BSD is important, practically speaking they’re the same thing these days. OpenBSD isn’t that much more different from a Linux distro as one Linux distro is from another.
octopus_ink@slrpnk.net 14 hours ago
Do you know what I did last week thanks to Proton? Installed EndeavourOS on my freshly purchased laptop, installed steam, and installed a bunch of Windows games. Then I played them. At no point did I wonder whether they would run.
Now, you may think being able to do that isn’t something that is going to get more people using desktop Linux, but as much as I’d love to agree with you, then we’d both be wrong.
I say this as someone who used to care about convincing other people to use Linux. (Before shifting into “you can lead a horse to water…” mode, and now I just don’t give a shit.)
However, what I gained from that experience is this: In twenty years of being Linux-only on my personal desktop, the number of times I have read the phrase, “I’d love to use Linux, except for [some statement about a game or games]” is astronomical.
Now, is Proton going to make desktop Linux the best choice for everyone? Clearly not, duh. But it is remarkably disingenuous to suggest that it’s not had a massive benefit to the Linux community and ecosystem as a whole, including, and dare I say especially, desktop Linux. It is flat out impossible to imagine that a substantial portion of current and future Linux users aren’t people for whom Proton solved what they considered to be a substantial barrier to usage.
Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 hours ago
In my experience, it’s not actually Proton specifically but more generally Wine along with DXVK and Vulkan itself.
I have as good a success rate with Windows games from GOG under Wine through Lutris (which also defaults to using DXVK and Vulkan plus has Wine configuration scripts for most GOG games, making their install fully automated and zero-configuration) as I have with Windows games from Steam under Proton.
If I understand it correctly, Proton is mainly a fork of Wine with Steam integration thrown in and changes to make sure it works with specific Steam games, so I don’t think the improvements are Proton specific, but rather more global than that (the use of Vulkan instead of OpenGL, DXVK making DirectX games run with Vulkan, Wine improvements).
Mind you, if improvements in Proton are flowing to those other projects and having a big impact, then credit were credit is due for Proton pulling up the whole ecosystem, otherwise Proton isn’t actually as crucial in improving Gaming on Linux as seems to be portrayed in so many posts here.
I can understand that if all people have used for gaming in Linux is Steam and never games from other digital sources - like GOG or even pirated games - via launchers like Heroic or Lutris, it might seem like Proton is the secret juice, but in my experience in the last year of gaming in Linux using both, Wine + DXVK + Vulkan works just as well.
BassTurd@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
This makes Linux desktop a viable option for millions of users where it wasn’t before. It’s absolutely a battle between Linux and Windows.
nocturne@slrpnk.net 13 hours ago
Years ago I made the switch to Linux, then I wanted to play WOW again but it would not run on my Linux machines, so I started to dual boot. Then I began to wonder why I was keeping Linux installed.
Eventually I made the shift to macOS because I worked in theatre and needed it for specific Mac only programs. But I still have a Lenovo legion that I am getting ready to swap over to Linux (not that all of the games I currently play do not run on macOS or my steam deck).
If I was able to get WOW running on Linux years ago I likely never would have swapped back to windows. And I am currently trying to convince my son to install Linux on his pc running windows 10.
Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 hours ago
I’ve tried switching to Linux on my home desktop several times over the last 3 decades, but because I always use that machine also for gaming it always had some Windows in a dual boot configuration and I always found myself not really booting Linux more than once in a while.
Since my last switch, maybe a year ago, even though Windows is still there in duat boot, I’ve only ever booted it once and that only to move some data files which were in the main windows partition over to a data partition I have in a seperated drive (were most of my data files already resided but a few were still elsewhere) so that I can cleanly share it between both OSes.
Whilst I know more than enough to muck around with Linux and Wine configuration (and for example had to do the latter to get a pirated version working of a game I have in Steam whose official version won’t run in Linux no matter what I do), it’s very seldom that I actually have to do it (and I don’t just use Steam with Proton but also Lutris with Wine for GOG games), whilst in my previous try maybe 5 years ago getting anything but DOS games to run under Linux was a major PITA.
StitchInTime@piefed.social 14 hours ago
The Bazzite console I built which is connected to my living room TV stands in contradiction. The Linux-driven gaming PC that’s sitting on my desk is confirmation.
Windows 11 and the forced obsolescence of hardware is leaving a sour aftertaste, and at this point a game maker essentially has to choose to not support Linux via Proton.
You might not be able to run Battlefield or CoD, but Marvel Rivals and Overwatch run particularly well, if not better on Linux.
And with Microsoft entering the handheld market, this is very much a question of Linux vs Windows for gaming.
Feyd@programming.dev 12 hours ago
I haven’t booted windows in like 6 months and I game on my desktop PC like 4 times a week.
tabular@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
Obligatory Steam Deck runs Linux BTW.
tabular@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
If BSD had a the same software license as Linux then I would celebrate it running on PlayStation hardware as users would be more free. Instead PS consoles are locked-down, preventing you running software unless daddy Sony says you can. It’s a battle between consumer rights, including software freedom.
pastermil@sh.itjust.works 14 hours ago
Cry me a river…
olympicyes@lemmy.world 46 minutes ago
Literally this week I learned that you need to install flatpak Nvidia drivers if you use flatpak Steam. Once I found that out, proton works great!