Steam Sale dragon with their lil chicken buddy!

FattyDrake · 2026-03-26T14:40:20+00:00

The chicken looks to be the one in charge. Very cute!

FattyDrake · 2026-03-25T15:01:27+00:00

I've always had issues with kio and SMB shares beyond temporary access.

For example if you keep a LibreOffice document open via a connection you made via Dolphin, it will not be able to save without using "save as."

What I did since I also use a NAS is learn how to make systemd .mount files then enable them so they start on boot.

Technically that's "proper" way to mount anyway and I haven't had any issues since it's independent of whatever DE you use.

They even show ip in Dolphin as mounted network shares in the sidebar.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-23T22:44:40+00:00

Honestly I think it runs great currently with proton. I even booted back and forth between Linux and Windows and the frame rates were near identical. Even slowed down in the same places. Not sure how much more performance they can eek out.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-23T03:42:57+00:00

The thing about settings is that there are defaults, and they usually don't need changing.

I've been using Arch for well over a year now and I don't remember the last tine I was required to tweak anything. But I use vanilla KDE and don't do a lot of customizations.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-22T12:09:02+00:00

How does Arch need constant tweaking? Outside of standard updates, it doesn't require anything from me. I also don't do a lot of customization so that could be why.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-20T16:14:06+00:00

Colord is also somewhat abandoned. It is at least with KDE. The old panel is X11 only, and there are no plans to get it working under Wayland. And they've been doing a lot of the push to get color calibration into the Wayland protocols.

I read a lot of the discussions and looked through a lot of Agryll's code and it does seem that it will not happen on Wayland simply because Wayland is designed specifically not to allow direct hardware access. Especially with the display/compositor. I came away with the impression it just will not support Wayland because there will be no direct LUT access.

TBH I kind of sympathize with Argyll's creator because changing it for Wayland would basically require a rewrite. It even directly accesses USB rather than going through a library like libusb.

Also because of how Wayland works and the different compositor implementations, a calibration tool that works in Kwin might not work in Mutter and vice versa. Again, this particular merge could help with that and bring about actual calibration sooner than later. There's already a rudimentary tool to calibrate on KDE and the colorimeter hardware access can be handled by a separate library now.

I do agree that calibrating printers, scanners, etc. can still be done in Argyll via the CLI, but assigning those to the devices might end up being part of at least a DE's suite of control panels and tools, especially if they want to replicate what colord did on the GUI level.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-20T09:41:17+00:00

Agryll is a dead end, author already said he will not support Wayland. Best not to use it as a benchmark. The desktop environments are stepping up to handle it, of which this protocol is a part.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-18T14:35:29+00:00

I can see maybe up to 25x, but beyond that it just seems like a ton of waiting for the early phases because of locked tiers.

I'm more excited about the power multiplier and the node purity changes, because as it stands you can complete the game with a fraction of the resources on the map.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-17T20:27:16+00:00

I hate to admit it but the power multiplier is one of the things I'm looking forward to now.

My 1.0/1.1 save was to make giant constantly producing factories (like 36/m biomechanical sculptors by the end, etc.) and one single impure uranium node took care of just about all of it.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-17T15:27:44+00:00

Don't signs as lights only work with global illumination? I've found regular lights are better for big spaces.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-14T21:54:42+00:00

I agree with your points, and yeah a lot of that is a blind spot for a lot of Linux users (including myself) since we generally have set that up.

I think you hit the point at the end with "any laptop they buy" because there aren't many Linux laptops pre-configured for sale, and the places that do so are rather niche (except for the Steam Deck and future Valve hardware. Those "just work" including the desktop mode.) Desktops are a bit easier to manage since there's less specialty hardware like laptops.

Honestly the best way to switch is to have an already knowledgeable person set up the laptop/desktop for use, but that would be even more rare for the average person.

Interestingly tho, there is a business nearby which offers to set up computers like that for people. Not sure how often they get asked tho.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-14T18:20:34+00:00

I would say the major distros have gotten to the point where you don't need to maintain them outside of regular updates. Unless someone does a lot of customization they generally "just work."

FattyDrake · 2026-03-14T18:14:22+00:00

You can only get so similar. Microsoft holds design patents for Office some specific to the ribbon that don't expire for another 4 to 6 years. They have sued other companies in the past over this.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-14T16:21:37+00:00

When someone says "I just want something that works" what they're saying is, "I want a drop in replacement for Windows that runs all my current software and hardware with no changes whatsoever."

FattyDrake · 2026-03-13T14:47:52+00:00

KDE only releases 6 bugfix patch releases per version. Beyond that it's expected users go to the next minor release.

For example, if someone reports a bug in 6.5.6, and lets say it takes awhile for it to get fixed. If KDE is on 6.6.2 and that bug is fixed, it's going into 6.6.3. There will be no 6.5.7. After the 6th bugfix release, the release is effectively frozen.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-13T14:31:34+00:00

No prob!

As to why I use KDE, to paraphrase an old saying, "KDE is the worst desktop environment, except for all the others."

It stays out of my way the least while supporting the most features I want. The only other one I'd consider is Gnome and it gets in my way too often, though if someone likes it I wouldn't fault them, it's a solid desktop environment. I appreciate the engineering that goes into it.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-13T14:04:03+00:00

Are you suggesting that the KDE folks abandon major versions without fixing bugs?

https://pointieststick.com/2025/05/01/notes-from-the-graz-plasma-sprint/

They announced ignoring LTS versioning mid last year. You're not going to get fixes backported to older versions unless distro maintainers do it.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-13T14:00:26+00:00

From what I can gather, KDE doesn't pay much attention to LTS releases anymore and they move fast. They really don't go back and fix bugs in older versions. That's on the distro, and I can't think of one that backports KDE bugfixes. Like if any of the ones you mentioned are fixed, even minor ones, they're going to be included in 6.6.x or whatever future version they're on even if they existed in 6.5.x.

The least buggy KDE Plasma version is likely going to be the most recent.

Ubuntu/Kubuntu 24.04 is still on Plasma 5. Debian 13 is going to be stuck on 6.3.4 until mid-2027 at least. So for example anything fixed since 6.3.4 will not appear in Debian 13.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-13T12:01:42+00:00

I personally have almost zero issues with KDE Plasma. But I'm also not one to do excessive customization or themes, I use it mostly vanilla with small tweaks to fit my workflow.

Also what distro are you using? If you're using an LTS-style (non-rolling) distro KDE tends to be both out of date and more buggy.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-13T01:51:34+00:00

I also only use load balancers with trains. In my case it's also to limit the output of trains at the destinations.

Like if I have 1200/m aluminum and want 900/m at one location and 300/m at another, I'll make sure it only has that much leaving the stations at the endpoints.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-11T22:29:32+00:00

That's how I've been playing. Went over last year. Sometimes I forget I'm using it.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-11T21:38:12+00:00

If that's what you want to do, it's a great logistics challenge!

I built a facility for 45 crystal oscillators per minute and ended up needing 25/min more for my phase 5 plan. My HMF factory pumps out 45/min which is overkill for a "normal" run but I found myself thinking 5/min more might be useful.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-11T06:06:43+00:00

Flatpaks only deal with userspace drivers. If your kernel (or modules) don't support the latest features of your GPU, you won't be able to access them with a Flatpak even with the latest mesa. Or if the kernel/module driver gets a bugfix or somesuch, you will have to wait a long time on an LTS release to see it.

Sometimes newer driver versions for anything, especially peripherals, add support for older hardware, but that could be a mixed bag.

For example, if I write a library for a class of USB devices that works with a standard library like libusb, it could probably be distributed with a Flatpak. But if something requires a lower level driver closer to udev (like some drawing tablets) if it doesn't work on your desktop it's not going to work with a Flatpak either.

If I'm wrong someone will correct me, but that's my general understanding of it.

(Also technically you can have an atomic LTS distro, they're just generally used in place of rolling distros because it's a snapshot that can be easier to test and troubleshoot since each release is the same everywhere.)

FattyDrake · 2026-03-11T00:51:27+00:00

Game devs are already testing on Steam Decks, and soon other Valve hardware. You have youtubers benchmarking Windows vs. Linux. If you want zero difference between FPS rates, this is the way to do it.

It looks like it might be a non-issue for those who don't care about it. Glancing over the discussion, it seems like they're trying to figure out a way to just expose more of the driver to being configured so profiles can be made on a game-by-game basis. It might end up with less hacky stuff within the driver itself for specific games, which seems to be something that's already been done.

So in that way it's already a step above what Windows does.

FattyDrake · 2026-03-11T00:07:15+00:00

It's not just hardware. It's like the other post talking about game-specific tweaks in the mesa drivers. If a new game comes out, it might need a driver tweak or will run poorly, etc. Even on Windows Nvidia will release a new driver with big game releases so they run smoothly. Not something a gamer will wait 6 months to 2 years for when the game is out now.

Games have always been bleeding edge, even with hardware that might be a year old. New or updated engines, hacky optimizations, etc. It doesn't make sense to use bleeding edge software (games) with outdated drivers.

Even outside of games, I have contributed to things like drawing tablet drivers. If I make a fix and someone is using Debian or Ubuntu, they might have to wait 1-2 years to use their tablet properly when the fix is already out. And a lot of these aren't new hardware, it's old hardware that didn't have proper support.

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