Linux

Testing both Tomb Raider Reboots under Mint 18.3

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I took the liberty of installing Tomb Raider and Rise Of The Tomb Raider under Mint to see how well they perform (if at all) on my hardware. The good news is that the programs actually run AND offer a nice framerate even with eyecandy turned up.

This is my overall score on ROTT with Ultra settings:

Now for the previous game:

There’s this weird glitch that won’t let me use TressFX even though it’s selected, but other than that I seem to be getting good performance on both games thus far. I’ll be trying other games too, but wanted to start with some of the most graphically demanding.I do say I also like the option of choosing which display that I want to play the game on before launching, that and the introduction of Vulkan as an optional mode to run ROTT in (what I used for the benchmark).

Getting these to run in Big Picture mode with the Steam Controller was also a therapeutic experience. It felt no different than when I played these titles in Windows while chilling in bed with my favorite controller.

Gaming under Linux still has some catching up to do, but every time I look into gaming under it the quality improves all the time. My library is definitely much larger than it used to be; I still remember when I only had a handful of Gold Source games and not much else, when TF2 introduced Tux, the first screenshots of Left 4 Dead 2 on a Linux desktop, and other companies like Croteam, 2K and others releasing their ports as well. It’s good to see more and more companies and indie developers look into different OS’s and bring some competition into the fray, and it’s amazing to see Open Source drivers arrive at a point where they are performing better than the proprietary ones thanks to AMD. Ever since reinstalling I’ve only gone over to Windows to play something that won’t run natively (usually of the Metal Gear or Platinum persuasion), but other than that my business has been conducted under Linux mostly during the week days.

How to fix your Steam Controller under Linux (Mint 18.3)

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Upon plugging in a Steam Controller into my system under Linux the other day I found that it didn’t recognize it no matter what way I plugged it in (different USB ports, Bluetooth, wired or wireless), then I did some research and found out that you have to add your own ruleset. Not something difficult to do, but if anyone is still looking for a guide you can read this:

First you’ll need to figure out where your udev folder is, under Mint and most Ubuntu based distro’s the path should be /lib/udev/ and on other distros it can also be /usr/lib/udev

Once you figure that out type:

sudo gedit /lib/udev/rules.d/99-steamcontroller.rules

Or on other distro’s type su and your root password, then type:

gedit /lib/udev/rules.d/99-steamcontroller.rule

You can replace gedit with whatever text editing program you want to use, it can be terminal based or GUI. Running this command will open up a text file called 99-steamcontroller.rule (or create one if it doesn’t exist), edit it to look like this:

# This rule is needed for basic functionality of the controller in Steam and keyboard/mouse emulation SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="28de", MODE="0666"

# This rule is necessary for gamepad emulation; make sure you replace 'pgriffais' with a group that the user that runs Steam belongs to KERNEL=="uinput", MODE="0660", GROUP="REPLACEWITHYOURNAMEORGROUP", OPTIONS+="static_node=uinput"

# Valve HID devices over USB hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="28de", MODE="0666"

# Valve HID devices over bluetooth hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", KERNELS=="*28DE:*", MODE="0666"

# DualShock 4 over USB hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="054c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="05c4", MODE="0666"

# DualShock 4 wireless adapter over USB hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="054c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0ba0", MODE="0666"

# DualShock 4 Slim over USB hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="054c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="09cc", MODE="0666"

# DualShock 4 over bluetooth hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", KERNELS=="*054C:05C4*", MODE="0666"

# DualShock 4 Slim over bluetooth hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", KERNELS=="*054C:09CC*", MODE="0666"

# Nintendo Switch Pro Controller over USB hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", ATTRS{idVendor}=="057e", ATTRS{idProduct}=="2009", MODE="0666"

# Nintendo Switch Pro Controller over bluetooth hidraw KERNEL=="hidraw*", KERNELS=="*057E:2009*", MODE="0666"

Save your file and close, then restart Linux and launch Steam. Your controller should now be in working order as long as you have Steam open. If you close Steam it will stop functioning, you can get it to work outside of Steam if you install the Open Source Steam Controller Drivers.

xfce doesn’t like forced shutdowns

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Ran into a problem earlier under Mint; when I turned my monitors off and turned them back on I found the system didn’t really like that. I’m not sure if this is related to the mesa drivers or if it just doesn’t like monitors on Displayport being turned off, but this left me no choice but to do a forced shutdown, and when I returned to my xfce desktop environment I found that my panels were not wanting to show up unless I went under the xfce panel settings. I did a quick search for the problem and found someone had a similar issue under Xubuntu. So I’m going to post the command I used just in case someone else has this issue in the future (or if I forget and want a quick reference).

Right click on your desktop and open up a terminal, then type or paste the following command:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xfce4-panel

Log off and log back in, if your panels are still acting up you can try the other commands they suggest in the link I provided. This is kind of a weird bug, don’t remember this under CentOS 7 or any of the Fedora distros I’ve used in the past. Then again I’ve had quite a dramatic change in hardware as well as graphics drivers since then (Open Source vs Proprietary), hence why I’ve had to go with Mint 18.3 instead of CentOS… I’m not going back to Fedora unless some serious changes are made.

You can expect to see more Linux related postings again, in fact it’s been about three days since I last went into Windows 10. I’ve been having fun. :v: I might even make some Linux related videos. I’m not abandoning Windows 10 completely, but if I can get by on Linux with most of the programs I use under Windows everyday I figure why not? Even when I had other distros on my machines I always considered it a fun challenge to see how long I could go before booting back into Windows. My current game count under Linux at the moment is 162, and I haven’t even gotten started on DOSBox games and sourceports yet. :v:

Feel the love for Linux

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What happens when you’re moving a bunch of files and Windows Update decides it’s waaaaay more important than what you’re doing at the moment? This guy kissed off Windows 10 and went straight to Linux.

I realize there are workarounds to all of these issues, and that most of Microsoft’s very intrusive privacy defaults can be disabled. But something just put me over the edge recently, and I craved an operating system that was lightweight, distraction-free, devoid of bloat and stayed out of my way.

If I were to wager a guess he’s running on a basic version of Windows 10, or if he’s running Windows 10 Professional he doesn’t have it configured accordingly. Despite that though he does have a valid point; Linux distros for the most part are pretty easy to setup compared to Windows. Many programs that we use under Windows can be used under Linux as well, and finding them can be pretty easy if you stick with simplistic debian flavored varieties if you’re not the type to tinker. There are even nice alternatives to Windows and Mac only programs such as Krita and Shotcut instead of Adobe’s Photoshop and Premiere.

Oh, and unlike Windows 10 you can update your OS at your leisure, in fact under Linux it’s best to not run updates instantly. Of course under Windows it’s a good idea to not run updates instantly, but… you know. :trollface: Both OS’s will of course have their pluses and minuses, but at this point Linux only seems to get better while Microsoft keeps finding newer and better ways to piss off their captive audience as a whole.

That said, I now have Mint 18.3 installed, for whenever I have that not so fresh Windows 10 feeling. :v:

Microsoft is now a platinum member of the Linux Foundation

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I’m starting to feel like I woke up in an alternate universe, especially after reading this.

SAN FRANCISCO – November 16, 2016 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit advancing professional open source management for mass collaboration, today announced that Microsoft has joined the organization at a Platinum member during Microsoft’s Connect(); developer event in New York.

Like most of Microsoft’s involvement in other projects I wonder how long till take for them to destroy Linux? 😛

Late Night Open Thread

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Quiet day today. I decided to reinstall CentOS 7 since an update to the kernal trashed it last time, and for me it’s easier to do a clean install rather than cruise through the entire OS at the CLI level. But I have a basic install to work with, now I just have to get my programs in order and the nix side will be back in business!

I also decided to go for a walk and pick up some salad and smoothie ingredients, also found a juice that begged for me to take it home.

DSC00464

The holiest of drinks, waiting for me to imbibe. O_O

Tomb Raider: Linux vs Windows

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Gaming On Linux did a benchmark comparison between Linux and Windows 10 showing off framerate differences.

It’s kind of depressing. Great that people on Linux have access to these titles, but sad that the OpenGL optimization can be flat out sucky. I have noticed this with most games on Linux. And it’s one of the reasons why I still keep Win 7 on my system, especially since I like to record my gameplays for video projects, and the better the framerate the better the video output… those numbers aren’t good. We need games to move over to Vulkan… badly. We don’t want Microsoft to control our PC gaming realm, and Linux needs to fight the good fight.

Tomb Raider 2013 finally hits Linux today

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Today is a good day to be a Linux user, well, everyday is… but it’s nice to see this game transition over to the open source side.

Now the question, how well will it perform under OpenGL? Tomb Raider was rather taxing on Windows, you needed REALLY good hardware to run it. I wonder how well it’ll handle TressFX.

What you’ll need to run Tomb Raider on Linux

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Minimum and Recommended specs were released for the Linux port of Tomb Raider, they are as follows:

Minimum
OS Ubuntu 14.04 or SteamOS 2.0 (64-bit)
Processor Intel i3 or AMD FX-6300
RAM 4GB
Graphics card 1GB
NVIDIA GeForce 640 (driver version 364.12) or 2GB AMD 5770 (driver version MESA 11.2)

Recommended
OS Ubuntu 14.04 or SteamOS 2.0 (64-bit)
Processor Intel i5
RAM 8GB
Graphics card 3GB
NVIDIA GeForce 760 (Driver version 364.12)

Of course just about any flavor of Linux will do, obviously. 😛