I'm not 100% sure this is actually word-for-word, but alas. "In a presentation at Ubuntu Developer Summit currently going on in Denmark, Drew Bliss from Valve said that Linux is more viable than Windows 8 for gaming. Windows 8 ships with its own app store and it is moving away from an open platform model." I feel like a broken record by now but here we go again: keep an eye on Valve, even if you're not into games. This is the company pushing NVIDIA and AMD to improve their Linux support, with enough clout and name to actually get stuff done. Valve doesn't mess around.
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Member since:2005-07-06
Pulseaudio is actually a pretty great infrastructure and for those who need super low-latency there is JACK.
It got a bad name because Ubuntu, as they often do, crammed it in too early and pretty heavily misconfigured for a lot of people's hardware at first; Switching from pure Alsa to pulseaudio also didn't seem to go smoothly for people.
I'm somewhat worried they'll do the same with Wayland; it sounds like they're looking to cram it in sooner than common drivers are ready for it... It's a better infrastructure design too, but yeah 
Member since:2008-07-15
[q]Pulseaudio is actually a pretty great infrastructure and for those who need super low-latency there is JACK.
Unfortunately, no amount of great infrastructure can compensate for the fact that the underlying drivers, ALSA, are crap. MOst cards aren't supported fully, drivers have their own latency factors, Dmix (which can come into the picture even when you don't want it to) has bad delays, there is little to no surround sound support in most drivers (so it doesn't matter if Pulseaudio has surround APIs). In addition, jack and pulse conflict unless you set them up just right, and that is not something the average user will know how or wish to do. Neither audio add-on can compensate for the fact that the underlying driver system can't exercise the full potential of your audio hardware. You can build a brick house, but if you build it on a wood foundation, don't be surprised when it collapses.
Member since:2005-07-11
Now, maybe. How many years later?
No, it got a bad name because it "fixed" the wrong layer in the audio stack. ALSA is crap. ALSA drivers are crap. ALSA has so many issues with it, that nobody wants to work on it. Instead, everyone layers more bandaids on top, trying to make up for all the crap in ALSA.
The correct solution is to fix ALSA. Then there would be no need for Pulse.
Wayland uses Gallium3D/KMS for drivers. X.org uses (among others) Gallium3D/KMS. IOW, if the driver works with X.org, it'll work with Wayland. Granted, the only Gallium3D/KMS drivers are the OSS ones ...
Member since:2006-07-01
Member since:2007-11-11
The problem is gonna be the "FOSSies" and by FOSSies I mean those that hold up the GPL like the 10 commandments because there is a LOT of those guys working on the lower level internals and let us not forget that no matter how you pretty it up Steam is a NON GPL DRM PLATFORM and the FOSSie faction would rather burn the place to the ground than let that take hold.
You see Linux is split in 2 right now, the pragmatists that want a viable alternative to the big 2 and the FOSSies who frankly don't care if Linux never gets beyond a handful of users as long as the GPL is held inviolate.
So mark my words, what you will see with Steam is this: "Oops, updates broke Steam sound, well that wouldn't happen Gabe if you'd open up the source but since you won't well too bad, so sad" "Oops, networking is broken for Steam users? Well that wouldn't happen if you'd just open up the source but since you won't nothing we can do, sorry".
There is a reason why you don't see proprietary programs on Linux, its not because you can't get them to run in the first place, its the simple fact that you'll never keep them running because you will have devs actively sabotaging your efforts. I pointed this out on Linux forums and was told "So, GPL is pure and we don't want it contaminated so you can keep your DRM on Windowz" and that is pretty much why Valve hasn't got a chance.
Member since:2007-04-25
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Member since:
2008-07-15
I am absolutely keeping my eye in Valve. In addition to the video bit, this will hopefully also force a massive audio improvement on Linux. Gaming needs low-latency playback for it to work and VOIP, which traditionally accompanies gaming, needs a decent recording latency. Linux's current audio situation, what with Pulseaudio and the rest of that multi-layered mess, is a far cry from this. Valve will, hopefully, be a driving force to improve it.