[HN Gopher] Why more PC gaming handhelds should ditch Windows fo...
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       Why more PC gaming handhelds should ditch Windows for SteamOS
        
       Author : jlpcsl
       Score  : 37 points
       Date   : 2024-01-11 18:06 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (arstechnica.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (arstechnica.com)
        
       | novagameco wrote:
       | If compatibility isn't an issue (I have yet to have any
       | compatibility problems with my Steam Deck), I don't see why they
       | shouldn't move to SteamOS. However, I fear a future in which
       | people develop games on Linux targeted directly at SteamOS: I
       | find C++ development to be far better with First party Microsoft
       | tools (Visual Studio, MSVC, DirectX, DirectXTK) than on Linux. I
       | vastly prefer Microsoft style APIs to Linux style APIs (DirectX
       | over OpenGL especially, though Vulkan is ok), and I have yet to
       | find a C++ development environment that I like as much as Visual
       | Studio. With solution files, vcpkg, and project files native to
       | Visual Studio, managing projects and dependencies has become a
       | breeze in Windows. Comparably, few IDEs on Linux provide
       | comparable debugging tools or good UI (CLion being the only one I
       | can think of, though I personally hate most of Jetbrains' UI) and
       | cmake is such a poorly designed tool and syntax to me, I would
       | hate to have to deal with it directly than just having vcpkg
       | manage the builds and dependencies for me (though I think vcpkg
       | is compatible with Linux). I don't mind targeting Linux as a
       | platform via Proton, but I would really hate to have to write
       | Linux specific bindings for a game
        
         | WhereIsTheTruth wrote:
         | Unity started as a game engine on macOS with monodevelop as the
         | official IDE
         | 
         | I think you overestimate the number of game developers who
         | depend on Microsoft's tools, game engine devs who target
         | Xbox/PS5/Switch, sure, vendor tools require windows, but for 1
         | engine dev, you find 100 game devs
         | 
         | Besides, cross compilation is a solved issue nowadays, all it
         | takes to target Linux, Windows, mobiles or console is a
         | checkbox in Unity/Unreal/Godot
         | 
         | https://steamdb.info/tech/
         | 
         | This data speaks for itself
         | 
         | DirectX 12 wasn't a huge success, except for Xbox; wich sells
         | 3x less than both PS5 / Switch [1], you don't see it anywhere
         | else
         | 
         | Vulkan gets on on both Windows/Linux, but also Switch and
         | Android, so if you are a small indie studio who work on your
         | own engine, Vulkan makes a lot more sense
         | 
         | .. and even cloud gaming ;)
         | https://www.phoronix.com/news/Amazon-Linux-Graphics-Jobs
         | 
         | .. even for Ubisoft, even for their Windows release
         | https://www.ubisoft.com/en-gb/game/rainbow-six/siege/news-up...
         | 
         | [1] - https://www.vgchartz.com/
        
       | ThrowawayR2 wrote:
       | Nah. A Windows handheld has far less game compatibility issues
       | than SteamOS does, which even the article admits, and can also be
       | used as a Windows machine to run apps if docked or accessed
       | through RDP.
        
       | ksjskskskkk wrote:
       | and lose those sweet windows oem kickbacks?
        
       | rchaud wrote:
       | > Yes, a Windows installation means a gaming portable is
       | compatible with almost every PC game ever made, including many
       | that still don't run on SteamOS for one reason or another. But
       | SteamOS's robust Proton compatibility layer means an ever-
       | expanding list of thousands of games are certified as at least
       | "Playable"
       | 
       | That's the pitch? Some games that run fine on Windows 'might'
       | work acceptably on SteamOS?
       | 
       | SteamOS doesn't do anything besides play games distributed on
       | Steam. There's absolutely no benefit for a Windows OEM to drop it
       | for an OS that has < 1% market share.
       | 
       | Not everybody has the luxury of purchasing different computing
       | devices for different use cases. An ASUS ROG will play games
       | (Steam + everything else), but it's also a real computer you can
       | write programs on or school papers with.
       | 
       | We need to reverse the tide of electronic products getting dumbed
       | down every year in the name of "user experience".
        
         | slmkbh wrote:
         | SteamOS literally has a desktop mode, standard KDE, and you can
         | install any applications that are in Arch repos or served as
         | flatpaks.
        
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       (page generated 2024-01-11 23:01 UTC)