FFW 33: WINE on Wayland Coming Along?

WINE on Wayland soon to be more of a “thing”
NVidia Releases New Drivers
Freed Computer
OpenRA News

FFW 33.1- Wayland Gets Closer to Full WINE Support

This is gonna be a bit technical, actually the first two stories will be, today. If you’re new and wondering what these things are, let me give you a rundown before I actually talk about the story itself. What’s Wayland? In Linux, there are now two primary display servers, or programs that tell programs how and where they can display themselves on the screen: the venerable x11, and the relatively new kid on the block, Wayland. x11 has been around since the 90s, and is bloated with all sorts of compatibility needs and dependencies, it also has some significant security and privacy issues because of its very nature. On the other hand, because it has largely been the default for something like 25 years, everybody knows it and has used it. Wayland started development about 10 years ago, with its first beta coming out in 2013, if I recall. It is more of a set of protocols than a display server in the vein of x11. These protocols are quite slim and very secure, in comparison. The slimness keeps it from getting in the way of your hardware when rendering anything more than text on the screen. The security factor means that unless you directly give something permission to access something on your screen, it cannot. That was a super-high level overview.

Onto the story, though: until now many apps have needed to run through a translation layer called xwayland to allow them to work at all on Wayland. This hampers performance, just as on occasion, WINE can vs running natively in Windoesn’t. There have been some developers working on WINE, specifically, for a couple of years now, to remove the need. It is nearly ready, but we likely won’t see it until WINE 9, next year. They have begun to merge those lines of code into the project already, so that is hopeful. I look forward to not needing anything x related on my systems, soon, but I get ahead of myself. Much work needs done in that arena, but the big pushes are well underway.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/28/wine_support_wayland/

#FFW #Linux #FOSSnews #wayland #WINE #linuxgaming #TechFreedom

FFW 33.2: New NVidia Driver Out Now

Well, more precisely, a pair of beta drivers, one of which is for most of us normies who just use Linux to do regular things, and the other is targeted at developers. This is gonna be highly technical, and slightly beyond me to explain, so if you skip this one, I understand. So, what’s new in the regular driver?

· Added an application profile to avoid performance problems in Xfce 4 when the OpenGL compositor backend is enabled along with G-SYNC. (basically, this will make your machine, running XFCE and NVidia hardware and a G-SYNC monitor,run smoother)
· Added support for suspend and resume when using GSP firmware. (excellent news, it is about time we got a little better power management)
· Moved the nvidia-settings application icon into the 'hicolor' icon theme, which allows it to be customized by other icon themes selected in the desktop environment. (better theming support... Small, but noticeable quality of life improvement)
· Fixed a bug that prevented PRIME render offload from working for Wayland applications when running on a system with an AMD iGPU.
· Fixed a bug that prevented nvidia-installer from recording kernel log output to the installer log in some module loading failure paths.
· Changed nvidia-installer to no longer use the $XDG_DATA_DIRS environment variable. XDG data files are now installed to a path specified by the --xdg-data-dir option, or /usr/share if not specified.
· This fixes a problem when Flatpak is installed that caused the installer to place the nvidia-settings.desktop file in /root/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/applications.
· Changed the behavior of glXGetRefreshRateSGI() for non-integer refresh rates to round to the nearest whole number rather than truncating.
· Changed the compression format of the .run installer package from xz to zstd. This results in a smaller compressed package, and faster decompression performance. A fallback zstd decompressor is embedded into the installer package for systems which do not already have a zstd decompression program installed.
· Fixed a bug that caused nvidia-installer to mistakenly unload some already loaded non-NVIDIA kernel modules.
· Added compatibility for Linux kernels with Indirect Branch Tracking (IBT).

What about the developer version?
· New:
o VK_EXT_image_sliced_view_of_3d
· Fixes:
o Fixed issue with line stipple pattern when line stipple enable is dynamic.
o Vulkan Video fixes:
§ Fix an issue where the driver is incorrectly padded in-place the API provided bitstream buffer when the size of the buffer is smaller than 16 bytes.
§ Fix an h.264 encoder bug with handling IDR pictures when the coded picture resolution changes.
§ Fix an issue where in some session configuration cases an incorrect size is being reported for the required memory heap for the h.264 encoder session.

I’m not a dev, but these changes sound like more than quality of life improvments, so that is great. Thanks, NVidia, with your pedo-ish logo.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/02/nvidia-5303002-mainline-beta-driver-rolls-out-plus-a-new-vulkan-beta-driver/

Freed Computer

https://techfreedom.pro/freed-computer/

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FFW 33.3: New OpenRA Release Out Now

I play this with you guys every week on Fridays... I’m always looking for more of a challenge there, and new, better features always sound good. I’m looking forward to the new release though, and won’t try the new playtest in the meantime. If you love these Westwood classics, take a look at this open source engine port.

Let’s see how many of the changes in this new version I can relate to...
General Changelog
· Added state prediction for server controlled checkboxes. [#20569]
· Added a random faction indicator in the in-game player list. [#18980]
· Added tooltips to some game settings. [#20607]
· Added a "structure sold" notification when selling buildings. [#19043]
· Added configurable tooltips to the Discord integration. [#19831]
· Added option to hide UI feedback messages from the in-game chat. [#18905] [#19794]
· Added a panel displaying the lobby options to the ingame menu. [#19461]
· Added text notifications to the bottom left of the screen. [#19458, #19869, #19872, #20458]
· Added support for non-overlapping speech, voice and sound notifications. [#19667, #19838, #19843, #20039, #20363, #20686]
· Added a script triggers overlay. [#19745]
· Added l10n support to server messages. [#19847, #19989]
· Added settings for many previously hardcoded hotkeys. [#19460, #19673, #19666, #20030, #20029, #20033, #20591]
· Added an option to disable chat in replays. [#20076]
· Added an anti-flooding mechanism for when several messages are sent in a short time span. [#20125]
· Added per player mutes. [#20100]
· Added .png to UID generation when saving maps as format 12. [#19891, #20368]
· Added an option to limit FPS to logic tick rate. [#19595]
· Added observer vision stats. [#18746]
· Added mouse scrolling to the production sidebar. [#20383]
· Added an option to sort maps by date in map chooser. [#20404]
· Added the ability to reset rally points. [#20431] (huh? I thought this was already a normative feature)
· Added templates for up to five ingame menu tabs. [#19490]
· Removed unnecessary chrome yaml declarations. [#18436] (hmm, maybe this will keep it from crashing on launch because the news.yaml gets corrupted)
· Removed global fallback to software cursors on error in favor of per-cursor fallback. [#19387, #19590]
· Removed superfluous tooltips from dummy actors. [#19440]
· Removed hacks around checking sync while disposing the shellmap. [#19714, #19741]
· Removed deprecated parts of the Lua API. [#20034]
· Removed Huntable from support aircraft. [#19854]
· Removed RemoveFromControlGroupHotkeyLogic from spectators. [#19923]
· Fixed map-player bots not working on dedicated servers. [#19418]
· Fixed suicides counting as kill in the game score. [#19625]
· Fixed player color in the introduction panel not getting applied. [#19631]
· Fixed custom map previews failing to load on the multiplayer server list. [#19322]
· Fixed AI trying to order around all air unit types. [#19758]
· Fixed aircraft not dropping targets when all valid weapons are out of ammo. [#18511]
· Fixed weather particle physics. [#19596]
· Fixed crashes related to special unicode character and Lua scripting. [#19160]
· Fixed a rare crash if a unit is killed while collecting a level-up crate. [#19305]
· Fixed Move jumpy-ness and occasional facing mismatch. [#19220, #19349]
· Fixed possible endless loop in replay recorder while opening save file. [#19209]
· Fixed a crash when using legacy GL. [#19369]
· Fixed that server could freeze under certain circumstances. [#19429]
· Fixed inconsistencies with text fields yielding keyboard focus when pressing esc. [#19484, #19722]
· Fixed LockHandicap having no effect. [#19462]
· Fixed music playing silent until next track. [#19660]
· Fixed icons on KDE environments. [#19553]
· Fixed multiplayer servers lingering on the public game list after they have shut down. [#19627]
· Fixed renderer initialization failing on OSX Catalina 10.15.7. [#19675, #19698]
· Fixed kill statistics including walls and non-player actors. [#19773]
· Fixed the default production scaling with multiple production buildings not providing a linear production speed-up. [#19791]
· Fixed a crash when exits of dead buildings were determined. [#19709]
· Fixed Launch.Map not accepting map names. [#19602]
· Fixed launch scripts not running from other working directories. [#19799]
· Fixed RevealsMap not revoking for allied players. [#19148]
· Fixed AIs always using the same direction for sending in support powers. [#19856]
· Fixed projectile shadow rendering. [#19920]
· Fixed aircraft which don't take off after being produced blocking the exit. [#19918]
· Fixed trails overlapping when actors change direction. [#18503]
· Fixed new maps requiring a reload of the game to be shown. [#19885, #20005, #20031, #20127, #20198, #20123, #20200, #20238]
· Fixed a crash when loading empty video files. [#20006]
· Fixed games starting with only spectators. [#20086]
· Fixed actors with AttackFollow ignoring their current target when ordered to attack move. [#20038]
· Fixed radar crashing when dealing with large heights on isometric maps. [#19800]
· Fixed the game sometimes crashing when a player was kicked [#20057]
· Fixed the game UI allowing empty input fields. [#20272, #20273, #20274]
· Fixed carryalls not removing influence on take off [#20212, #20489]
· Fixed game kicking the player from the multiplayer lobby when starting via checkboxes with unavailable map. [#20101]
· Fixed repairing harvesters triggering Harvester under attack! notifications. [#20302]
· Fixed FAQ and Logs not opening on Windows. [#20301]
· Fixed the give-cash dev command not reporting an error when entering invalid values. [#20379]
· Fixed turret tracking units that go invisible after attacking. [#20214]
· Fixed a crash when flood filling tiles outside of the map. [#20430]
· Fixed gaps in the UI allowing misclicks through it. [#20455]
· Fixed a crash when generating detailed exception reports. [#20471]
· Fixed install content error messages not mentioning the host from which the download failed. [#20477]
· Fixed a crash when missions have no briefing text. [#20134]
· Fixed display bounds when running on macbooks with a notch. [#20484, #20568]
· Changed harvesters to only search for refineries when needing to unload. [#18586]
· Changed force setting a rallypoint to changing the closest production building to Primary. [#19493]
· Changed the default game name to player's game. [#19626]
· Changed the power prerequisite name to Any Power Generation to reduce confusion. [#20108]
· Improved tooltip display for long map names in the server list, lobby and map chooser. [#19544, #19543]
· Improved the error message displayed when fetching the battlefield news fails. [#19776]
· Made range modifiers apply to AreaBeam projectile. [#20023]
· Made game timer in replays only blink on pause. [#20116]
· Moved the game speed lobby dropdown before the time limit dropdown. [#20242]
· Polished the spectator UI for mission replays and multiplayer missions. [#19635]
· Polished contrail colors and length. [#19089]
· Reduced the amount of player experience obtained from supply trucks, infiltrating, capturing and repairing. [#20110, #20421]
· Defenses can now target during their construction animation. [#19731]
· Performance improvements. [#17837, #18792, #18806, #19056, #19066, #19095, #19166, #19173, #19210, #19223, #19242, #19264, #19300, #19269, #19342, #18670, #19425, #19443, #19521, #19558, #19524, #19546, #19581, #19560, #19598, #19525, #19603, #19606, #19682, #19691, #19729, #19749, #19736, #19786, #19815, #19833, #19912, #19906, #19907, #19908, #19909, #19557, #19976, #20020, #20040, #20099, #20098, #20129, #20151, #20131, #20156, #20182, #19599, #20245, #20253, #20150, #20237, #20209, #20259, #20165, #20282, #20290, #20356, #20361, #19534]
· Overhauled MapPreview rule loading. [#19317]
· Overhauled player color logic. [#19335], [#19474, #19497]
· Overhauled settings panel layout. [#19677, #19980, [#19900, #19979]]
· Unified debug slash command names. [#19414], [#19597]
· Disabled chat for the first 5s (configurable) after joining a server. [#19486, #19754, #20424]
· Reworded lobby option tooltips to consider both disabled and enabled states. [#19754]
· Streamlined sizes of several UI panels. [#19681]
· Polished the coloring of input labels. [#19938]
· Refactored CheckboxWidget. [#20081]
· Refactored ScrollItemWidget. [#20218, #20231, #20303, #20304, #20285, #20328]
· Refactored widget image search functions. [#20283]

Dune 2k Changelog
· Added original faction colors in single-player campaign. [#19954]
· Added Force-Move undeploy to Thumper Infantry. [#19945]
· Added directional targeting support to Ornithopter strikes. [#20148] (very cool)
· Added a rallypoint to the Palace. [#20299] (since when wasn’t there one?)
· Added an in-game encyclopedia. [#19506, #20650, #20669, #20679] (great)
· Added a minimum travel distance for the sonic tank beam. [#20244] (interesting... I don’t typically use them much, but that adds a new layer of strategy to the game)
· Added the community maps Side Step 03, Sunstroke, Spice mesa, Source and Stone Plateaus. [#20524]
· Added Carryalls to spectator Economy statistics. [#20566]
· Fixed a script error in Harkonnen 08. [#19344]
· Fixed visual glitches on several buildings. [#19409, #19439] (cool stuff)
· Fixed the impact sound of the Devastator's warhead. [#19411] (it was pretty janky)
· Fixed the cloak crate animation not being played. [#19550]
· Fixed wrong animation frames on 'Hide Map' crate effect. [#19552]
· Fixed handicap modifiers changing terrain damage to buildings. [#19695]
· Fixed worms respawning instantly in campaign missions. [#20344]
· Fixed a crash if a Carryall is killed at the same instant it is unloading. [#19587]
· Fixed a crash when building placements are moved out of the map. [#19732]
· Fixed a crash in the legacy map import when walls are present. [#19954]
· Fixed Freman Sietch actor spawning with concrete. [#20016]
· Fixed Deviators being able to take over friendly vehicles. [#20617]
· Fixed engineer being unable to capture repair pads. [#20588]
· Changed TerrainType of tile 9 from Clear to Rough. [#20572]
· Changed "Battlefield Control" label for system messages to "Mentat". [#18044] (nice touch)
· Changed weapons to better match the original. [#20137]
· Changed harvesters to no longer need to be destroyed in the campaign to win. [#20299] (hmm... I guess I always play the quick game anyway so it doesn’t matter much to me)
· Changed vehicles under 50% health to move at 75% speed. [#19468], [#19720](more realistic, nice touch)
· Changed production overlay for multiple Light and Heavy Factories to only display on the primary building. [#19507] (that actually makes sense, as you cannot have more than one of each producing different units at the same time)
· Made Ornithopters targetable by anti-air units. [#20139] (wow...)
· Made carryalls visible below fog. [#20299]
· Increased camera reveal duration for super powers. [#20299]

https://github.com/OpenRA/OpenRA/wiki/Changelog/dc394e2f3532e7fe830118716ebdbaaa4e945eaf

#FFW #Linuxgaming #indiegames #openra #dune2k #cnc #redalert #outnow #TechFreedom #FOSSnews

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