GOG Linux support!! finally !
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elwing
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WizardStan
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Given the talk about supporting specific flavours (eg Ubuntu and Mint) I'm going to guess that they're creating deb packages to be installed as root. This is not necessarily the wrong way, but it's not exactly the best way, and it won't be of any benefit to the Pandora, other than being easier to extract the data files. But I guess the only thing we can do is wait, see if they pull something off.
ekianjo
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It's not just about the Pandora but Linux support in General. More actors in that field is really, really positive.
WizardStan
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Right, but I'm saying there are ways they could more generally support Linux, instead of specifically targeting Ubuntu/Mint. Which they may be doing, I'm only making guesses based on this very vague release.
ekianjo
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By the way Steam only supports Ubuntu/Debian officially. All other flavors are supported by the community.
WizardStan
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That's different for two reasons:
1) Valve has an interest in library consistency as they are not just a distribution channel but also game developers, and the restriction is more to ensure the games they are writing will work in the way they say they will. GoG shouldn't have that requirement: make sure that DosBox and ScummVM are installed and trust that they work as advertised.
2) Once you've installed Steam (a single application which needs some user support for unsupported systems) that's it, everything else will just install normally. Whether anything will run or not is a different problem, you can at least install them. In contrast, if GoG goes with a deb installer for every game, that would require a lot of individual support.
1) Valve has an interest in library consistency as they are not just a distribution channel but also game developers, and the restriction is more to ensure the games they are writing will work in the way they say they will. GoG shouldn't have that requirement: make sure that DosBox and ScummVM are installed and trust that they work as advertised.
2) Once you've installed Steam (a single application which needs some user support for unsupported systems) that's it, everything else will just install normally. Whether anything will run or not is a different problem, you can at least install them. In contrast, if GoG goes with a deb installer for every game, that would require a lot of individual support.
ekianjo
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In case you haven't noticed, GOG has way more than just old games in their catalog now. They have lots of indie titles too (recent ones at that).
WizardStan
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I have noticed. I'm not talking about those.
Beyond that anyway, many of those indie devs with native linux clients released generic installer packages already. On that front, my concern is GoG taking those generic packages and then wrapping them in a deb.
Beyond that anyway, many of those indie devs with native linux clients released generic installer packages already. On that front, my concern is GoG taking those generic packages and then wrapping them in a deb.
ekianjo
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If generic, DRM free installers exist for these indie titles (like the ones from the Humble Bundle), they will probably package a .deb and these installers together as separate downloads... that would make sense, at least. We'll see.
This being said there are ways to install debs even on RPM based distros.
WizardStan
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Yes, yes it would make sense. The arguments I've see from GoG about the reasons they have refused to support Linux in the past suggest that they don't fully understand it and may not do the thing which would make sense to you or I or anyone else who has spent a significant amount of time with it, however.They may get it right, they may have hired some a good specialist with experience in Linux packages, but I'm trying to remain pragmatic: hope for the best, expect something less than ideal.
I'm not saying it's necessarily problematic, and it's certainly a much easier jump than having to install things on a Windows machine first, but it's still an extra and unnecessary step. If they're going to do it, they should strive to do it right from the start.If they follow the Humble Bundle model, providing .deb, .rpm, and .tar.gz, then there will be absolutely no problems. Even with just the .deb and .tar.gz, that'd be fine, most linux users know how to work an unarchiver.
Until they actually say what they're doing it's all just hypothetical concerns.
Maybe they make some enhanced .deb that allows them to show their advertising like the current one does, who knows..
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There's no reason to believe they are producing .deb files for installation. At the very least we know they are "supporting" mint and ubuntu. This means they are ensuring their software works on those platforms. There's no mention of installation method. I'd be very suprised if its a .deb. More likely an installer that operates in user space only just like humble.
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