Why KDE Plasma Makes Sense For Linux Gaming 152
sfcrazy writes "Martin Gräßlin, a lead KDE developer, addresses some queries around a topic bugging Gnome and Unity users — the fallback mode. In this post he says that 'having the non-composited mode around allows us to do things like turning compositing off when running games or heavy OpenGL based applications such as Blender. So if you want to get some of the now finally available games for Linux, KDE Plasma should be your primary choice to enjoy the game. I have also heard of users switching to KDE Plasma because we still provide non OpenGL based setups.'"
Options (Score:5, Insightful)
I just switched to KDE because the developers aren't against the idea of me configuring and theming it as I please. It's also faster. Games are now an added bonus.
Re:Alternative: XFCE (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, but I had no problem picking up Android, whether on phone or tablet. It's just intuitive. I didn't have the first fucking clue how I was supposed to use Unity to do anything. Windows 8 is worse because you now have to learn two completely different interfaces instead of one. I need a 'normal' interface on a 'normal computer' because I develop software, edit photographs, tag/copy mp3 files between devices, use one device to control another etc. Sure, if I were a user and had no need to actually create anything I'd use a tablet. But these desktop OSes (Windows 8, unity etc) will mostly be running on regular computers without touch screens, so i'm not sure of the utility of making this change. I'm sure Microsoft and Canonical believe that their OSes will soon be on millions of touch-enabled devices; I find this unlikely.
(BTW: You're the first AC I've responded to in years. Why haven't you created an account here? I almost didn't see your reply as I filter ACs away).
Re:Alternative: XFCE (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree with what you are saying, to a point. I have been using computers of one sort or another since the early 80's and have always had a keyboard at minimum, and a mouse and possibly other HID devices later.
Recently (past ~3yrs) I have used several tablets/smartphones. While I am continuously impressed with what can be done on these devices, I am always cognizant of what *can't* be done on these devices.
Tablets/Smartphones are great for instant satisfaction, but are quite weak compared to a desktop, unless you have great eyesight and you only do a few minimal things. Even browsing the web becomes cumbersome quickly when you need to *type* anything. Forget about doing any actual work on one of these things such as replying to emails or anything that is enhanced by more than one 10" screen.
I realize that the hardware/software manufacturers love the idea of these portable devices and all of the restrictions (hardware/software locks) contained within, but I like to think that people will not always be content with the lowest common denominator.
I agree that these devices have a place , however they will never fully displace desktops/laptops.
Re:Alternative: XFCE (Score:5, Insightful)
There seem to be a rash of these Mac-like OSes these days (including the hilarious Windows 8) - I don't quite understand the appeal.
That's because you (like most of us here) learned about computers using devices with separate keyboard, mouse and screen. We are currently at the tipping point where more youth learn about computers through devices with only a touchscreen (phones, tablets) and have never used a laptop.
That tipping point is driving interfaces that cater to the touchscreen user experience, even though those interfaces don't allow for as much interaction as UIs driven by the keyboard/mouse/screen user experience.
Your statement is not that far removed from "Most youth learned about computers through devices with only a gamepad. It's true, but it doesn't mean much. The thing that makes what we call a "computer" a "computer" is that it's general purpose, and designed to empower creative work. Barring radical developments, tablets and phones are not going to displace the traditional computer any more than game consoles did.
Re:Alternative: XFCE (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, but I had no problem picking up Android, whether on phone or tablet. It's just intuitive.
I got an Android phone to try and was fuming most of the time I used it.
OK, so I have this new phone, I want to copy the call and SMS ringtones from my old phone (call ringtone is an mp3, SMS ringtone is a midi file). So, I transfer them over bluetooth and now they are sitting in the phones memory. OK.
On a few Nokia phones I had you selected a custom ringtone just like the builtin ones, except you selected "custom" and then browsed to where the file was. So I try this here, no "custom". OK, maybe I can select the file in file manager and make it as ringtone - no, the file just starts playing. It turns out that I need to open the music playing app, open the file then I can finally set it as my ringtone. Great. Except there is no way to set the SMS ringtone. To do that I needed to download a new app from the app store and use it to set the SMS ringtone, except that app does not support midi files (even though the phone does) so I had to
convert my file to mp3.
Yep, that was so intuitive, I had to google a few times.
At work I used unity for a few minutes at most - it was installed by default, so I used it to launch a terminal window and install KDE.