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Games: Planet of Lana II, SteamOS, and WINE
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Boiling Steam ☛ Planet of Lana II - Review
This game is a sequel to the original Planet of Lana that came out in 2023 and that I did not know of until now. If you are like me, don’t worry, you could still play the sequel as is, since it features an introduction that tells the events of the first game in a few minutes. I’m not going to spoil things for you in case you want to do the first one before this sequel. The first game is apparently a fairly short game that can be completed in 7 to 8 hours. This second one lasts about the same, too. The scene takes place on another planet, where two factions are at war and you are caught in the middle.
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PC Mag ☛ Best for Software Compatibility and Gaming
You don’t have a huge number of choices when it comes to your computer's operating system, but the one you pick has wide-ranging consequences. PCMag has been testing operating systems since the dawn of personal computing in the '80s, so we have the experience to inform your decision. The four OSes here are the most popular options: Windows 11, macOS, ChromeOS, and Ubuntu. Each has distinct strengths and weaknesses. macOS and Windows support the widest range of hardware peripherals and software, ChromeOS is lightweight and runs on inexpensive computers, and the Linux-based Ubuntu embraces the open-source model. Read on for a summary of each desktop operating system (in order of usage share), followed by links to our in-depth reviews and advice on how to decide which is best for you.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Valve adds early Steam Machine support in SteamOS 3.8 — latest update brings performance gains, better controller support, and desktop improvements
SteamOS 3.8.0 preview introduces early Steam Machine support while delivering performance upgrades, improved VRR, and broader handheld compatibility
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WINE or Emulation
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XDA ☛ Wine 11 rewrites how Linux runs Windows games at the kernel level, and the speed gains are massive
Linux gaming has come a long way. When Valve launched Proton back in 2018, it felt like a turning point, turning the Linux gaming experience from "technically possible if you're okay with a lot of pain" to something that more or less worked. Since then, we've seen incremental Wine releases, each one chipping away at compatibility issues and improving performance bit by bit. Wine 10, Wine 9, and so on; each one a collection of bug fixes and small improvements that kept the ecosystem moving forward.
Wine 11 is different. This isn't just another yearly release with a few hundred bug fixes and some compatibility tweaks. It represents a huge number of changes and bug fixes. However, it also ships with NTSYNC support, which is a feature that has been years in the making and rewrites how Wine handles one of the most performance-sensitive operations in modern gaming. On top of that, the WoW64 architecture overhaul is finally complete, the Wayland driver has grown up a lot, and there's a big list of smaller improvements that collectively make this feel like an all-new project.
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