Untitled Linux Show 230: "Bake The Man a Pie"

Date: November 24, 2025
Host: Jonathan Bennett
Panelists: Rob Campbell, Jeff Massey
Summary by TWiT.tv Podcast Summarizer

Episode Overview

This week, Jonathan, Rob, and Jeff dig into a flurry of Linux and open-source news focusing on big moves in hardware (notably Linux on ARM and Qualcomm developments), open source gaming, licensing drama around Arduino, Steam runtime updates, advances in gaming with ARM, developments in open-source remote desktop tools for Wayland, a surprise open-source drop from Microsoft, and Blender 5.0’s release. The vibe is lively, geeky, and occasionally irreverent—full of banter, tech minutiae, and forward-looking speculation.

Table of Contents

1. Qualcomm’s ARM Adventure: Good, Bad & Ugly | 03:04
2. Arduino’s Terms of Service Kerfuffle | 10:17
3. Steam Runtime Update: What’s New for Linux Gamers | 21:57
4. Crossover & Wine: Running Windows Apps (and Games!) on ARM Linux | 32:52
5. Igalia & Valve: Decoding the ARM + Vulkan Push | 37:52
6. AMD’s Next-Gen GPU Linux Driver Activity | 52:08
7. Wayland Grows Up: RustDesk’s Mixed-Scale Multi-Monitor Support | 58:48
8. Microsoft Open Sources Zork | 64:43
9. Blender 5.0: New Features & HDR Goodness | 72:40
10. Command Line Tips: LibrePods, Paru, and Zork via Snap | 80:04
11. Closing Thoughts & Humble Bundle Plugs | 93:20

1. Qualcomm’s ARM Adventure: Good, Bad & Ugly

Discussed: 03:04–10:09

Main Points

• Tuxedo’s Linux ARM Laptop Cancelled: Tuxedo ditches X1 Elite ARM Linux laptop due to battery life, lack of solid Linux driver support, and architectural hurdles. Hopes pinned on Snapdragon X2 (which is getting more Linux upstream love).

• Dell Releases Linux ARM Laptop Before Windows: A milestone, even if short on details.

• Upstreaming Matters: Jonathan:

  “You can’t just release a device and throw some patches out there for a 10-year-old kernel and expect everybody to be happy with it. ... People want to run mainstream distros and their modern kernels.” (07:39)

• Key Issue: Support in the mainline kernel is the determining factor for ARM Linux hardware’s success.

Notable Quotes

• Rob Campbell:

  “They announced they're discontinuing the project, noting challenges with the architecture, ... just not seeing the benefits we kind of thought with Arm… when you think Arm you think long battery life and apparently that just really wasn't there for them.” (03:27)

• Jonathan Bennett:

  “This is not a problem with Linux on ARM necessarily. This is a problem with Qualcomm support for Linux.” (09:53)

2. Arduino’s Terms of Service Kerfuffle

Discussed: 10:17–20:16

Main Points

• Controversy: Arduino’s revised terms seemingly granted them perpetual, wide-reaching license over user-generated code/projects—and forbid “reverse engineering the platform.”
• Jonathan Reads the Legalese:
  • Actual impact is “pretty boilerplate” (i.e., boring cloud-service legal CYA), not a rights grab on your Arduino hardware code.
  • Main concern: uploading code under GPL may (when combined with these terms) create a weird dual licensing situation; possible issues if users upload other people’s (GPL-licensed) code.

Notable Quotes

• Jonathan Bennett:

  “Section 7.1... grants Arduino a perpetual irrevocable license over anything you upload... But this is really sort of just boilerplate for ‘hey, we’re running a cloud service’...” (11:53)

• Jeff Massey:

  “It sounds pretty boilerplate to me... there’s a lot of terminology that sounds really terrible and it’s like, no, no, here’s what this actually means.” (18:49)

3. Steam Runtime Update: What’s New for Linux Gamers

Discussed: 21:57–28:17

Main Points

• Steam Runtime v4 Released:
  • Big jump: Runtime now based on Debian 13.2 (from Debian 11).
  • More 64-bit libraries, 32-bit dropping out except for ones needed by Proton/Steam tools.
  • Meaning: The library stack for games is more modern; path is being cleared for a fully 64-bit Steam.
  • Legacy games will keep running in older containers/runtimes.

Notable Quotes

• Jeff Massey:

  “We should see more in the coming months ... I love gaming on Linux.” (26:29)

4. Crossover & Wine: Windows on ARM Linux

Discussed: 32:52–37:31

Main Points

• Advancement: Crossover 10 (based on Wine) aims to emulate 64-bit x86 code on ARM Linux—a major step.
• Demonstration: On a $5K+ ARM workstation (128 cores + RTX 4060 Ti), Crossover ran games like Cyberpunk 2077 at 120+ FPS.
• Enterprise & Consumer Implication:
  • Targeting businesses wishing to migrate Windows workloads to Linux/ARM without porting all apps.
  • Consumer use: relevant for next-gen Linux gaming handhelds (like Valve's upcoming ARM-based "Frames").

Notable Quotes

• Rob Campbell:

  “That does not mean you can take Ken’s dusty old Raspberry Pi and suddenly it’s a 4K gaming rig. But it does show that ARM Linux can be a serious game and workload platform ... when paired with the right hardware.” (34:30)

• Jeff Massey:

  “I do not have ARM hardware.” (37:31)

5. Igalia & Valve: Decoding the ARM + Vulkan Push

Discussed: 37:52–48:57

Main Points

• Igalia’s Role: Drivers for Valve’s new ARM-based hardware stem from Igalia’s work on the Turnip (Qualcomm Adreno/GPU) Vulkan driver.
• Valve’s Hardware Ambition:
  • Panel speculates Valve will make an ARM-powered Steam Deck successor (“You heard it here first…”).
• Broader Context:
  • ARM on desktop/gaming: Battery and performance may soon match or exceed x86 once drivers/middleware catch up.
  • ARM’s ascendancy encourages x86 players to slim down design, maybe drop legacy features, sustain competition.

Notable Quotes

• Jonathan Bennett:

  “I would not be surprised if... the next Steam Deck is an ARM device, probably very similar to the Snapdragon that’s going to be running inside the new Steam frame...” (48:04)

6. AMD’s Next-Gen GPU Linux Driver Activity

Discussed: 52:08–58:25

Main Points

• New AMD Kernel Drivers:
  • AMD is prepping their Linux driver stack for upcoming GPUs (possibly RDNA 4 refresh or even RDNA 5).
  • AMD’s approach: “block by block” enablement—lets them introduce features well before hardware arrives, keeps competitors guessing.
• Notable Details:
  • Driver changes for platform security, interrupt handlers, memory controller, etc.
  • Speculation about major version jumps and possible hardware launch timelines.

Notable Quotes

• Jeff Massey:

  “They have a guide for game developers and a lot of the under-hood documentation. ... So, while we're not going to see games running in version four just yet, it's coming and we should see more in the coming months.” (27:22)

7. Wayland Grows Up: RustDesk’s Mixed-Scale Multi-Monitor Support

Discussed: 58:48–62:55

Main Points

• RustDesk, the Open Source Answer to TeamViewer:
  • Nightly builds now support different display scaling factors in multi-monitor Wayland setups—a pain point for business/pros.
  • RustDesk claims to be ahead of TeamViewer, AnyDesk, and others in this respect.
  • Open source, cross-platform, and can be used without trusting the developer's server.

Notable Quotes

• Rob Campbell:

  “Wayland's been their weakness. But Rust Desk has been carving out a space for itself ... Their implementation now handles these mixed scaling monitors configurations correctly. They're claiming to be the only remote desktop solution that does this on Wayland right now.” (58:48)

• Jonathan Bennett:

  “At least with Rust Desk you have some semblance of a guess, you can figure out if it’s doing anything weird.” (62:13)

8. Microsoft Open Sources Zork

Discussed: 64:43–71:18

Main Points

• Microsoft’s Move:
  • Zork 1, 2, and 3 (legendary text adventures) are now officially open-sourced under MIT after a corporate trail: Infocom → Activision → Microsoft.
• Clarifies:
  • The actual source files have been available for years but now come with explicit legal clarity.
  • Expect to see Zork hit repos (like Fedora) soon, with no licensing ambiguity.
• Historical Context:
  • Zork’s impact on early gaming, especially text-based adventure fans from the '80s.

Notable Quotes

• Jonathan Bennett:

  “For the purposes of playing it, but also just preserving these things, I’m glad to see Microsoft do this.” (66:02)

• Jeff Massey:

  “[Zork] felt like a fake AI ... It was amazing technology at the time.” (68:06)

9. Blender 5.0: New Features & HDR Goodness

Discussed: 72:40–77:42

Main Points

• Blender 5.0 Released:
  • Major focus on HDR color support, wider color palettes, and enhanced tools for modeling/animation.
  • Requires Wayland and Vulkan for full HDR support.
  • Includes revamped geometry, new curves tool, and many productivity/QoL changes.
  • Upgraded base assets bundled, all under Public Domain.

Notable Quotes

• Jeff Massey:

  “You have to be on Wayland and the Vulkan backend ... HDR is supported in both static image and in video.” (77:42)

10. Command Line Tips: LibrePods, Paru, and Zork via Snap

Discussed: 80:04–92:37

Tips and Tools

• LibrePods:

  • Free Apple AirPods from Apple’s walled garden on Linux. Adds support for noise cancelling, transparency mode, battery readouts, and more—open source, under active development.
  • “Libre Pods is an open source app that basically frees Apple AirPods Pro from the Apple ecosystem and lets you use their smart features properly on Linux.” (80:10)

• Paru (Arch User Repo Helper):

  • Makes installing packages from the AUR easier with a single command—especially for Arch-based distros like CachyOS.
  • “Basically makes installing from the AUR a lot easier and should handle all your install needs.” (89:31)

• Zork via Snap:

  • Installable via snap install zork, making the classic adventure one step away even on modern distros. Jonathan’s verdict: “It just worked.”
  • “On my Fedora install, I just did a sudo snap install zork. And then snap run zork. And suddenly I was transported to the field in front of the house with the mailbox.” (91:27)

11. Closing Thoughts & Humble Bundle Plugs

Discussed: 93:20–End

Main Points

• Resources:
  • Jeff shares Humble Bundle book bundles for Linux pros, software architecture, and data engineering/science.
• Plugs:
  • Rob: Find him at robertpcampbell.com (and social links therein).
  • Jonathan: “Floss Weekly” at Hackaday, his security column, and Twit’s D&D livestreams.
• Panel Banter:
  • Includes a spur-of-the-moment poem by Jeff:

    “Roses are red, my server is gray. I’m a computer nerd. Don’t expect me to rhyme.” (96:41)

Memorable Moments

• Show Title Brainstorm:

  “Donk... Someone capture that, please.” (57:11) “The code must flow.” (57:18)

• Holiday Gifting Banter:

  “Bake the man a pie for Christmas.” (37:47)

TL;DR — Recap

• Linux on ARM is making big, if bumpy, strides—Qualcomm’s X1 fizzles, but X2 and Valve’s ARM push are encouraging.
• Arduino TOS panic is overblown, but raises real questions about licensing and open-source contributions.
• Steam’s runtime leaps forward, further modernizing the Linux gaming experience.
• Wine+Crossover promise serious advances for Windows gaming and work apps on ARM Linux.
• Igalia and Valve are reshaping the ARM gaming landscape—expect more Linux handhelds soon.
• RustDesk raises the bar for Wayland remote desktop.
• Blender 5.0 is a graphical powerhouse—but you need modern Wayland + Vulkan for full flavor.
• Microsoft gives Linux/open-source gaming a retro gift—Zork is officially free.
• LibrePods, Paru, and classic Zork via Snap: new ways to get more out of your Linux desktop.

Next week: More predictions, more ARM news, and more Linux fun—don’t forget to bake the man a pie.

Compiled by the TWiT.tv Podcast Summarizer.