That’s great, it beats having to buy new hardware!

If you want it to still be steam OS and compatible with games then you couldn’t use kernel.org kernels that’s the point.

If a person stands to make a lot of money figuring out how to use a regular, non-anticheat kernel then they will do it. It would be a lot less difficult to do when the kernel code is open source.

For anti-cheats, it isn’t the case, as with Windows, where you can semi-trust that the kernel isn’t lying. If an anti-cheat runs and wants to see what DMA devices are connected it uses the kernel to do that and it trusts that the kernel isn’t lying. You could trivially modify the Linux kernel’s source code to not list a specific card when asked by a kernel module.

He’s just being pedantic.

Technically ‘ls’ has kernel access because it depends on system calls in order to produce its output.

System calls are the mechanisms through which programs request services from the Linux kernel, allowing them to perform tasks like file management, process control, and device management. Any program that’s running on your machine has the access required to make syscalls and so you could say they have access to the kernel. They won’t have kernel-level privileges, so they can’t act as the kernel, but they do have access. Obviously the original user was referring to kernel anti-cheat modules which act as the kernel with all of the same privileges.

The language about collecting and using data have been in TOSs for basically every online service since the early '00s.

I’m not saying that this is okay. The data that these services collect, which we’ve given them unlimited rights to, has only become more valuable and the incentives for these companies are always for them to gather more data about you.

You can use archive.org if you want to look at older policies from the same company. But, if you pull up any other game with an online component you will see that they all are essentially “Don’t cheat our services or hide your identity, We’re going to collect your data and use it how we want, and you have to enter into binding arbitration” with various levels of detail and verbosity.

Oh yeah, that’s way better. Thanks!

I’m using zsh and trying the emacs mode, that alt operates on words is the secret sauce I was looking for.

root@desktop:/# chown -R user:user / home/user
root@desktop:/# 

e: sidenote. if you’re using markdown for codeblocks you can add the language name after the first three backticks to change the syntax highlighting in the codeblock. TIL

Is there an emacs key to ‘delete this entire word’?

like if I’m using ls to look for a file, then I want to cat a file, I press up to get the previous command, ctrl+a to go to the beginning of the line and then spam d to delete letters. It’s be much better if there was a ‘delete until whitespace’ button.

I’m sure I believe a lot of nonsense from reading the Internet.

That’s okay, we’re just human. The problem is when people try to ‘inform’ people of things that they ‘know’ from reading social media. That’s how these situations are created, so many people believe this because so many other people believe it and then repeat it as fact without themselves ever checking.

It’s like a feedback loop of ignorance, caused entirely by people who care more about getting social credit for talking and less about saying things that are true.

The point is that the license agreement for this game and others owned by this company didn’t say this shit before, and now they do.

That’s just not true.

Here’s a Reddit user trying the same kind out outrage farming 7 years ago using Take 2’s TOS and implying it allows spyware: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/8naopt/take_two_a_spyware_apocalypse/

If you look at Valve’s TOS or any other game developer who has games with an online component, you will see the exact same language regarding data collection. The language being added is to comply with laws, like the GDPR, which requires specific language indicating what data is collected and how it is used.

The data that is being collected is the same as it was 10 years ago. There’s nothing new here, just a YT video that got a lot of views and social media being full of people who don’t fact check anything.

Thats a windows thing so it can put files in “protected” folders like program files

The unfortunate thing about the UAC prompt is that it gives the software permission to put files in protected folders, but it also gives the software root permission so it can do literally anything else without prompting the user. Except, I believe, if it tries to install unsigned kernel drivers, then the user has to click a new prompt… but you can completely compromise a machine with the permissions that users routinely give to executables that they download from the Internet.

They added spyware to it.

No, they didn’t.

Just because something sounds outrageous, doesn’t mean it is true.

Borderlands 2 hasn’t been updated since 2022:

Borderlands - Last updated: 3 August 2016 Borderlands 2 - Last updated: 4 August 2022 Borderlands 3 - Last updated: 8 August 2024

No Borderlands titles include anti-cheat: https://areweanticheatyet.com/?search=borderlands

Here is another person, 7 years ago trying the exact same outrage-based engagement farming strategy of linking a TOS update and implying a nefarious intent: https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/8naopt/take_two_a_spyware_apocalypse/ It’s exactly the same “Take two is spying on you!!!” content and yet, none of the Borderlands games have added spyware and none have added kernel anti-cheat.

Also, if you read the 2018 and 2025 TOS you will notice notice that the information that they collect in the 2025 TOS ( https://www.take2games.com/legal/en-US/ ) is exactly the same as it was in 2018.

TL;DR - Just because you read it on the Internet, doesn’t mean it is true.

Duel boot

That’s probably the best way to describe it.

Google is constantly making changes that break it, the developers fix them quickly… but if your distro doesn’t keep the newest version in their repo then you’d have to install it from their git repo.

Generally they have a patch for any breaking changes within the day.

How does Newpipe work?

Miracles

It is also worth nothing that no Borderlands games use anti-cheat, much less kernel anti-cheat. I’d even go as far as to say that no Gearbox, Take2 or 2k Games use kernel anti-cheat.

This is boilerplate language for games which include an online service component. Publishers often use the same Terms of Service across all of their games, so they include language that is often irrelevant for any specific game.

The only thing that’s different about this is that there are a bunch of bored people who consume engagement farming content, which often make outrageous claims in order to earn money from engagement farming. This “story” is not an actual story, but it is a great example of how a mob can be summoned with some creative writing and a credulous audience.

I see you’re channeling the spirits of Social Media

So…if Steam is running in a Flatpak, and Borderlands is launched from Steam, how much can they even see…really?

Without using exploits to escape the container, not much. A very empty Windows environment with a single game installed, your network interfaces and any directories that the Flatpak has access to (usually just the SteamLibrary directories).

The TOS (https://www.take2games.com/legal/en-US/) changes are mostly related to data that they collect via their interfacing with Steam and through their website. This idea that they’re requiring you to agree to a root level access or installing a spyware rootkit is just nonsense.

Shh, the kids don’t want to hear about the dark side of free things (oh hey, a new Meta service!)

/s

He said it

That not misinformation…

It is misinformation if the things he said are not true.

So, let’s look into the claims.

Here’s the TOS:

https://www.take2games.com/legal/en-US/

There is nothing about root level access.

In addition, if you look at the patch history for Borderlands 2 on SteamDB, you will see that the last update for the game was 4 August 2022.

So, to be clear:

There is nothing in the TOS that requires you to submit to a rootkit and there is no spyware that has been added. The comment in the OP is simply wrong.

This is what happens when you simply read social media and repeat what you’ve heard without checking to see if you’re spreading misinformation.

reboot: machine restart

This makes me think it’s a motherboard issue.

The system is done with its shutdown process and issued the reboot command, but the motherboard didn’t restart.

There could be some electronics components which get wedged over time. My sound card will occasionally not boot unless it has been completely powered off for 30 seconds or so.