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Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds

(arstechnica.com)
402 points _JamesA_ | 3 comments | 25 Jun 25 19:40 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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PaulHoule ◴[25 Jun 25 19:52 UTC] No.44381245[source]▶
Might be unfair to call Proton a "translation layer" because the Win32 API is not defined in terms of system calls but rather a set of functions exported from a DLL.

Proton supplies a DLL that implements the Win32 API using Linux syscalls. Windows supplies a DLL that implements that Win32 API using Windows syscalls that you're not really supposed to use directly.

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homarp ◴[25 Jun 25 20:04 UTC] No.44381329[source]▶
https://www.winehq.org/ calls it a compatibility layer that translates calls on the fly.

so 'translation layer' is not that unfair.

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1. PaulHoule ◴[25 Jun 25 20:50 UTC] No.44381688{3}[source]▶
If it is forwarding to libc() as opposed to syscalls directly than maybe ‘translation’ is fair.
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2. delusional ◴[25 Jun 25 21:12 UTC] No.44381890[source]▶
I think that's how it started out, and also how a lot of developers still conceptualize it. Wine has had to massively expand that scope to reach the maturity it has now. I think it's kind of straddling the line between "Implementation" and "translation".

Philosophically its still a translation layer though. It doesn't really care about correctness if the no apps depend on it. Success is in meaningfully running client software. The implementation of the Windows Libraries are just a way to get there.

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3. Melatonic ◴[25 Jun 25 22:14 UTC] No.44382285[source]▶
I suppose you could say that Wine has "aged" well :-)