The Power of CMake Presets

CMake 3.19 was officially released a couple of months ago, and one of the biggest – and most exciting – new features is the addition of presets. What are presets, you might ask, and why should we be excited about them? Presets are a bunch of pre-set CMake options that enable developers to ensure that multiple configurations remain consistent, even when using different compiler tool chains, inserting different debugger or profiler options, or building selected packages within a project. Essentially, you put definitions of the CMake options you want into one of two JSON files: one associated with the project, and one for the user.

Daniel Lange: Installing System Rescue (CD) to a flash drive

System Rescue, the project formerly known as System Rescue CD, has moved from being based on Gentoo to being built on Arch Linux packages. With this their ISO layout changed substantially so when updating my trusty recue USB flash drive, I could not just update the kernel, initrd and the root filesystem image as I had typically done every other year before. The "Installing on a USB memory stick" documentation is good for Windows (use Rufus, it's nice) but rather useless for Linux. They recommend a dd or the fancy graphical version of that, called usbimager.

Games: ENCODYA, Stadia and More

• Save the world in the dark sci-fi adventure ENCODYA out now

  ENCODYA is an adventure that follows a little girl with a world-changing plan and her big clumsy robot, set in a dark and grey cyberpunk Neo-Berlin it's a pretty bleak future. Note: key provided by the publisher. You know what I always find interesting about games like this? We've gone from them being total fiction, to often mirroring exactly how things seem to be going. Alarming in many ways but thankfully due to the stories they tell, they can often bring a bit of needed escapism in troubling times. ENCODYA is exactly that. [...] Not many downsides to it overall, although I do think you already need to appreciate object hunting point and click adventures to enjoy it, even on "Easy" mode. SAM, your big robot friend, also needs to move out the damn way when you're doing something as it's often in the way and that does become a nuisance because SAM sticks out like a sore thumb often. For the Linux version, I've got absolutely no complaints and the performance was fantastic. So on a technical point, it was really great. If you enjoy good looking point and click puzzlers, especially if they make you scratch your head along with an interesting story - ENCODYA seems like a good choice.

• Gaming On LINUX: A Beginner's Guide

  Windows has been dominating the gaming space on PCs. Many people switch to Linux either for work purposes or just to try out a new flavour of an operating system, but are left aloof when it comes to gaming. Linux has a lot of flavours and customizations available. You can customize every aspect of the system. If you have a Linux based system and are looking to play games on it then this is a guide to help you find and play the best games for your system. [...] There are several tools such as PlayOnLinux, which allow you to run Games and Windows applications on Linux, which uses WINE and installs the game natively as you would on a Windows PC.

• Stadia gets Journey to the Savage Planet free for Pro, Madden NFL 21 coming | GamingOnLinux

  Stadia continues building up a nice selection of games for those interested in the convenience game streaming offers, with more titles announced now. One I've seen a lot of Stadia users ask for is more Madden and this has been answered, as Madden NFL 21 will be releasing January 28 along with a Free Weekend for Stadia Pro subscribers.