Valve Blog Announces Dates For Steam Linux External Beta

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Valve Blog Announces Dates For Steam Linux External Beta

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday September 27, 2012 @12:34PM from the time-to-play dept.

An anonymous reader writes "In the third post to the new Valve Linux Blog, the Linux team has announced that starting next week they will begin their internal beta, with an external beta of 1000 users to begin mid 'some time in October.' There will be an external beta sign up page made available 'soon' according to the blog."

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I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by pecosdave · 2012-09-27 12:39 · Score: 4, Informative

but as someone who ditched Windows back when Win2K was still new I'm not really up on it.
Is it closer to an iTunes like store, an Apt like installer, or is it some sort virtual machine running a standardized program, like Flash, Java, or a console emulator?
Also - how does it compare to something like the Ubuntu Software Center I used to install Torch Light and the rest of the recent Humble Bundle stuff.

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1. Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by bersl2 · 2012-09-27 12:43 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  More like iTunes, plus the usual social additions expected of gaming communities (IM, chat, voice, achievements, etc.).
2. Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-27 12:46 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  It's like an itunes store/software center, but for games. You can talk with your friends, even if you're both in games (shift+tab iirc will bring up an overlay in any game). Also they're porting the source engine (iiuc), so we'll (probably) have games like L4D2 and maybe even Half Life 2. More info on their blog: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/steamd-penguins/
3. Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by crafty.munchkin · 2012-09-27 13:32 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  iTunes wishes it was as good as Steam!!! This should be awesome, it'll be good to have some L4D2 games with the guys at work on our lunch break. We're running a mix of linux and mac systems here, so everyone should be able to play :)
  
  --
  ... wait, what?
4. Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by webmistressrachel · 2012-09-27 13:58 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Slashdot is miraculously blessed by IT departments. In one of the offices I work at, their connection is so limited it's untrue - even stuff like the Community Recycling Network (crn.org.uk) is blocked, and the block page says "Category: None" so it may even be a whitelist.
  Yet all the slashdot subdomains and the main one are completely unfiltered - along with, suspiciously enough, things like The Register and xkcd. So it's geeks policing geeks I guess. I get a free pass!
  
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5. Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by NemosomeN · 2012-09-27 14:13 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  The simplest way to explain Steam is that it is DRM done right. If you pirate the game, you get the game for free. But, you lose auto updates, chat client, steam trading, access to servers with anti-cheat features, etc.
  It deters piracy by adding value to legally purchased games.
  
  --
  I hate grammar Nazi's.
6. Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by DarkTempes · 2012-09-27 16:12 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Think of a webkit-based instant messaging client and app store mixed together. It keeps your games up-to-date, has really good sale prices, and makes it stupidly easy to play games with friends.
  The downside is that there is DRM (many games have to be launched through steam to play them) and it's kind of a pain to play games when offline.
  In the past Valve has said that if they were to ever dissolve then they'll release a DRM removal tool.
7. Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by guises · 2012-09-27 17:11 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  There are certainly people who see value in Steam's added services, but it is most certainly not "DRM done right." Every game purchased through Steam requires online activation, every single one. A stark contrast to the iTunes comparison - even when iTunes was DRMing their media, an internet connection was never required.
  
  I'm not sure what "DRM done right" would be, DRM is after all a limitation on what you can do with your purchased media. For me however, any form of DRM that requires me to ask permission before I can read or watch or play with my stuff, that will never fall into the "acceptable DRM" category.
8. Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by MobileTatsu-NJG · 2012-09-27 17:18 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  The simplest way to explain Steam is that it is DRM done right.
  Speaking as somebody who recently lived in a hotel with shitty wifi for 6 months, I have to chuckle at that statement. It stopped being "DRM done right" when it decided it wouldn't let me play my single-player game while the wifi was down.
  Don't get me wrong, I do agree with most of your post, especially the point about it being a deterrent to piracy, but really it's not 'right' it's just courteously applied lube.
  
  --
  
  "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
9. Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by glittermage · 2012-09-27 17:33 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Steam doesn't require online access to play games once they've been downloaded. The game might have had an additional DRM besides Valve. The Steam only DRM games I have tried without Internet access work fine (it seems confused at first that Internet isn't available).
10. Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by wolrahnaes · 2012-09-27 17:46 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  There was a long-standing bug in Steam which made offline mode unreliable for anyone who shuts their computer down regularly.
  When you'd shut down Windows, Steam would apparently just sit around and fail to heed the warnings the OS gave it until it would be forced to close. This made it not properly save the offline mode token, so if the next time you launched the client was without an internet connection, you were SOL.
  If you closed Steam before shutting down it worked fine, but since this wasn't common knowledge and you don't usually plan internet outages at the consumer level as far as an average user cares it didn't work.
  The actual cause of the bug was identified publicly by a user a few months ago and shortly followed by a Steam client update which resolved the problem. At this point offline mode works exactly as expected.
  
  --
  I used to get high on life, but I developed a tolerance. Now I need something stronger.
11. Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by Spad · 2012-09-27 19:49 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Every game purchased through Steam requires online activation, every single one
  You mean the online store, that you're using, while online, to purchase games, online, requires you to be online to install your game, that you download while online? Say it ain't so.
  The Steam DRM is optional, btw, entirely up to the publisher, which is why a lot of older games don't have it and can be run without Steam once they're installed.
12. Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by somersault · 2012-09-27 22:45 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I hate having to store the media, and especially to go through a set of discs when setting up a new machine. On Steam you just click the games you want to install and away it goes. It's far superior to the crap we had to go through in the "olden days" IMO. If you have a slow net connection you can also backup and import from your old computer. That's still a little annoying, but it does mean only one transfer rather than again going through all your disks.
  When the developers add extra layers of DRM on top of Steam it pisses me off too. I don't see the point in it..
  
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  which is totally what she said
13. Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by damnbunni · 2012-09-27 23:08 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Bullcrap.
  Just now I wanted to play some Darksiders II, so I launch Steam.
  After sitting at 'Connecting to Steam account' for a while, I get another window that says 'Could not connect to Steam network. This could be due to a problem with your internet connection, or with the Steam network.'
  It does not go into offline mode.
  It won't let me play my game.
  THANKS, STEAM.
14. Re:I've got a vague idea of what Steam is - by rwise2112 · 2012-09-28 01:57 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  I've never had this problem. It's always asked me if I want to go to offline mode when there's no connection.
  
  --
  
  "For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
1000? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-27 12:42 · Score: 5, Funny

"an external beta of 1000 users"
Wow, they are rolling it out to the entire Linux gaming community at once with plenty of spots to spare.
1. Re:1000? by artor3 · 2012-09-27 12:54 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  And I hear a few of them even have a sense of humor!
2. Re:1000? by interval1066 · 2012-09-27 13:37 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Do any of them have a sense of humor?
  $ man woman
  No manual entry for woman
  
  No, not at all.
  
  --
  Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
Anyone else first read "External" as "Eternal"? by bersl2 · 2012-09-27 12:44 · Score: 4, Funny

Heart skipped a beat there.
1. Re:Anyone else first read "External" as "Eternal"? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-27 12:47 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  "Eternal Beta" does describe certain types of software you can find on Linux...
2. Re:Anyone else first read "External" as "Eternal"? by pecosdave · 2012-09-27 12:58 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  As someone who's used Linux nearly exclusively for more than a decade I'll proudly say:
  Most of it. The better stuff anyways.
  There's a lot of Alpha and cobbled together feeling stuff on there also. Still, when I go to work and use my Windows 7 machine I look at it and wonder how my coworkers could possibly go home and continue using that crap.
  
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3. Re:Anyone else first read "External" as "Eternal"? by pecosdave · 2012-09-27 15:38 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I'm a real tech.
  They schedule company parties during my work shift and I don't get to go.
  Of course the apartment party I was sort of the hero, they didn't expect a fat guy to beat that many skinny people in limbo.
  
  --
  The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
You won't have to use Steam to benefit from this. by Jartan · 2012-09-27 13:07 · Score: 5, Insightful

The intent is more to get Steam users off Windows and onto Linux than to take advantage of the current Linux market.
With Windows 8 announcing an app shop and scaring the hell out of small time developers we could finally see a real push for Linux adoption.
Re:Mandatory Binding Arbitration by NotQuiteReal · 2012-09-27 13:17 · Score: 4, Funny

you can't sign away your legal rights

This would be clicking away your rights, that is totally different, and probably patentable.

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This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
if this is viable maybe no more windows for me by Dan667 · 2012-09-27 13:25 · Score: 5, Interesting

if Steam works on Linux with enough games I may just skip Windows 8 and everything after that.
1. Re:if this is viable maybe no more windows for me by SplashMyBandit · 2012-09-27 14:30 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  > Of course, porting the engines is no mean feat...
  There are plenty of cross platform engines out there. All it really requires is a commitment to testing on more than one platform by the platform licensee. Hopefully with Valve and Apple pushing the envelope of what is possible (on all sorts of platforms, eg. gaming on your iPad/Android tablet etc) then developers will see that is more profitable to write a cross-platform (including Windows) game than a Windows-only game as they've been suckered in to in the past.
  The other big factor is OpenGL support and usage. OpenGL was ahead of DirectX for a long time, then slipped behind in features, and is now pretty much ahead (more platforms, almost all features work on all platforms provided the graphics hardware supports it, unlike DirectX's strategy of requiring OS upgrades to get new features [probably designed that way as a revenue spinner]). Now it is DirectX platforms that are the minority and OpenGL is *everywhere*: its on Windows, Apple, Linux, iOS, Android, commercial embedded devices [eg. avionics], the PS/3. There is only one place that OpenGL isn't, and that is the XBox 360 [this is my design from Microsoft]. Kinda makes you think, why bother with DirectX when the only exclusive platform for that is the XBox 360 when by choosing OpenGL I can run my shaders everywhere else [which is exactly the conclusion I came to when designing my game - which is cross-platform and OpenGL shader based].
Re:I would just like to say by NemosomeN · 2012-09-27 14:38 · Score: 5, Funny

I doubt Gabe Newell is familiar with hunger strikes.

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I hate grammar Nazi's.
Re:Linux != Ubuntu by gman003 · 2012-09-27 15:52 · Score: 3, Informative

They're doing the initial beta (and possibly initial release) only under Ubuntu, to limit the number of complications.

Why Ubuntu? There are a couple of reasons for that. First, we’re just starting development and working with a single distribution is critical when you are experimenting, as we are. It reduces the variability of the testing space and makes early iteration easier and faster. Secondly, Ubuntu is a popular distribution and has recognition with the general gaming and developer communities. This doesn’t mean that Ubuntu will be the only distribution we support. Based on the success of our efforts around Ubuntu, we will look at supporting other distributions in the future.
Source: Valve Linux blog, entry "Steam'd Penguins", posted July 16 2012
And all that means, really, is that they currently only "support" it on Ubuntu - it will quite likely run fine on other distros, although probably with some work involved. And, if it's a reasonable success, they may make it supported on other major distros.
Re:You won't have to use Steam to benefit from thi by an+unsound+mind · 2012-09-27 16:34 · Score: 3, Interesting

Another way you won't have to use Steam to benefit from this: The Steam development effort has already brought a lot of driver patches along, improving mostly 3D performance.
You forgot the $ and DRM by cbhacking · 2012-09-27 21:35 · Score: 5, Informative

Mostly true, but Steam is also a storefront wrapping a DRM system. Some Steam games can run apparently without Steam running and signed in (none of the ones I've tried, though), but many can't. To be fair, that's sometimes because they use Steam for in-game features (multiplayer matchmaking and such) but often it's just for the DRM. There are almost no free (as in cost, much less freedom) games on Steam, so it's not much like a typical Linux package management repo in that way either.
As DRM schemes go, Steam isn't that bad; it can run in an offline mode for up to a month or so without connecting to Valve's servers, and it quite handily avoids the whole "You have used up your limit of X activations" BS. It brings a host of other problems, though, like the inability for two people to play two completely different games at the same time if they were purchased on the same account. It also has the usual "you don't really own it" BS of DRMed media, such as the complete inability to resell any game.

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1. Re:You forgot the $ and DRM by geekoid · 2012-09-28 02:37 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  OTOH, traditionally I can buy a game at the tore for 50 bucks. Later resell it for 5 bucks. On steam, I can usually purchase that same game for 25 bucks. So resell doesn't really bother me. Gifting games I have played needs to be allowed.
  Bu yes, they need a 'home server' option that lets anyone in your home play any game as long as someone else isn't playing it.
  
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Re:You won't have to use Steam to benefit from thi by atomicxblue · 2012-09-27 23:17 · Score: 3, Insightful

This is something we have needed for a long time. Reducing overhead in OpenGL could trickle down to Windows users as well and may give other development houses an incentive to drop Direct3D. The fact that Valve was able to get AMD, Nvidia and Intel to work towards better graphic drivers is almost Herculean.