Valve Officially Launches Steam For Linux

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Valve Officially Launches Steam For Linux

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday February 14, 2013 @11:50AM from the time-to-play dept.

sl4shd0rk writes "Valve has finally released Steam for Linux. Although some of the 57 games listed on the Linux Steam site are previously released from the Humble Bundles, there are others which should provide adequate entertainment for anyone bored with the HB games. Among the games listed, many at deep discounts of 50%-75% off, are HalfLife, CounterStrke Source and Serious Sam 3. Hopefully Valve will keep the ports coming as rumor has it that Left 4 Dead had been ported at least for developers."

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Goodbye Windows by OhANameWhatName · 2013-02-14 11:52 · Score: 5, Funny

It was horrible knowing you.
1. Re:Goodbye Windows by MrEricSir · 2013-02-14 11:54 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  You might want to wait on that. At this time, there's only ~100 titles available for Linux, and many of them have aleady been out for a year or so.
  Maybe one day Linux will be a platform hardcore gamers will use, but Steam for Linux is just a baby step in that direction. Remember, they've had Steam for OS X for a while now, and there's still only a tiny trickle of games for that platform.
  
  --
  There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
2. Re:Goodbye Windows by cwebster · 2013-02-14 11:56 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Yes, but remember that the OSX version was a contracted 3rd party port while the Linux version is a much better done in-house port that they are basing their future steambox hardware strategy on. Not exactly apples to apples.
3. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 11:58 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  no, its apples to penguins.
4. Re:Goodbye Windows by masternerdguy · 2013-02-14 12:01 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  So when everyone is playing Vega Strike and Wesnoth on their i7 + Quad Sli setups Linux will win. The problem is there is a massive backlog of games that are never going to be open sourced or ported that only run on Linux. I for one *like* some of those games. Carmack was right when he said that getting WINE up to spec was the most important project for Linux.
  
  --
  To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
5. Re:Goodbye Windows by Dusanyu · 2013-02-14 12:03 · Score: 2
  
  sime titles with linux versions are strangly missing for example doom 3 (wich is still sold on steam)
6. Re:Goodbye Windows by Chris+Burke · 2013-02-14 12:03 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Apples to penguins results in an unhappy penguin. Fish to penguins on the other hand leads to fat and happy penguins.
  Wait, I think I'm misunderstanding.
  
  --
  
  The enemies of Democracy are
7. Re:Goodbye Windows by masternerdguy · 2013-02-14 12:03 · Score: 1
  
  Maximum derpage, "that only run on WINDOWS", sorry.
  
  --
  To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
8. Re:Goodbye Windows by atheistmonk · 2013-02-14 12:06 · Score: 1
  
  Definitely agreed. The biggest thing about Steam going to Linux is the exposure for the platform and the interest it generates. This may help to spur on WINE development even more. When I can play Skyrim, New Vegas and Rocksmith flawlessly in WINE I'm not looking back.
9. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:08 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  No, I think you might be onto something. OpenBSD
10. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:11 · Score: 1
  
  Not that I have anything against Carmack, but his opinion on Wine was just self-serving nonsense. Valve is currently proving that. If people WANTED another Windows, they would have contributed more to Wine and it would have become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
  Linux has no need to cater to the wishes of gamers. That's why someone like Valve is necessary. If gamers invested even a tiny fraction of the cumulative time they waste whining about modern video games, Linux would already be where everyone wishes it was.
11. Re:Goodbye Windows by blind+biker · 2013-02-14 12:22 · Score: 1
  
  It was horrible knowing you.
  Seconded. I'm sick of Microsoft extremely condescending attitude towards their customers, Microsoft's certainty that whatever crap they cook up, we'll have to like it. With regards to that UI masturbation called Windows 8, we'll "get used to it".
  I don't know that Steam on Linux will change much, but it is a good, hefty step in the right direction.
  
  --
  "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
12. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:23 · Score: 0
  
  Don't hold your breath. Gamers aren't exactly the most helpful, educated, or optimistic bunch. They're more likely to whine about a character's suit being the wrong shade then they are to lift a finger to help out with Wine development.
13. Re:Goodbye Windows by jones_supa · 2013-02-14 12:23 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  You might want to wait on that. At this time, there's only ~100 titles available for Linux, and many of them have aleady been out for a year or so.
  Maybe one day Linux will be a platform hardcore gamers will use, but Steam for Linux is just a baby step in that direction. Remember, they've had Steam for OS X for a while now, and there's still only a tiny trickle of games for that platform.
  What's the problem? The availability of games for Linux just exploded into new numbers, and more are coming all the time. You don't have to wait for every game under the sun to be ported, and that's not the point anyway. Make the switch and enjoy. 2013 is the Year of Linux Gaming.
14. Re:Goodbye Windows by zwede · 2013-02-14 12:25 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  At this time, there's only ~100 titles available for Linux
  And a couple of weeks ago there were only 40. If they keep going at this rate things are looking promising!
15. Re:Goodbye Windows by masternerdguy · 2013-02-14 12:32 · Score: 1
  
  Most gamers, like most people, don't have the skillset needed to write a compatibility layer between Linux and Windows applications. Hell, most *developers* don't have that skillset. By your reasoning people who don't like iOS or Android should have to role their own custom phone and OS and market it, otherwise they're just 'whiners'.
  
  --
  To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
16. Re:Goodbye Windows by cwebster · 2013-02-14 12:33 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Skyrim (all DLC plus mods) works in wine currently. PlayOnLinux will even do all the work in setting up the wine environment for it to run in.
17. Re:Goodbye Windows by deathlyslow · 2013-02-14 12:35 · Score: 1
  
  That's still helping with development. You have to have testers or else they will never get the bugs squashed. One hey this doesn't look right is whining, that can be dismissed. Several people having the same issue means hey there's a bug here that needs to be looked at. Since when has not being a developer excluded you from being a beta tester?
  
  --
  Don't blame me for redundant posts. I can't type very fast. Hence the user ID.
18. Re:Goodbye Windows by PhxBlue · 2013-02-14 12:41 · Score: 1, Flamebait
  
  2013 is the Year of Linux Gaming.
  Never heard that line before ... not hating on Linux, but seriously, don't hold your breath.
  
  --
  !#@%*)anks for hanging up the phone, dear.
19. Re:Goodbye Windows by spire3661 · 2013-02-14 12:46 · Score: 2
  
  Yes, but have you ever seen this much movement in the space before?
  
  --
  Good-bye
20. Re:Goodbye Windows by atheistmonk · 2013-02-14 12:47 · Score: 1
  
  Yep, I've successfully run Skyrim and New Vegas, but NV is a bit slow and Skyrim is fine at first but quickly turns into a slideshow, as compared to my Win 7 partition where it's flawless :/ Mind you, I did it out of the box (it's amazing it worked just like that) so it could simply need some extra config. I'll give PlayOnLinux a shot.
21. Re:Goodbye Windows by murdocj · 2013-02-14 12:47 · Score: 0, Flamebait
  
  So you think in couple of weeks 60 games were ported?
22. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:48 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  If gamers invested even a tiny fraction of the cumulative time they waste whining about modern video games, Linux would already be where everyone wishes it was.
  Yeah, because gamers in general know anything about software development.
  You're an asshole. No, really, you're probably the world's largest asshole, in fact. Why? Because if you posted on Slashdot less, clearly, you would have developed a cure for cancer by now.
  DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE CONTINUE TO DIE EACH DAY BECAUSE YOU NEED TO POST HERE?!
  Monstrous. Simply monstrous.
23. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:49 · Score: 0
  
  Wine is too complex for most gamers. Gamers expect a button they push to play and thats it. Idealy this button should autostart when they log in so they don't get confused.
24. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:52 · Score: 0
  
  Yes, this happens every 5 years or so. As soon as the next hot Windows-only game comes out, everyone will forget about Linux gaming.
25. Re:Goodbye Windows by zwede · 2013-02-14 12:53 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  No, I think a large number of games are in the process of being ported and 60 of them were completed in the last couple of weeks. More will be finished in the next couple of weeks, etc.
26. Re:Goodbye Windows by atomican · 2013-02-14 12:54 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  I'm sick of Microsoft extremely condescending attitude towards their customers
  I'm sick of the (general) Linux community's extremely condescending attitude towards anyone who thinks Linux has flaws and dares to raise them as something that should be addressed, or that perhaps some things work better in Windows and that using Windows because it works better for particular use cases is perfectly reasonable. But no, everyone has to get emotional for some reason.
  
  With regards to that UI masturbation called Windows 8, we'll "get used to it".
  Sounds like the current crop of DEs in Linux. If you are told you have "choice" and can use something else, you apparently can choose DEs like MATE (which are OK but based on dead code), XFCE (which are a bit too simple and lacking in functionality) or Cinnamon (which is OK but still too new). Everything sucks in their own way, and moving to Linux can often just result in transferring the suck from one form to another.
27. Re:Goodbye Windows by jones_supa · 2013-02-14 13:00 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Never heard that line before ... not hating on Linux, but seriously, don't hold your breath.
  A little bit of celebration would not be that out of place, though.
28. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 13:12 · Score: 0
  
  ...that whatever crap they cook up, we'll have to like it. With regards to that UI masturbation called Windows 8, we'll "get used to it".
  Yeah Metro sucks, but what about GNOME 3? and Unity? the initial KDE 4.0?
  The Linux community has the same UI problem that Microsoft has right now.
  Fortunately, we also have a choice between GNOME, KDE, MATE, E17, XFCE, Cinnamon, LXDE, Fluxbox, Blackbox......and others. ;)
29. Re:Goodbye Windows by Cito · 2013-02-14 13:19 · Score: 2
  
  Good luck playing any modern games on linux
  I love linux and I have my 2 slackware boxes and been running slackware since the 2.0.29 kernel.
  but I always kept a windows box as my gaming pc, you just won't get any modern games on it, If I want to play modern games, Far Cry 3, Assassins Creed, Mass Effect, Dragon Age franchises such as those, and many countless others I'll stick to windows gaming.
  I'm not going to install linux on my i7, 16gig ram, dual evga ftw 670 sli, 120g ssd / wd black 2tb data drive gaming rig to play games that came out 5+ years ago.
  and most people with gaming rigs won't unless they dual boot to fuck around with some nostalgia, and definitely not going to pay 20 bucks for some 10 year old game anyhow.
  but even with my whining, it is a step in the right direction and I do hope game developers take notice and see that linux users WANT modern games, but it will first mean game developers will HAVE to stop developing for DirectX9/10/11. And you will have a hard time getting that to happen with contracts setup with AMD and Nvidia graphics cards who build their cards around DirectX primarily. With opengl as more an afterthought it seems.
  so you will have to get video card companies to change their habits and open up their drivers and support or talk microsoft into bringin directx to linux (never will happen) before any modern game companies will seriously bring their triple A games to linux platform.
  Other than indie companies and opengl built games which can be ported much easier. And Java based games such as Towns, Dwarfs, Minecraft, etc.
30. Re:Goodbye Windows by somersault · 2013-02-14 13:23 · Score: 0
  
  When's the last time there was a hot Windows only game?
  
  --
  which is totally what she said
31. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 13:24 · Score: 0
  
  Remember, they've had Steam for OS X for a while now, and there's still only a tiny trickle of games for that platform.
  That's apples to oranges though, OS X is severly limited by Apple's hardware lock-in. Most of their offerings are not suitable for modern games, only a handful of them even have discrete video cards. The more popular Mini, Air and all the low and mid-tier MBP models use integrated graphcis. The only line they sell with a PCI-E slot is the Mac Pro, which starts at $2500 and makes up a tiny fraction of their user base.
  Gaming on Linux has its own issues. Gamers aren't going to switch to Linux until 3d performance is on par with Windows and new "AAA" games start getting ported, but hardware manufactures and game publishers aren't going to make Linux a priority until there is a critical mass of Linux gamers. It's a vicious cycle, I don't know how to break it but I do hope that it happens someday.
  Hopefully Steam for Linux is a small step in the right direction. However I don't think it will be enough to get existing Linux users to start buying more games, there just aren't enough of them. Windows gamers are gong to have to start switching, and that is a bit of a tall order at the moment.
32. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 13:30 · Score: 0
  
  unhappy fish though
33. Re:Goodbye Windows by jones_supa · 2013-02-14 13:32 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Many know this site already, but here is a nice overview of the Linux titles: steamlinux.xpaw.ru. Of course there's the Valve's official list too.
34. Re:Goodbye Windows by arielCo · 2013-02-14 13:35 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Obligatory: xkcd: Extrapolating
  
  --
  This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
35. Re:Goodbye Windows by slimjim8094 · 2013-02-14 13:38 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Wait, what? I've never heard that the OS X version of Steam was a 3rd party port. In fact, I'm almost certain it wasn't since I was in the Mac Beta and on the email list with the developers (who all have valvesoftware.com email addresses)
  Citation, please?
  
  --
  I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
36. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 13:40 · Score: 0
  
  Definitely agreed. The biggest thing about Steam going to Linux is the exposure for the platform and the interest it generates. This may help to spur on WINE development even more. When I can play Skyrim, New Vegas and Rocksmith flawlessly in WINE I'm not looking back.
  You can never get full performance under Wine as there is the DirectX -> OpenGL translation going on.
37. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 13:42 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  I spend enough time screwing around in the Creation Kit and tes5edit getting Skyrim exactly how I like it, I really don't feel like dealing with WINE configuration. Why add another point of failure to an already complex system?
  True story: I once had to deal with Dioblo II in WINE repeatedly corrupting my MBR. No, really. I could hardly believe it myself until I saw other reports of the exact same thing on the WINE bug tracker.
38. Re: Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 13:47 · Score: 0
  
  Wait for windows 9 / blue or uefi 2.0 befor calling that
39. Re:Goodbye Windows by elashish14 · 2013-02-14 13:48 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Solitaire?
  
  --
  I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
40. Re:Goodbye Windows by masternerdguy · 2013-02-14 13:55 · Score: 0
  
  There are tons of options. You are so full of shit: http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Category/Interface/window-manager
  
  --
  To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
41. Re:Goodbye Windows by murdocj · 2013-02-14 14:00 · Score: 1
  
  I think some old games were already ported and as they are vetted as working with Linux Steam they are being announced.
  Linux Steam is the best chance Linux gaming is ever going to have, but I wouldn't hold my breath for a huge batch of games.
42. Re:Goodbye Windows by fyngyrz · 2013-02-14 14:07 · Score: 1
  
  The only line they sell with a PCI-E slot is the Mac Pro, which starts at $2500 and makes up a tiny fraction of their user base.
  I'm a tiny fraction! I'm a tiny fraction! I'm a... what? [runs away]
  
  --
  I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
43. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 14:13 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, but remember that the OSX version was a contracted 3rd party port
  Citation Needed
44. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 14:14 · Score: 0
  
  Yes, but remember that the OSX version was a contracted 3rd party port while the Linux version is a much better done in-house port that they are basing their future steambox hardware strategy on. Not exactly apples to apples.
  What are you talking about, the steam interface itself... as if that matters, or a particular game... as if that matters?
45. Re:Goodbye Windows by Nerdfest · 2013-02-14 14:16 · Score: 2
  
  Very much so. People may think it's only a small step, but it's always that first step that's the hardest. This goes a very long way to getting past the "I only stay on Windows because of the games."
46. Re:Goodbye Windows by fyngyrz · 2013-02-14 14:16 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah Metro sucks, but what about GNOME 3? and Unity?
  Dunno about gnome3, but Unity sucks horribly. It has exactly one good feature: You can get rid of it.
  
  --
  I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
47. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 14:17 · Score: -1
  
  Proving once again the old adage; there's an xkcd strip for everything. *
  * and none of them are fucking funny
48. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 14:19 · Score: 0
  
  Yes, but have you ever seen this much movement in the space before?
  I don't know how you can compare this to Loki Games actively acquiring licenses and porting AAA titles to Linux, or WineX/Cedega back at their high point of Linux enthusiasm.
  You know what, go ahead and hold your breath, you've earned it.
49. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 14:29 · Score: 0
  
  True story: I once had to deal with Dioblo II in WINE repeatedly corrupting my MBR. No, really. I could hardly believe it myself until I saw other reports of the exact same thing on the WINE bug tracker.
  Bullshit.
50. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 14:33 · Score: -1
  
  Citation, please?
  Now you're just being lazy.
51. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 14:35 · Score: 0
  
  I like linux as much as the next person but... eh I've moved on. I don't have a beefy system with linux installed, and it's kind of a pain to set up dual booting when windows 7 is not that bad. Sure, it's not great, but for gaming? The underlying OS doesn't really matter.
  If this catches on and more big titles are ported down the road, my next computer could potentially be a linux one.
52. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 14:37 · Score: 0
  
  Hmm. What are these 100 linux games, and how do I run them in Wine? (j/k)
53. Re:Goodbye Windows by guises · 2013-02-14 14:37 · Score: 2
  
  "They" is only Valve in this case. Valve provides a tiny portion of the games on Steam, unless they can come up with some incentive for developers to do Linux ports (Valve could take a reduced cut, for example) that's not going to mean very much.
54. Re:Goodbye Windows by i.r.id10t · 2013-02-14 14:42 · Score: 1
  
  Until, as someone said up thread, there is a set top box that runs linux.
  Oh wait, the nmap scan I did against my TV shows it is running a Linux kernel !
  
  --
  Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
55. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 14:45 · Score: 0
  
  Crysis
56. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 14:55 · Score: 0
  
  That's assuming that:
  1: People actually buy said box in sufficient numbers for game companies to actually port there games over.
  2: Games written for said box are compatible with desktop versions of Linux. (Android apps don't work on a stock version of linux)
57. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 14:56 · Score: 0
  
  You forget, A wine setup integrated into steam and tested by valve engineers would be that easy.
  This is stuff configured by joe blow and done in spite of the developer being no help whatsoever.
58. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 15:08 · Score: 0
  
  To paraphrase Rico
  
  "fish, Fish, FIIIISSSHHHH!"
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fwOWv_gm4M
59. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 15:15 · Score: 0
  
  He was talking about modern desktop environments. The list you linked includes a lot of very simple window managers that could have been hot stuff around 1995.
60. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 15:17 · Score: -1
  
  Replacing garbage with garbage is hardly an option.
61. Re:Goodbye Windows by jones_supa · 2013-02-14 15:18 · Score: 1
  
  What's the big deal? Unity is not that far from a Windows 7 or MacOS X user interface. There's a launcher bar, you click button, program starts. You can minimize and maximize windows normally.
62. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 15:25 · Score: 0
  
  Please do and don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.
63. Re:Goodbye Windows by jones_supa · 2013-02-14 15:26 · Score: 1
  
  I agree that the DX -> GL porting issue is quite problematic. On the other hand, we shouldn't even expect Steam for Linux to be perfect or it to have all the AAA titles ported to. For teh ultimate gamez rig you will still be needing Windows for a long time. We will probably still have many good games (both big productions and indie stuff) for Linux to enjoy.
64. Re:Goodbye Windows by Pinhedd · 2013-02-14 16:03 · Score: 2
  
  Marketing is the problem.
  The availability of games for Linux just exploded but the majority of these games have been available on Windows for years. Some have even been available on Linux for ages already and are simply just migrating to Steam for the sake of doing so. If all these previously available Linux games failed to see a large amount of success on Linux without Steam, it's unlikely that they will sudden explosion in Linux installations with Steam. Linux users tend to be rather savvy and aware individuals by nature, so anyone seriously wanting to acquire these games for either Windows or Linux has already done so.
  There's nothing new here. Aside from a very few individuals who simply refuse to run Windows, there's no one running Linux that hasn't played those games already.
  What Steam for Linux will achieve though is a stable prototype for Valve's Linux based game console. One of the largest criticisms leveled at Linux is the horrific binary incompatibility between distros. By using a commercial platform that has a consistent environment it will be much easier for Valve to entice developers to port their games to Linux for Steambox or whatever they're calling it. From there, it will still take several steps to get a game running on Fedora, RedHat, CentOS, Ubuntu, Arch, Mint, etc... but at least there will be Steambox as a common Linux based denominator.
65. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 16:45 · Score: 0
  
  It's up to the game devs to get their game to work with steam on Linux. It doesn't sound like id has any interest in doing this.
66. Re:Goodbye Windows by CamD · 2013-02-14 17:09 · Score: 1
  
  You don't have to wait for every game under the sun to be ported
  Frankly, I expect most, if not all, Solaris games are already supported on Linux.
  *ducks*
67. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 17:21 · Score: 0
  
  KDE4.0 wasn't supposed to be a distro wide release, dumbass. All the distros just jumped on it like blithering idiots making the KDE team look bad when they shouldn't have.
68. Re:Goodbye Windows by Blaskowicz · 2013-02-14 17:28 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  Wrong, I'm decently linux savvy, but I don't know about these linux games beside a few (such as World of Goo and Minecraft). Having gone linux-only for two or three years, I've been out of gaming so I don't actively try to find those rare linux games which might work or not work at all.
  There were the Humble Bundle games, which I heard of only on Slashdot, I tried to buy such bundle once, giving $1 and got a set of PDF books out of it. It turns out the bundles are "time limited", that is they're sold for a short period then become permanently unavailable. This is amazing, and so I never played any Humble Bundle game at all. What's more, there were reports of games that are incompatible, anyway. Linux is so made that software breaks after some time, or won't work if you do'nt have library-foo 1.2.15.
69. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 17:36 · Score: 0
  
  Doom 3 already years ago got a native port for Linux.
  It works very well on every version of Linux I have installed it on.
  In fact - it was the sole reason I bought Doom 3.
  So - I see no reason why this native code could not be included in the game list.
  I also know a few other games that I like (including X3-Terran Conflict and X3-Albion Prelude) are being ported at this moment, so there are a lot of games underway.
70. Re:Goodbye Windows by VortexCortex · 2013-02-14 18:05 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  No, I think a large number of games are in the process of being ported and 60 of them were completed in the last couple of weeks. More will be finished in the next couple of weeks, etc.
  I think some old games were already ported and as they are vetted as working with Linux Steam they are being announced.
  Linux Steam is the best chance Linux gaming is ever going to have, but I wouldn't hold my breath for a huge batch of games.
  Vale is not the only game developer. They may be the first major one embracing Linux (read: ensuring their future against MS's craziness), but they are not the only one, nor are they necessarily our "best chance" consumers and game developers have -- The "best chance" is available to everyone already, and cross platform gaming is a force that can not easily be held back any longer. The writing is on the wall for Windows-only PC gaming now, as it was for console exclusive games in the past, and Arcade cabinet exclusive games before that.
  As a developer you'd be a damned fool (or need a very expensive reason) to not select or build an engine that's got the (o) Cross Platform bullet point. It costs next to nothing to gain Mac and Linux in addition to Windows if you simply start with a cross platform tool chain. Porting old games can be a pain, but for any new games it's a no-brainer: "Use #1 that's windows only, or pick #2 that's x-platform and will bring in more revenue". Since this has become a selling point engines will compete over: It won't be long before every new major game engine is cross platform -- Valve is just a bit ahead of the curve here (unless you consider Ogre3D and other free x-plat engines).
  It's not only that old game engines (and thus the games they support) are being ported to cross platform toolchains, but also new engines are adopting this development model (hell, even application dev is going this way). Microsoft knows this is coming, that's why they want to do some re-engineering of their development model: Their App Store programs are in C# which is a VM language -- I bet they make some changes to the language / API so that new code for their platform is artificially harder to make compatible with Mono, while older C# programs (being byte-code already) can be easily supported going forward; Might even have something to do with XNA getting the can. You see, right now I can easily use OpenGL with C/C++ to make games that run on Mac/Win/Linux ("git pull && make" and I'm done "porting" changes between platforms) -- Microsoft hates that.
  If you're doing engine development (like I am), you write an abstraction layer for the native platform interfaces anyway, especially if the game will be on PC + consoles (or even just more than one console). That initial cost to support all the major PC platforms (creating an SDL/freeglut replacement) took me one week of evenings, and now every game I make will be cross platform with no additionally dev cost -- Had I not needed a better multi-threaded event system than these provided it would have taken only a few hours to support all the major PC platforms. Existing engines like Cube(2) and Ogre3D make cross platform development dead simple (if you're using polygonal graphics). Everything is done in shaders nowdays anyway, so even the DirectX vs OpenGL "battle" is a moot point -- whatever shader platform is cross platform -- Why throw away free additional money for the same efforts? With the advent of engine scripting and meta programming languages that compile down into Java / C# / C++, C / ObjC, etc, the cross platform future of games is even stronger. For lighter weight mobile games I can already compile a single source tree into platform specific code for Android, iOS, Win, Mac, Linux, Xbox, PS3, Wii, and DS.
  Anyone who doubts the future of gaming on Linux will be bright need look no further than the console market. Publishers like money, it cost more to make separate games for each platform, and
71. Re:Goodbye Windows by Smauler · 2013-02-14 18:10 · Score: 1
  
  Linux has no need to cater to the wishes of gamers.
  A larger userbase results in more "serious" applications ported, better application support, and better driver support, to name but a few. If Linux had more games, there would be a larger userbase.
72. Re:Goodbye Windows by VortexCortex · 2013-02-14 18:30 · Score: 1
  
  guh, s/Vale/Valve/
  need more caffiene.
73. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 18:41 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  True story: I once had to deal with Dioblo II in WINE repeatedly corrupting my MBR. No, really. I could hardly believe it myself until I saw other reports of the exact same thing on the WINE bug tracker.
  Bullshit.
  ORLY: http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=4672
74. Re:Goodbye Windows by node+3 · 2013-02-14 20:11 · Score: 1
  
  I think you mean:
  "So long, and thanks for all the fish."
  --Tux
75. Re:Goodbye Windows by dkf · 2013-02-14 21:05 · Score: 2
  
  Yep, I've successfully run Skyrim and New Vegas, but NV is a bit slow and Skyrim is fine at first but quickly turns into a slideshow, as compared to my Win 7 partition where it's flawless :/
  The engine used in both games isn't the greatest, and it tends to bog down on any system once you start to add in mods.
  
  --
  "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
76. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 21:33 · Score: 0
  
  Do you expect a fish to be happy with all those penguins around?
77. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 21:44 · Score: 0
  
  As long as this doesn't turn into a parody ala open source games. 'In the 2013 build of our Quake 1 based engine we add goraud-shaded polygons and transparent textures!!11'
78. Re:Goodbye Windows by Alex+Belits · 2013-02-14 21:45 · Score: 0
  
  Hey, you know what?
  Fuck you and your Microsoft propaganda.
  
  --
  Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
79. Re:Goodbye Windows by tommituura · 2013-02-14 22:07 · Score: 1
  
  My personal pet peeves about Unity:
  1) Half-assed implementation of application switching - especially / mostly when dealing with multiple windows from same application (TERMINALS!!)
  2) System-wide menubar (and I'm a long-time Mac user, for chrissakes!)
  Now, let me elaborate on both of these. I admit I haven't yet mucked around with settings, and I'm actually using unity on a University lab computers where BOFHs are mostly responsible for the state of things, so reality might not be the same for you:
  1 - application switching: Previously, every window of an application was a "program" in it's own right for alt-tab switching. I could switch to whatever window I exactly wanted to, quickly. That quickly is a keyword here. Because now, if I want to get that-one-terminal-I-directly-want, I have to raise the application switcher on screen, alt-tab on it, WAIT FOR A SECOND, and only THEN I get to actually choose the exact terminal I want up.
  On Mac (up to 10.6 at least), cmd-tab raises all of the windows of a single app up. Even THAT would be preferable to Unity, because then I at least I get the terminal I want quickly and smoothly. That wait, as short as it is, is infuriatingly jarring and I can't fathom how anyone claiming to be UX engineer would come up with it. App switching happens all the fucking time and introducing a jarring delay onto it is unbelievably stupid. They also decided to get rid of the win95-style application switcher, so I can't even choose my exact program instance from there. Gee, thanks a lot.
  Then there's the fact that this stuff doesn't play nice with multiple workspaces/virtual desktops. Try launching an instance of a program on another workspace when you already have one open on somewhere else, you'll see what I mean.
  2 - System-wide menubar: Well, I kind of get what it wants to do. But let me say it, it's a stupid idea. It was and is a stupid idea on Mac, and it is stupid idea here. It really only works on a premise you always use every program in maximised window. On Unity, it's made even more stupid by the fact that it's hidden by default and you only get to see the menu by moving your mouse there. So if I want to select something from the menu, I need to move my mouse over there even before I can move my mouse over the exact menu I want to use! I know, this is a small issue, but still. When you're mucking around with user interfaces, these small things MATTER.
80. Re:Goodbye Windows by boxxertrumps · 2013-02-14 22:16 · Score: 1
  
  Baby step? Do you know what I do for gaming?
  TF2 and Minecraft.
  Both insanely popular.
81. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 22:26 · Score: -1
  
  But, I don't stay just for the games. I stay because using Windows means the largest selection of software available in the universe. For me Windows is stable and reliable and GNU/Linux is still like an aborted fetus on the desktop.
82. Re:Goodbye Windows by Adam+Jorgensen · 2013-02-14 23:00 · Score: 1
  
  True, but new Linux ports seem to be en-route.
  I opened up Steam Linux this morning to discover than a Linux port of X3: Reunion is available for me to test :-)
83. Re:Goodbye Windows by symbolset · 2013-02-14 23:01 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Developers use "game engines" and add their own features, maps, rules and art to make their games quite often. A very popular one is "Source," which is made by Valve - who is putting together this Linux game sales platform. By porting their own games to Linux they are proving the Source engine's flexibility and capability and beating down an easy path for their Source Engine licensees to capture a new market early in its upswing. Quite often a game developer would not have that much extra work to do to put their game in Linux because 99% of the development isn't in the programming but in the collateral: the art, story, characters, rules, balance tuning and such that transform the game engine into the specific game. These non-programmatic portions of the game that constitute 99% of the game's development effort are by design of the game engine platform independent. Budding game developers really need that because the option to put their game on a console, iPhone or Android tablet has to stay open so that if they find the winning "fun" formula they can rake in the big bucks by selling it in every market without laying out the funds to build it again from scratch for each new platform. This is also developing good data for what hardware a Steambox console needs to have to be successful, as client hardware metrics are measured and reported in actual game play along with things like time of play, duration of engagement with the game and so on.
  There are many engines that started on desktop Linux for ease and speed of development and migrated elsewhere for mass-marketability. The Doom engine is a classic example. Before there was Doom iD as a budding company had a Linux only game called "Smashing Pumpkins Into Small Piles Of Putrid Debris" that was a popular Linux network game to prove the engine. This is why while you're playing Doom3 if you type SPISPOPD you can pass through walls. It's also the origin of the name of the band "Smashing Pumpkins". In SPISPOPD most of the monsters were pumpkins.
  The trail of breadcrumbs: Game engine developers include game editors in their games to encourage fan spinoffs and identify promising young developers of the art for recruiting and also improve the value of the game engine with fan spinoff maps, arts, and other such things as well as to prove their game engine as a platform easily built upon - all the while adding value for the people who bought the game without spending extra money on development. Darwinian development rocks!
  
  --
  Help stamp out iliturcy.
84. Re:Goodbye Windows by BigZee · 2013-02-14 23:02 · Score: 1
  
  No need to wait. Half Life is on the list so what on earth would stop you!
85. Re:Goodbye Windows by HJED · 2013-02-14 23:11 · Score: 1
  
  Isn't that what PlayOnLinux does?
  
  --
  null
86. Re:Goodbye Windows by Eirenarch · 2013-02-14 23:12 · Score: 1
  
  I doubt the future of gaming on Linux not because of any technical reasons but because the Linux users I know simply don't pay for software unless it is some indie shit. I cannot imagine a Linux user dropping $100 on the new CoD. You are completely right - devs love money and I simply don't see the Linux users showing them the money. My position is verified by a recent post by John Carmack on reddit where he explains about id's attempts to bring games to Linux and also points out that the technical investment in porting a game is not the actual problem. Turns out publishing and supporting a game is a serious thing and this is why Rage will not come to Linux despite the fact that they "could get it running in a couple of days". I even expect that games will be ported to Steambox and not released on regular Linux.
87. Re:Goodbye Windows by gripped · 2013-02-14 23:23 · Score: 1
  
  But, I don't stay just for the games. I stay because using GNU/Linux means the largest selection of open source software available in the universe. For me GNU/Linux is stable and reliable and Window is still like an aborted fetus on the Metro interface.
  
  Fixed that for you.
88. Re:Goodbye Windows by blind+biker · 2013-02-14 23:30 · Score: 1
  
  You don't get it, or you actually pretend really hard? What is so complex about this concept: I am sick and tired of Microsoft's monopoly, where they can force me to use an OS I don't want to use. When you buy a new laptop or PC, it comes preinstalled with Windows 8. Sure, for now there are a few companies and models where you can upgrade to Windows 7, but are disappearing, under the irresistible pressure of M$.
  
  --
  "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
89. Re:Goodbye Windows by Noughmad · 2013-02-15 00:17 · Score: 2
  
  I don't think he meant "hot" as in "will burn your knees, even if your laptop in on a desk".
  
  --
  PlusFive Slashdot reader for Android. Can post comments.
90. Re:Goodbye Windows by Curupira · 2013-02-15 00:24 · Score: 1
  
  These people are doing a nice work tracking the games with potential and/or incomplete Linux support. So far, 183 games and apps will likely be (or already is) ported.
91. Re:Goodbye Windows by RaceProUK · 2013-02-15 00:36 · Score: 1
  
  Fish to penguins on the other hand leads to fat and happy penguins.
  Today's fish is trout a la creme - enjoy your meal!
  
  --
  No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
92. Re:Goodbye Windows by RaceProUK · 2013-02-15 00:43 · Score: 1
  
  the Linux users I know simply don't pay for software
  Given the choice of how much to pay though, Linux users (on average) do seem to be more generous, if the Humble Bundle stats are anything to go by.
  
  --
  No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
93. Re:Goodbye Windows by RaceProUK · 2013-02-15 00:44 · Score: 1
  
  Simple - build a waterproof case and submerge the motherboard in a few litres of Chianti :)
  
  --
  No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
94. Re:Goodbye Windows by Eirenarch · 2013-02-15 00:51 · Score: 1
  
  This is true but Humble Idnie Bundle contains indie games which Linux users support on political level. I don't think they are going to pay at all for big evil companies blockbusters. In addition Windows still made much more money for Humble Indie Bundle due to the number of users. In my opinion Linux users only pay for indie games and this is why they will only get indie games.
95. Re:Goodbye Windows by wed128 · 2013-02-15 01:04 · Score: 1
  
  Did anyone actually play Crysis? I thought that was just a benchmark.
96. Re:Goodbye Windows by fredprado · 2013-02-15 01:15 · Score: 1
  
  Even if you are right, indie games are far better and more creative anyways. We can live pretty well without big labels.
97. Re:Goodbye Windows by heefeneet · 2013-02-15 01:25 · Score: 1
  
  Fish to penguins on the other hand leads to fat and happy penguins.
  Today's fish is trout a la creme - enjoy your meal!
  5 fish? I'll be rich!
98. Re:Goodbye Windows by Eirenarch · 2013-02-15 01:59 · Score: 1
  
  I respect your opinion but in this games what has changed and why do we have any news here? I am not an avid follower of the indie scene but my impression is that very few indie games that work on Windows (i.e. excluding mobile games) don't work on Linux. Did Linux ever have shortage of quality indie games?
99. Re:Goodbye Windows by TheSkepticalOptimist · 2013-02-15 02:06 · Score: 1
  
  Normally I may have marked you Troll, but Microsoft seems to be pretty good these days at destroying Windows all by themselves, it doesn't need Linux's help anymore.
  
  --
  I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
100. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 02:07 · Score: 0
  
  You might want to wait on that. At this time, there's only ~100 titles available for Linux, and many of them have aleady been out for a year or so.
  That makes approximately 100 games I haven't played in the last year or so. Sweet.
101. Re:Goodbye Windows by dywolf · 2013-02-15 02:08 · Score: 1
  
  Simple solution: Steam for Linux downloads and installs Wine for you, preconfigured as needed.
  
  --
  The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
102. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 02:27 · Score: 0
  
  So, about 5 games I've ever heard of, most of which are quite old.
  Seriously underwhelming list.
  Look, I like linux as much as the next guy, I'm running it on the laptop I'm typing this from no less, but this list reads like George Bush rolling out the coalation of the willing. "Look, we've got the US, the UK, and... uh... estonia. and latvia. and... togo."
103. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 02:33 · Score: 0
  
  It still requires id to say "Value, please sell this on Linux". Given that id is falling out of love with (native) Linux games (as Linux games don't sell) I'm not surprised id have not asked Valve to do so.
  http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/17x0sh/john_carmack_asks_why_wine_isnt_good_enough/
104. Re:Goodbye Windows by silviuc · 2013-02-15 02:40 · Score: 1
  
  A Linux user might not drop 100$ on a game like CoD because our bunch is a bit more brainy and CoD, imo, is a piece of crap. That being said, I pay for a lot of software, esp windows software (mostly games) that can run on Linux via wine or Crossover. I make a habit of letting the software developers know that it works.
  
  Regarding Carmack's stance on Linux gaming, I can tell you this: when people still play your older games and avoid the newer ones, you have a problem. Doom 3 was mediocre. The good engine it had was saved, once again, by Raven Soft when they released Quake 4. Rage is also a mediocre title. There is a great variety of Unreal Engine games that now work on Linux thanks to Wine .
  
  Steambox will run Steam. That is the whole point of the thing. Anything that will be released on Steam and targeted at the box, will also work on Steam for Linux.
105. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 02:45 · Score: 0
  
  I stay because using GNU/Linux means the largest selection of open source software available in the universe.
  How much software will not compile & run on either Cygwin or colinux? (given the latter is Linux I'd guess very little). So Windows has all the Windows only software (inc stuff that does not work in Wine) PLUS all the Linux software.
  
  For me GNU/Linux is stable and reliable
  
  Agreed, but it is not XOR. Windows (from 2000) is stable and reliable.
  
  aborted fetus on the Metro interface
  I believe the Metro start screen can be disable but personally I like the new start screen, forced full-screen apps are stupid I agree.
106. Re:Goodbye Windows by armahillo · 2013-02-15 02:53 · Score: 0
  
  Why would a Mac user leave the Linux-based-MacOS? I mean, I guess the MacOS window manager is pricey, but... I fled Windows 3 years ago and it's like being able to finally breathe. Everytime I have to use Windows (for testing, typically), which is thankfully a rare occurrence, it feels so stifling and awkward. Even Win7. Usability in Windows is terrible.
107. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 03:44 · Score: 0
  
  Yup JUST 100 titles, only 1000-2000 hours of gameplay.
108. Re:Goodbye Windows by tehcyder · 2013-02-15 04:00 · Score: 1
  
  2013 is the Year of Linux Gaming.
  No, it's "2013 is the Year of Linux Gaming on the desktop.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
109. Re:Goodbye Windows by tehcyder · 2013-02-15 04:05 · Score: 1
  
  I stay because using GNU/Linux means the largest selection of open source software available in the universe.
  That is only a feature for the tiny percentage of the population who care about open source software (even ignoring the fact that you can run most OSS on Windows anyway as someone says below).
  I'm not saying that's right, as I am entirely in favour of FOSS, but it is the reality. People here really need to remember that the vast majority of computer users don't really know or care care whether they're running Microsoft Windows or Microsoft XBox 360 as long as it does what they want.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
110. Re:Goodbye Windows by Spliffster · 2013-02-15 04:26 · Score: 1
  
  I didn't know MacOS is Linux based. Care to tell me a bit more about this linux stuff in OSX?
111. Re:Goodbye Windows by gorzek · 2013-02-15 04:30 · Score: 1
  
  The bottom line is that people are not going to migrate to a Linux desktop just because it can do more and more things you've been doing on a Windows desktop. It has to do more, it has to do it better, and there has to be marketing to make it clear to people why it's superior. If the argument is, "Linux can do 90% of everything Windows can do, plus some other stuff Windows can't do," unless those novel things Linux can do are things most people need, it doesn't matter.
  It's nice to see the Linux desktop world getting larger, but people are delusional if they think Linux is going to gradually take over from Windows because it's so much better. For how most people use their computers, Linux offers no perceptible advantage over Windows, and takes more effort to get up and running, since few personal computers actually come with Linux installed.
  I'm not sure what really drives the "Linux must win the desktop!" mentality, unless it's just pure ego or something. Yeah, so Microsoft beat you on marketshare--so what?
  
  --
  Check out my world simulator thingy.
112. Re:Goodbye Windows by armanox · 2013-02-15 05:23 · Score: 1
  
  Can you recommend any good Solaris games?
  
  --
  I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
113. Re:Goodbye Windows by gripped · 2013-02-15 05:27 · Score: 1
  
  People here really need to remember that the vast majority of computer users don't really know or care care whether they're running Microsoft Windows or Microsoft XBox 360 as long as it does what they want.
  Your right. I've installed Linuxmint on many family and friends computers over the last few years because I convinced them it would do what they want. Browse the web. Listen to music. View photos. Send email.
  Part of the deal was a higher level of (free!) support from me with the Linux install. Windows installs only come with save documents and reinstall support (still free !).
  Often I've setup dual boots for the unconvinced or gamers but encouraged them to give Linux a good go. In almost all cases Linux has become the preferred OS and I been asked to delete the windows partition to free up drive space. Apart from games most windows software works under wine, games are far more hardware dependant for success.
  I've been using Linux personally since about 1996-97 (I remember that kde was first released soon after my first install) and it used to require some effort. Now it just works most off the time.
114. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 05:27 · Score: 0
  
  100 games is many times what any console has launched with. Admittedly, these are all ports with no exclusives, but 100 titles is not a bad launch lineup at all. Admittedly, the humble bundle has helped hugely with this launch lineup, it would be much smaller if that did not exist.
115. Re:Goodbye Windows by Sabathius · 2013-02-15 06:08 · Score: 1
  
  Why does the parent have to be scored a 5 already? I want to moderate it up some more!
116. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 06:38 · Score: 0
  
  It doesn't turn into propaganda just because you disagree with his facts.
117. Re:Goodbye Windows by fredprado · 2013-02-15 06:40 · Score: 1
  
  I guess it isn't a revolution or anything of the sorts, as you have pointed, but still it is good in the sense that it brings a well established dealer to the market of Llinux games, thus helping to consolidate the indie practice of making Linux versions and making it easier for them to distribute.
118. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 07:05 · Score: 0
  
  I only rarely read the comments on slashdot these days, but this is one of the best comments I've read in a while.
119. Re:Goodbye Windows by kamapuaa · 2013-02-15 07:07 · Score: 1
  
  Are you 14? Your attacks on gamers who like different games, and an ad hominem attack on John Carmack, are both pretty much embarrassing.
  
  --
  Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
120. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 07:46 · Score: 0
  
  I agree. Counter-Strike Source was the only thing keeping me on Windows until now. I just tried it last night and it played perfectly as well as it does on Windows, even though I was playing it in the Windows Installer version of Ubuntu. I think it's time to do a native wipe of my system.
121. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 08:15 · Score: 0
  
  Does anyone still play Counter-strike:Source (CS:S) ?
  I'm tempted to buy it, but don't want to load up a series of empty servers...
122. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 14:32 · Score: 0
  
  Obligatory: something you are obliged to do.
  You were in no way obliged to post that link.
123. Re:Goodbye Windows by arielCo · 2013-02-15 14:44 · Score: 1
  
  New here, you must be.
  
  --
  This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
124. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-16 11:04 · Score: 0
  
  I c wut u did thar
125. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-16 12:48 · Score: 0
  
  I would argue that there is a reasonablely large subset of gamers who know at least something about software development, if only for their personal interests in things like modding and the pursuit of careers in game design. It's by no means a majority, but they do exist.
126. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-16 23:42 · Score: 0
  
  I don't think Linux has to be much better than Windows or $(insert_your_os_here).
  
  I think Microsoft has been screwing with Windows lately, and they just keep doing more mistakes, see what happened with Windows 8 and metro, thus alienating their user base.
  
  We are already seeing tons of converts, and I think we'll see more.
127. Re:Goodbye Windows by severn2j · 2013-02-17 02:55 · Score: 1
  
  While I agree with most of your post, I'm not sure where your SPISPOPD info comes from. The name came from a joke on a newsgroup discussion about Doom's name in the weeks before its release in 1993, while the Smashing Pumpkins formed in 1988, five years earlier. In fact they even added samples from Doom in one of their songs in reference to the joke. http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/SPISPOPD http://www.trilobite.org/spispopd/
128. Re:Goodbye Windows by robsku · 2013-02-18 02:50 · Score: 1
  
  The state of Linux gaming gets better which will surely increase number of users who consider Linux to be better than Windows for their needs though... It don't mean that Linux is now the perfect gaming platform, but it does make it better.
  
  --
  In capitalist USA corporations control the government.
129. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-18 10:20 · Score: 0
  
  I stay because using Windows means the largest selection of software available in the universe. .
  Citation Needed
130. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-18 15:01 · Score: 0
  
  Are you 12? There is no such thing as an "ad hominem attack", it is a fallacy. It does not mean making fun of, or bellitting others. Please point out the ad hominem
131. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-18 15:08 · Score: 0
  
  When was the last time a beta test for a game was actually about testing?
132. Re:Goodbye Windows by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-18 15:20 · Score: 0
  
  You can never get full performance under Wine as there is the DirectX -> OpenGL translation going on.
  Bullshit, I often get much better performance(graphical and especially network) running the game in Wine, on the same computer with dual boot.
No 64-bit? by elvestinkle · 2013-02-14 11:57 · Score: 2, Informative

No amd64 that I saw. 'package architecture (i386) does not match system (amd64)' lame.
1. Re:No 64-bit? by Dusanyu · 2013-02-14 12:02 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  you have to install 64 bit libraries in Mint or Foobuntu use the comand sudo apt-get install ia32-libs ia32-libs-gtk ia32-libs-sdl
2. Re:No 64-bit? by masternerdguy · 2013-02-14 12:02 · Score: 1
  
  Install your distro's 32 bit compatibility pattern.
  
  --
  To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
3. Re:No 64-bit? by zwede · 2013-02-14 12:23 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Or switch to a smarter distro? My 64-bit distro fixed it automatically and steam runs fine.
4. Re:No 64-bit? by BetterSense · 2013-02-14 12:30 · Score: 1
  
  Which distro might that be?
5. Re:No 64-bit? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:36 · Score: 0
  
  What??? 64-bit systems have been around for ~20 years! Linux has worked 64-bit for a good portion of that. I'm not sure how a technology company can keep a straight face and not do 64-bit *first* and 32-bit later on . . . unless it's an embedded system.
  I agree: lame.
6. Re:No 64-bit? by zwede · 2013-02-14 12:42 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Which distro might that be?
  Gentoo.
7. Re:No 64-bit? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:43 · Score: 0
  
  nor does it have as much space as the nomad.
8. Re:No 64-bit? by larry+bagina · 2013-02-14 13:33 · Score: 1
  
  Well, since this is valve, it's probably a good thing they're limited to 32-bit/4 gigs of ram.
  
  --
  Do you even lift?
  These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
9. Re:No 64-bit? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 22:01 · Score: 0
  
  There is 64-bit steam. Check software centre. Maybe this works too: sudo apt-get install steam64
10. Re:No 64-bit? by Adam+Jorgensen · 2013-02-14 23:03 · Score: 1
  
  Sabayon is also an option. It's like Gentoo but with Sanity Included.
11. Re:No 64-bit? by Rich0 · 2013-02-15 03:37 · Score: 1
  
  +5 Funny? :)
  Not sure if you noticed, but there is a steam overlay for Gentoo and I found that it basically "just works". Some games have issues with bundled libstdc++ which have impacted many distros, and removing that library often fixes the issues.
12. Re:No 64-bit? by Taibhsear · 2013-02-15 03:51 · Score: 1
  
  Which distro might that be?
  I'm running Mint 13 64 bit and steam runs fine for me as well. Didn't need to use apt-get at all. Installed right from the valve website. Amnesia works perfectly. The open beta had a few bugs so far that I've noticed. A few are already fixed. Launching the game shut off my smaller primary monitor and made my larger one the primary instead. (log out then log back in and everything is back to normal) Also disabled alt+tab while in game. After one steam update it appears to work properly now.
13. Re:No 64-bit? by Almahtar · 2013-02-15 15:48 · Score: 1
  
  PAE, muthafugga. 32-bit Linux hasn't been limited to 4 gigs of ram for a long time. If you're rocking a processor that's Pentium Pro or newer (I know, pretty hard to find something so powerful nowadays) you're limited to a puny 64 gigs.
  
  Unless you're running Windows: "According to Geoff Chappell, Microsoft limits 32-bit versions of Windows to 4 GB as a matter of its licensing policy" -- from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension
14. Re:No 64-bit? by diego.viola · 2013-02-17 00:41 · Score: 1
  
  archlinux
Awesome! by slazzy · 2013-02-14 12:00 · Score: 1

I've been looking forward to having a gaming Linux box for a long time, I know there aren't a lot of games but I'll buy pretty much whatever is available.

--
Website Just Down For Me? Find out
1. Re:Awesome! by arogier · 2013-02-14 12:05 · Score: 0
  
  The number of games they have is growing at least. Now, if only I could buy Linux games on Steam using Bitcoin...
  
  --
  http://www.aaronrogier.net
2. Re:Awesome! by masternerdguy · 2013-02-14 12:24 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Just got back from their site, the only download is a DEB package for Ubuntu. Where's the RPM and shell installation packages? I feel insulted that we finally get steam for Linux but it only works on Ubuntu.....
  
  --
  To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
3. Re:Awesome! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2013-02-14 13:26 · Score: 1
  
  There is 'alien' for turning RPMs into DEBs, somebody should really hack together 'predator' for turning DEBs into RPMs...
  (as for shell, it isn't pretty; but the debian package format is (mostly) friendly enough that you can crack a deb open manually if you really want to.)
4. Re:Awesome! by sunderland56 · 2013-02-14 14:20 · Score: -1, Troll
  
  Not quite so awesome: it seems that you have to re-purchase the Steam games you already own on Windows.
  Even less awesome: the state of graphics drivers under Linux. For the ATI system I tried Steam on, there are several proprietary drivers, several open-source drivers, zero indication from Steam as to what is the best one to use.... and experimentation says that *none* of them work right in games. The Steam client really needs to help the user out - detect the graphics that are present, phone home to a driver database machine, and let the user know if they have the optimal setup.
5. Re:Awesome! by i.r.id10t · 2013-02-14 15:30 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Alien can go from any of 'em to any of 'em....
  Quoth the man page:
  alien [--to-deb] [--to-rpm] [--to-tgz] [--to-slp] [options] file [...]
  
  --
  Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
6. Re:Awesome! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 16:50 · Score: 0
  
  Google steam and your distro. The major ones already have wrappers for the installer in external repositories.
7. Re:Awesome! by Kremmy · 2013-02-14 17:55 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Bullshit. Every game I have on Steam in Linux was purchased on the Windows side.
8. Re:Awesome! by heefeneet · 2013-02-15 01:56 · Score: 1
  
  I've been looking forward to having a gaming Linux box for a long time, I know there aren't a lot of games but I'll buy pretty much whatever is available.
  Then do it now. All Linux games are on sale with 75-80% off until Feb 21st.
Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:00 · Score: -1

Who cares, there will never ever be anything that reads deb files on my system and that's all they have
1. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:06 · Score: 1
  
  I can't figure out how to use alien so I don't care.
  Neither do we.
2. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by kestasjk · 2013-02-14 12:09 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Yeah.. wake me up when they have ported it to the OpenBSD pkgsrc system as part of the official set of packages and maybe I'll think about potentially buying a game. (As long as it contains no DRM and is also part of the OpenBSD pkgsrc system as part of the official set of packages, audited by portaudit, of course.)
  
  --
  // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
3. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by IRWolfie- · 2013-02-14 12:17 · Score: 1
  
  deb packages are effectively just archives from which you can extract the files. This is why it's available on ArchLinux.
4. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by zwede · 2013-02-14 12:22 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  Your distro can't handle deb? Why not? My Gentoo box just has a thin wrapper around the deb to do the install and make it act like any other Gentoo package. I never see a deb package at all.
5. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:26 · Score: -1
  
  Gentoo; the OS of choice of niggers everywhere.
6. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 13:28 · Score: 0
  
  Valve here...
  We are please to hear that if we port Steam to OpenBSD, add it to OpenBSD's offical set of packages, and remove our DRM that you may potentially buy a game.
  We will get started on this right away for you
7. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 13:50 · Score: 0
  
  Who cares? All they have is a deb package and there will never, ever be a deb package loaded on my systems
  Yes, and there is a reason for that. They can't support a thousand different configurations. Ubuntu is the leading distro and with deb comes it.
8. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by Dog-Cow · 2013-02-14 16:06 · Score: 1
  
  You removed tar and g(un)zip from your system?
9. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 16:28 · Score: 0
  
  Let me help you with that.
  https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Steam_under_Linux#Native_Steam_on_Linux_Beta_Client
10. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 16:44 · Score: 0
  
  Who cares, there will never ever be anything that reads deb files on my system and that's all they have
  That's a valid complaint about RPMs but not a valid complaint about Debian packages. They're just ar(1) archives containing two files: control.tar.gz and data.tar.gz. Just unpack data.tar.gz to get at all the files that would be installed.
11. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 18:31 · Score: 0
  
  Sleep soft my prince, you where the nerdiest of them all.
12. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 22:07 · Score: 1
  
  He didn't say he'd potentially buy a game - he said he'd think about potentially buying a game.
13. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by s1lverl0rd · 2013-02-14 22:10 · Score: 1
  
  Arch has a steam metapackage that installs a bootstrap type deal. I never saw a deb package either.
14. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 00:15 · Score: 0
  
  You also need ar, don't forget that.
15. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 12:25 · Score: 0
  
  Arch Linux already has a 'steam' package in the multilib repository as well. Seems the GP distro just needs a steam package maintainer.
16. Re:Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by bferrell · 2013-02-15 16:32 · Score: 1
  
  Most excellent! Thank you for your very kind assistance.
Kerosene (Jet fuel) warning by bferrell · 2013-02-14 12:04 · Score: -1, Flamebait

Who cares? All they have is a deb package and there will never, ever be a deb package loaded on my systems
Meh by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:06 · Score: 0

I think I'd rather have a Nintendo Wii U.
Brace yourselves by arosas · 2013-02-14 12:07 · Score: 3, Funny

Allow me to summarize the next five or so hours worth of posts:

Blah blah blah, DRM.
Blah blah blah, "in mother russia".
Blah blah blah, "I, for one, welcome our penguin shaped overlords".
Blah blah blah, "gun control".
Blah blah blah "godwin's law".

You're welcome. (on a side note: wooooo!)
1. Re:Brace yourselves by atomican · 2013-02-14 12:58 · Score: 2
  
  Blah blah blah, DRM.
  Blah blah blah, "in mother russia".
  Blah blah blah, "I, for one, welcome our penguin shaped overlords".
  Blah blah blah, "gun control".
  Blah blah blah "godwin's law".
  I know you're joking but the fact you mention complaining about DRM as part of the joke is disheartening. Yes it's overdone and beating a dead horse at this point, but it's still a serious point to raise and it's important that it never gets forgotten. The fact that games attached with DRM (Steam or otherwise) mean games now have an artificial lifetime attached when they didn't otherwise. Yes you might be able to crack them, but that's besides the point.
2. Re:Brace yourselves by Pathogen+David · 2013-02-14 14:51 · Score: 2
  
  You forgot "Blah blah blah, year of the Linux desktop."
3. Re:Brace yourselves by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 20:44 · Score: 0
  
  There is no artificial lifetime limit on steam games. At least not imposed by steam. I have no problems starting games from the steam folder without steam unless they got some 3rd party DRM that limits times of installation (as listed on the details page on steam).
4. Re:Brace yourselves by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 21:26 · Score: 0
  
  Really? I've been told that you can only do so for a few weeks after last time the game verified your Steam account. Even with official Valve games. How long is that going to last, after the Steam servers get taken down?
  Even better, try launching your Steam games without a connection to the Steam servers, after reinstalling the OS.
  No company exists forever, and Steam isn't some magic thing that will keep running after the servers get shut down by the company buying Valve.
5. Re:Brace yourselves by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 22:22 · Score: 0
  
  Most games on Steam rely on Steam for authentication. Those will not run without the Steam client running and logged into an account which has that particular game. Those who supply the games for Valve to distribute get to choose whether or not to use the DRM features provided by Steam. There are only 103 Steam games that I am aware of which don't require the client to be running - not including all the DOSBox and MegaDrive games, of course. You must have been testing from one of those and drawn a false conclusion.
6. Re:Brace yourselves by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 00:07 · Score: 0
  
  Thanks, OP's profecy has been fullfilled.
SteamOS by threeboy · 2013-02-14 12:13 · Score: 2

Is this a step towards an optimized valve os built on linux? I don't use linux but it'd be cool.

--
I'm not a Linux user but I play one on TrueNuff.tv
1. Re:SteamOS by masternerdguy · 2013-02-14 12:26 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  I hope not. Linux is about openness and nothing is less open than a proprietary esoteric distribution.
  
  --
  To offset political mods, replace Flamebait with Insightful.
2. Re:SteamOS by threeboy · 2013-02-14 12:34 · Score: 1
  
  Truedat but what I mean is an optimized build for people who want a game centric experience. Steam itself has a web browser and instant messenger. It could be as much of a stand alone OS as ChromeOS is.
  
  --
  I'm not a Linux user but I play one on TrueNuff.tv
3. Re:SteamOS by OhANameWhatName · 2013-02-14 12:49 · Score: 1
  
  I don't use linux but it'd be cool.
  Sounds like you've got a project to do.
4. Re:SteamOS by threeboy · 2013-02-14 12:57 · Score: 1
  
  I got enough projects that don't make me money already!
  
  --
  I'm not a Linux user but I play one on TrueNuff.tv
5. Re:SteamOS by atomican · 2013-02-14 13:02 · Score: 1
  
  Indeed, which is why I think this general Linux client is more of a stepping-stone towards Valve building their Steambox. They need Steam working on Linux for it to happen, so having a client for regular Linux users is a natural part of the process.
6. Re:SteamOS by threeboy · 2013-02-14 13:14 · Score: 1
  
  ...and then having a Steam-centric build of Linux for people to build their own SteamBoxes from old computers would be neat.
  
  --
  I'm not a Linux user but I play one on TrueNuff.tv
7. Re:SteamOS by ArsonSmith · 2013-02-14 13:21 · Score: 1
  
  You should try some that don't. It's very rewarding.
  
  --
  Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
8. Re:SteamOS by cblguy2 · 2013-02-14 13:23 · Score: 2
  
  My son plays a lot on Steam (TF2 mostly). If there were a Steam-centric distro available right now to run on a live disc, I'd download it *tonight* and run it. I don't feel like futzing with an Ubuntu live disc right now, or stomping all over his Windows install right now. Drop in a disc and run, though, with the Steam client already installed? Sign us up.
9. Re:SteamOS by threeboy · 2013-02-14 14:07 · Score: 1
  
  Try some projects that don't don't make me money?
  
  --
  I'm not a Linux user but I play one on TrueNuff.tv
10. Re:SteamOS by threeboy · 2013-02-14 14:10 · Score: 1
  
  He'd have to download a few gigabytes to run Team Fortress 2 every time... Unless Valve started clouding game files.
  
  --
  I'm not a Linux user but I play one on TrueNuff.tv
11. Re:SteamOS by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 15:20 · Score: 0
  
  Might be conceivable to use the already existing Steam downloads for Windows in Linux.
12. Re:SteamOS by jones_supa · 2013-02-14 15:39 · Score: 1
  
  Unless Valve started clouding game files.
  That's an interesting concept BTW. Might work already with the smaller games and a fast internet connection. When starting a game, it would pull the EXE and some basic assets, and when you progress in the game it would download the next level, and so on.
13. Re:SteamOS by threeboy · 2013-02-14 15:50 · Score: 1
  
  Seems like a halfway solution from locally hosting and streaming the way Onlive did it. Steam already does achievements & progress syncing in some games but it'll be awesome when/if you'll be able to pause the game, then pic it up from your mobile device from the exact same spot and graphically reduced if required.
  
  --
  I'm not a Linux user but I play one on TrueNuff.tv
14. Re:SteamOS by ArsonSmith · 2013-02-14 16:28 · Score: 1
  
  Sorry, my missread.
  
  --
  Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
15. Re:SteamOS by Blaskowicz · 2013-02-15 16:07 · Score: 1
  
  Try Linux Mint 13 or 14 Xfce if you want an easy, well supported OS without the bullshit. Except for the bullshit about graphics drivers and needing a recent enough graphics (geforce 8 on the nvidia side, and Radeon 5000 series on the AMD side to be safe)
16. Re:SteamOS by threeboy · 2013-02-15 16:41 · Score: 1
  
  I've installed Ubuntu before just to check it out - I love the idea but I'm also tied to Adobe Creative Cloud D:
  
  --
  I'm not a Linux user but I play one on TrueNuff.tv
The Valentines Bundle 2.0 by tuppe666 · 2013-02-14 12:15 · Score: 4, Informative

Just for information really with Serious Sam 3: BFE is available cheaper :) here
http://www.indieroyale.com/
Downloading serious sam now by zwede · 2013-02-14 12:20 · Score: 5, Informative

I'm running 64-bit Gentoo and noticed Steam in the portage tree so I installed it. Works fine. Tried the free TF2 and it worked perfectly. Just bought SS3 for $8 and it's downloading. Valve is great!
Not Re:Awesome! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:25 · Score: 0

oh no.. it's hard enough fighting the gamer addiction with the few games Linux has... my productivity is going to take another drop.. unless... I ... can ...resist...
Will this run from a Ubuntu on a USB stick by tuppe666 · 2013-02-14 12:31 · Score: 4, Interesting

Ok I wasn't sure I decided if how I felt about steam on Linux...more I suspect that the too negative header to this discussion, when down the side I spotted "Try Linux - Grab Ubuntu Desktop; Ubuntu is our favorite version of Linux. Interested in giving it a whirl? You can install and run Ubuntu from a Live CD or USB stick, or install it to run alongside Windows."
Is that "holy shit I can carry all my steam games around on my USB stick" take it around to my friends...or even work, play a few rounds of team fortress, without any changes to the machine...because if that is true, that is bigger news to me than Steam on Linux, this is Quake Arena/Doom again, only with a raft of cheap choices. I can finally play people I know. [and share an experience with], and socialise with, rather than anonymous strangers on-line [I would rather play off-line than that].
1. Re:Will this run from a Ubuntu on a USB stick by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:58 · Score: 0
  
  The current Ubuntu live preview will probably not work out of the box.
  You will need the nividia/intel/ati 3D drivers for most games. These are not included by default on the live preview.
  You will also need the i386 versions of some libraries if you use the 64bit version.
  And I don't know what the redistribution license is for the Steam client.
  And finally, you will need enough space on the USB drive to store all your games. TF2 alone is around 12GB.
  And then there is the issue of slow load times due to reading from a USB drive.
  If not already available, I would say its just a matter of time before there is a disc image with 3D drivers and steam built in.
2. Re:Will this run from a Ubuntu on a USB stick by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 13:37 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Of course it can run on a USB stick. Step by step:
  1) Install Ubuntu or some other distro on the stick (use http://www.linuxliveusb.com/ if you're on Windows). Remember to allow it to change the data on the stick so you can install games on it later! If you don't know what you're doing you might want the 32-bit version of Ubuntu, otherwise you'll have to install the lib32 stuff.
  2) Boot into your stick
  3) Install graphic drivers, etc (you'll probably want the closed-source packages). If using Ubuntu it'll automatically ask you if you want the proprietary stuff
  4) Install Steam
  5) Login, install games
  6) Have fun with your new portable GNU/Linux OS
  7) Buy a USB stick with more memory
3. Re:Will this run from a Ubuntu on a USB stick by jones_supa · 2013-02-14 14:01 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, it might work. You can install Ubuntu to a flash drive (just select it during the installation). Create another stick with unetbootin for the installation stuff. I'm not sure if it creates a conflict if you install both AMD and NVIDIA proprietary display drivers though. There might be issues like that which you need to iron out. But if you are excited about it, I think you should give it a try. Just make sure to get a large and fast USB drive.
4. Re:Will this run from a Ubuntu on a USB stick by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 20:22 · Score: 0
  
  O
  7) Buy a USB stick with more memory
  Also - buy a USB 3.0 stick more speed
5. Re:Will this run from a Ubuntu on a USB stick by higuita · 2013-02-15 00:59 · Score: 1
  
  Its possible, but remember that the read and specially the write speed on USB sticks isnt usually very high (dont know about USB3 pens) and have the write limit (as a SSD). So remember to backup your configs/saved games so you can recover then later if the pen brakes down.
  
  --
  Higuita
6. Re:Will this run from a Ubuntu on a USB stick by allo · 2013-02-15 01:36 · Score: 1
  
  have a look at UCK to build a custom boot-image.
7. Re:Will this run from a Ubuntu on a USB stick by sl4shd0rk · 2013-02-15 02:16 · Score: 1
  
  Of course it can run on a USB stick. Step by step:
  Incidentally, some good utilities for "burning" an ISO to a USB stick are remastersys and unetbootin
  The thing I like about remastersys is that it will use a snapshot of the host OS it's running on to create the ISO image! If you have customized boot scripts, firewall rules, etc this is the way to go.
  Both utils are installable via apt/itutude: aptitude install remastersys-gtk unetbootin
  
  --
  Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
This is what I get after installing in Debian x64 by TheDarkener · 2013-02-14 12:31 · Score: 1

(in testing):
---
thedarkener@c64:~$ steam /home/thedarkener/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam: /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.15' not found (required by /home/thedarkener/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6) /home/thedarkener/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam: /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.15' not found (required by /home/thedarkener/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6) /home/thedarkener/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam: /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.15' not found (required by /home/thedarkener/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6) /home/thedarkener/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam: /lib/i386-linux-gnu/i686/cmov/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.15' not found (required by /home/thedarkener/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/i386/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libX11.so.6)
---
I saw the above post regarding the i386 libs and I was sure that I had already installed them previously (and confirmed with the following:)
---
thedarkener@c64:~$ sudo apt-get install ia32-libs ia32-libs-gtk ia32-libs-sdl
Place your finger on the fingerprint reader
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package ia32-libs-sdl
thedarkener@c64:~$ sudo apt-get install ia32-libs ia32-libs-gtk
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
ia32-libs is already the newest version.
ia32-libs-gtk is already the newest version.
---
Any ideas?

--
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Linux != Ubuntu by egr · 2013-02-14 12:32 · Score: 2

Ubuntu is a Linux, but Linux is not Ubuntu. As far as I can see they've only released for Ubuntu. And yeah... I know I can make it work through some hoops on other systems (and I do), but that's not the point!
1. Re:Linux != Ubuntu by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:38 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  The real reason they're doing this is to test the new Ubuntu £inux phones. Those phones have experimental GPS tracking ribbons that transmit your location to the NSA from anywhere in the world along with a list of all the files on your phone. These are the same tracking ribbons used in 20 dollar bills. They have internal power supplies that are as thin as, well, paper, and are based on dark projects. Ubuntu phone is the next step.
2. Re:Linux != Ubuntu by zwede · 2013-02-14 12:50 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  As far as I can see they've only released for Ubuntu.
  
  Not true. Valve only _supports_ ubuntu. Other distros are welcome to add steam to their package managers. For instance, Gentoo has steam in their repo. It's a thin wrapper package. When you install it, it makes sure all dependencies are met and then downloads steam from valve's server and installs it. All this is automagic as far as the user is concerned.
3. Re:Linux != Ubuntu by egr · 2013-02-14 13:06 · Score: 0
  
  How is that not true when you said it yourself : "Valve only supports Ubuntu" and the title of the article clearly states: "Valve Officially Launches Steam For Linux". If you only support one distribution you should probably say that. I still remember when I bought version of Guitar Pro for 6 "Linux" during release. I could not run it properly since then.
4. Re:Linux != Ubuntu by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 16:23 · Score: 0
  
  Here's help for a few more.
  https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Steam_under_Linux#Native_Steam_on_Linux_Beta_Client
5. Re:Linux != Ubuntu by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 18:59 · Score: 0
  
  what hoops, i just ran the installer.
6. Re:Linux != Ubuntu by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 19:19 · Score: 0
  
  And ArchLinux has already promoted the Steam package to the community repo, which means it's supported and installable by anyone in a mater of seconds.
7. Re:Linux != Ubuntu by Kirth · 2013-02-14 21:13 · Score: 1
  
  I'm running it under Debian Sid with libc6 from experimental. Works as great as it can *insert rant about developers programming their own widget sets and not adhering to ICCC standards*.
  I've got about 40 games for Linux installed (A lot of them from humble bundle, actually), and I've got about 40 more n Steam which are not yet available for Linux, but for which a Linux port already exists (things like Legend of Grimrock, Doom 3, all the Quakes, SiN, plus another whole slew from humble bundle).
  I expect a lot of those already-ported games to turn up in the next few weeks, along with several more from Croteam (the two Serious Sam HDs for instance, which are ports of the old Serious Sams to the new Serious Sam 3 Engine. Maybe the original ones too, since they're already ported to Linux) and Valve (all of the newer ones, and maybe even the older ones , Half Life 2, its siblings, the various Counter Strike-siblings, Portal 1&2, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, Ricochet, Opposing Force, etc.).
  
  --
  "The more prohibitions there are, The poorer the people will be" -- Lao Tse
Make use of all of those Humble Bundle Steam Keys! by pecosdave · 2013-02-14 12:36 · Score: 1

Not that the Steam Keys make a huge difference to me. I've been using my Ubuntu Software Center keys anyways, so uhmmm software inception?

--
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
I've finally got a reason by ozduo · 2013-02-14 12:40 · Score: 2

to upgrade from 10.04 Lucid

--
I got to the chocolate box before you, that's why the hard ones have teeth marks.
1. Re:I've finally got a reason by node+3 · 2013-02-14 20:15 · Score: 1
  
  You mean Unity and Ubuntu One weren't reasons enough?!?!
2. Re:I've finally got a reason by ozduo · 2013-02-14 22:39 · Score: 1
  
  I use Ubuntu One and love it but Unity makes me vomit!
  
  --
  I got to the chocolate box before you, that's why the hard ones have teeth marks.
3. Re:I've finally got a reason by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 23:16 · Score: 0
  
  i love 10.04 too, still using that, but do i have to use the Unity crap to use Steam ? or can i get the latest Mint with lxde/xfce and play there ? or do i need a cinnamon/mate ?
4. Re:I've finally got a reason by Blaskowicz · 2013-02-15 16:13 · Score: 1
  
  get either Mate or Xfce if you don't want to deal with crap.
As a Windows user... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:41 · Score: 0

I installed Ubuntu for a promotional TF2 hat (and to see how well the game runs). There's still definitely some work to be done on the Linux client, like making it natively compatible with AMD64. It took me the better part of two hours to actually get the client running (though a lot of that was waiting for ia32-libs to install) and fewer than 80 of my 600+ games are compatible with Linux, so I don't think I'll be switching over to Linux as my primary OS anytime soon. What I'm curious about is how Valve plans to get publishers to sign up for Linux releases.
Stop complaining about no 64-bit Steam by atomican · 2013-02-14 12:45 · Score: 1

I simply don't understand why people complain about no 64-bit version of Steam when the games running on Steam are basically all 32-bit anyway, and so you'll have to pull down those 32-bit libraries to use Steam for its intended purpose anyway, regardless of the arch of the client.
As a side note, I'm considerably mixed about Steam for Linux since it means more Linux games... locked to Steam. I would have preferred separate DRM-free installers for things like Serious Sam 3 that didn't require a vendor-hosted platform (and hence having to ensure your account is in good health and the game's lifetime being limited to how long Valve remains around), but apparently that was too much to ask, otherwise we'd have more commercial games before Steam on Linux anyway.
1. Re:Stop complaining about no 64-bit Steam by damnbunni · 2013-02-14 21:46 · Score: 1
  
  Unfortunately, Serious Sam 3 requires Steam. I dislike that, strongly, but I wanted to play SS3 enough that I bought it anyway.
  And bitch about it needing Steam, natch.
Good news! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 12:48 · Score: 0

This means we might finally be able to pin down a linux distro with some substantial software investment.
Currently there are far too many fuck forks all over the place it's a wonder anyone even knows what Linux is anymore.
This way we'll have a yardstick to measure a distro by. "Does it run Steam? No. Bye bye."
Re:This is what I get after installing in Debian x by elfprince13 · 2013-02-14 12:48 · Score: 1

I think you're using deprecated packages
Recent firings? by Roachie · 2013-02-14 12:57 · Score: -1, Flamebait

Could this be the reason for the recent firing at valve?
In my neck of the woods, delivering a release is a time for great trepidation as companies realize that they are not going to need quite so many those overpaid typists now that the product is out.

--
This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
1. Re:Recent firings? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 13:33 · Score: 0
  
  unlikely http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/13/valve-gabe-newell-layoffs-statement/
2. Re:Recent firings? by UnknownSoldier · 2013-02-14 13:39 · Score: 2
  
  Wow, thought you were joking for a second but I see it is indeed true.
  http://www.diffchecker.com/h14Uhs74
  http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122119-Valves-Newell-Issues-Firings-Statement
  Looks like Valve is focusing on the Steam Box + Linux.
3. Re:Recent firings? by jones_supa · 2013-02-14 14:13 · Score: 1
  
  It's possible.
Re:This is what I get after installing in Debian x by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 13:00 · Score: 0

You need libc6 upgraded to 2.15 or later; the only suitable version in Debian repos is 2.17 in experimental.
It may be possible to install the ia32* packages in a chroot.
Or you might try something risky like binary-patching with
sed 's/$GLIBC_2\.$15/\113/g' /path/to/steam/binaries
Re:This is what I get after installing in Debian x by LaughingRadish · 2013-02-14 13:17 · Score: 1

Here's a Steam installer for Wheezy: https://gist.github.com/grindars/4231563. It only installs per user, not for the whole system, but so far, it works.
I propose a by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 13:24 · Score: 0

to almost being succumbed to keep Windows on a dual boot, but Windows' UEFI didn't like that and we had to choose between Linux and Windows and we need Office products, but not essentially really.. and BYE Windows.
Forever.
I for one welcome by future+assassin · 2013-02-14 13:26 · Score: 1

our WIndows smashing overloards Steam should play this when Steam Linux loads http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uEnPB9Mz18

--
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Valventine by future+assassin · 2013-02-14 13:30 · Score: 1

she loves Mr Penguin.

--
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Re:This is what I get after installing in Debian x by deek · 2013-02-14 13:47 · Score: 2

As mentioned by someone else, this is because Debian doesn't have libc6 ver 2.15. You have to download the ubuntu libc6 libraries, and extract them to your ~/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/ directory.
There are debian testing install scripts for Steam which will automatically do this for you. Go forth and search for them.
Also, don't install the ia32-libs package. Enable multiarch support in Debian: dpkg --add-architecture i386
You can now install individual i386 library packages, instead of having one large package.
running FTW! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 14:01 · Score: 0

Couunter strike 1.6 and TF2. installed and running. I am good now. xubuntu 12.04 on a 5 year old laptop. 50-70 fps. see you guys in 2020
What is Steam and why do we care? by Gothmolly · 2013-02-14 14:09 · Score: -1, Flamebait

Is it like iTunes for FPS games? Why is this important?

--
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
1. Re:What is Steam and why do we care? by Eskarel · 2013-02-14 15:16 · Score: 1
  
  Steam is an online game distribution network run by Valve Software. It's a little bit like iTunes in the sense that you can buy stuff through it and it handles DRM for your downloads, but it's significantly more integrated with the games you're playing to the extent that physical copies of many games these days still require a steam account. It involves DRM and "always on" functionality, but doesn't pretend to be selling you a physical product. That is to say it doesn't allow you to resell your games and if you're a douche and get yourself banned from Steam you lose your games, but you can install your games on as many systems as you want and download any game you are licensed for whenever you want(even if you bought it on physical media). Unlike a lot of companies they don't try to have their cake and eat it to.
  Why you care depends on what your position on Linux is, if you don't care about it, there's no need for you care about any story mentioning the word "Linux". If you're a disciple of RMS you care because it's a proprietary(not open source) system delivering DRM'd product which is the very antithesis to all you believe in. If you like Linux and want it to succeed in the desktop market, you care because gaming is one of the places where Linux really suffers and having a controlled reliable method of distribution should at least mean that companies for whom a Linux port is very little work should be willing to port their games to Linux and if that happens eventually companies for whom a Linux port is a significant amount of effort may start to do so. Lastly if you rabidly hate Linux or Ubuntu specifically you care because it makes them slightly more successful.
2. Re:What is Steam and why do we care? by damn_registrars · 2013-02-14 15:27 · Score: 1, Informative
  
  Is it like iTunes for FPS games?
  Pretty much, yes. Specifically games that people who are hard core into FPS consider to be "vintage" or "classic" - even though said games are many years younger than Wolfenstein, Doom, or even Quake. People who are big fans of it see it as a great gift to be able to buy Half-Life for $8 even though they bought it for $40 the first time, then bought the first special edition of it the year after for another $40, and the uber-mega-titanium-coated-diamond-edition of it the third year for another $60.
  
  For the most part, it is a way for a company to extract a little more money from a large number of gamers who like to keep buying the same thing repeatedly.
  
  And yes, I know I will be lucky to not be moderated down for this. Bombs away.
  
  --
  Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
3. Re:What is Steam and why do we care? by RogueyWon · 2013-02-14 19:33 · Score: 1, Informative
  
  A couple of parts of that aren't quite right.
  Steam doesn't actually require an "always on" net connection. The offline mode "just works" these days (I know this having been dependant on it for a couple of weeks when I moved house last year). Offline mode got a bad rep in Steam's early years, because back then it would usually either just plain "not work", or work for a day or two and then demand to see a connection. It's not like that any more.
  There are a small number of games sold over Steam that contain "always on" third party DRM, because the game's publisher insisted on having DRM above and beyond that built into Steam. Any such requirement is identified on the game's info page alongside the system requirements. There aren't too many of these; Ubisoft, which was the main publisher behind this, has actually caved in and removed it from a good number of games.
  A few of the "vintage" games sold through Steam, such as the old id titles are actually DRM free - you can copy the games out of your Steam folder and launch them without Steam running if you want.
  Also, worth clarifying your point on Steam bans. There are two types of ban here. Simple "bad behaviour" such as being a complete cock to other players, trolling the forums, cheating in online multiplayer etc will not lose you access to your games. It may lose you the ability to access the online modes of certain games and in others you may be restricted to playing alongside people who have engaged in similar behaviours. I cannot see any problem with this; it's actually good for legitimate players to be protected from the arseholes.
  The second and more draconian level of ban does lose you access to your games, but this is reserved for activities such as credit card fraud or scamming/phishing other Steam users. There are occasional false positives here (eg. if somebody has an unexpected problem with their credit card at the bank's end) and Valve has a reputation for being slow to act on these, so I'm not trying to absolve Valve from blame completely. But you will not lose access to your games (barring some multiplayer modes) for simple "lame behaviour".
4. Re:What is Steam and why do we care? by damnbunni · 2013-02-14 21:50 · Score: 1
  
  Speaking as someone who has a crappy net connection, Steam's offline mode very often doesn't 'just work'.
  It often refuses to let me play a game, or says 'there are no account credentials on this computer' if the network's acting up. Or Steam will load theoretically in Offline Mode, but when I try to play a game it mysteriously reports the game isn't ready to play.
5. Re:What is Steam and why do we care? by heefeneet · 2013-02-15 02:07 · Score: 1
  
  People who are big fans of it see it as a great gift to be able to buy Half-Life for $8 even though they bought it for $40 the first time
  You can enter the cd key from your original Half-Life CD and it will accept it. No need to rebuy.
6. Re:What is Steam and why do we care? by Gothmolly · 2013-02-15 11:40 · Score: 1
  
  Thank you - I seriously didn't know what Steam was and why this was interesting.
  
  --
  I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
7. Re:What is Steam and why do we care? by devman · 2013-02-15 12:34 · Score: 1
  
  Nothing wrong with you being modded down when your wrong. I bought an original retail copy of half-life and was able to enter the CD-key when Steam went live. Never had to rebuy the game at all.
8. Re:What is Steam and why do we care? by damn_registrars · 2013-02-15 12:45 · Score: 1
  
  Nothing wrong with you being modded down when your wrong
  Actually, there is, because there is no down moderation for "wrong" or "disagree". Some people get moderator points and seem to feel otherwise...
  
  --
  Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
9. Re:What is Steam and why do we care? by devman · 2013-02-15 13:03 · Score: 1
  
  Wrong posts deserve no moderation. Wrong (meaning factually wrong) posts with positive moderation should get modded "overrated" as a correction and meta-mods should appropriately rate the misguided positive moderations. In the case of your Great-grand-parent post it could be reasonably argued that you were flamebaiting with your factually incorrect post as well.
10. Re: What is Steam and why do we care? by Eskarel · 2013-02-16 11:30 · Score: 1
  
  I actually have no beef with steam because it doesn't try to be two things. A steam game is a license no matter where you bought the game, but you get all the benefits of that a license should give you. Most DRM companies try to give you as physical copy when it suits them and a license when it doesn't.
Wine and bugs by fyngyrz · 2013-02-14 14:14 · Score: 5, Informative

This may help to spur on WINE development even more.
At one point, I was responsible for a good sized Windows application. Something along the lines of Photoshop. Tested it under Wine, and Wine choked in a few obvious ways. As we thought it'd be nice if it worked under linux, if indirectly, I reported the issues to them. They blithely informed me that if we wanted the bugs fixed, we'd have to pay. Needless to say, we shelved the whole idea.
Is that still the service model?

--
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
1. Re:Wine and bugs by maztuhblastah · 2013-02-14 16:24 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  "They" who?
  The WINE project?
  No. That's never been the model, actually, since there's no business model. It's an open source project. That said, like any free software project, it's easier to motivate people to fix the bugs that you care about if you show up with patches or donations -- but neither is necessary.
  Now if you're referring to Codeweavers, then yes, actually, that is part of their business model.
  
  --
  The real litigious bastards...
2. Re:Wine and bugs by epyT-R · 2013-02-14 17:23 · Score: 2
  
  or, since your model was pay-for as well, you could've offered a real linux build of your project instead of a half-assed win32 kludge and expecting linux users to pay full freight for it.
3. Re:Wine and bugs by VortexCortex · 2013-02-14 18:40 · Score: 1
  
  This may help to spur on WINE development even more.
  At one point, I was responsible for a good sized Windows application. Something along the lines of Photoshop. Tested it under Wine, and Wine choked in a few obvious ways. As we thought it'd be nice if it worked under linux, if indirectly, I reported the issues to them. They blithely informed me that if we wanted the bugs fixed, we'd have to pay. Needless to say, we shelved the whole idea.
  Is that still the service model?
  You're the fools for not starting off your application development with a cross platform development toolchain. I mean, that's why C was invented, and you tossers managed to cock up a perfectly good cross platform situation by not writing a simple platform abstraction layer (or using an existing one)? Seem to me that folks like that ought to pay for their bad decisions. You don't sound like sort of folks I'd buy software from anyway.
  Protip: This is the defferred cost of choosing a Windows-only development toolchain. It's not Wine or Linux's fault you're using the most retarding process to make software. I mean, even Windows changes APIs from time to time, you'd benefit from the compartmentalized abstraction layer to take advantage of new windows features, and gain platform independence in the process. It took me less than a week to create a replacement for SDL & freeglut to make Cross Platform 3D game engines. You wankers are moaning about your own pissed beds.
  Now, I understand you might have inherited some code that was made by morons, but you can't expect everyone else in the Universe to pay for your mistakes. Wine is a Hack that should be avoided if possible -- Native cross platform development toolchains exist.
4. Re:Wine and bugs by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 19:11 · Score: 0
  
  there are more games than developers.
  there are even more gamers who want those games to work, guess what, there are more gamers than you and your potential customers.
  No wonder they told you that. you want someone to work on it - pay it, as no one is interested to optimize wine for your application with user base of 20 people.
  Devs do job in many cases to actually play games they enjoy themselves. It's all about reward. Can you offer one? obviously you couldn't, so what did you expect?
5. Re:Wine and bugs by Patch86 · 2013-02-14 20:36 · Score: 1
  
  It is a largely voluntary project. If you want your commercial application to work on Linux (presumably so you can sell it to new markets), that's your responsibility. You can either code it yourself, using the freely available body of WINE code as a base, or you can pay some specialist developers to do it for you. What WINE provides for you is free (in both senses) foundation and method for porting to Linux, as opposed to needing to start from scratch.
  What WINE does not promise, as a project, is to do your development for you for free.
6. Re:Wine and bugs by LingNoi · 2013-02-14 21:41 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  If you want WINE support for your application you either have to pay for it or you code it up yourself and submit the patches. You comment just makes your company sound cheap.
7. Re:Wine and bugs by silviuc · 2013-02-15 02:52 · Score: 1
  
  Oh man, the arrogance. If you want shit fixed, either pay directly for that or do the fixing yourself and send the patches to the wine project. Google paid Codeweavers to make Photoshop CS1 and CS 2 work with wine. They even had some of their own devs working on the project.
  
  Just who the fuck do you think you are to complain that others won't work for free in order for you to profit?!
8. Re:Wine and bugs by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 04:34 · Score: 0
  
  Yes, this is a winning strategy. "Your program wasn't natively written to be cross platform? We don't want you anyways."
9. Re:Wine and bugs by Kjella · 2013-02-15 05:41 · Score: 1
  
  Why, did most of the applications and games pay for it? I rather doubt that and if they did most should ask for a refund. Why shouldn't Adobe be able to file a Photoshop bug on WINE when everybody and their dog can? Particularly since they can debug both sides of the code and say "Here on real Windows when I call function foo() I get X but when I do this on WINE I get Y" instead of user level bug reports that button A doesn't work. There's a middle ground between "Why thank you we'll get right to work on your free Linux port" and "You think we're your slave labor, go away" called "We'll add it to the very big pile of bug reports, if our users vote for this bug we might get around to fixing it but if WINE support is important to your company we're for hire." I think it's quite rude to explicitly not fix it unless they pay you, just because the company filed the bug themselves.
  
  --
  Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
10. Re:Wine and bugs by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 14:42 · Score: 0
  
  Why don't you twist what was said just a little more? I'm sure you can come up with something even more obvious a stupid troll if you tried.
11. Re:Wine and bugs by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 22:50 · Score: 0
  
  You make it sound like extortion, but what you were most likely actually told is something along the lines of "WINE's an opensource project, we can't force people to work on your particular bug. They work on whatever they are interested in working on. Someone might get around to fixing the bugs you reported some day, but if you want your particular bugs to be taken care of quickly you'll need to pay someone for it."
  I know that there is (was?) at least one guy on the bugtracker that didn't handle people very well though, so it's very possible that the wording was harsher.
  Also, having done some wine development, just because it's broken in "obvious ways" doesn't necessarily mean the fix is obvious or easy. Fixing one thing might lead to a cascade of discovering other failures that need to be fixed to avoid having a lot of regressions.
Free graphics drivers are more important than this by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 14:19 · Score: -1

We don't need steam and it is not necessarily a positive step to moving Linux forward on the desktop. There are lots of problems that need fixing first before we turn Linux into a gaming platform. While this is one problem (the lack of games) I don't want to see Linux turn into a bad clone of Microsoft Windows. Right now that is exactly where these types of moves are leading us.
We need free software friendly graphics drivers first and foremost. Intel is the only company which has committed fully to releasing its code. AMD is playing games with this effort. There is still a proprietary component that is needed and no 100% free distribution has 3d acceleration support. NVIDIA is also leading us down the wrong path. NVIDIA might provide “good support” the drivers suck. They can't be properly integrated, are missing critical features (and the proprietary Linux drivers won't ever see them), and create all sorts of problems for Linus and others.
The solution I am proposing is to shun this move. Take a moment and contribute a significant chunk of change to your favorite distribution, free software game, or other project and next time you purchase hardware go look at ThinkPenguin first. The company is the only vendor which is actually pushing things forward. Where the others claim “freedom” ThinkPenguin has shown a commitment to funding free software projects and pushing companies to release 100% of there code. The company doesn't ship hardware dependent on chipsets that need proprietary components. Every other company targeting Linux is hurting adoption. What works well enough for you doesn't work for the less technical users. If you help fix these other issues you'll see more more users find Linux a workable solution and that will fuel demand for games and other free software development efforts which improve Linux.
I won't use steam, netflix, or purchase from vendors who are hurting me as a Linux user (even if they claim to support Linux or free software).
How do you know fish don't like being eaten? by Andy+Prough · 2013-02-14 14:19 · Score: 1

Fish to Penguin - "You complete me".
Tribes! by thedarb · 2013-02-14 14:31 · Score: 1

Bring me Tribes!!!

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This sig intentionally left blank.
Steam on OSX - its the poor graphics. by Andy+Prough · 2013-02-14 14:43 · Score: 1, Offtopic

According to Phoronix, Windows 7 graphics "destroys the Linux and OS X drivers", and "Only in a few workloads was the Windows 7 driver not the distant frontrunner".
1. Re:Steam on OSX - its the poor graphics. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 15:27 · Score: -1
  
  Published on August 29, 2012...
  Nice try shillboy. Now try keeping up with a bit of recent news hey?
2. Re:Steam on OSX - its the poor graphics. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 17:28 · Score: 0
  
  Depends. Nvidia Binary is very good on Linux. ATI binary is somewhat allright. Intel open source graphics is sorta all right too. Not too good but all right.
  Everything else is not for gamers. Even last one on the list is not.
3. Re:Steam on OSX - its the poor graphics. by ozmanjusri · 2013-02-14 17:35 · Score: 1
  
  AC below is right, you're trolling.
  Valve's involvement wit NVidia to improve Linux drivers is old news.
  
  Tuesday, November 6, 2012, NVIDIA Delivers Massive Performance Boost To Linux Gaming
  NVIDIA today announced the latest NVIDIA® GeForce® drivers -- R310 -- double the performance(1) and dramatically reduce game loading times for those gaming on the Linux operating system.
  The result of almost a year of development by NVIDIA, Valve and other game developers, the new GeForce R310 drivers are designed to give GeForce customers the best possible Linux-based PC gaming experience -- and showcase the enormous potential of the world's biggest open-source operating system.
  
  --
  "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
4. Re:Steam on OSX - its the poor graphics. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 20:28 · Score: 0
  
  According to Phoronix, Windows 7 graphics "destroys the Linux and OS X drivers", and "Only in a few workloads was the Windows 7 driver not the distant frontrunner".
  IF you use an intel onboard for 3D.
  According to them the proprietary system's drivers also originate from Apple and Microsoft. At least the text on the first page hints to that. Another point is: Nobody who is seriously interested in 3D will use the intel chip as graphics processor.
  Then there is this increase in performance when you switch from directX to openGL as more stuff moves to GPU. Using openGL and making it easier to port might be a good idea for any gaming company.
  I really don't know why they did this test. Ok. You get better subpar 3D on Windows 7, but who cares.
5. Re:Steam on OSX - its the poor graphics. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 01:43 · Score: 0
  
  How about posting something newer (than 6-7 months, so not really that old) then?
6. Re:Steam on OSX - its the poor graphics. by silviuc · 2013-02-15 02:13 · Score: 1
  
  That particular article is about Intel's driver performance.
Re:This is what I get after installing in Debian x by thedarknite · 2013-02-14 15:01 · Score: 1

Apparently the latest version in Debian is 2.13 this thread suggests using the version from the experimental branch

--
A game has objectives and is competitive, anything else is just play
Debian, etc by jcfandino · 2013-02-14 15:51 · Score: 1

Has anyone tried it on Debian and other distros beside Ubuntu?
please post you experiences.
1. Re:Debian, etc by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 17:25 · Score: 0
  
  debian = ubuntu without bullshit on top
  at the core they are the same
2. Re:Debian, etc by skiminki · 2013-02-14 19:37 · Score: 1
  
  Gentoo 64-bit on Core-i7 + NVIDIA GTX 260. I played Serious Sam 3 during the beta and I just tested the original Half-life yesterday. I have experienced no serious problems, only some minor Gentoo packaging-related glitches early December during the beta. Yesterday I installed the Steam client to my laptop (Ivy Bridge, Intel HD4000, Gentoo) and the installation went smoothly from the steam portage layout. HL seemed to ran fine on that machine, too.
3. Re:Debian, etc by armanox · 2013-02-15 06:02 · Score: 1
  
  Fedora 18 on AMD FX-8120 + nVidia GTX 460 + 24GB RAM. Serious Sam seems to run at exactly half the FPS of the Windows version, other then that, no issues (that I've found).
  
  --
  I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
4. Re:Debian, etc by armanox · 2013-02-15 06:03 · Score: 1
  
  Like to add that I've tried other games too - HL, TF2, World of Goo, CS and CS:S. No issues.
  
  --
  I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
Crusader Kings II by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 18:43 · Score: 0

For those of you who are bored by FPS games and prefer Grand strategy, Crusader Kings II is available. I already had a non steam version but I gave in and bought it for about 20 bucks with all the DLC for which there was a rebate. It works like a charm both with the radeon free driver and the intel driver. Happy!
Ah sorry. by Andy+Prough · 2013-02-14 19:09 · Score: 1

I was comparing Win 7 and OS X. Yes, I realize the Nvidia Linux drivers are improving rapidly, I've got them working nicely on my openSUSE 12.2 (Tumbleweed) rig.
1. Re:Ah sorry. by symbolset · 2013-02-14 22:20 · Score: 1
  
  You're just demonstrating your ignorance again. SUSE is the Linux backed by Novell which was acquired in bankruptcy by Attachmate: the company that's legendary for sucking the last bit of marrow from the bones of the fallen. They make VT-100 terminal applications with Microsoft Office plugins for goodness sake. And nobody really knows who owns and controls them. Any real FOSS geek is going to look at that provenance and migrate.
  Novell was the hero when they were battling the hated SCOG to death but in the meantime they forgot to manage the rest of their business properly and got flanked.
  
  --
  Help stamp out iliturcy.
2. Re:Ah sorry. by pnutjam · 2013-02-15 03:44 · Score: 1
  
  OpenSuse is an awesome distribution. They appear to have an autonomous board. Suse is still doing great things for OS. If you haven't tried Suse Studio you are missing out.
  
  --
  Cheap storage VM.
3. Re:Ah sorry. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-18 10:12 · Score: 0
  
  openSUSE has nothing to do with Novell. They are indepenent.
  
  openSUSE is not to SUSE as Fedora is to RedHat
Hooray! by skiminki · 2013-02-14 19:27 · Score: 1

I played Serious Sam 3 month ago during the beta. Bought yesterday SS3 DLC plus the original Half-life. The latter seems to run perfectly on my Intel HD4000-based laptop (SS3 will surely not...)
I'd expect that some of the big titles are bound to come to Linux if and when Steambox finds traction. Many of the big titles are already ported to Mac OSX, which of course, means OpenGL instead of DirectX.
I look for the day when I can finally and permanently delete my Windows partition, which exists solely for gaming purposes.
THIS IS IT! by boxxertrumps · 2013-02-14 22:03 · Score: 1

YEAR OF THE LINUX DESKTOP.
"windows 7 is not that bad." by symbolset · 2013-02-14 22:23 · Score: 1

Damned with faint praise.

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Help stamp out iliturcy.
1. Re:"windows 7 is not that bad." by tehcyder · 2013-02-15 04:13 · Score: 1
  
  For some of us an Operating System is a tool, not a Holy Object. Heresy, I know.
  
  --
  To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Re:This is what I get after installing in Debian x by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-14 22:39 · Score: 0

It's 2013 and Linux and dependency hunting is still a part of the game. You fuckers are unbelievable.
KDE 4.0 was a debacle by gottabeme · 2013-02-14 23:46 · Score: 0

This logic doesn't hold.
If KDE 4.0 wasn't supposed to be used by end-users, it should have been called an alpha or beta release. But KDE thought that they had to get people using it to get people interested in it; their theory was, "If we call it a development build, no one will care. We have to release broken software so people will want to help us fix it."
So they called it a point-oh, non-alpha, non-beta, non-RC, final/gold/master release. And then when people used it and found that it wasn't suitable for actual use, KDE complained, "No, no, you're not supposed to use it yet! You're just supposed to want to use it, and to want to help us fix it!" In other words, do as I say, not as I do. A simple bait-and-switch.
Now don't get me wrong: I use KDE now and have been for about a decade; it's great. But I'm calling it like I see it: the KDE 4.0 debacle was just that, and many in the KDE community are still in denial about it.
This is one of the downsides of developers in a project deciding when their pet code should replace existing software: the users come last, and quality and reputation suffer.
In contrast, Linus understands that regressions are unacceptable, and his policy is, "WE DON'T BREAK USERSPACE!" And that's one of the reasons Linux is so wildly successful.

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"Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
Re:This is what I get after installing in Debian x by deek · 2013-02-15 00:11 · Score: 1

A comment well deserving of the Anonymous Coward moniker.
Go to hell MicroShit! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 00:17 · Score: -1

Goodbye and get fucked Windows. Now that Steam for Linux is here there is no sane reason to run Microsoft's garbage operating systems.
Hello Tux! by hoboroadie · 2013-02-15 01:00 · Score: 3, Insightful

The TF2 gamers that log on with a Linux box before March 1 get an exclusive item; Don't underestimate the power of tchotchkes!

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They feared that it could be used to suppress protest or support unpopular rule.
"other" gaming hardware? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 02:03 · Score: 0

So, video, sound, etc. Great.
What about professional level gaming mice? (Razer, Logitech, etc?)
I would need the horizontal/vertical dbi switches to be competitive in most FPS these days, as well as all the fancy things that are put in through the (windows) software.
Cross platform purchases? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 03:06 · Score: 0

Are the purchases cross platform if the games are available on Windows and Linux or is each license tied to the platform you buy it on? I dual boot on my machines and it would be nice to have a game available to play on either OS without buying both. I noticed that Half-Life, which is already in my library, shows an install button in Steam Linux.
Great news! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 03:15 · Score: 0

Hurrah, I'll get cracking with Fallout 3. Oh.
Never mind, I've still not finished Dishonored. Oh.
Still, Bioshock Infinite looks amazing, can't wait...oh.
Yeah, goodbye Windows, right.
Still getting errors, yes I have the fonts install by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 03:28 · Score: 0

Anyone have any idea how to get steam to launch?
steam
ILocalize::AddFile() failed to load file "public/steambootstrapper_english.txt".
X Error of failed request: BadName (named color or font does not exist)
Major opcode of failed request: 45 (X_OpenFont)
Serial number of failed request: 12
Current serial number in output stream: 13
OSX input shortcomings by fyngyrz · 2013-02-15 03:33 · Score: 1

[system-wide menubar] really only works on a premise you always use every program in maximised window.
Also, under OSX, the system-wide menubar doesn't work well in a multi-monitor environment. Even in a single-monitor environment, it maximizes the amount of mouse movement required to get to and from it, which can also lead to the wrong application being activated as you're often forced to move outside the bounds of your application's window. Miss the menu (overshoot on a multi-monitor setup, for instance) and now input (keyboard, for instance) is no longer directed to your application. Scripts cannot send output to an application that is not currently the active window without actually activating that window, adding completely unnecessary hoop jumping. OSX's input model is barely adequate in these regards, and I also say that as a long time OSX user. These problems are first a result of stupid UI design, and second a result of Apple being almost universally unable to admit they screwed up.

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I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
Again, . . . by hduff · 2013-02-15 03:39 · Score: 1

Until Valve releases a distro-agnostic client, it should be called "Steam for Ubuntu".
Linux is much more than just Ubuntu.
I am, however, appreciative of Valve's efforts and wish them well.

--
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
1. Re:Again, . . . by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-17 21:19 · Score: 0
  
  Until Valve releases a distro-agnostic client, it should be called "Steam for Ubuntu".
  Linux is much more than just Ubuntu.
  I am, however, appreciative of Valve's efforts and wish them well.
  That's right! If it doesn't 217,443 different distros, it doesn't support Linux at all. Bastards.
The BEST Steam Linux feature. by Lashat · 2013-02-15 04:22 · Score: 1

If you own the Windows or Mac version of a game and there is also a Linux version. Guesss what? That game is also available on Steam Linux for your enjoyment.
I forgot how awesome Half-Life is/was. I was pleasantly surprised about how well some of these older games hold up.
Half-Life, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike!

--
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
1. Re:The BEST Steam Linux feature. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 05:29 · Score: 0
  
  I forgot how awesome it was to have my DICK IN YOUR MOUTH, BITCH!
2. Re:The BEST Steam Linux feature. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-16 15:52 · Score: 0
  
  mmmm I like penis in my mouth
Architecture. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 05:11 · Score: 0

My installation complains the package is for i386. Who out there isn't using a 64-bit processor these days?!
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-15 09:52 · Score: 0

Will this run natively, or does it still have to be run through Wine?
1. Re:Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines? by diego.viola · 2013-02-17 21:54 · Score: 1
  
  It runs native.
It won't run on my 286! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-17 21:16 · Score: 0

Piece of crap steam site. It says NONE of this stuff will run on my 286! Linux is for making old computers continue to work. If it won't run on a 286 it's useless.
1. Re:It won't run on my 286! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-17 21:53 · Score: 0
  
  Upgrade your piece of shit 286 to something people who aren't idiots like you actually use.
Re:Free graphics drivers are more important than t by diego.viola · 2013-02-17 21:55 · Score: 1

Drivers are already improving, and they will continue to improve as there is more demand. Steam and gaming on Linux will incentive that demand.
The beginning of a bright future? by apexwm · 2013-02-20 01:39 · Score: 1

This is a big step to ramping up GNU/Linux as a gaming platform. There are still a lot of hurdles to get many games working, but this move is a big step forward and I look forward to others jumping on board and following in these footsteps.
2013 is the year of Steam on the Linux Desktop! by Anonymous Coward · 2013-02-28 07:25 · Score: 0

2013 is the year of Steam on the Linux Desktop!