Steam for Linux or The Beginning of the End of Windows

[Aldurin]

So Steam for Linux is now officially released (http://store.steampowered.com/sale/linux_release?snr=1_41_4__42). The current display of Linux-compatible games is rather small, but they're still encouraging people to check out Linux and at least play TF2 that way. Hopefully they'll start working on trying to get Linux support for as many games as possible, because if all of the games were Linux compatible, I'd drop Windows in a heartbeat and forever use Linux (games are really the only reason I still use Windows).

The second title of the thread is somewhat an exaggeration. While I do expect to see a drop in Windows users due to this, it won't necessarily kill Windows (though their lockdown on compatibility is probably the only thing keeping many gamers with it). It's great that Gabe Newell found Windows 8 to be so disappointing that he pushed the Linux support, and maybe this will be the start of a big change.

Thoughts, disagreements or "I can't post now currently uninstalling Windows"?

[Doc ock rokc]

No one is calling windows 8 a success. So its no surprise that no businesses or schools are really supporting it. It was reased to soon after windows 7 (i mean Seriously!) also when it is about as compatible as ME and Vista you know you are gonna fail.

as for linux...meh. I am not against linux however I am not for it ether. There is still too few linux games to justify the change for me.

[akaSM]

I'd be happy to ditch Windows but, my games need it to run. OTOH, I would have to hunt for a nice GUI because I really really don't like that Unity stuff that got added to Ubuntu.

EDIT: Actually...since I got some free time, I'll give Linux another chance, it's not like I'll miss Windows 8 on my laptop or anything....also, free penguin!

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

OTOH, I would have to hunt for a nice GUI because I really really don't like that Unity stuff that got added to Ubuntu.

Gnome-Fallback says hello. (http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/03/gnome-classic-in-ubuntu-12-04-its-like-nothing-ever-changed)

No one is calling windows 8 a success.

I'm very much against windows 8, but I will concede that there are some nice changes to its underlying operations. What would have made it far more well received is if on a PC they included an option in the installation to keep a traditional desktop or use tiles. Forcing that big, and stupid, a change on users is what's really hurting them right now and giving other OS' more incentive to step their game up.

[akaSM]

So, because my laptop has 2 GPUs (CPU integrated horrible Intel stuff and a dedicated AMD one), I cannot seem to find some drivers that will work well...or at all.

At least Sony now has Windows 7 drivers for my laptop! goodbye Windows 8!

Oh yeah, and Steam won't work at all either, it tried to update but, won't start at all. I'll try it on my desktop PC though.

[mauve]

My sister describes Windows 8 as "Cruddily repackaged Windows 7 that Microsoft let some intern script kiddy make a tablet-like desktop interface for." Neither of us use it, nor do we have any intention to upgrade. That being said, the Linux-compatible Steam still won't kill Microsoft, or even harm it much. Just like how Steam for Mac didn't harm it much. PCs still have the most available game titles and a large share of the home computer market. I'm guessing this move will only benefit people who already are Linux fans.

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

The goal isnt so much as dominate and replace as it is to provide an option to people dissatisfied with microsoft's idiotic direction.

I just hope there's some goodies in tf2 for linux like they did with the mac buds. 'Cause, y'know, hats.

Edit edit: TUXXY! Iam all over dat shit when i get home from work.

[Magus]

Yeah, the death of Windows...sure...

That said I still use XP.

[akaSM]

My desktop did everything fine and, now I have a penguin :3

[Aldurin]

I wish they'd offer some form of Linux-Promotion item in DOTA 2 so that we can identify allies in our terrible, hateful bigotry toward people that are clearly too dumb to use anything but Windows ^_^

But yeah Steam's Linux compatibility would be perfect if WINE would get its shit together enough to fill all of the blank spots in the Linux lineup for Steam without being buggier than an on-release Bethesda engine. As it is there isn't going to be an OS mass exodus because of linux, but it's still a start.

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

So there's a known issue that can occur to a number of people, a number of friends and I included, where the ubuntu 12.04 LTS has a screwy install in a virtual environment due to a faulty greeter and forces the user into low graphics mode or terminal upon startup. I have found a workaround that has a fairly good track record. If a little slower due to updates and such.

Create a virtual machine, do make sure the virtual drive is large enough for the OS and tf2/whatever game, and install ubuntu 10.04 and update all its dependencies. Then upgrade the distro to 12.04. More time consuming but a simpler process but allows 12.04 to build off 10.04's solid working foundation.

A buddy of mine is giving mint a shot so I'll post on that as soon as I get the deets. deets: mint is superfine for steam. Avoids a lot of hassle!

edit edit edit edit: if one is solely in it for gettin Tux (like me!) do this: Download TF2 and set the launch options to "-textmode -novid -nosound -noipx -nojoy -nopreload -sw -width 640 -height 480 +map itemtest". It'll register that the game launched in linux and award you your happy little penguin.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

On the one hand, its dishonest and almost certainly beyond my cavemanesque understanding of computers to pull off, but on the other hand it's a fucking penguin.

Decisions...

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Honestly I'm too loyal to just drop windows. Even though I have almost $600 worth of old and probably new (it's technically not mine but my parent's) linux stuff collecting dust in a storage area.

It's tempting but I'm probably gonna still support Windows anyway along side Linux once I'm able to.

[PyrosNine]

If I'm paying for a new computer, it will have windows in it because then I don't have to buy Windows Extra, and if it's new it can play all the current games. If I need an OS for a computer that's hurtin' or out of traditional use, I'll install linux on it because it's free and should run better to make up for the compy's age. I may or may not actually play games on it.

Pyros thinks a properly tweaked Windows 7 is this generation's Windows XP in term of stability and features.

[synkr0nized]

I wish they'd offer some form of Linux-Promotion item in DOTA 2 so that we can identify allies in our terrible, hateful bigotry toward people that are clearly too dumb to use anything but Windows ^_^

After ultimately deciding not to post one of the few responses I had written, I'll just leave it that this is an unwarranted and, frankly, rude generalization.

So I guess par for the course for a DotA player.

[Sithdarth]

Do you guys really want to know why Windows is still around? Direct3D (aka DirectX). That is basically the one and only reason. It's proprietary to windows and it is basically what WINE tries to emulate. Of course reverse engineering software from nothing but the API is basically impossible. If we could get game developers to favor OpenGL over Direct3D (which probably won't happen because Direct3D was designed around game design in the first place and OpenGL wasn't) Linux gaming would be much easier. Either that or someone needs to convince Microsoft to start up a Fahrenheit like project again.

But to make a long story short making Windows games run in Linux without emulation requires massive rewrites of all the rendering code at which point you are pretty much just making a game from scratch. Making a perfect DirectX emulator for Linux would entail getting a look at the source code behind the API which Microsoft will probably never allow. Either way you look at its not so much the fault of game developers or the people that program WINE as it is the fault of MS.

[Doc ock rokc]

hey would any linux user mind talking to me about getting me a Tux doll. I really want one but I don't want to fuck something up using linux.

[synkr0nized]

Hooray for an item I will never use, as I don't even have TF2 installed on my gaming rig currently. But penguinslol.

edit: Wha
I apparently got a few other free hats, too. Well, OK then!

[Ramary]

Hooray for an item I will never use, as I don't even have TF2 installed on my gaming rig currently. But penguinslol.

edit: Wha
I apparently got a few other free hats, too. Well, OK then!

That is what happens when you buy games and never touch tf2 in forever, you suddenly get a bunch of hats that are tied into games.

[Azisien]

The very very very very beginning and maybe never. Mmm can't wait to uninstall Windows and play all those 15 games available on Linux. :)

Still, gotta start somewhere.

[Aerozord]

Linux is slowly becoming more appealing to me, mostly because windows is becoming more of a pain. I get windows 7. I understand its for your average user, it keeps them from making novice mistakes like accidentally altering settings or running the wrong program, but I'm not a novice. One of the first things I do with a computer is tweak settings and get the right drivers and extension software. Ironically its because when it comes to programs I'm a minimalist and like turning off anything I dont need. Not to mention all the hardware upgrading.

7 is a pain to tweak is the main point I'm getting at. I only upgraded because XP was so outdated few things still supported it. 8 of course is horrible. Seriously a mobile GUI for a desktop? Thats just stupid. While I haven't fiddled with it I bet getting into the core settings for optimizing must be a huge chore. If they keep this up I may jump ship.

In any case games aren't my main reason for sticking with windows, its all the other software and the fact I'm just used to it. Truth is while I get some indie games, cause they are cheap and easy to get for the PC, I otherwise only get RTSs or games I heavily mod for my computer. I'm ultimately a console gamer.

[Yumil]

Do you guys really want to know why Windows is still around? Direct3D (aka DirectX). That is basically the one and only reason. It's proprietary to windows and it is basically what WINE tries to emulate. Of course reverse engineering software from nothing but the API is basically impossible. If we could get game developers to favor OpenGL over Direct3D (which probably won't happen because Direct3D was designed around game design in the first place and OpenGL wasn't) Linux gaming would be much easier. Either that or someone needs to convince Microsoft to start up a Fahrenheit like project again.

But to make a long story short making Windows games run in Linux without emulation requires massive rewrites of all the rendering code at which point you are pretty much just making a game from scratch. Making a perfect DirectX emulator for Linux would entail getting a look at the source code behind the API which Microsoft will probably never allow. Either way you look at its not so much the fault of game developers or the people that program WINE as it is the fault of MS.

Now that OpenGL is starting to perform better than DirectX (http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/) I wouldn't be surprised if more developers jumped on it. I swapped to ubuntu(with xubuntu/xfce as my gui) with no regrets a few months back as my main os. I still have Windows 8 for various reasons(LoL shop doesn't work in wine basically and I need a way to test windows platform code), but the majority of my work is done in Linux.

Along the media and productivity side of things, I find Linux much better. The only problem I have is that if you want to use more than 2 monitors(which I like to do) you are stuck with Xinerama, which doesn't really play well with unity(part of my reason into swapping to xfce/xubuntu) and is kind of buggy anyway. To really play surround games I gotta go to windows. No big deal, I hardly use it that way(skyrim, was using it on guild wars 2 and rift but haven't played them in a while), mainly just to have some references on one screen, media on another, and monodevelop in the final one.

On the media side of things, I found that avidemux works much better on linux and all my issues with streaming mp4s to my xbox have disappeared after using a real upnp(Xbox would say some files weren't supported). Quick re-encodes with handbrake on linux were much less a hassle than on windows. Basically windows can't hold a handle to the software available on linux in encoding and sharing.

Games were holding me back from swapping, but with Valve pushing it, I don't think that'll be a worry for much longer. Plus, I found wine to be much more compatible than I thought.

Overall, I am happy.

EDIT: BTW Dota II works pretty flawlessly via wine. I'd probably swap to using the pure linux version once they port Dota II, but right now the windows version under wine works fine for me.

[Revising Ocelot]

Just don't play it under vodka. Have you seen the number of Russians that play it?