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You read right, folks. The popular gaming platform Steam, which was up until recently Windows-only, may also be headed to the Linux platform for all open-source geeks to enjoy
It’s well-known at this point that Steam is headed to Mac OS X. It is due for release very soon (I’m thinking tomorrow, to be honest), and it is even speculated at this point that it may be on its way to appease Tux’s gaming addiction (which, up to this point, has been pretty hard to take care of).
Michael Larabel over at Phoronix has come up with proof, found in the Mac OS X Steam beta client’s launcher, that confirms that a native Linux Steam client is in the works. He even stated,
From seeing these actual files to the other proof and the information from sources, I am 100% confident that the Steam client / Source engine are coming to Linux. If my information is correct, an official announcement regarding this Linux support may be here by this June.
His confidence gives me confidence. I used to be a huge Linux user, and I think it would be a great way to get some naysayers on board, now that they’ll be able to play their favourite games on the operating system.
And not only would it be great for the Linux gaming community, it would also be a hugely great thing for Steam. Steam is by far one of the most popular gaming platforms for the PC. By opening their market to all three major operating systems (Windows, Mac, and Linux), they would greatly… GREATLY grow their userbase to the point where anybody can get it, regardless of their computer or operating system of choice.
Not only would this mean more money for Steam and Valve, as well as more people playing their games online and supporting them openly on the internet, but it would also be a huge incentive for game developers to develop games for all platforms, as to increase their own userbase and profits.
It’s a win/win/win scenario, as far as I’m concerned.
I’m a huge Steam fan. I’ve got Steam on my Windows partition on my Mac, but I rarely use it. Before I got my Mac, I purchased almost all Valve games, so I’ve got a good collection when it becomes available for Mac OS X to begin playing. I would also end up purchasing the rest of the games I don’t have, especially if all of my Linux-using friends were able to participate in the gaming.
Over on Pheronix, they also provide instructions for Linux users to compile the Steam client now, using files already available. Of course, since it has not yet been confirmed for the system, you won’t be able to login or really do much of anything. But, you can apparently have a launching Steam client for Linux.
Of course, I wouldn’t be absolutely sure at this point that it will be released. But if I were a primary Linux user, I’d be getting pretty freakin’ excited to see the possibility of the greatest gaming platform in the history of computers to be coming to their otherwise parched gaming community.
Related posts:
- Steam Beta Updates Client, Hints At Future
- Steam for Mac Private Beta Leaked
- What Steam’s Hardware & Software Survey Tells Us
- Mac Gaming Gaining Traction
- Steam for Mac Released – First Impressions
51 Responses
Steam sure gets around. Filthy whore. That I love deeply.
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Perfect I’m just starting the switch over to linux and this would be even more of a reason to do so. Anyone know some good ways to learn the OS/ terminal?
This comment was originally posted on Reddit
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 8:38 pm
A great OS to start off with is Ubuntu, or any variety (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, or even Linux Mint). It’s very graphical, minimal on the terminal, although you can still use it if you want to get used to it.
This comment was originally posted on Reddit
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
> It’s a win/win/win scenario, as far as I’m concerned. I think it’s more like a win/lin/mac scenario.
This comment was originally posted on Reddit
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
The games available for cross OS is still source engine games isnt it? This isnt to say other game developers will for sure develop games for all OSs. Even if they do, the quality of the games are probably going to be worse than it already is with the abundance of console ports. Oh well, nothing is confirmed yet so here is for the best of the "Computer" gaming! (PC gaming doesnt sound completely correct)
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
I’m starting to think Valve is in love with it’s customers. Tapping into smaller markets, being fucking awesome in general with free content… I heart Valve.
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
I interpret your second paragraph to mean "PC" = Windows PC stands for personal computer (I believe as opposed to mainframe), so it works.
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 9:54 pm
I have four indie games on my account that I know for a fact were also developed for OS X and Linux. They’re good games. Just sayin’.
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 9:55 pm
Not that this isn’t good news. What games that steam hosts are available/supported on Linux?
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
None. Just as they aren’t yet for Mac OS X. But Valve is making them run naturally on the operating system, as they would with a theoretical Linux client. Not only would this allow them to port their current (and future) games, but it would also open the door for future publishers to get recognized on the platform.
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Definitely agree with Linux Mint (especially if you’re using a netbook, but that is unlikely). Feels just like windows right out of the box, but has enough significant differences to help you get used to linux.
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Yeah but the way they throw it around these days (Mac vs PC), it just doesn’t seem just for all OS.
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 10:21 pm
Indie games. I was referring more towards the big name titles and the supposedly triple A titles.
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 10:22 pm
If you want to *use* linux, install ubuntu, opensuse, or fedora. If you want to *learn* linux install arch, gentoo, slackware, or lfs.
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
Also, the next version of Ubuntu comes out of beta in 4 days
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
That’s been Apple’s advertising trying to distinguish their distinctly designed PCs from the lackadaisical and incoherent beige-boxes of the Windows market.
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
We’ve known about this for almost 2 years now. Postal 3 has said they were working with Valve to make sure Postal 3 would release simultaneously for windows and Linux, just like the last 2 postals. Postal 3 is also on the source engine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9xzXN1HK5w
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
Don’t be a pussy. FreeBSD and a book from the store. Don’t go to the internet for help till you can get to the internet from your machine. I mean, if you REALLY want to learn how to use it.
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
It wouldn’t be hard to port over most games that already work on a Mac. The environment is fairly similar and a lot of the dev tools used on macs are also available on linux. A small number of other games are easy to port because they were developed on top of some multi-platform library or tool. There are flash games on steam for example.
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 11:39 pm
> None. Just as they aren’t yet for Mac OS X. I know only Portal is available on the Mac through Steam at the moment, but there are several games on Steam that are available for Macs: http://savygamer.co.uk/2010/03/03/here-is-a-list-of-games-currently-on-steam-that-already-have-a-native-mac-port-in-existence/
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 11:46 pm
shit I’ll actually start purchasing games if this happens.
Posted on April 25th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
Honestly, you should just install ubuntu and try it out. You don’t have to get rid of windows, and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who’ll tell you ubuntu is hard to use. Most modern linux OSs work with the habits you already have (put a firefox icon on the desktop, double click it to internet, etc.) You’ll have to break some habits and learn new ones, but "hard" is absolutely the wrong word to describe learning to use ubuntu.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 12:03 am
Yeah I tried both Kubuntu and Ubuntu but liked Ubuntu UI and standard apps more. No problems with synaptic install manager obviously but found a few .tar.gz been having problems with. I’m pretty good at windows and know linux is important to learn so I’ll get there. When 10.04 comes out in 4 days, will 9.10 be upgradable to it or do I have to clean install?
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 12:11 am
I support the push across platforms. But, unfortunately, there is one operating system that consistently has the highest FPS for intense graphic demanding games. I used to play TF2 on ubuntu, it was hell. I’m not saying it should not come to linux, but for true gamers, this is not the best option.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 12:28 am
I read that as portal and was confused for an embarrassingly long time
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 12:33 am
They’ve already ported the OpenGL Source engine to Mac’s unix variant, shouldn’t be that much more work to port it to something that runs in Linux. Don’t be so worried. Or do. I don’t care.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 12:47 am
And you were playing the Windows binaries in WINE. By saying "Steam is coming to Linux", they’re saying that native Linux executables and libraries will be made available, no WINE necessary. In this case, it comes down to how good the video drivers are. Given the fact that [about 90% of the code in Nvidia's driver is cross-platform](http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_qa_linux&num=2), it’s not unreasonable to think that Nvidia graphics cards will perform just as well in Linux as in Windows.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 12:49 am
Uh… this guy’s little blog also claims that Valve will move to "content streaming" like OnLive, since it’s the "wave of the future". That discredits him both as a nerd and gamer. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be nice to see Steam on Linux. I’m just saying this is all off-the-cuff speculation with absolutely no evidence other than "well I have a friend who…".
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 2:01 am
Yet you forget one thing. Most games coming out these days are written for directx aka a product of Microsoft which is not compatible with the linux or even Mac OS X. So until most all games are written in OpenGL exclusively, they will have no portability layer what so ever. The mono Project has tackled the whole porting issue involved in 3d games with some libraries which they have for all mono ported software but it is reliant on OpenGL.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 2:07 am
It happened on /r/linux before it happened on Pheronix. /r/linux was the original source.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 3:49 am
OK, what am I missing here? Just because Steam is coming to Linux…. this doesn’t mean the games sold through it will run does it? So surely the best case scenario is, Steam will be selling linux-compatible games. Or is the rumour that Valve are making Source run natively too?
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 4:13 am
After spending an hour trying to get it to run, fixing the sound, and setting up the mic, it will run better than the windows version. ;]
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 4:30 am
> Yeah I tried both Kubuntu and Ubuntu but liked Ubuntu UI and standard apps more. I used to run Kubuntu too, but after their shift to KDE 4 (which was extremely unstable) I switched to Ubuntu and never looked back since. I still love the old KDE 3.5 though. > No problems with synaptic install manager obviously but found a few .tar.gz been having problems with. .tar.gz files are usually source tarballs, which mean you must compile them first to get a working program. Depending on the size, compiling can get very long. Be sure to check if the software you want to install has an official Ubuntu pre-compiled binary and can be downloaded through the official software manager Synaptic (enable all repositories e.g. universe, multiverse etc, add PPAs). > When 10.04 comes out in 4 days, will 9.10 be upgradable to it or do I have to clean install? Usually you can upgrade to the next release directly.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 4:46 am
If I’m not mistaken, the Source engine was originally OpenGL based, so it wouldn’t take too much effort to port it to Linux. The majority of today’s video games however runs on DirectX (and because of its proprietary nature they are more difficult to port), if the game doesn’t work under Wine (Linux’s Windows layer) then you have little luck.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 4:55 am
Valve (steam) actually got me buying games instead of pirating them.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 6:33 am
Steam has been pretty much the only thing stopping me dumping windows on my main PC in favor of Ubuntu.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 6:34 am
I think something like OnLive with the option to buy outright probably is going to play a big role in the future. But it’s got to be more like a buffet rather than paying for a subscription + individual rentals.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 7:03 am
I just want it to actually come out for mac soon. I know what to expect in terms of "Valve says April" for a launch date, but I still can’t help but hope that they’ll actually get it out close to their prediction, especially since my graphics card on my pc died and now all my steam games run at about 8 fps.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 8:10 am
colbertcalledit.gif when the announcement for the OS X version happened. In any case, it’s good news all around. Now, if they did away with the whole "needing a bank account/credit card" to bring in Teens to buy T-rated games on the service, Steam would be a huge force to be reckoned with.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 8:21 am
If Linux gaming was so profitable more companies would do it.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 8:52 am
I get that, but looking at the state of PC games as it is, besides the good old source games out already, seems like the devs wont care for much to polish things up, for all I know it’ll be just another load of console ports.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 9:16 am
Steam on linux = custom build pc just got cheaper. Imagine – a pc without harddisk of any sort (no ssd) Games could be on a usb-sticks including linux and game.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 10:15 am
Well, that’s what this is all about! If this takes off, putting out games on the Linux OS could become profitable and a great move for developers. Spread the seed!
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 11:36 am
I’m actually thinking they could release it today. That beta UI update that came out a month or so ago is going out of beta today, and I think it’d be a smart move for them to pile up their releases on one day. I wouldn’t be surprised.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 11:38 am
I never once said that they *will* move to content streaming, I said they might. And I even stated several times that that was pure speculation at that point. I’m not bringing the evidence to the table in this case. I linked to the blog that does in my post, and they even give instructions to compile the Linux client and get it running yourself. Before you go making accusations about "off-the-cuff speculation," try actually reading the article.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Steam or the games on it? The wine compatibility is hit or miss but don’t let source games stop you..
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Very true and I agree. However, video card manufacturers seem to struggle already with supporting windows based drivers. What are the chances there will be optimal video drivers AND as thorough support as windows for updates/bugs/fixes?
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 1:29 pm
It may be the case that porting an application or game to Linux, at the same time as making it cross platform compatible for the sake of Mac, results in a higher ratio of reward to effort than just porting it to Mac. The Linux market on its own obviously can’t support a AAA game, but if a game already has cross platform infrastructure, then the Linux market is probably big enough to justify adding support for it as well.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
That’s a good question, and I considered expanding on my original comment: According to a Nvidia Linux developer, [90% of the driver code is cross-platform](http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_qa_linux&num=2). I would imagine that Nvidia’s driver can squeeze the same amount of performance out of a GPU in both Linux and Windows. Not sure how well ATI’s drivers work, though. Doom 3 and America’s Army 2.5 have both Windows and Linux builds, so it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to test driver performance. If I had decent hardware with me, I’d try it out. One final thing: even if the Linux video drivers are not as well-developed as in Windows, the more Linux games pop up, the more Linux users will demand that these driver issues are resolved, and *hopefully* Nvidia and ATI will be forced to offer proper support for their products.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
I am excited then, thank you for sourcing that, interesting read. Linux has the potential, I hope consumers will help push and progress the linux gaming community. p.s When I first started gaming, counter-strike beta circa 1999, linux provided the optimal FPS whether hosting a dedicated server or just playing. I hope to see that again.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Yes I do, I am an open source developer with a strange fetish, I love the linux kernel so much that I have printed it and fashioned it into a fleshlight-style papier-mâché vagina. You see I love Linux so much that I consider it my wife and have sex with it regularly, and I am a strong advocate of others loving Linux too, so when I see something like this I tend to get a bit excited and… there you go.
Posted on April 26th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
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