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Valve is developing Steam for Linux, says Michael Larabel of Phoronix

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Re: Valve is developing Steam for Linux, says Michael Larabel of Phoronix

#51
post #16
post #3

Steam for Linux is one thing, but how many games will you be able to run?

The same as when it released for mac? Pretty much only source games if I recall, but it rapidly expanded to more games because they are really helpful with porting games to the new platform. This is the last thing holding me back from dropping windows completely.

There are already a lot of linux compatible games on steam. Let's hope they will be availabe on Steam for linux. http://steamlinux.flibitijibibo.com/index.php?title=Main_Pag...

Re: Valve is developing Steam for Linux, says Michael Larabel of Phoronix

#52
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CS 1.6, CS:S, and CS:GO for Linux would keep me happy for awhile :) Add Quake Live, and I'm good for a long time. Make it a lot easier to switch between gaming and coding.

quake live runs perfectly well on Linux.

Sorry, I'm not an alcoholic anymore.

Re: Valve is developing Steam for Linux, says Michael Larabel of Phoronix

#53
post #47
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is interesting news, but turn the OS market upside down? You can't be serious.

"I would use Linux only, but I like game X and Y." is incredibly common attitude among people who use dual boot. I'm not making this up, the phrase pops up very often on various forums, especially in context of linux ports for newly announced games. You don't see many complaints about GIMP being inadequate (and with the recent news that will be the end of GIMP complaints), or OpenOffice/LibreOffice incompatibility. Y…

Anecdotal, but I am exactly one of these people - I dual boot, and the only reason I have Windows is for games. Then when you suggest this to others, the dual boot puts them off, and they don't want to be without games either.

Now there's a long way from 'Steam client for Linux' to 'Most AAA games available on Linux', but that is definitely the largest problem facing Linux adoption on the desktop.

Re: Valve is developing Steam for Linux, says Michael Larabel of Phoronix

#54
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OSS is dead for five years or more. These days you either have a direct ALSA, or Pulse, which ALSA can stream to transparently. If you have a SDL+ALSA game you will see exactly zero problems and that's what everybody does. OpenGL support is pretty solid too.

> OSS is dead for five years or more. OSS on Linux may be dead but OSS is still the API on other free unixes like *BSD's and the API has been developed forwards. > If you have a SDL+ALSA game you will see exactly zero problems and that's what everybody does. With SDL, you're stuck with the lowest common denominator of all audio API's. I've had more than my share of problems when doing audio with SDL. If you want 3d a…

If I'm offered a proprietary technology and an open one, I'll pick the latter 1000 times of 1000.

You'll find no sympathy for D3D in me. It's a 3D technology second, a monopoly tool first (as almost everything MS ever did).

Re: Valve is developing Steam for Linux, says Michael Larabel of Phoronix

#55
post #47
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is interesting news, but turn the OS market upside down? You can't be serious.

"I would use Linux only, but I like game X and Y." is incredibly common attitude among people who use dual boot. I'm not making this up, the phrase pops up very often on various forums, especially in context of linux ports for newly announced games. You don't see many complaints about GIMP being inadequate (and with the recent news that will be the end of GIMP complaints), or OpenOffice/LibreOffice incompatibility. Y…

Even with Steam, important games like those Blizzard titles are not available on Linux.

Re: Valve is developing Steam for Linux, says Michael Larabel of Phoronix

#56
post #47
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is interesting news, but turn the OS market upside down? You can't be serious.

"I would use Linux only, but I like game X and Y." is incredibly common attitude among people who use dual boot. I'm not making this up, the phrase pops up very often on various forums, especially in context of linux ports for newly announced games. You don't see many complaints about GIMP being inadequate (and with the recent news that will be the end of GIMP complaints), or OpenOffice/LibreOffice incompatibility. Y…

>Gaming is really the last bastion of Windows.

For the consumer market, yes. As much as I love GNU/Linux and support Free Software, the reality is that pretty much all business runs on Word and, even more so, Excel. Sad, but true.

Re: Valve is developing Steam for Linux, says Michael Larabel of Phoronix

#57
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is interesting news, but turn the OS market upside down? You can't be serious.

yes it will - Steam is a juggernaut which will trigger purchase/usage decisions. Creators of libraries and frameworks will have to comply with the standards that Valve will come up with (and come up they will). For example what audio framework will your distro use - Jack? OSS? Pulseaudio? They will have to use what Valve wants you to use, if you want to play their games. Multimonitor support ? HDMI? use the toolkits…

As long as Valve wouldn't be pushing closed/proprietary standards or other nonsense, I would be very okay with this.

Re: Valve is developing Steam for Linux, says Michael Larabel of Phoronix

#58
post #34
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is interesting news, but turn the OS market upside down? You can't be serious.

Why not? Missing games are the last and only "serious" issue of Linux. Well, maybe apart from Adobes product. But that's quite seriuos: Not being able to play normal and modern games is why I have Windows installed, and it's why i couldn't convince my nonexisting kids to use linux solely. More Games means more user means more games (means better gpu-driver). It's a really old theory, and i think it's one that is soun…

I'd say lack of Microsoft Office is the another big issue. LibreOffice/OpenOffice has come along away but is nowhere near as polished, and never quite displays a document the way it was meant to be. That's what kept me dual booting until I got a Mac.

Re: Valve is developing Steam for Linux, says Michael Larabel of Phoronix

#59
post #32

Lack of gaming support was (and still is) in my opinion the main reason Linux didn't get properly accepted into the consumer sector. (every gamer had to keep Windows dual-boot ) Because of that there were problems with the drivers and snowballed to other areas.

As well as: * Poor web browser (not an issue now) * Poor flash support (better than it has been) * No Microsoft Office (partially surmountable) * Video and sound configuration issues (sound is still hit and miss for me) * Inconsistent desktop UIs and administration tools * Lack of simple point and click system control panel And that you couldn't easily find consumer hardware pre-installed with a Linux desktop (which…

About which year are you speaking exactly? 2005?

Re: Valve is developing Steam for Linux, says Michael Larabel of Phoronix

#60
post #55
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I would use Linux only, but I like game X and Y." is incredibly common attitude among people who use dual boot. I'm not making this up, the phrase pops up very often on various forums, especially in context of linux ports for newly announced games. You don't see many complaints about GIMP being inadequate (and with the recent news that will be the end of GIMP complaints), or OpenOffice/LibreOffice incompatibility. Y…

Even with Steam, important games like those Blizzard titles are not available on Linux.

Yet.
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