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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

#41

Post by throwaway64 »

guard-of-terra wrote: post #28
mattbee wrote: post #19

Brilliant news. Of course Valve wouldn't want their own console to be tied to Windows, and there are definitely enough Mac-ported games (e.g. including Assassins Creed, not just their own stuff) that Linux ports must be do-able in short order. I'd hope there's some "trickle-down" effect of Steam ports- an push to sort out the knotty ball of Linux sound configuration, 3D drivers and other grimness. Alternatively it co…

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 NOT dead, OSSv4 is actively developed under a free license http://www.opensound.com/linux.html

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

#42

Post by codesuela »

onli wrote: post #34
danssig wrote: 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…

Games are the only thing you can't run with good performance inside a VM. That's why you can always spin up a Windows VM if you need Photoshop but you HAVE to reboot if you want to enjoy a game. So yes, this would be definitely a game changer

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

#43

Post by idleloops »

m_st wrote: post #15

I'm sure one of the reasons for a Linux client (and even a Steam console) is Windows 8 with its App Store. Soon potential customers are going to buy their software through these integrated stores rather than using dedicated clients. And since Microsoft is giving the Desktop a legacy feeling Valve has no choice but expand the reach of Steam. Which is of course good for us customers.

Will MS take a slice of the pie, through their distribution channel? I can see that as being an instant turn off.

It's an opportunity to produce a Gamers Distro based on a solid Distro. They could piggy back a Ubuntu LTS, and focus on a subset of well supported hardware.

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

#44

Post by idleloops »

ericd wrote: post #18
m_st wrote: post #15

I'm sure one of the reasons for a Linux client (and even a Steam console) is Windows 8 with its App Store. Soon potential customers are going to buy their software through these integrated stores rather than using dedicated clients. And since Microsoft is giving the Desktop a legacy feeling Valve has no choice but expand the reach of Steam. Which is of course good for us customers.

As a longtime PC gamer, any Microsoft store is roughly 0 threat to Steam from my perspective unless publishers stop publishing on Steam, which would seems very unlikely unless Microsoft took much less of a cut and Valve refused to follow suit, or Microsoft decided to pay publishers off for exclusives. Microsoft's past attempts to make Steam-like services have been completely laughable/extremely frustrating (see Games…

It opens up the doors to the possibility of adding functionality to linux based set top boxes.

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

#45

Post by andrewfelix »

tdr wrote: 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.

That and the lack of Adobe software. For me at least anyway.

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

#46

Post by idleloops »

pja wrote: post #9
IsTom wrote: post #3

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

At the moment? Anything (pre Rage?) by ID and all the HumbleBundle games. On the other hand, all the pieces are in place: OpenGL support is pretty good and lots of games actually work well enough under wine. That probably means that if they were compiled directly against winelib (as Google did with the Picasa Linux client) they would work just fine. Anything that already runs on OSX is probably an easy port, given so…

Not all the Humble Bundle games. I can't run Super Meat Boy on my Intel GM45.

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

#47

Post by b0rsuk »

danssig wrote: post #33
qxcv wrote: post #11

Looks like this is going to be reality, Phoronix just published the promised article[0] which basically claims that Valve have ported L4D/Source over to Linux already! Exciting news indeed, AAA-titles for Linux could turn the desktop OS market upside down. [0]: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=valve...

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. Yes, once in a while someone has issues with very tricky/advanced spreadsheet or text document, but with minimum goodwill on the part of the creator it can be worked around.

Gaming is really the last bastion of Windows. I predict a surge in Linux popularity once Steam is ported, bypassing OSX. And once that happens you are going to see pressure to use it in workplace. Game developers will be releasing Linux versions much more often, like in the old days of OpenGL. Really, there are many people who want to use Linux but hold out because of games.

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

#48

Post by sandGorgon »

danssig wrote: post #33
qxcv wrote: post #11

Looks like this is going to be reality, Phoronix just published the promised article[0] which basically claims that Valve have ported L4D/Source over to Linux already! Exciting news indeed, AAA-titles for Linux could turn the desktop OS market upside down. [0]: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=valve...

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 that Valve will define. I would'nt be surprised if Valve influences the switch to Wayland or something.

And the big one ? packaging format.

What I'm really hoping for - Valve being able to arm twist ATI and nVidia for better drivers (which may happen anyway because of Ivy Bridge graphics and its great linux support[1] )

This is a Good Thing. Linux has been suffering from a severe framework fragmentation which leads to a very small addressable market. Unifying behind some frameworks will undoubtedly increase that market size.

[1] www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=17284

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

#50

Post by seclorum »

aw3c2 wrote: post #27
seclorum wrote: post #17

I really wish Valve would get behind the Open Pandora gaming console: http://openpandora.org/ Its a fantastic machine, with a great community, and an awesome technology for single-file game distribution, or PND-files (Pandora .pnd files are self-contained applications), along with a fantastic repository already in place: http://repo.openpandora.org/ With Valve behind them, the OpenPandora guys could really do somethi…

the pandora does not have the polish nor is it too well designed. it is a handheld for a tiny niche of people. (i had an early one, sold it as it just was not what I expected nor good enough to justify the price with all the drawbacks)

I have two, and I fail to see any of your points. Its awesome!
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