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1.85% of Steam users run Linux

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Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#61

Post by Maakuth »

forktheif wrote: post #59
velodrome wrote: post #57

Gaming on Linux still has a long way to go: 1) The drivers are still crappy. It's getting better but it still needs a lot of work. To simply manage multiple screens or to change resolution requires a restart! Nvidia is still better than AMD drivers. 2) Many games just get the Linux ports to a "working" condition and leave it at that. The games are really buggy. Valve games are top notch and deserve a lot of credit fo…

The open source drivers for my ATI card are pretty good. Performance isn't spectacular but it's acceptable, and I've not run into any serious bugs for years, and I have no trouble changing resolution at all.

Is there any kind of hardware acceleration for 3D graphics? If no, then those drivers are pretty much useless for gaming.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#62

Post by codygman »

Maakuth wrote: post #61
forktheif wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The open source drivers for my ATI card are pretty good. Performance isn't spectacular but it's acceptable, and I've not run into any serious bugs for years, and I have no trouble changing resolution at all.

Is there any kind of hardware acceleration for 3D graphics? If no, then those drivers are pretty much useless for gaming.

There is hardware acceleration for the open source fglrx (radeon) drivers, nouveau (oss for nvidia), and closed source nvidia drivers.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#63

Post by velodrome »

forktheif wrote: post #59
velodrome wrote: post #57

Gaming on Linux still has a long way to go: 1) The drivers are still crappy. It's getting better but it still needs a lot of work. To simply manage multiple screens or to change resolution requires a restart! Nvidia is still better than AMD drivers. 2) Many games just get the Linux ports to a "working" condition and leave it at that. The games are really buggy. Valve games are top notch and deserve a lot of credit fo…

The open source drivers for my ATI card are pretty good. Performance isn't spectacular but it's acceptable, and I've not run into any serious bugs for years, and I have no trouble changing resolution at all.

The performance is acceptable. The problem is I have a weird flickering issue when I run Steam on a multi-monitor setup. The fix is to run a command like this:

xrandr --output DFP6 --auto --left-of DFP7 --output DFP6 --scale 1.0001x1.0001

I only had this issue with AMD (not Nvidia).

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#64

Post by shangaslammi »

gum_ina_package wrote: post #30

I think the big story here is that ~4% of Steam users run Vista. The year of the Linux desktop is very, very, very far away.

I'm not sure what you are trying to imply. :)

Vista (at least after the first service pack) is a solid OS. I still run it on my gaming PC (which also dual boots to Ubuntu) and I don't see any reason whatsoever to "upgrade" to W7 or W8.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#65

Post by velodrome »

codygman wrote: post #60
velodrome wrote: post #57

Gaming on Linux still has a long way to go: 1) The drivers are still crappy. It's getting better but it still needs a lot of work. To simply manage multiple screens or to change resolution requires a restart! Nvidia is still better than AMD drivers. 2) Many games just get the Linux ports to a "working" condition and leave it at that. The games are really buggy. Valve games are top notch and deserve a lot of credit fo…

1. Changing resolutions requires a restart for you? Why in the world would that be? Do you use ubuntu? Do you have to save settings with the GUI and then restart? For instance I run a shell script which does some xrandr commands to make my external desktop work on Xubuntu (same for debian). 2. Agreed 3. LTS means more stable and packages are more tested. Getting newer packages will mean testing less, meaning less sta…

Yes, I use Ubuntu but I am considering moving to Debian or Suse.

To be fair, changing resolution does not always require a restart (but for my multi-monitor setup it often does). I can do most changes without a restart with Nvidia not AMD. Also, why should I change the resolution within the driver software...why not do it in the desktop like Windows or OSX.

I am really curious to know how Intel graphics drivers work on linux. Intel seems to be more linux friendly compared to AMD/Nvidia. Is the support a lot better?

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#66

Post by codygman »

eks wrote: post #14
amscanne wrote: post #5

Anecdote. I actually installed steam yesterday (for the first time, I'm not a gamer) to see the available games for Linux. I was pleasantly surprised that there were a few that looked okay. So I bought a couple. None worked -- mysterious launch errors, etc. No luck after a couple hours of debugging. DISAPPOINTED! I seriously question how many people actually run on Linux vs. login and browse the store? That said, I'm…

It runs great here. But I have basically just Ubuntu vanilla and a NVidia card. I would expect games wouldn't run as easily on a different distro or on a heavily customized Ubuntu. The Linux ecosystem is HUGE. I suppose that's why they are making SteamOS, so they can focus on one smaller part of this large landscape.

I use xubuntu with xmonad window manager and it works fine with a tweak (same tweak for fullscreen flash videos though).

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#67

Post by codygman »

shangaslammi wrote: post #64
gum_ina_package wrote: post #30

I think the big story here is that ~4% of Steam users run Vista. The year of the Linux desktop is very, very, very far away.

I'm not sure what you are trying to imply. :) Vista (at least after the first service pack) is a solid OS. I still run it on my gaming PC (which also dual boots to Ubuntu) and I don't see any reason whatsoever to "upgrade" to W7 or W8.

Security vulnerabilities? Are they still supporting vista?

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#68

Post by codygman »

yeukhon wrote: post #48

Mac users are still very low. I am a Mac user and I play games on my laptop. I hope they can release more games for the Mac platform as well. Although BF4 is not on Steam platform, it'd be nice to have a Mac version.

Linux -> Mac ports and vice versa will be much easier than Windows -> Mac ports so you might be in luck!

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#69

Post by codygman »

jebblue wrote: post #46
codygman wrote: post #16

I use steam on linux without problems on xubuntu. The problem is my main OS is debian wheezy and mesa is too old. That means I would have to backport libgl1 (iirc) and not fail (like the past 3 times). I reboot into Xubuntu when I want to game though, and don't have any problems. Well except when I hook up to an external monitor... but I have a hacky xrandr script for that. I don't things are quite "there" yet for mo…

>> I don't things are quite "there" yet for most people to game on linux. You mean Debian Linux which is what you're running. Ubuntu runs Steam just fine even with the Unity interface. I can Alt+Enter to go back to the Desktop and do stuff then get back into a game.

No, I mean it's not there for Xubuntu/Ubuntu either. I have the same external monitor problem with both. The graphics drivers however have worked fine for me. However, my girlfriend who is running xubuntu with fglrx (radeon card) has slight issues with textures staying on screen.

Re: 1.85% of Steam users run Linux

#70

Post by yeukhon »

codygman wrote: post #68
yeukhon wrote: post #48

Mac users are still very low. I am a Mac user and I play games on my laptop. I hope they can release more games for the Mac platform as well. Although BF4 is not on Steam platform, it'd be nice to have a Mac version.

Linux -> Mac ports and vice versa will be much easier than Windows -> Mac ports so you might be in luck!

I wonder how much work they have to do to support retina.
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