Screenshots emerge of Steam Linux client, BeOS wonders if it's next
By Darren Murph 
posted May 3rd 2010 2:04PM
posted May 3rd 2010 2:04PM
posted May 3rd 2010 2:04PM
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I wonder if it'll even run half of the games available on Steam.
@zeroinfinity2
It doesn't matter if it only runs 1/20 of the games on Steam. It's still means there will be more major production games than there are now.
@Dafrety
The games themselves still have to be written for Linux.
@zeroinfinity2
http://store.steampowered.com/
Even if it runs half the games from there... it'll be a big leap for Linux.
@insky Games only need to be written using the Source engine and they will work in Windows, Mac, and Linux
@samjjordan
iPhone OS game devs are grinding their teeth at you right now!
@zeroinfinity2 Yep as @samjjordan said - Source games should be there from the get-go - now these would definitely include Valve's own (and the associated mods), and hopefully third-party Source games too (as it shouldn't cost them much extra effort at that point). It's possible Valve may also include games - such as the original Half Life and Team Fortress - that use its previous engine, GoldSrc, which was derived from the Quake II engine, which already supported Linux.
Besides it's highly like that the many independent game developers that already have Linux versions of their games, but also have their Windows versions on Steam, would also make their Linux versions available via Steam - for example, World of Goo.
It's important to consider this will finally create a proper channel over which publishers/developers can distribute their Linux versions - some of which may have not bothered with a Linux version primarily for that reason. Take Enemy Territory: QUAKE WARS for example - they have a Linux version, but didn't get the Linux installer finished in time to include it on their retail discs, so instead the installer (which pulls content from the game disc) on what many consumers would consider a 'backstage' part of their website - with Steam, they could easily throw together the Linux version and upload it to Steam as the Linux version, making it as easy to install via Steam on Linux as it is on Windows.
@rfdparker2002
Now I know. :)
@zeroinfinity2: Steam for Linux? Apple just announced that they're going to have Dell computers running Mac.
Looking at Terminal in those screen shots I see a request for:
http://store.steampowered.com/public/client/steam_client_linux
I am mostly unfamiliar with all things Linux, but isn't that fact that the link works give this claim some merit?
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I thought I would just point that out...
@blenderman345 Mac is the hardware, OSX is the software.
@erik1080 This is immediate proof that there is a Linux client =D
Your comment should be highly ranked.
@zeroinfinity2 oh, games written in the source engine...
so as usual OSX and Linux get to be playing games using a 6 year old highly outdated engine.
Enjoy guys!!!
(ever stop and think maybe some Devs aren't anti-Microsoft zealots and enjoy the awesome Direct X APIs?
@rfdparker2002 You know what would be even more awesome? a .deb repository you could buy games from. If you could manage them from the Ubuntu Software Centre, it would be epic.
@erik1080 I'd recommend going to that site and checking out the links on it (just remove the "steam_client_linux" in the address bar and replace with one of the links on the page, e.g. http://store.steampowered.com/public/client/steam_linux.zip.52367793a26b83abc84871770277e1b8d77608bc).
Get rid of the MD5 at the end of filename then uncompress and I guarantee it will remove any skepticism!
e.g. i just found an HTML page which says:
"Advanced users can also run a Dedicated Server under the Linux operating system. Click here to download the Linux version."
and clicking on the "here" bit takes you to the normal steam download page.
THIS IS REAL PEOPLE!
@Beefstu Yeah, but looking at steam.sh, it has some interesting comments.
display dialog "Steam is only supported on Intel-based Macs." buttons "Exit" default button 1 with title "Unsupported Architecture" with icon stop
display dialog "Steam Requires OSX 10.5 or greater" buttons "Exit" default button 1 with title "Unsupported Operating System" with icon stop
But you're right, there are some hardcoded Linux32 references in there
I think that this has the potential to pick up some steam for Linux gaming... Sorry I just had to say it.
This is too good to be true.
@Dafrety
By all means though, if this happens then this is absolutely excellent.
@Dafrety
I WANT MY LINUX STEAM!
@Dafrety You're right, it's not true. You've just been Steam Punk'd.
This is just a confirmation that PC gaming is dying. The PC userbase is so low, Steam has to go out scouring the bottom of the barrel for whatever usebase is left in other platforms. I don't think they will get very far as the non-windows users will most likely have bought a console for their gaming needs anyway.
Linux < Eating Beets for a year straight
@Winbot Williams
You must like things with pretty buttons rather than functionality and customization.
@Gamecheater I bet Winbot Williams owns an Ipad...
YES!
I feel a great disturbance in the force. It's as if thousands of 'nix users came at once and were silenced.
Is Amiga next?
I for one welcome our new Linux gaming overlords.
DAMN IT. I cant think of a witty comment for this post.
:(
@SamTatr
Have you ever considered the fact that you might not be capable of it at all?
@SamTatr
I'm sure Jesus Diaz could, but then again, he's an idiot.
A page full of cryptic error messages?......
Yup, definitely Linux.
@DazGenetic
I much prefer one meaningless error.
@DazGenetic
Heh, you want cryptic? How about old Mac OS, where the errors were usually just a number.
"Error -105." Well WTF is that supposed to mean?
At least Linux programs usually attempt to tell you what specifically didn't work. If you don't understand what "Assertion Failed: implement CLinuxFont" means (and I admit, I don't either, but that's not the point) then there's not much to be done about that.
@DazGenetic Sounds like you've never used Linux before. This is a debug output in a terminal ... basically, it's intended for programmers to use.
At least try Ubuntu sometime. You'll be surprised.
Couldn't this just be running through Wine?
@MarcusMaximus
Maybe, but I don't think that's what this is. Some of the text specifically mentions "Linux fonts" and such. Plus the title of the terminal window indicates the program executing is "Steam Update." If it was Wine I would expect the name of the program would just read "Wine."
@MarcusMaximus
Wine is an emulator, which works as a translator for your machine to make a Windows type program behave and pretend to be a Linux one. This requires extra work on machine's part to first translate the program and then run it. Think about it like trying to talk to someone through some sort of translator, obviously extra effort is required to do so. It is wasteful and would be much less process intensive if the program ran in a native language for the OS, which means you could run the game with the same amount of hardware as a windows machine without any loss in performance (possibly more performance would be gained because it is on a linux box and not a windows one).
Therefore it is better for the end user to have source and steam run natively on linux than emulated, it would be foolish and closed-minded to say "they can just use a second hand translator (no offence wine) to use our product, golly, if it works, why make their live's easier to make it run native to their system."
@joebob "WINE is not an emulator"
@joebob Actually Wine, by definition, is NOT a windows emulator. They ported the major windows libraries to linux, allowing a lot of windows applications to run under Linux. I commented this because I've run Steam(as well as half life 2) in Ubuntu before.
@joebob
Well.. Not quite. Your point is perfectly accurate for emulation software.
But Wine is not emulation software. The name is a bacronym. So WINE stands for "WINE Is Not an Emulator".
An emulator mimics everything from the hardware up to the desktop environment where applicable. WINE doesn't need to do all that. It just has to intercept the calls the program makes to the Windows hardware and software facilities, and translate them to the Linux version. Far less work. So the performance hit is nowhere near the same.
If WINE were actually emulating Windows, they might have a lot of problems with Microsoft's lawyers. But they basically look at the calls coming from programs which are not MS property, and work out the Linux equivalent, which is also not Microsoft property. Thus avoiding any infringement of Windows owned protocols.
Instead of two people talking thorough an interpretor, it's more like two people using a common second language. Not quite as easy and automatic as both speaking their first language, but still useful.
@(Unverified) I apologize for my ignorance.
If your using linux you've failed!!
@FrankDTank You mena like thosé 40% people who run servers? I do not know if you know, but Linux has some 40% server market share.
@FrankDTank
Ha TELL that to Google. They will laugh for years
Awesome, this means I can use Steam on my PS3 soon. Just let me finish this system update and check it out...
Ok, I'll just head to the "Install other OS" option...wait, what!?
@Snake Robot Podium
Even if there was a Linux version of Stream it wouldn't run on the PS3. Thank Sony for using the PowerPC chip design.
@Snake Robot Podium If it weren't for the fact that Valve don't develop for PS3, I would say this smacks of co-operative work, but since they don't, it's probably just another kick in the teeth to Sony.
@LowSky
YELLOW DOG Linux is designed to run on PPC Arquitectur