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Steam for Linux Beta is now open to the public

206 points by Nathandim 14y ago

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
avolcano 14y ago
Interesting that they're using GitHub for issue tracking, although there's no actual code in the repo: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues
- breckenedge 14y ago
  Yea, i was a bit interested by that too. Probably already use it internally for other projects, and if they've integrated their internal tools with the GitHub API, it's a no-brainier.
- udp 14y ago
  It's actually a pretty nice idea. Since the wiki and issues tabs are already optional features, perhaps the "Code" tab should be optional too.
- basil 14y ago
  I've seen this quite a bit recently. It's a hack but it's a quick way to get a public-facing issue tracker out there. Are there any better solutions for getting a tracker set up easily where non-contributors can raise bugs and discuss feature requests?
  - jcastro 14y ago
    http://launchpad.net http://launchpad.net has a bug tracker and a blueprints function.
    - emperorcezar 14y ago
      Can only say one thing about Launchpad, "ew". It has a horrible UI.
      - 4ad 14y ago
        Speaking as someone who has to use it everyday, the horrible UI is the least of its problems.
        Shorel 14y ago
        Care to elaborate a bit on that?
      - rbanffy 14y ago
        One pitfall of open source is that it's sometimes made by people smarter than its users for people smarter than its users.
      - papsosouid 14y ago
        Yeah, the UI is pretty terrible. The only worse UI I can think of is github's.
csense 14y ago
What black magic do they use to make the games run under Linux? Wine? Are all Steam games now compatible with Linux, or only a few titles that the developers are willing to support Linux? Is there a list anywhere?
- clauretano 14y ago
  There's a list, found here: http://store.steampowered.com/search/?os=linux http://store.steampowered.com/search/?os=linux Very few games are compatible, but Team Fortress 2 is one of them.
  - mylittlepony 14y ago
    And Amnesia, which was already supported -.- Left4Dead was also going to be available, not sure what happened.
    - aeturnum 14y ago
      My impression was that they started the project by porting Left4Dead, but decided to release TF2 (probably because it's F2P and so anyone can test it).
      - thejosh 14y ago
        TF2 also has microtransactions so it will also earn them money in the short AND long run as well. Quite a smart business decision and I'm glad they brought TF2 over - I always thought this would be the first game to publicly release.
        improv32 14y ago
        It was also the first game they brought over for the mac port, though I think that was before the in-game store.
        14y ago
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
jayferd 14y ago
Holy EULA, Batman.
drivebyacct2 14y ago
I'm not 100% sure why they have a "repo" for an "installer". It sort of rather defeats the purpose. If they're going to do that, just put the client in a DEB and put that in the repo. At this point I see no reason in adding the repo to apt. Either way, it'll get sorted, Steam for Linux is already quite great. Still can't get over that TF2 runs better in a window in Linux than I've ever had it run in Windows.
- w1ntermute 14y ago
  > I'm not 100% sure why they have a "repo" for an "installer". It sort of rather defeats the purpose. It's because they don't really grasp yet how these things work on Linux. Which is understandable, since they're coming from a Windows world, where package management has to be done manually. So the Steam executable you download is an installer that downloads/installs the Steam package manager, which then downloads/maintains the games. Ideally, all the Steam Linux games would be maintained in APT repositories and you would update them through APT, but I don't know if that will ever happen. At least this is better than nothing at all.
  - ceronman 14y ago
    That "ideal" solution would only work on deb based distros.
    - w1ntermute 14y ago
      Wrong, you could easily create similar repositories for other package management systems.
      - duaneb 14y ago
        At some point they need a downloadable installer, if only for e.g. gentoo or slackware.
        w1ntermute 14y ago
mariuolo 14y ago
It doesn't work for me. Still saying it's a closed beta.
- Tuna-Fish 14y ago
  You need to update the client to fix that. Easiest way to do this is to evade the beta check (start steam with "steam steam://store"), then choose "steam/check for steam client updates" from the title menu.
  - mariuolo 14y ago
    I did that. For some reason I also had to delete ~.steam and ~.local/share/Steam and start from scratch to be able to log in.
Shorel 14y ago
Just in time for my new Ubuntu install.
jhealy 14y ago
I'm not much of a gamer, but I thought I'd give this a go on my Debian amd64 system. However the package is i386 only, so it won't install. Are they planning to support amd64 too?

206 points by Nathandim 14y ago

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

Interesting that they're using GitHub for issue tracking, although there's no actual code in the repo: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues

breckenedge 14y ago
Yea, i was a bit interested by that too. Probably already use it internally for other projects, and if they've integrated their internal tools with the GitHub API, it's a no-brainier.
udp 14y ago
It's actually a pretty nice idea. Since the wiki and issues tabs are already optional features, perhaps the "Code" tab should be optional too.
basil 14y ago
I've seen this quite a bit recently. It's a hack but it's a quick way to get a public-facing issue tracker out there. Are there any better solutions for getting a tracker set up easily where non-contributors can raise bugs and discuss feature requests?
- jcastro 14y ago
  http://launchpad.net http://launchpad.net has a bug tracker and a blueprints function.
  - emperorcezar 14y ago
    Can only say one thing about Launchpad, "ew". It has a horrible UI.
    - 4ad 14y ago
      Speaking as someone who has to use it everyday, the horrible UI is the least of its problems.
      - Shorel 14y ago
        Care to elaborate a bit on that?
    - rbanffy 14y ago
      One pitfall of open source is that it's sometimes made by people smarter than its users for people smarter than its users.
    - papsosouid 14y ago
      Yeah, the UI is pretty terrible. The only worse UI I can think of is github's.

csense 14y ago

What black magic do they use to make the games run under Linux? Wine? Are all Steam games now compatible with Linux, or only a few titles that the developers are willing to support Linux? Is there a list anywhere?

clauretano 14y ago
There's a list, found here: http://store.steampowered.com/search/?os=linux http://store.steampowered.com/search/?os=linux Very few games are compatible, but Team Fortress 2 is one of them.
- mylittlepony 14y ago
  And Amnesia, which was already supported -.- Left4Dead was also going to be available, not sure what happened.
  - aeturnum 14y ago
    My impression was that they started the project by porting Left4Dead, but decided to release TF2 (probably because it's F2P and so anyone can test it).
    - thejosh 14y ago
      TF2 also has microtransactions so it will also earn them money in the short AND long run as well. Quite a smart business decision and I'm glad they brought TF2 over - I always thought this would be the first game to publicly release.
      - improv32 14y ago
        It was also the first game they brought over for the mac port, though I think that was before the in-game store.
        14y ago

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

jayferd 14y ago

Holy EULA, Batman.

drivebyacct2 14y ago

I'm not 100% sure why they have a "repo" for an "installer". It sort of rather defeats the purpose. If they're going to do that, just put the client in a DEB and put that in the repo. At this point I see no reason in adding the repo to apt. Either way, it'll get sorted, Steam for Linux is already quite great. Still can't get over that TF2 runs better in a window in Linux than I've ever had it run in Windows.

w1ntermute 14y ago
> I'm not 100% sure why they have a "repo" for an "installer". It sort of rather defeats the purpose. It's because they don't really grasp yet how these things work on Linux. Which is understandable, since they're coming from a Windows world, where package management has to be done manually. So the Steam executable you download is an installer that downloads/installs the Steam package manager, which then downloads/maintains the games. Ideally, all the Steam Linux games would be maintained in APT repositories and you would update them through APT, but I don't know if that will ever happen. At least this is better than nothing at all.
- ceronman 14y ago
  That "ideal" solution would only work on deb based distros.
  - w1ntermute 14y ago
    Wrong, you could easily create similar repositories for other package management systems.
    - duaneb 14y ago
      At some point they need a downloadable installer, if only for e.g. gentoo or slackware.
      - w1ntermute 14y ago

mariuolo 14y ago

It doesn't work for me. Still saying it's a closed beta.

Tuna-Fish 14y ago
You need to update the client to fix that. Easiest way to do this is to evade the beta check (start steam with "steam steam://store"), then choose "steam/check for steam client updates" from the title menu.
- mariuolo 14y ago
  I did that. For some reason I also had to delete ~.steam and ~.local/share/Steam and start from scratch to be able to log in.

Shorel 14y ago

Just in time for my new Ubuntu install.

jhealy 14y ago

I'm not much of a gamer, but I thought I'd give this a go on my Debian amd64 system. However the package is i386 only, so it won't install. Are they planning to support amd64 too?