it's Official: Valve aren't releasing Steam for Linux !

[kevinbenko]

A quick response to those who have mentioned closed-source binaries in Linux.

Three words:

Proprietary Nvidia Drivers

If you've got an Nvidia card (and face it, they are better than ATI and Intel) then you are probably running the proprietary driver. The open-source driver doesn't even handle Xscreensaver GLX screensavers very well....

[BlackStar]

Steam is a trojan horse for evil, binary DRM stuff to enter our Free GNU/Linux ecosystem. At long last!

I, for one, can't wait for this.

[Dragonlord]

A quick response to those who have mentioned closed-source binaries in Linux.

Three words:

Proprietary Nvidia Drivers

If you've got an Nvidia card (and face it, they are better than ATI and Intel) then you are probably running the proprietary driver. The open-source driver doesn't even handle Xscreensaver GLX screensavers very well....

Nope. nVidia cards are not better than the ATI ones. Maybe slightly better but the price difference is way larger than any potential performance difference. I for myself prefer developing with ATI cards. At last if it runs there it usually runs also on nVidia but not necessarily vice versa.

[xpander]

i dont see any confirmation in this thread that its not coming to linux.
But also i dont see Any confirmation that its coming!

[the_real_bill]

i dont see any confirmation in this thread that its not coming to linux.
But also i dont see Any confirmation that its coming!

It's Logic. It's not up to me to disprove that it isn't coming to Linux, it's up to Phronix to prove that it is coming to Linux. It's rational to presume it ain't coming, given the lack of evidence to suggest otherwise.

[the_real_bill]

Nope. nVidia cards are not better than the ATI ones. Maybe slightly better but the price difference is way larger than any potential performance difference. I for myself prefer developing with ATI cards. At last if it runs there it usually runs also on nVidia but not necessarily vice versa.

I really like the concept behind Ati cards, but I am not sure that I really want to jump ship as the binary nvidia drivers have been working fine on my FreeBSD workstation. I would NEVER use blob drivers on a server, but the performance gains/stability of the blob outweigh ATI's questionable Linux support. Even Carmack isn't too keen about Nvidia on Linux so it seems.

[the_real_bill]

the_real_bill, I am disappoint.

Must be the heat wave. Forgiven.

http://i619.photobucket.com/albums/tt276/jediscience/Photo%20Edits/son1az5.jpg

[Naib]

i dont see any confirmation in this thread that its not coming to linux.
But also i dont see Any confirmation that its coming!

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=1313-QIPD-5381

There are no plans to create a native Linux Steam Client at this time.
Although the Steam Client is not available for Linux, there is a native Linux version of the Half-Life Dedicated Server available.

hows that?

[Dragonlord]

Since server binaries in general are text-mode only and require only the game logic. Clients though needs the entire show and that's a different problem...

[1Samildanach]

I saw a thread on /g/ complaining about steam on linux. They contend that steam has no place in a FOSS environment. Clearly, they're just ungrateful and unreasonable idealists. It's all about accepting linux as a platform, steam would be a big step towards ending microsoft's choke-hold on the gaming market. Any comments?

LGP has a blog post on the place of CSS, OSS, FOSS, etc. in the world of computer games. What it boils down to is: FOSS has its place, but closed-source does too.

No, steam would NOT do this. The best it can do is bringing DRM and other crap to Linux but it won't help Linux as a gaming platform. It's closed, it's riddled with aggressive stuff and is not open to anybody. If you want something to bring Linux forward then Desura please. Granted it's most probably closed source too but it is not DRM riddled, has no aggressive stuff on board and is open to the people.

The important thing with Steam is that what DRM they have implemented has minimal impact on users (doesn't screw with your hardware, for one thing), and Steam adds to what the user gets out of the deal. The sales they have help a lot, too - when you're spending less than 5, 10US$ on a game, it definitely reducing any worry about losing access to it. Sure, the way its set up you'd likely lose the whole lot at once... but how often does that actually happen, percentage wise?

DRM is not automatically evil. It can be implemented in very, very nasty ways, but so can explosives. There's a not of stuff related to 'intellectual property' which I don't agree with/like, but it is important to realise that being completely uncompromising just doesn't work in the real world. There are far more important things to fight than a relatively benign form of DRM.

And given that most games distributed by Steam are also available by other means, it really isn't a big problem. Storm in a teacup, basically.



Also, I'd like to point out (as plenty of people no doubt have) that the whole GNU/Linux port of Steam is not official at this point. Valve has not stated that it will exist. And any work they're doing on it is probably running on Valve-Time, anyway.