Windows 10 Radeon Software vs. AMDGPU On Ubuntu Linux

[Amarildo]

Yeah thanks, but I know about all the solutions, just seems unnecessary and scares away linux noobs which is something we DON'T want (Linux needs more gamers!)

I agree

I will contact VALVe and say that Catalyst has already started dying and that they should enable some form of automatic driver/library detection. But since they live in the past in many ways and they operate withing "VALVe time" limits, I don't think that will happen so soon (hopefully, it will).

The next thing in my to-do list is contact Canonical developers and point out that, for the 16.04 release, they should add some sort of post-install script to add the command above in how Steam launches.

You see, this is a thing that distro developers could be doing since 2012. Steam ships those old libraries and they're Ubuntu 12.04 compatible, right? So there's no reason to use those libraries in post 2012 distros unless they don't have those libraries at all.

[theriddick]

Yeah thanks, but I know about all the solutions, just seems unnecessary and scares away linux noobs which is something we DON'T want (Linux needs more gamers!)

[Amarildo]

So majority of people must get broken steam after they install it because it FORCES itself to run these bad OLD libraries. Seems rather piss poor solution if you ask me!

Most people run proprietary NVIDIA/AMD drivers, so they won't face problems I guess.

But yeah, I use Radeon and it pisses me off that Steam doesn't detect my libraries

There are two solutions. The first is more aggressive, while the second isn't.

find ~/.steam/root/ \( -name "libgcc_s.so*" -o -name "libstdc++.so*" -o -name "libxcb.so*" \) -print -delete

This will delete those libraries and force Steam to use the system-wide ones.

The next solution is way less aggressive and instead points Steam to the right libraries:

LD_PRELOAD='/usr/$LIB/libstdc++.so.6 /usr/$LIB/libgcc_s.so.1 /usr/$LIB/libxcb.so.1 /usr/$LIB/libasound.so.2 '${LD_PRELOAD} steam

To use the solution above, all you need to do is to edit the launcher or the steam.desktop file in ~./share/applications.

[theriddick]

So majority of people must get broken steam after they install it because it FORCES itself to run these bad OLD libraries. Seems rather piss poor solution if you ask me!

[Amarildo]

Yes, but the first download is, well, only needed the first time Steam launches.

About the older libraries: they're there to make sure most distros can run Steam regardless of the libraries the host OS has (Steam's libraries are not installed system-wide, they're only used by Steam). So they're a good thing for the moment, they enable all (fragmented) distros to use Steam and they are only necessary because there are too many distros and Linux lacks standards (libraries, package format, etc).

[duby229]

I think the main thing people complain about with steam is the need to download/install all these 32bit libraries. THEN there is the issue of steam HOLDING old outdated 32bit libraries which it tries to use first, wouldn't take much for them to check the system for updated libraries before attempting to use their own!

The reason is that there is no possible way Valve could test all of those possible configurations. And also the steam runtime is pretty old now so the delta increases all the time. I'm pretty sure right now Valves advice is to develop against Ubuntu releases. But if so then they should do that themselves as well and keep the runtime appropriate.

[theriddick]

I think the main thing people complain about with steam is the need to download/install all these 32bit libraries. THEN there is the issue of steam HOLDING old outdated 32bit libraries which it tries to use first, wouldn't take much for them to check the system for updated libraries before attempting to use their own!

[Amarildo]

Here's the thing about it though, if there is any chance that your application can require more than 4GB on it 's main thread then it should be 64bits. Otherwise 32bits is probably a good idea.

Of course, but Steam doesn't force games to run at 32-bit just because the client itself is 32-bit. You can run Crysis in 64-bit via Steam. X-Plane 10 runs at 64-bit via Steam. Steam itself has no saying on whether the game will or will not run as 64-bit, that's totally up to the game developers

[theriddick]

Thanks, I would like to see some more 'real world' benchmarks however, such as games that run on windows and linux.

Also is it ok to install the AMDGPU-PRO driver on Ubuntu 16.04 with kernel 4.4? Assuming there is a magic trick to it.

EDIT: I know I've asked this before, but didn't get a clear answer. I know it can be done, but how is the question. Don't want to brick my system! I run a 390x...

[duby229]

Here's the thing about it though, if there is any chance that your application can require more than 4GB on it 's main thread then it should be 64bits. Otherwise 32bits is probably a good idea.

EDIT: I recognize the additional registers and additional ISA extensions too. So it depends on benchmarks i guess in the end as to which is better for which applications.