Break out your Tux for the Steam for Linux beta launch

Andrew Brush 6 Nov, 2012 at 5:49pm ET Article published in Gaming

Valve today announced another expansion of their digital distribution empire with a limited access launch of the Steam for Linux beta.

Although offering only a spartan 23 games in comparison to the 2000 available for Windows, the new Steam for Linux client does at least feature both the TV-and-gamepad friendly Big Picture mode and the venerable Team Fortress 2.

For the moment Valve are sticking with Ubuntu 12.04 as their platform of choice due to “an overwhelming majority of beta applicants” running Shuttleworth’s flavour of Debian. However, other distros should eventually get some love with the Steam for Linux team promising future support for addition distributions based on user feedback.

Already hailed as “a huge milestone in the development of PC gaming” by Valve president Gabe Newell and with a list of 60,000 beta participants from just the first week of applications, it seems Steam for Linux has the potential to make a real impact. Expect to hear more as the userbase widens over the course of the beta.

Comments

6 Nov 2012 ~ 6:11pm Cliff_Forster Where did Left 4 Dead 2 go? I thought that was the first Linux title Valve got up and running?
6 Nov 2012 ~ 6:20pm ardichoke This is Valve we are talking about. They don't release anything until they consider it ready. They probably don't consider it quite ready for distribution on Linux yet. They have said it will be there when Steam on Linux launches though (and it's still in beta right now) so I can only assume it is pretty stable. They'll probably hold off on the release until they put out Steam on Linux stable so they can have a double-whammy press release.
6 Nov 2012 ~ 8:19pm Garg Thanks for the link to the games list. The one in their press release wasn't working, and I've been wondering.

Now if I can just get some decent graphics drivers, I might in all seriousness not need Windows anymore.
6 Nov 2012 ~ 8:38pm ardichoke Both the nvidia and radeon proprietary drivers are quite solid these days. The Intel open source drivers (since Intel actually makes them) are awesome. The only thing that has any real issues are hybrid graphics switching on both platforms and video GPU acceleration on Radeon, though both issues are improving at a good pace.
7 Nov 2012 ~ 9:49am midga Will be trying this as soon as a package hits Entropy. I am excite.
7 Nov 2012 ~ 3:29pm Guppy The installer is here:
http://media.steampowered.com/client/installer/steam.deb

I haven't tried it yet, but apparently it won't run unless you're in the beta. Anyone here get in?
7 Nov 2012 ~ 4:23pm bjbroderick Didn't get in, but as a ubuntu user, I was interested in the lay of the land, as I've run steam through Wine (through clenched teeth). You can use the client, although I have not been able to run any games...

In order to enjoy the Valve on Linux Beta early users have been using the following steps…

From Terminal:

wget http://media.steampowered.com/client/installer/steam.deb
sudo dpkg -i steam.deb && sudo apt-get install -f
Then From Unity Dash:

Launch Steam App
Login to Steam
You will get a message saying you aren’t in Beta.
Close this.
If you are on amd64 architecture then you will also need to run “sudo apt-get install libjpeg-turbo8:i386 libcurl3gnutls:i386 libogg0:i386 libpixman-1-0:i386 libsdl1.2debian:i386 libtheora0:i386 libvorbis0a:i386 libvorbisenc2:i386 libvorbisfile3:i386 libasound2:i386 libc6:i386 libgcc1:i386 libstdc++6:i386 libx11-6:i386 libxau6:i386 libxcb1:i386 libxdmcp6:i386″ from terminal without the quotations.

Finally from terminal run “steam steam://open/games” without the quotations and you will experience Steam on Linux providing you have all the package dependencies and follow the above steps.
7 Nov 2012 ~ 4:25pm Thrax
From Terminal:

wget http://media.steampowered.com/client/installer/steam.deb
sudo dpkg -i steam.deb && sudo apt-get install -f
Then From Unity Dash:

Launch Steam App
Login to Steam
You will get a message saying you aren’t in Beta.
Close this.
If you are on amd64 architecture then you will also need to run “sudo apt-get install libjpeg-turbo8:i386 libcurl3gnutls:i386 libogg0:i386 libpixman-1-0:i386 libsdl1.2debian:i386 libtheora0:i386 libvorbis0a:i386 libvorbisenc2:i386 libvorbisfile3:i386 libasound2:i386 libc6:i386 libgcc1:i386 libstdc++6:i386 libx11-6:i386 libxau6:i386 libxcb1:i386 libxdmcp6:i386″ from terminal without the quotations.

Finally from terminal run “steam steam://open/games” without the quotations and you will experience Steam on Linux providing you have all the package dependencies and follow the above steps.
Linux is truly ready for the desktop.
7 Nov 2012 ~ 4:42pm bjbroderick

Ouch. Rebuked for flexing some terminal muscles. It was just hackery, I'm sure the finished product will just be a .deb
7 Nov 2012 ~ 5:35pm Tushon He's being trolly. You provided a solution for those who didn't get the easy way and I'm sure you are correct that it will be easily packaged and installed when it goes gold. Go home Thrax, you're a shill
7 Nov 2012 ~ 5:36pm Thrax Bro, buy my shit.
7 Nov 2012 ~ 7:53pm drasnor Fix my Radeon HD 7750 not working in Linux and I'll think about it.
9 Nov 2012 ~ 10:41am Bandrik I'm mainly interested in this because I'm expecting a TF2 tie-in giveaway for early adopters, like the OSX earbuds for Mac Steam adopters.

Is that sad?
9 Nov 2012 ~ 10:56am midga
I'm mainly interested in this because I'm expecting a TF2 tie-in giveaway for early adopters, like the OSX earbuds for Mac Steam adopters.

Is that sad?
Nope.

Man, I love this blog layout. It's so awesome.
10 Nov 2012 ~ 1:38pm Creeperbane2 Now TF2 gets a new ultra rare Linux themed item that will inflate in the mannconomy faster than a cheap balloon. I will inevitably then trade for it and use every ounce of ref metal I own in the process.
10 Nov 2012 ~ 6:03pm BobbyDigi
Now TF2 gets a new ultra rare Linux themed item that will inflate in the mannconomy faster than a cheap balloon. I will inevitably then trade for it and use every ounce of ref metal I own in the process.
Fun, isn't it?
11 Nov 2012 ~ 1:42pm Creeperbane2
Now TF2 gets a new ultra rare Linux themed item that will inflate in the mannconomy faster than a cheap balloon. I will inevitably then trade for it and use every ounce of ref metal I own in the process.
Fun, isn't it?

Yep
9 Dec 2012 ~ 10:25pm Garg Got my invite for the beta! Should get a chance to play with it next week.
9 Dec 2012 ~ 10:32pm ardichoke Oh look, I got a beta invite (despite already using the workaround to use the beta anyway)
17 Feb 2013 ~ 8:43am Creeperbane2 BUT PENGUIN! ALL HAIL THE BUT PENGUIN MSC ITEM!
18 Feb 2013 ~ 10:03am midga Is out. There is sale. Haven't looked at details to see if it's working on my distro.
18 Feb 2013 ~ 10:10am Cliff_Forster If you are running Ubuntu 12.10 it works. I got my tux belt accessory yesterday. I had some lag issues running TF2, but it likely had more to do with the system and the wireless connection I was using than the Linux install. I think I'm going to load it on my main rig tonight, see how it runs.
18 Feb 2013 ~ 10:19am Guppy I finally got around to replacing Ubuntu 12.04 with Mint 14. I was able to get TF2 running, but it's barely playable. At least I got my Tux.
18 Feb 2013 ~ 11:26am midga I run Sabayon. I might install ubnuttu just for the swag.
18 Feb 2013 ~ 11:52am ardichoke There are some nice sales going on for this. Also, there are packages for more than just Ubuntu (though Ubuntu is the only "officially" supported distro at this point in time). See: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Steam_under_Linux#Native_Steam_on_Linux

I've actually started to like Unity desktop, but from my understanding it tends to be a performance killer when it comes to games. Might want to try Xubuntu or Lubuntu if you want to use Steam on Linux. Xfce and LXDE should both offer better performance.
18 Feb 2013 ~ 12:42pm midga I mostly just want to start up TF2 and then format the flash drive I'm going to use. Thanks for the advice, though

--edit--

Huh. Apparently it's on Equo from back in December. I ran it just to see what would happen, and it installed and is now updating. I might not need to USBuntu after all.