Steam on Linux?
- Thread starter blizbiggy
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- Feb 18, 2008
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Sounds like you're ready to switch over to Linux as well. I'm currently looking at different Distros to get a good feel for which one I'd like to use first.
As for getting Steam to run, you need Wine. From everything I've read, Steam runs really well on Wine, but the same is not true for all the games that run on Steam. For getting Steam to run, check out the Steam page on the Wine App Database.
++++ Addendum ++++
You might also want to check out the Steam under Linux page on the Valve developer wiki.
As for getting Steam to run, you need Wine. From everything I've read, Steam runs really well on Wine, but the same is not true for all the games that run on Steam. For getting Steam to run, check out the Steam page on the Wine App Database.
++++ Addendum ++++
You might also want to check out the Steam under Linux page on the Valve developer wiki.
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Yeah, A couple of things though. One, all steam games ran in direct x 8.1 only for me(no hdr or anti ailiasing), and ran on medium settings, although on windows i could run all the steam games maxed out. 2nd, Steam community does not work well. It works at best ok out of game, but in game it does not work at all. If people try to talk to u in game, sometimes it causes the game to crash for me. But, I'm kinda new to ubuntu, and it sounds like you already have some experience.
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Looks like i should be good to go then. The only major downfall is "when" am i going to flip. but should be sometime soon because its almost time for another wipe and redo
Hey Bliz,
Here's a link to a how-to that I wrote on another forum:
http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=151354
If you're running Ubuntu 8.04 then the instructions are only slightly different. I might eventually post some updates in there. Basically the only difference is that instead of going through all of the nonsense of reconfiguring xorg.conf and blah blah blah, just go to System -> Administration -> Hardware drivers and enable the proprietary nvidia driver.
Ditto on the DirectX 8.1. I run all of my settings on high, but if I try to use DX9 it just runs too slowly to play. Also, the friends stuff *IS* hard to get working. You'll send messages and even though the other party will receive them, you can't tell that they were sent. You also cannot receives replies. If you fiddle with it long enough then eventually it starts working but it's a pain.
Also, shift+tab during the game just flat out doesn't work. The GameOverlayUI.exe never properly starts under Wine. Don't ask why. It's listed as a bug in the Wine appDB but for some reason, someone marked it as WONTFIX stating that it would be "impossible" to fix.
Here's a link to a how-to that I wrote on another forum:
http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=151354
If you're running Ubuntu 8.04 then the instructions are only slightly different. I might eventually post some updates in there. Basically the only difference is that instead of going through all of the nonsense of reconfiguring xorg.conf and blah blah blah, just go to System -> Administration -> Hardware drivers and enable the proprietary nvidia driver.
Ditto on the DirectX 8.1. I run all of my settings on high, but if I try to use DX9 it just runs too slowly to play. Also, the friends stuff *IS* hard to get working. You'll send messages and even though the other party will receive them, you can't tell that they were sent. You also cannot receives replies. If you fiddle with it long enough then eventually it starts working but it's a pain.
Also, shift+tab during the game just flat out doesn't work. The GameOverlayUI.exe never properly starts under Wine. Don't ask why. It's listed as a bug in the Wine appDB but for some reason, someone marked it as WONTFIX stating that it would be "impossible" to fix.
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blizbiggy, you might be interested in the Linux experiments that I'm doing right now. I'm trying to pick which Distro I want to use, so I'm blogging about my results. You can find my blog at gaarai.com.
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Sorry...can't help you there then. Their Linux support is probably better but years ago it was awful. Furthermore, I haven't used an ATI card since I tried a 9800 pro a few years back (in WinXP), spent about 8 hours trying different drivers (Omega drivers I think?), installing the ATI drivers then uninstalling "smartGART", installing the ATI drivers without "smartGART", flashing my motherboard BIOS, reformatting, etc. etc.
After 8 hours of trying but ultimately not getting it to work at 8x AGP (it always said 0x AGP no matter what I did) I took the card back to the store and got a refund. It will be a cold day in hell before I try ATI again.
I of course wrote all of this up and emailed ATI about it. Their response was "Did you try installing the drivers without SmartGART? You can obtain this from our website." ----- I didn't bother to reply but my answer was yes. Yes you jackass I did try that. That is why I wrote it in the email that I originally sent to you which you obviously did not bother to read completely. But am I bitter???
Yes I am!
In any case, the rest of the how-to should be completely relevant. As long as you figure out how to install the latest ATI drivers in Linux you should be set.
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- May 16, 2008
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Sorry...can't help you there then. Their Linux support is probably better but years ago it was awful. Furthermore, I haven't used an ATI card since I tried a 9800 pro a few years back (in WinXP), spent about 8 hours trying different drivers (Omega drivers I think?), installing the ATI drivers then uninstalling "smartGART", installing the ATI drivers without "smartGART", flashing my motherboard BIOS, reformatting, etc. etc.
After 8 hours of trying but ultimately not getting it to work at 8x AGP (it always said 0x AGP no matter what I did) I took the card back to the store and got a refund. It will be a cold day in hell before I try ATI again.
I of course wrote all of this up and emailed ATI about it. Their response was "Did you try installing the drivers without SmartGART? You can obtain this from our website." ----- I didn't bother to reply but my answer was yes. Yes you jackass I did try that. That is why I wrote it in the email that I originally sent to you which you obviously did not bother to read completely. But am I bitter???
Yes I am!
In any case, the rest of the how-to should be completely relevant. As long as you figure out how to install the latest ATI drivers in Linux you should be set.
well i had linux once before on this pc to try it out but flipped back to vista. It has support for them
and if they dont, there is drivers for it on ati website 
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If your going ubuntu, which has the best wine support for games ive found. Use wubi. It will just install ubuntu inside your windows drive no reformating.
As to steam source based games, etc.
When i had a 8600gts. Almost every single steam game i had worked pretty much flawlessly under ubuntu. HL*, Call of duty 2, tf2, counterstrike, etc. Comunity was hit and miss. As stated.
However i cant get these things to work since i upgraded to an 9600gt. Either way though its not that hard too do, there are some great guides out there, and it never hurts to try.
As to steam source based games, etc.
When i had a 8600gts. Almost every single steam game i had worked pretty much flawlessly under ubuntu. HL*, Call of duty 2, tf2, counterstrike, etc. Comunity was hit and miss. As stated.
However i cant get these things to work since i upgraded to an 9600gt. Either way though its not that hard too do, there are some great guides out there, and it never hurts to try.
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I've heard of Wubi, did it work well for you? I really don't want to mess my Windows XP up.
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I've been on and off wubi. Found it easier to just leave my xp partition for gaming. Don't get me wrong, i am a rather experienced linux user ~5 years. Before i got my 9600gt, i was running linux exclusively.
As to wubi im using it on and off, most of the tools im using to work on my map are only work as i need in windows. My dad ran wubi, however and had no problems with it and rather liked it. It is dead simple. But yes it works, and works well. If you dont like it you can uninstall it really easy.
As to wubi im using it on and off, most of the tools im using to work on my map are only work as i need in windows. My dad ran wubi, however and had no problems with it and rather liked it. It is dead simple. But yes it works, and works well. If you dont like it you can uninstall it really easy.
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i tried out the wubi and its cool. Nice thing about it is that you can try it out easily without screwing up anything on the partition. just install the installer, restart and boot as linux, let it finish, and your good to go. Works like a charm. I definatly suggest using wubi if you have no idea about linux and just wanna try it. I'm going to play around with it alot more now that i dont have to worry about it as much
