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The brand [GNU/Linux / Alternate OS] thread: Steam finally confirmed

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  • porcporc Registered User regular
    edited April 2012
    There was also a podcast from a few days ago in which Gabe Newell said he was working with a team on Linux.

    http://www.sevendaycooldown.com/site/episode001/

    (at around 10:55)

    porc on
  • FremFrem Registered User regular
    I hate to say it, but for the first few months, half of the Linux library is going to be Source games, and the other half is going to be Humble Bundle games. Not that that's a bad selection.

    Also, someone get Ryan Gordon a lifetime achievement medal.

  • SeeksSeeks Registered User regular
    Honestly, I wouldn't expect any extra non-'source' games for at least a year or two, other than those that have nothing to do with Steam. But it's a step in the right direction, at least, and I'm glad to have not wasted my money on stuff I've already bought.

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  • DritzDritz CanadaRegistered User regular
    I imagine they'll put some effort into making games that already have Linux versions available. For instance all the humble bumble games have Linux equivalents.

    There I was, 3DS: 2621-2671-9899 (Ekera), Wii U: LostCrescendo
  • augustaugust where you come from is gone Registered User regular
    Crunchbang Waldorf images are now available for testing.

  • dobilaydobilay Registered User regular
    I'm looking for a netbook to run some distribution of Linux on. Would it be cheaper to go for one that doesn't have Windows on it initially since I won't be using it anyway? Any recommendations for hardware or distributions?

  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    dobilay wrote: »
    I'm looking for a netbook to run some distribution of Linux on. Would it be cheaper to go for one that doesn't have Windows on it initially since I won't be using it anyway? Any recommendations for hardware or distributions?

    Probably not since they all have Windows on them.

  • EndEnd Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    There's been a few rare models you've been able to get with Linux or no OS, but if that's what you're going for, it's rare enough you're probably speccing more the default OS instead of the actual machine specs (not that you're getting a ton with a netbook, but still important I think)

    Most netbooks that don't have XP have windows 7 starter edition, which is the cheap version of windows 7, so you really probably wouldn't save much anyway.

    End on
    I wish that someway, somehow, that I could save every one of us
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  • Apothe0sisApothe0sis Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality? Registered User regular
    eeePCs used to have a linux derived thing running on them. Not sure if they still do.

    But there are netbooks which are about 280 dollars in Australia, and it's hard to get cheaper than that.

  • TomantaTomanta Registered User regular
    Apothe0sis wrote: »
    eeePCs used to have a linux derived thing running on them. Not sure if they still do.

    But there are netbooks which are about 280 dollars in Australia, and it's hard to get cheaper than that.

    The Linux that comes with eeePCs (at least that came with mine) is some crap vendor-specific version that was little more than a web browser.

    Don't think it was that much cheaper than the Windows version, either, but I can't remember. But if you are going Linux you are most likely going to be installing your preferred distro anyway, so what it comes with doesn't really matter.

  • dobilaydobilay Registered User regular
    Tomanta wrote: »
    Apothe0sis wrote: »
    eeePCs used to have a linux derived thing running on them. Not sure if they still do.

    But there are netbooks which are about 280 dollars in Australia, and it's hard to get cheaper than that.

    The Linux that comes with eeePCs (at least that came with mine) is some crap vendor-specific version that was little more than a web browser.

    Don't think it was that much cheaper than the Windows version, either, but I can't remember. But if you are going Linux you are most likely going to be installing your preferred distro anyway, so what it comes with doesn't really matter.

    Especially since the cost makes no difference I might as well just go with a Windows one. This seems pretty nice. Any suggestions for Linux distributions then? Ubuntu seems like the best idea but one of the variants might be a better idea.

  • UselesswarriorUselesswarrior Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    dobilay wrote: »
    Tomanta wrote: »
    Apothe0sis wrote: »
    eeePCs used to have a linux derived thing running on them. Not sure if they still do.

    But there are netbooks which are about 280 dollars in Australia, and it's hard to get cheaper than that.

    The Linux that comes with eeePCs (at least that came with mine) is some crap vendor-specific version that was little more than a web browser.

    Don't think it was that much cheaper than the Windows version, either, but I can't remember. But if you are going Linux you are most likely going to be installing your preferred distro anyway, so what it comes with doesn't really matter.

    Especially since the cost makes no difference I might as well just go with a Windows one. This seems pretty nice. Any suggestions for Linux distributions then? Ubuntu seems like the best idea but one of the variants might be a better idea.

    Ubuntu is great, if you want something a little more light weight I'd recommend Xubuntu.

    Actually, Unity as of 11.10 was kind of busted, I haven't had a chance to check out 12.04 yet, but Xubuntu's default Xfce environment might be a saner choice right now.

    Uselesswarrior on
    Hey I made a game, check it out @ http://ifallingrobot.com/. (Or don't, your call)
  • UselesswarriorUselesswarrior Registered User regular
    So I finally installed a Linux on my main desktop - Linux Mint 12.

    First impressions are, the full Gnome Shell is buggy as hell, but Gnome Classic works just fine.

    I'm really not a fan of this tendency to put ridiculous dependencies in for basic functions though - the Gnome "Aero snap" like functionality really shouldn't depend on pulling in a UI which needs a whole OpenGL stack to work. It's just not that complicated.

    EDIT: Next up, setting up a ZFS on Linux root filesystem so I can have easy Linux containers.

    This is pretty late, but I'd make sure not to use the user space implementation of ZFS under Linux because it is suppose to be slow.

    There are native versions in development, but I don't know how robust they are yet. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zfs#Linux.

    I've heard that it's better to go with FreeBSD if your interested in ZFS.

    Hey I made a game, check it out @ http://ifallingrobot.com/. (Or don't, your call)
  • DritzDritz CanadaRegistered User regular
    Even with a lightweight distro netbooks really suck. I'm not sure what is out now is any better but in the past I've found it to be a pain to get anything looking and working well on them.

    I've been using Ubuntu for about 4 months now! My former distro Pardus seems to have lost its support so after a brief stop at Chakra (bleh :P) I figured I'd go with the safe choice and have actually stuck with it for awhile. Whether gnome 2 or Unity in the past I've always found something annoying about Ubuntu but it seems to be working fine for me now.

    There I was, 3DS: 2621-2671-9899 (Ekera), Wii U: LostCrescendo
  • SeeksSeeks Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Ubuntu 12.04 isn't bad at all. I installed Debian on my cheap-ass laptop a while ago, and if I wasn't too lazy to switch, that's probably what I would have on it.

    Also, Gimp 2.8 is out now. This version introduces 'single-window' mode, AKA Photoshop mode.

    Seeks on
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  • EndEnd Registered User regular
    Seeks wrote: »
    Also, Gimp 2.8 is out now.

    whoa :o

    I wish that someway, somehow, that I could save every one of us
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  • augustaugust where you come from is gone Registered User regular
    The new Crunchbang is pretty swell.

  • zeenyzeeny Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    This seems pretty nice. Any suggestions for Linux distributions then? Ubuntu seems like the best idea but one of the variants might be a better idea.

    12.04 LTS with openbox/tint/thunar.

    zeeny on
  • citizen059citizen059 hello my name is citizen I'm from the InternetRegistered User regular
    I really want to like Ubuntu, but the wireless hasn't worked on my laptop since 10.10 - well it functions, but at less than dial-up speeds.

    It works fine in Windows, works fine with the old versions of Ubuntu, but since 11.04 it's been sloooooow. And I know I'm not the only one with the issue, because I've come across countless forum posts and tech tips in my search for a solution, none of which have worked for me at all.

  • electricitylikesmeelectricitylikesme Registered User regular
    So I finally installed a Linux on my main desktop - Linux Mint 12.

    First impressions are, the full Gnome Shell is buggy as hell, but Gnome Classic works just fine.

    I'm really not a fan of this tendency to put ridiculous dependencies in for basic functions though - the Gnome "Aero snap" like functionality really shouldn't depend on pulling in a UI which needs a whole OpenGL stack to work. It's just not that complicated.

    EDIT: Next up, setting up a ZFS on Linux root filesystem so I can have easy Linux containers.

    This is pretty late, but I'd make sure not to use the user space implementation of ZFS under Linux because it is suppose to be slow.

    There are native versions in development, but I don't know how robust they are yet. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zfs#Linux.

    I've heard that it's better to go with FreeBSD if your interested in ZFS.

    Yeah I'm running the native version now. It's at least as fast as my RAID6 volume was for anything I'd do. The only big hiccup so far is that zpool imports at boot get super-slow when you have 45,000 snapshots (though while you create them, it's fine).

    What's awesome is snapshot cloning zvol's - I had 2 network booting XBMC snapshots, and setup a third by cloning one. It's a 6 gig snapshot currently using about 12 megs, which is pretty awesome.

  • DratatooDratatoo Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    So I finally installed a Linux on my main desktop - Linux Mint 12.

    First impressions are, the full Gnome Shell is buggy as hell, but Gnome Classic works just fine.

    I'm really not a fan of this tendency to put ridiculous dependencies in for basic functions though - the Gnome "Aero snap" like functionality really shouldn't depend on pulling in a UI which needs a whole OpenGL stack to work. It's just not that complicated.

    EDIT: Next up, setting up a ZFS on Linux root filesystem so I can have easy Linux containers.

    Gnome 3.4 / GTK 3.4 - seem to solve must bugs and works much better with current AMD Catalyst drivers. But it breaks all sub GTK 3.4 themes... grr.

    Well, I had to create my own green version of the Ubuntu Unity GTK theme then, because the GTK 3 Sonar Theme wasn't working right. Why does Gnome 3 lack such basic features as setting my godam selection color?

    I am looking to forward to try Cinnamon in Mint 13. It seems to be the best compromise between gnome 3 features (love their version of "Mission Control") and a classic WM. The current version is build againt the GTK 3.0 libraries, so I can't download the one of the official Mint repositories.

    Here is a pic how my desktop looks currently:

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    Dratatoo on
  • AlectharAlecthar Alan Shore We're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered User regular
    Hey Linux folks, possibly ridiculous query:

    My Linux experience is basically limited to fiddling with Xubuntu on an old laptop I use to watch XBMC while I work on my actual PC, but I'd really like to get into the OS in a real way. Do any of you guys have recommendations on tutorials, materials, or other stuff that might be useful to someone who'd like to learn Linux from the bottom up?

  • Joe KJoe K Registered User regular
    zeeny wrote: »
    This seems pretty nice. Any suggestions for Linux distributions then? Ubuntu seems like the best idea but one of the variants might be a better idea.

    12.04 LTS with openbox/tint/thunar.

    dude, just go xubuntu... still add in the prettiness that you NEED...

    as for "learning linux", Ubuntu is a good place to start, but you need to be wary of ubuntu'isms, and if you want to go hardcore, try debian.

  • CojonesCojones Registered User regular
    What is the consensus around Ubuntu 12.04 amongst you guys?

    I was pretty skeptical about the direction Canonical were taking with Ubuntu 11.04, but now I'm pretty much in love with it.

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  • DritzDritz CanadaRegistered User regular
    It's the first Ubuntu release that I kinda like and have stuck with for quite awhile. Unity was a pain in the past since it was so unstable but most of the kinks have been worked out. I prefer it to Gnome 2 (which isn't huge praise since I never really liked Gnome) but I haven't given Gnome 3 a chance yet so I don't know how it compares there.

    There I was, 3DS: 2621-2671-9899 (Ekera), Wii U: LostCrescendo
  • FremFrem Registered User regular
    My single largest issue with Unity is that I can't get the pretty Expose view by ramming my mouse cursor into the upper left corner. The desktop switcher/picker is terribly clunky and clicky and draggy.

    Mostly, I want to use it like Gnome 3 plus the press-alt-and-type-stuff awesome bar. Alternatively, I want the awesome bar in Gnome 3.

  • SeeksSeeks Registered User regular
    So Lightworks (video editor) has released a Windows version, with Mac and Linux versions currently in development.

    Good to see that it isn't vaporware, at any rate.

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  • FalkenFalken Registered User regular
    Arch Linux or nothing.

    They have a beginners guide, and a great wiki.

    And unlike debian the users aren't weird!

  • iTunesIsEviliTunesIsEvil Cornfield? Cornfield.Registered User regular
    Falken wrote: »
    Arch Linux or nothing.

    They have a beginners guide, and a great wiki.

    And unlike debian the users aren't weird!

    I call shenanigans. Agree with the rest though. :P

  • Apothe0sisApothe0sis Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality? Registered User regular
    Falken wrote: »
    Arch Linux or nothing.

    They have a beginners guide, and a great wiki.

    And unlike debian the users aren't weird!

    I call shenanigans. Agree with the rest though. :P

    I double call shenanigans. But doesn't arch makemitneasier to do things like have a working but unsecured install?

  • iTunesIsEviliTunesIsEvil Cornfield? Cornfield.Registered User regular
    Maybe... it depends on what you mean by "unsecured". There really aren't any network-related services running after a clean install. Though, I admittedly almost always use the netinstall image and go for a minimal, bare-bones system to start off with in Arch.

  • FalkenFalken Registered User regular
    edited May 2012
    Well, weird is subjective. Debian users will yell READ THE DOCS and perma kickban you for asking a simple question.
    The docs in question being hidden on the terrible timewarp debian site, out of date, and about as clear as vax assembler.

    And Debian as an OS doesn't actually work, either. I'm convinced they leave it intentionally broken to keep the "normals" out. It's a crazy elitist's dream system.

    Whereas Arch is nice because while it's thought of as a "hardcore" disto, things work. You ask the package manager to install something, then it does. You follow the beginners guide, the instructions actually work.

    If someone was new to linux and had some free time to learn, I'd point them to Arch over anything else. They can take it step by step and never have a problem that can't be solved by reading a bit and trying again, and you don't need to know anything to start. It's the heathkit of operating systems.

    Falken on
  • SeeksSeeks Registered User regular
    I don't quite understand your deal with Debian. Granted, I do spend most of my time on Arch, but I've got big D on a laptop and it behaves just fine, no issues aside from Flash being slightly harder to install. And to solve that, we download Chrome.

    But that's not what I came here to post about.

    New Humble Indie Bundle is out, cross-platform as usual. Games include: Psychonauts, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Limbo, Superbrothers: Swords & Sorcery EP. If you pay higher than the average (roughly $8 at the moment), you also get Bastion.

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  • FalkenFalken Registered User regular
    Well, you're lucky you managed to get it on there. But your method of getting flash to work is to give up and change web browser.

    You might not be the best judge of if something "works fine".

  • SeeksSeeks Registered User regular
    edited June 2012
    Fair enough, though I'm still not quite sure what the issue is. I don't think the Debian team wants it to fill the niche that Ubuntu, Mint, etc. fill. Knowing this going in, I see no real problems with it.

    Anyway, about the newest HIB: A bit rocky on Linux support. These seem to be getting worse over time in that regard, even if the games themselves are still pretty great.

    Limbo: Not actually a Linux port. A Windows game with a crossover bottle - a broken one at that. I had to use my own install of wine to get it to work, after hunting down the 'real' .exe. If you're curious, it's in the game_install_dir/support/limbo/drive_c/Program\ Files/limbo/ directory.

    Psychonauts: Might be broken. More than half of the time I run it, it crashes with a floating point error whenever a movie comes on. Sometimes it doesn't though. Not quite sure what the deal is.

    Amnesia and Bastion: The games themselves seem to work, but their installers didn't for me, at least not at first. To fix, I had to run the installer with a custom target (it defaults to /tmp, which apparently only has 2GB of space on my system; the games need more than that). ./game_install --target /home/user/dir_with_tons_of_space seems to work.

    Sword and Sworcery EP: Installs and runs just fine.

    Edit: I should mention this is all on Arch X86_64. It might be easier on Ubuntu or something. In fact, this bundle comes with keys for the Ubuntu store.

    Seeks on
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  • FalkenFalken Registered User regular
    edited June 2012
    Well, the niche Arch fills isn't the one Ubuntu fills. Ubuntu is trying to be a linux for people who don't use linux. Arch is a linux for people who do use linux.

    Debian claims to just be a "free operating system"*

    The reality is Debian is a distro for elitists. They all learned unix in the bad old days of 68k suns. If you're new and you dare to not be as knowledgeable as they, then you are an outsider and will be shunned.

    That's why debian docs suck. "real" debian users don't need it, and don't want to help those that do. They're kicking the ladder down from above.

    Debian are probably the worst at this probably because they're one of the oldest. They're pretty much all *GNU people, with all the lack of social skills and foot skin eating that implies.


    *capital "FREEDOM". This is the distro that renamed firefox to "iceweasel" because the logo was copyrighted. If some closed source freeware was made that magically fixed every problem a computer could have existed, debian wouldn't have it because software freedom blah blah blah.

    I really, really hate the GNU people, RMS in particular. I hate that he tags GNU onto linux's name because most linux distros use some GNU components. ALL of them use X11, but we don't call it X11/Linux. He's just trying to use the "GNU/Linux" name to distract from the fact the GNU OS hasn't even reached beta after thirty years.

    Falken on
  • Apothe0sisApothe0sis Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality? Registered User regular
    edited June 2012
    I cut my teeth on Debian and I have no idea what you're talking about....

    But I've also only very rarely needed to ask anyone anything.

    I have broken my system a number of times because all the fun new stuff is in Unstable and doing an upgrade produces insanity.

    But on top of that - Debian's core philosophy is about everything being free, it's not really a huge deal that Firefox was forked into Iceweasel. It might not be a great idea but it isn't like it's inexplicable. Plus it'll just show up in non-free anyway.

    Apothe0sis on
  • Apothe0sisApothe0sis Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality? Registered User regular
    But the most important mechanism by which to evaluate distros is how appealing you find the logo.

    The spiral is cool.

  • FalkenFalken Registered User regular
    edited June 2012
    Apothe0sis wrote: »
    I cut my teeth on Debian and I have no idea what you're talking about....

    But I've also only very rarely needed to ask anyone anything.

    That's why. You should see debian forums. Apparently asking how to get font rendering like ubuntu uses is "rubbing the fact you use a different distro in everyone's faces".

    Bunch of nuts.
    Apothe0sis wrote: »
    But on top of that - Debian's core philosophy is about everything being free, it's not really a huge deal that Firefox was forked into Iceweasel. It might not be a great idea but it isn't like it's inexplicable. Plus it'll just show up in non-free anyway.

    But they're both free. Both open source even. It's just completely crazy that they went COPYRIGHTED LOGO CANT HAVE THAT NO SIR and fired up their bad photoshop clone to make a new logo instead.

    Falken on
  • FalkenFalken Registered User regular
    edited June 2012
    Hello double post, how did you happen on this supposedly modern forum software?

    Falken on
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