Native Linux Client next?
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| twickline Mar 10, 2010 8:41 AM EDT |
What's interesting is to speculate if the past rumors of a native Linux Steam Client are about to come true. If all the games run on Mac via OpenGL then a port to Linux wouldn't be all that difficult. Here is one of the rumor sources : http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=steam_con... Anyone here have any thoughts on a Linux port being next? Cheers, Tom |
| techiem2 Mar 10, 2010 8:48 AM EDT |
There have been rumors of a Linux client for several years now.
If they port it to Mac, that would be one step in the right direction (porting to a *nix based system).
As I understand it, a good portion of Steam stuff generally works rather well under Wine/etc. (I haven't tried myself recently) as it is, so a native client would probably run quite well. I know it would make those of us who keep Windows around for gaming quite happy, as that would open up more games we wouldn't have to boot to that annoying Windows install to play. |
| jacog Mar 10, 2010 8:50 AM EDT |
They did post a job for a Linux developer a while back, but it was unclear what this person would be doing there. It is possible, and indeed they'd hit gold if they do so. Linux users (gamers in particular) might make up a small portion of their overall market, but Valve would then end up being the so-called big fish in the small pond. |
| tharik Mar 10, 2010 2:31 PM EDT |
I for one hope they port it to Linux. I currently have to dual boot, just so my 7 year old can play Sid Meyers train. I will not purchase any other steam games until I can run them native on Linux. Other games are already native on Linux and more are sure to come along. If they do not need us, we do not need them! |
| justintime Mar 10, 2010 6:01 PM EDT |
I interviewed at Valve to work on a Steam port to Linux (~2 years or so ago), but took another job instead. I'm not 100% sure, but from what I gathered I would have been working on the Linux port alone. Also keep in mind that even once Steam itself is ported, the game studios would still have to port their games to Linux (and many of them use DirectX). So I'd imagine that the selection of games available on Linux would be limited quite a bit (same probably holds true for Mac as well, but game studios would probably be more willing to do Mac ports). |
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