By now you've probably heard either through us in our previous article or elsewhere that Valve are cooking something up to help Linux gaming even further. We have an idea on what one part of it is.
Valve already do quite a lot. There's the Steam Play Proton compatibility layer, the new container runtime feature to have Linux games both natively supported and Windows games in Proton run through a contained system to ensure compatibility, their work on Mesa drivers and much more.
In Valve's review of Steam in 2020 that we covered in the link above, one thing caught our eye and has been gaining attention. Valve mentioned for 2021 they will be "putting together new ways for prospective users to get into Linux gaming and experience these improvements" so what exactly does that mean? Well, a part of that might have already been suggested directly.
Back in November 2019, the open source consulting firm Collabora presented an overview of the work they have been doing funded by Valve. Towards the end of the talk they mentioned ongoing work towards foolproof and fast instant upgrades of Linux systems. Collabora mentioned it could work for specialised systems like consoles or other systems where you don't expect users to be highly technical. Leading into that, a Valve developer posted on Reddit to clarify more details around what Collabora were talking about:
The image-based updater work is part of a set of efforts to attempt to improve the experience of trying out Linux on a normal PC with live USB media, and instantly updating said media from the other OS without losing user data. There's no "locking down" involved, as it can easily be disabled by the user to fall back to the normal package manager.
Pierre-Loup Griffais, Valve
Linux has long been able to run directly from USB drives but what about the next stage of this evolution? That appears to be what Valve are hinting at in their 2020 review blog post.
Imagine if you will for a moment: a SteamOS-style USB stick, that's highly optimized for Linux gaming, with drivers ready to go and Steam pre-configured with everything it needs all direct from Valve and also this special update system to ensure it keeps on working. Now add in some pre-configured persistence so your games, files and so on stay on it and that sure sounds like a new way for users to get into and experience Linux gaming doesn't it? Steam Machines didn't work, so a way to properly experience Linux gaming in full on hardware people already own? That could certainly work.
That could be a much more interesting way to actually market and advertise Linux gaming too. It's not enough to have Linux distributions be fast and stable, and to have plenty of games available to play otherwise we would already be in a better position as a platform. An absolute game changer? No, but another very useful tool in the shed. The conversation changes with such an easy to use way to get involved. Burn it to a USB stick, load it on your PC and login to Steam, download a game and away you go — you're now gaming on Linux.
Not just for gamers though, this could be a pretty valuable tool for developers to test their games on Linux too. If it enables developers to quickly boot up a drive with Linux on, that's up to date and works with games, that's going to make things a lot easier in the long run from all sides.
USB drives have been ridiculously cost effective in the last few years too, along with plenty of USB3 options now existing for the speed and you can get quite a lot of storage on them so it would be a pretty fascinating move.
Over to you in the comments, what are your thoughts?
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: Purple Library GuySo if this USB thing is oriented towards, and pushed as, a pure gaming experience it's not gonna tempt a lot of Windows users--they already have that, it's the general purpose OS experience that's a PITA.One way I can see it being sold is that you can take your games with you. Back in the days of physical media, you could go to a friend's house and take your games along. Not so easy nowadays. (Sure, it's theoretically possible, if you log in to your account and wait to download them, but unless your friend has a fat connection it's hardly practical.) Then again, I'm not sure enough people want to do that.
And it also assumes that you're allowed to visit peoples' houses.
Quoting: Corben... there is always that one person, that insists of playing this one game which doesn't work... and thus concluding for everybody: Linux is not for gaming
Yeah, and I totally agree, but I think that one person is pretty much a universal constant, the 'no' in a stadium full of 'yes's. I say: fuck that person.
Last edited by Nanobang on 18 January 2021 at 4:29 pm UTC
Quoting: DuncBack in the days of physical media, you could go to a friend's house and take your games along. Not so easy nowadays. (Sure, it's theoretically possible, if you log in to your account and wait to download them, but unless your friend has a fat connection it's hardly practical.)There’s also Steam Remote Play, where you just need to leave your home computer running with Steam open and log into your account on your friend’s computer :)
we still need an clear advantage of using linux.
like an big performance improvment in many games, an big exclusive game or some exclusive new features like the raytracing one.
Comandante Ñoñardo Jan 18, 2021
Quoting: MohandevirIs there anyone that can confirm?
Just got to the Blasphemous Steam store page and saw the ProtonDB rating of the game... I'm not even logged into my Steam account. Is this a new Steam Store feature? Did I do something to my browser (Firefox) that I don't remember?
https://store.steampowered.com/app/774361/Blasphemous/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/379720/DOOM/
Sorry if I just came back from hibernation under a rock...
Is a Firefox complement that you have installed.
Mohandevir Jan 18, 2021
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoQuoting: MohandevirIs there anyone that can confirm?
Just got to the Blasphemous Steam store page and saw the ProtonDB rating of the game... I'm not even logged into my Steam account. Is this a new Steam Store feature? Did I do something to my browser (Firefox) that I don't remember?
https://store.steampowered.com/app/774361/Blasphemous/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/379720/DOOM/
Sorry if I just came back from hibernation under a rock...
Is a Firefox complement that you have installed.
Yeah... Probably got automatically synced to my Firefox account. I tought I had to log into my Steam account to activate it, but no. And I can't find the culprit.
It's probably just the fact that I rarely, if ever, use my web browser to access Steam store pages. Forgot about that plugin.
Sorry!
Last edited by Mohandevir on 18 January 2021 at 5:34 pm UTC
no_information_here Jan 18, 2021
Quoting: robredzIf you read the announcement, it has auto-updating of the OS on the USB. It has been a while since I have used a live-distro, but I don't remember any kind of serious update feature. This would be very important for devs.Quoting: no_information_hereTGhere are plenty of USB distro's out there, Puppy is one, but one set up for gaming and game devs to use would be goodQuoteNot just for gamers though, this could be a pretty valuable tool for developers to test their games too.I think this is the real reason. I have seen a number of small devs post comments like "I don't have a linux machine" in answer to questions about porting games (or fixing the games they already ported). If it is super easy to plug in a USB drive and have an instant test environment, it would make many of those excuses go away.
I still don't know why everyone is mocking the USB idea as if it is aimed at gamers. I think that is going to be a side audience to the real target: indie developers who are scared to install a linux partition.
Quoting: Purple Library GuyAnd it also assumes that you're allowed to visit peoples' houses.
This also makes me cry!
Quoting: no_information_here"I don't have a Linux system"Quoting: robredzIf you read the announcement, it has auto-updating of the OS on the USB. It has been a while since I have used a live-distro, but I don't remember any kind of serious update feature. This would be very important for devs.Quoting: no_information_hereTGhere are plenty of USB distro's out there, Puppy is one, but one set up for gaming and game devs to use would be goodQuoteNot just for gamers though, this could be a pretty valuable tool for developers to test their games too.I think this is the real reason. I have seen a number of small devs post comments like "I don't have a linux machine" in answer to questions about porting games (or fixing the games they already ported). If it is super easy to plug in a USB drive and have an instant test environment, it would make many of those excuses go away.
I still don't know why everyone is mocking the USB idea as if it is aimed at gamers. I think that is going to be a side audience to the real target: indie developers who are scared to install a linux partition.
"Burn this, install the game, test away"
Certainly would make things easier.
rustybroomhandle Jan 19, 2021
Quoting: GuestHas Valve actually been helping Linux gaming though, or has it helped mainly themselves and Microsoft?
Remember when we got big titles such as Metro Last Light, Bioshock Infinite, and Mad Max? Where are those titles now days? Even Serious Sam 4 from the developer who brought us the first Steam game for Linux, Serious Sam 3, has been canned for Linux with them saying there are no plans for Linux at this time.
Helping to get Windows games running on Linux has only made more developers choose Windows. While I'd never pay a developer for a Windows game, especially one that comes with zero support for and testing on Linux, what else could be the cause of games coming to Linux declining? The continuing monopolization of developers (like Valve) by Microsoft? A decline in gaming overall? You would think a pandemic is the perfect time to play more games if ever there was a time.
No, what makes developers ditch Linux is that there is no money in it. Simple as that.
I would love a world where Linux native is first class (especially since publishers are already spending money on Stadia) but before we can have that, the size of the market must be bigger first. And it will not get bigger if users cannot play their 15 year old Steam libraries on Linux if they switch over.
Last edited by rustybroomhandle on 19 January 2021 at 8:15 am UTC
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