s&box is the upcoming game from Facepunch Studios that acts as a sequel to Garry's Mod although it won't actually be Garry's Mod 2. Recently Facepunch were asked about Linux support since it uses Valve's Source 2 game engine.
Speaking on the GitHub request, as expected the idea was shot down by Garry Newman directly who said:
No plans to support Linux natively. While the deck is good to support - I've tested it and it works great. Could it run better if it was native and using vulkan? Probably. But it would also run better if you format it and install Windows on it too.
Any support for Linux outside of it running on the deck is incidental, it isn't supported officially.
So it's going to entirely rely on Steam Play Proton for the Steam Deck (like most other major games will) and it won't be supported in any way on Linux outside of being used on the Steam Deck.
It's not exactly a shock to know, considering Garry's previous comments about supporting Linux directly, along with the removal of the native version of Rust (which should work in Proton in future). The question though: is it a problem that they won't support it outside the Steam Deck? No. Well, not unless Valve support Proton differently than they do right now it shouldn't actually be a problem. Proton should work the same on the Steam Deck as it does for normal Linux distributions right now.
Quoting: 1xokInstalling Windows on it will hardly make it better. With a bit of luck, AMD and Valve will have the drivers for Windows 11 ready by December. But I wouldn't expect a leap in performance from this alternative. W11 doesn't even officially support devices with screens smaller than 9 inches. To make a long story short: The Steam Deck supports Windows so that Valve can tick the "It's a PC" checkbox.That gave me a funny thought, how long until someone installs macOS on a Deck for the sheer novelty?
Quoting: PhiladelphusThat gave me a funny thought, how long until someone installs macOS on a Deck for the sheer novelty?Deckintosh.
Quoting: CatKillerQuoting: PhiladelphusThat gave me a funny thought, how long until someone installs macOS on a Deck for the sheer novelty?Deckintosh.
There's a
Quoting: PublicNuisanceBut I was assured that the Steam Deck would usher in a new era of Linux gaming ! Once again the branch of reality snaps back into the face of some people. When many of the customers no longer care about native why should the developers ?
I think a lot more people are going to install windows on it than some people here think (valve have been working with Microsoft to get windows11 working on the Deck apparently). But as people have said multiple times if even 50% of deck users don't install windows then that will be hundreds of thousands or eventually millions of new Linux users by proxy if they keep releasing new decks. That will bring in many optimizations & support for hardware and software on Linux.
Steam deck aside, not everyone in the Linux sphere considers proton to be the be all and end all of Linux gaming. But Proton has ushered in a new era of 'gaming-on-top-of-linux' already. It may not be 'pure enough' to FOSS ideals but it's not totally closed off either and is still heavily based on FOSS software.You can argue that windows games on Linux are not technically FOSS gaming at all if you want but then you can say the very same thing for using the steam client to begin with. When you use Linux exclusively you accept a compromise. Be that less "AAA" software, non existent,reduced or less fully featured hardware support or choosing to run closed source binary drivers, not to mention wrappers/emulation.
It's all about striking a balance but it's still way better than using windows.
Last edited by Lofty on 14 August 2021 at 3:20 pm UTC
QuoteAny support for Linux outside of it running on the deck is incidental, it isn't supported officially.
Wow, that is a negative statement! He does not even consider it "nice to have" or "it is nice for the Linux community if it works" - no it is an incident if it works?
I mean, that is like:"shit, it works for the Linux people!"
Or is this my misunderstanding because of my non native speaker skills?
Quoting: einherjarQuoteAny support for Linux outside of it running on the deck is incidental, it isn't supported officially.
Wow, that is a negative statement! He does not even consider it "nice to have" or "it is nice for the Linux community if it works" - no it is an incident if it works?
I mean, that is like:"shit, it works for the Linux people!"
Or is this my misunderstanding because of my non native speaker skills?
What he's saying is: "We do not intend for it to work on Linux and if it does it's a coincidence"
Or to put another way " We will not do anything to make it work on Linux and if it does, it's a coincidence"
Further, it infers no garuntee that Linux won't be broken by updates.
While the words aren't generally considered kind. It is very honest and direct. Is likely the same thoughts of most devs on Steam. I mean how many new big name releases coming out for Steam Deck have been announced with native support?
If SD is going to be a success, it's mainly because proton will be a success, I think. I'm not convinced that will turn into more native releases or better hardware support.
Quoting: denyasisQuoting: einherjarQuoteAny support for Linux outside of it running on the deck is incidental, it isn't supported officially.
Wow, that is a negative statement! He does not even consider it "nice to have" or "it is nice for the Linux community if it works" - no it is an incident if it works?
I mean, that is like:"shit, it works for the Linux people!"
Or is this my misunderstanding because of my non native speaker skills?
What he's saying is: "We do not intend for it to work on Linux and if it does it's a coincidence"
Or to put another way " We will not do anything to make it work on Linux and if it does, it's a coincidence"
Further, it infers no garuntee that Linux won't be broken by updates.
While the words aren't generally considered kind. It is very honest and direct. Is likely the same thoughts of most devs on Steam. I mean how many new big name releases coming out for Steam Deck have been announced with native support?
If SD is going to be a success, it's mainly because proton will be a success, I think. I'm not convinced that will turn into more native releases or better hardware support.
Ok,that was a misunderstanding from my side then. I considered he sees it as a kind of "Incident", which is an unwanted behavior in my thinking. If we have an Incident in our company, we mean something is faulty.
Quoting: einherjarIf we have an Incident in our company, we mean something is faulty.In that context it's a euphemism to avoid assigning blame: it's not anybody's fault, it's an incident.
Quoting: CatKillerassigning blame: it's not anybody's fault, it's an incidentWhere I'm from, we'd use the term "accident" for that. That implies it wasn't someone's fault.
That said, both terms allow one to assign blame. If you do assign blame, Accident implies it wasn't intentional. "I didn't mean to, it was an accident!" An Incident can be an accident, but it can also be an intentional act. "He caused an incident at work and got suspended!"
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