I'm starting to feel old. I remember a time before Steam for Linux, back in the dark days even before the first set of Humble Indie Bundles, it's truly crazy how far Linux has come overall as a platform for gaming. 10 years ago today, Steam for Linux left Beta and released officially and what a difference it made!
Many issues along the way, a number of missteps from Valve directly too (hello Steam Machines), but we got there in the end didn't we? Linux Gaming is no longer a thing that people will constantly laugh about. It's here, it's a thing and many people now with a Steam Deck likely don't even realise they're using Linux — that's just how good it can be.
Life changing of course for me too, GamingOnLinux is my job and 99% of that is thanks to Valve's effort.
I'm not going to rehash everything, since I've gone over many milestones before like my previous article Faster Zombies to Steam Deck: The History of Valve and Linux Gaming from 2021, which is worth a read if you're somewhat new to Linux gaming (and Steam Deck!).
Happy 10 years, Steam for Linux! Cheers! Here's to the next 10 and many more.
What do you expect over the next 10 years and what have been your favourite moments?
Quoting: 1xokI only found out about it by chance at the end of 2014. Before that, I hadn't played commercial games for over 15 years. I've been using Linux since the mid-90s and at some point I got tired of the dual boot installation. It was a weird feeling for me at first to pay for a game. My first game was Tropico 5, which I even bought at full price. I can still remember hovering over the buy button for a while, wondering whether I should really do it.
I had a kind of similar experience. Didn't start Linux quite as early; I dunno, around 2000 or slightly before. Somewhere in there I came to the conclusion that Linux on the desktop wouldn't become a thing until there were games, so I started following GoL even though I didn't actually play computer games much. Then a year or two after I started paying attention at GoL, suddenly there was Steam on Linux; I didn't really understand at a gut level how important that would be because I knew nothing about Steam. But it was only once Steam was available that I started actually buying games (other than a couple of Loki ones way back). And it definitely felt weird the first time or two.
Then I shunned Proton at first in 2018. Bollocks, thought I, Wine is an abomination. Native Linux or GFY :-)
(Of course things are different now... I don't even have a Windows install anymore except for a Windows 7 qemu VM)
Happy Birthday, Steam.
StoneColdSpider Feb 14, 2023
Quotewhat have been your favourite moments?Finally a truly viable way to get away from Windows for gamers...... Proton has been a godsend as well.....
Kuduzkehpan Feb 14, 2023
Now, to celebrate with (no lie) cake and a (Steam-ing) cup of tea!
Dana Souly Feb 14, 2023
Quoting: grigiWhom here remembers happypenguin.org ?Oh yes, that was my favorite website in my young days.
That was awesome some 15 years ago...
We need an emoji with beard.
Quotehello Steam Machines
Hello from a Steam Machine :D
Still working after all these years but known with Linux instead of the preinstalled Windows... and still waiting for Valve OS 3.0 to try it out :D
Happy birthday Steam on Linux.
Quoting: drlambSame, though I'll always be fond of the hours spent tinkering in PlayOnLinux/Lutris whilst digging through the WineHQ forums trying to get the latest cracked games working. Essentially my middle/high school experience.
Wolfenstein (2009) sticks out in my mind.
However actually some cracks still required (still with gog games) specially when you need modify exe, example if you need modify aspect ratio in exe
this is needed in my case for change aspect ratio, recently works with bulletstorm first version (cracked exe), inversion (cracked exe) if you try modify steam exe game dont run show steam error 51, personally think this error appear if steam check exe
however in other steam games works case dragon ball xenoverse, god eater resurrection, mirrors edge, ori and the blind forest and maybe others
Last edited by mrdeathjr on 14 February 2023 at 10:54 pm UTC
Quoting: 1xokMy first game was Tropico 5, which I even bought at full price. I can still remember hovering over the buy button for a while, wondering whether I should really do it.
Love Tropico 5 on Linux. Great performance too. Tropico 6 is also great especially since the base game has most of what you get in 5 but with dlcs.
Good Linux ports are rare but they do happen. dxvk makes up for the rest.
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