Page 2 of 2

Re: Valve's Gabe Newell Talks Linux Steam Client, Source Eng

Posted: Wed Jul 18, 2012 10:04 pm
by destroy.all.monsters
This is all very good news. I've been eyeing PC-BSD and OpenIndiana for some time - and unless there's some real issue with zfs I'm unaware of I'd think that Steam would work on them as well.

Re: Valve's Gabe Newell Talks Linux Steam Client, Source Eng

Posted: Fri Jul 27, 2012 6:36 pm
by cheesyking
Bensam123 wrote:
Try running or playing L4D2 on your android phone. They ported the source engine to Nix, not a app store. You can spin appstore all you want, but the source engine and source games aren't something you'd find on a mobile device or a mobile device is capable of running at any playable rate.


I was thinking about this and actually I'm not at all sure some tablet/phone hardware isn't already up to the job! Minimum system requirements for L4D2 are a P4 3GHz 1GB ram and GF6600 or ATI X800, not exactly demanding especially if you only have to make it look good on a 4" or 10" screen. You could turn down all the detail settings and render in a really low res and it would still look great.

I think I read somewhere that Valve's goal is to make the source engine a write once run anywhere kind of deal and they felt that linux was a good test case because the amount of change in it forces them down that road anyway. Maybe the only reason they did mac first was so they didn't offend Apple :P

Re: Valve's Gabe Newell Talks Linux Steam Client, Source Eng

Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 7:03 am
by cheesyking
Just in case you're a fanboy keen to keep up to date with this and don't already know about their blog, here it is:
http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/

Interesting stuff, looks like what's good for linux users is good for windows users too :D

Not that going from 270fps to 303fps has any meaningful impact on gameplay :lol:

Re: Valve's Gabe Newell Talks Linux Steam Client, Source Eng

Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 2:54 pm
by Chrispy_
cheesyking wrote:
Not that going from 270fps to 303fps has any meaningful impact on gameplay :lol:


com_maxfps 333 for all you old Q3A nuts. Tangible bunnyhopping advantage :)

Re: Valve's Gabe Newell Talks Linux Steam Client, Source Eng

Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:25 pm
by RAMBO
What does Linux lack that makes for games in Windows better. I read that it had something to do with 3d support among some other areas. If Linux developers incorporated 3d support right inside Linux that would eliminate the need for things like wine right? Or am I missing a much larger picture here.

Re: Valve's Gabe Newell Talks Linux Steam Client, Source Eng

Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:33 pm
by grantmeaname
Linux doesn't have DirectX, because it's a Microsoft product. It has OpenGL, which is functionally equivalent, but you can't easily take a DirectX game and turn it into an OpenGL game.

Re: Valve's Gabe Newell Talks Linux Steam Client, Source Eng

Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:39 pm
by RAMBO
grantmeaname wrote:
Linux doesn't have DirectX, because it's a Microsoft product. It has OpenGL, which is functionally equivalent, but you can't easily take a DirectX game and turn it into an OpenGL game.

So MS refuses to support Linux in any fashion, trash. It is another market they could go into. Sell their products so they can run inside Linux and make money form that, maybe even mark it up because it is another OS. I can see how they don't want people to switch to Linux and ditch their OS's though.

Re: Valve's Gabe Newell Talks Linux Steam Client, Source Eng

Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 3:41 pm
by BobbinThreadbare
grantmeaname wrote:
Linux doesn't have DirectX, because it's a Microsoft product. It has OpenGL, which is functionally equivalent, but you can't easily take a DirectX game and turn it into an OpenGL game.

RAMBO wrote:
What does Linux lack that makes for games in Windows better. I read that it had something to do with 3d support among some other areas. If Linux developers incorporated 3d support right inside Linux that would eliminate the need for things like wine right? Or am I missing a much larger picture here.

This although any cross platform game on PS3 has an OpenGL Ex version.

Also, Windows has much better driver support from video card makers.

Also, most developers are simply more familiar with making Windows applications.