Linux future gameable OS

[BradM]

Is anyone possibly thinking about switching to Linux for gaming once steam and all the games are transferred and playable on a Linux system, currently steam is being tested on Linux by a thousands testers on a couple of games and so far its looking really good, they have got games to reach 200 fps's. So in the near future it might be a long time before its completed but would you make the switch? what are your thoughts and opinions on this?

Update- steam is now available to all steam users on Linux now, my bad News - Steam for Linux Beta Now Available to All

-Couple of links below to check out:
Steam for Linux
Steam Community :: Steam for Linux

What do you think about this? Post your thoughts

[dandelioneater]

If they can get Steam and its games to run well on linux, then I'm sure that most would have no problem completely switching over to something like Ubuntu for their gaming OS. I'm not sure that it will happen anytime soon though.

[BradM]

Originally Posted by dandelioneater

If they can get Steam and its games to run well on linux, then I'm sure that most would have no problem completely switching over to something like Ubuntu for their gaming OS. I'm not sure that it will happen anytime soon though.

Well i just looked at the page and they have a lot of games on Steam for Linux now and they stated a while back that gaming on Linux is insanely better than windows because Linux barely uses any of your hardware, like you get way better performance on everything lol im gonna switch in a couple months maybe.

[b1lk1]

They will need to make installing Linux easier before they will get alot of draw from the Windows crowd. I guarantee the masses will stick to Windows after they pull their hair out trying to get all the bugs out of their Linux install.

[enaberif]

In order for this to actually work developers need to get onboard with opengl coding which just isn't going to happen with DirectX around.

[BradM]

They are using openGL instead of directx because it works better

[bojangles]

Originally Posted by BradM

They are using openGL instead of directx because it works better

No. OpenGL is an open source library. DirectX is developed by Microsoft for the Windows operating system.


I had a ton of problems with my Ubunto 12.10 install. To be more precise, I could not get Catalyst 12.10 drivers to work. My desktop would not load completely.

If I have to go through the Linux terminal to even do a simple thing like installing a GPU driver, then Linux is not ready to be a solid gaming platform. Ubuntu (or any Linux distro) and the hardware companies should be working closer together to make these things simpler.

Enough of this "sudo apt-get..." commands. Just let me click an icon to install the required libraries and drivers.

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by bojangles

No. OpenGL is an open source library. DirectX is developed by Microsoft for the Windows operating system.


I had a ton of problems with my Ubunto 12.10 install. To be more precise, I could not get Catalyst 12.10 drivers to work. My desktop would not load completely.

If I have to go through the Linux terminal to even do a simple thing like installing a GPU driver, then Linux is not ready to be a solid gaming platform. Ubuntu (or any Linux distro) and the hardware companies should be working closer together to make these things simpler.

Enough of this "sudo apt-get..." commands. Just let me click an icon to install the required libraries and drivers.

It's called synaptic or aptitude.

[BlueByte]

Linux works great for some things, as a server its rock solid I have a dozen or so linux servers. As a desktop, its not there yet... most of my buddies that game would not put up with linux. Steam has raised the bar that much more as well, its click and play most of the time. Linux is never click and play.

Once its click and play for the average Joe then I think it could be a viable alternative.

[frontier204]

Having Windows doesn't necessarily mean the game runs perfectly either, but Linux distros would need to beat (matching isn't good enough) Windows in more categories than they do right now. Windows 8's quirks are minor compared to some of the bugs the Linux distros have. I don't see my Windows 8 installs having their WiFi managers crash, requiring a reboot, or as bojangles mentioned, not being able to get to desktop because a bad GPU driver is preventing it. Canonical is also hard at work making Ubuntu less favourable for the people who like privacy, since that Amazon search lens and app store with Amazon search require more steps to work around than it is to disable the spy features on Windows 8.

Yes Linux distros are free to download, but at least for me, Windows on the desktop is worth the money.

That said, this Steam for Linux would be great for managing and installing dedicated servers - one thing Linux does very well.

(FYI I run Windows 8 on my desktop, dual-boot Windows 7 / OpenSUSE on my laptop, and Ubuntu Server 12.10 on my home server)