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10 years ago Steam released for Linux

By - | Views: 51,572

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?

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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About the author -
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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62 comments
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Linuxer Feb 16, 2023
so can you actually get that achievement? if on board for 10 years?
WorMzy Feb 16, 2023
Quoting: Linuxerso can you actually get that achievement? if on board for 10 years?

That's just a graphic Liam's put together, I don't think Valve are doing anything to mark the occasion (but then we all know Valve don't mark the passage of time like most other people do... ).


Last edited by WorMzy on 16 February 2023 at 1:52 pm UTC
slaapliedje Feb 16, 2023
Quoting: mr-victory
Quoting: Purple Library Guywhy would you be using Proton with the Paradox launcher at all?
A specific HOI4 mod (Europe in Flames: Agora) doesn't work with native HOI4 while it works on Windows, macOS and Proton. Also my PC is shared with a hardcore Linux hater (I may be exaggerating, but still) so even if I don't want to use the mod, Windows version of HOI4 will stay installed no matter what and I will have to either flip from Proton to native or have 2 copies of the game.
IIRC you asked this before.
Weird, is the mod installing some case sensitive files that are causing it to not work on Linux?

Also why would you share anything with a Linux hater, sounds like you need to ditch people. :p (kidding of course, educating people on why Linux is awesome is always a better way than to just kick them from your presence.)
Philadelphus Feb 17, 2023
Interestingly, I sort of just barely missed the event. I was still using Windows a few years out of college in 2013, but I'd just started a job that year where I used Linux at work…now fast-forward to July 2014 when I built my first desktop and put Linux Mint on it, mostly as a result of that experience at work (and a good Linux guru friend there). When I started first seriously thinking about doing such a thing sometime mid-to-late 2013, I kinda just took it for granted that Steam was available on Linux (even if a lot fewer games were at the time), and didn't realize that if I'd been able to build a computer a year earlier it wouldn't have been available.

Luckily for me, I'd only really discovered Steam a few years earlier in 2011* when Portal 2 came out, so I hadn't had much time to build up a large Windows-only library and a lot of my games were already cross-platform and available natively due to my tastes (plus some conscious buying decisions for a year or so in preparation). So for me the timing really worked out well to be able to make the switch from Windows, and I only had to give up a relatively small number of games at the time (all of which I can now play again anyway ).

*I was vaguely aware of it before that, but my family had dial-up internet right up until I moved away to college, so Steam was never an option that I'd seriously checked out.
Solarwing Feb 17, 2023
The good big Linux catastrophes in earth: steam 2013, DXVK 2018 and steamOS 2022! Good work Valve, keep it going!!!
Linuxer Feb 17, 2023
Quoting: WorMzy
Quoting: Linuxerso can you actually get that achievement? if on board for 10 years?

That's just a graphic Liam's put together, I don't think Valve are doing anything to mark the occasion (but then we all know Valve don't mark the passage of time like most other people do... ).

ohh ok got it
slaapliedje Feb 17, 2023
Quoting: Lightkey
Quoting: slaapliedje
Quoting: grigiWhom here remembers happypenguin.org ?
That was awesome some 15 years ago...
I loved happypenguin.org. It covered a lot more of the open source engine / free games. Kind of wish Liam would cover more of these gems. Seeing another 'AAA game works with Proton' is getting a little boring. We get it, Proton is awesome and for the most part just plays anything.'

I'm loving the 'retro computer build' series! I have a stack of Retro systems that would have a hard time running most kernels, though I could likely get a 10 year old kernel on there... I should find a copy of Mandrake...
TBF, he covers most relevant FOSS games, there just aren't that many that can compare to commercial releases. If you still want your dailyweekly digest of updates for smaller projects, I can recommend Holarse's (Wochenen)drückblick, where I constantly find interesting projects I haven't heard of before and considering there is not much in the way of news included, the few German words should not distract all too much.
Ha, used to digging through foreign languages for releases for Atari homebrew releases too.
mr-victory Feb 18, 2023
Quoting: slaapliedjeAlso why would you share anything with a Linux hater, sounds like you need to ditch people.
Sharing is not my choice.
The good thing is I set up things nicely: Windows and Linux dual boot, all of the games and data are on the Windows partition but I can mount NTFS with 2 clicks on Linux so everything is accessible on both operating systems. No, having Steam library on NTFS doesn't cause odd issues, for me at least.
The bad side is no one cares about the FOSS philosophy but instead whether Linux works or not. More often than not Linux doesn't work OOB, I can fix the problems but the moment the failure occurs, the choice is made.
Quoting: slaapliedjeWeird, is the mod installing some case sensitive files that are causing it to not work on Linux?
IIRC all files are lowercase but I will take another look. A regular HOI4 mod doesn't include platform specific files like .exe or .so so it should therotically work everywhere but it doesn't. I tried asking for help in mod community's Discord but I didn't get useful advice. (files may be conflicting, switch to DX9 which ofc doesn't exist)


Last edited by mr-victory on 18 February 2023 at 2:31 pm UTC
slaapliedje Feb 19, 2023
Quoting: mr-victoryNo, having Steam library on NTFS doesn't cause odd issues, for me at least.
My understanding of this is that it is an issue with specific games. So it is quite possible you will never run into it.
peterp771 Feb 19, 2023
Favorite moment: playing TF2 and LFD2 on Linux for the first time. Doesn't seem like a big deal now but in 2013 it was huge deal. Triple AAA games had finally arrived Linux.
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