The main issue with Steam Deck is the fact that developers care about sales figures. Some companies invested a lot of money to port their games to Linux or Mac. It didn't make them rich. We had Steam machines and other devices with Linux support.

The rest of the developers are just observers that remember companies like Corel, Loki, TransGaming, and their involvement in Linux.

Valve could create a console that has native games for Linux and a few exclusive titles. They decided to do it differently.

Unfortunately, Valve believes that Proton solves most problems when a game isn't available for Linux. I know that some native games for Linux aren't perfect. However, most of the issues can be sorted out by developers or even users.

I can't say the same thing about Proton or other related projects. I can admit that those are ambitious projects with incredible people. However, the expectations of users and Valve are even higher to support every game with the Proton. It sounds like a dream, and only Microsoft has the potential to do it.

Valve or any other company on this planet can't use Wine to compete with Microsoft. Wine developers will always fall behind Windows developers, and you can't change it.

Finally, I think there is a chance that many people purchase Steam Deck. Maybe they will spend enough money to show developers that Linux is a better option than Mac.

In this case, users have to show that x86-64 is more profitable to invest in than M1. Steam Deck can't compete with Android or iOS.

I saw that some companies dropped support for Linux (or Mac), and they decided to support mobile operating systems like iOS or Android.

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2002 wasn't great for Linux gamers because Loki and Tribsoft were closed.

However, we still had some interesting games like Tux Racer, Unreal Tournament 2003, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Mindrover (LGP), and less popular like Breakout Casino, Bubble Shooter.

Well, maybe you remember other games from that year.

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Thanks for the article.

I like these games, but they were buggy.

I remember that I played all Serious Sam games (FE - SS2) on Debian Etch, which was a testing version of Debian. It was a long time ago.

I had to use cheat codes to finish these games, which was still better than playing this game on Wine or Cedega. Liflg fixed some bugs in both games for Linux.

In Poland, we had a Polish version of Serious Sam TFE and TSE. By default, Linux installers install only an English version of Serious Sam. I had to copy a few directories to hear Sam speaking Polish, which was weird.

Serious Sam 2 has a much better Linux version.

I have to use clang to build Serious Sam on Linux x86-64:

https://github.com/ptitSeb/Serious-Engine [External Link]

Both versions of Serious Sam work well on Linux x86-64 if you think about the single-player mode. The Citadel was the best level in SS: TSE, and I laughed when I heard a Christmas melody in Land of the Damned.

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It looks like a fun game for Linux.

It's such a shame that a first car simulation for Linux isn't available for sale anymore:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzA5EvmYck8 [External Link]

Someone published a demo version of Odyssey By Car for Linux:

https://archive.org/details/odysscar_demo [External Link]

I know that an author released the new version of this game only for Android:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=odysscar.android [External Link]

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I found out that someone created the unofficial port of Raptor for Linux:

https://github.com/skynettx/raptor [External Link]

"Based on the reverse-engineered codebase from Raptor Call Of The Shadows by nukeykt"

I remember that in 2004 Linux magazine (they still exist) released a CD that contained 500 games. Back then, I didn't have an internet connection, and I had been using Linux for two months. I bought it, inserted a CD, and I quickly realized that was a collection mostly of open source games. Racer was one of the exceptions. Most of it I couldn't install because they were source packages. It was a disappointing experience.

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You can use ScummVM to play Hopkins FBI on Linux - I know it sucks!

Below is the interesting fact about the Linux version of Hopkins FBI

"That's right. Whereas in the Linux version you are just shown a map and can select from various destinations, it looks like the PC version forces the player into a first person shooter and makes them battle their way from area to area. I've gotta say that whilst overall the game is fairly good, it's no longer just merely weird.. it's down-right freaky. :) Needless to say, there's every likelihood that we won't be implementing it. We'll likely just use the existing Linux version code, and provide a similiar map image as the Linux version."

http://dm-notes.blogspot.com/2012/11/hopkins-fbi-linux-completable.html [External Link]

Probably, they did the same thing with Hopkins FBI for OS/2 and BeOS.

Raptor is a great game, but sadly a Linux version is not available anymore.

It would be difficult to convince Scott Host or DotEmu to release a Linux version of Raptor:

Original Raptor creator Scott Host is planning on releasing a new Enhanced Version.[10] It will initially be available on Nintendo Switch, but he has plans to bring it to Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, Android, and iOS. It will not be available on Windows or Mac as DotEmu owns the Windows/Mac rights. However, some of his Patreon patrons will have access to beta versions on Windows and Mac.[11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raptor:_Call_of_the_Shadows [External Link]

Who owns the rights to a Linux version of Raptor?

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I like to read articles about classic games for Linux.

Interestingly, Hopkins FBI is a much easier game to finish than a Windows version.

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I don't understand it.

I need some explanation.

Linux is going to be more competitive than Windows - it sounds unrealistic.

Linux has been losing with Apple for the last 16 years. Linux can't even win with one Unix vendor. Really?

Apple has loyal users that aren't magically disappearing. They pay incredible money for the software and games for Mac.

You want to fight about first place on the podium, then first you should know how to win second place. That is the Apple position, and it's not going to be easy to win with them. It's about our wallets.

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Quoting: Liam DaweBoth of those help to prove my point. Raspberry Pi is well-known and the official OS is Linux. Steam Deck is already well known, will likely sell well and runs Linux.

Raspberry Pi is a computer for people that treat it as a toy. I don't even think about commercial games because we know that Runesoft was almost completely ignored by them.

https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=23253 [External Link]

I don't even see too many posts on their forums about Conquest of Elysium 4.

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All users visiting this website can install AROS or Haiku OS on their computers, and companies don't even notice or care about it.

They will see how much money they get for applications for Linux and Mac. In this case, they will know which operating system should support. Users of an operating system that doesn't generate enough money get an incredibly beautiful message about discontinuing support for their platform.

Linux distros usually have bug trackers, mailing list, GitHub Issues where actual devs can answer. And with Linux if you're willing you can actually dig down and find out what's the problem, even contribute to fixing it.

Github? Bug trackers? What are you talking about?

That is the answer that I get from people that aren't computer enthusiasts.

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