Valve Invites "Experienced Linux Users" to Test Steam

[JonB]

Valve Invites "Experienced Linux Users" to Test Steam

Valve is using a survey to gather a wide variety of hardware configurations for its beta process.

Back in April Valve announced Steam for Linux, then in July [http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/] it set up a blog for its Linux development team. Today, Valve has posted one of its ubiquitous hardware surveys as part of an application process for the Steam for Linux beta. Steam account holders are invited to go through the survey process to help Valve find "experienced Linux users" with "a wide range of hardware configurations." Valve is already known to have a working Steam for Linux client with Left 4 Dead 2 functioning on it. It is currently unknown when Valve will begin the Steam for Linux beta, as it was originally scheduled to begin "sometime in October."

The survey requests information about how long applicants have used Linux, which Linux distribution they would be running, and what kinds of games the applicant prefers. Additionally, the survey asks for a variety of information about the machine that the applicant runs Linux on. The Steam for Linux beta, going by the announcement from September, will include support for Ubuntu, as well as one Valve game. While it seems likely, the rumor that this game will be Left 4 Dead 2 is unconfirmed.

Source: Valve Steam Linux Survey [http://www.valvesoftware.com/linuxsurvey.php]


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[ewhac]

"Please login with your Steam account to take the survey."

...Uh-huh.

If I'm a die-hard Linux user, what is the probability that I have a Steam account? Moreover, what is the probability that I'm going to open a Steam account for the sole purpose of advising Valve about all the ways they could potentially screw this up?

 

[Alcaste]

They're probably making the assumption that there are some experienced Linux users that use more than just Linux in their day-to-day lives. Not everyone that uses Linux is that elitist.


I'm probably going to fill out the survey and try my hand at it, but I'm far from an experienced user. Dabbler, more like.

 

[Vigormortis]

"Please login with your Steam account to take the survey."

...Uh-huh.

If I'm a die-hard Linux user, what is the probability that I have a Steam account? Moreover, what is the probability that I'm going to open a Steam account for the sole purpose of advising Valve about all the ways they could potentially screw this up?

Is it really such a stretch to imagine someone creating a free account, assuming they're interested in having access to Steam on Linux, to help beta test it?

If a "die-hard" Linux user had no interest in Steam in the first place, then the survey is irrelevant.

Besides, if Valve is going to send beta builds of Steam to people, doesn't it make sense to have those people fill out survey responses that are linked to their own accounts; allowing Valve to gather info easier, and more accurately, for testing and patching purposes?

 

[Rainforce]

what, you still use linux and haven't written your own OS yet?
CASUALS.
everyone knows that asdfghOS is the future.

On-topic:
took the survey, and am very happy to see this coming along. then again, the result will probably be that everyone uses Ubuntu, which turned user-friendly ugly around this time last year. D: (as far as I remember)(also win8 totally doing the same)
I somewhat hope this will lead to an absurd jump of people actually leaving Windows and going for Linux,
but I guess that the Ubuntu mess will win and then I haven't won anything at all here. argh.
the linux hipster life sure IS hard, why can't I use it solely as a server like any reasonable person D:

 

[Doom972]

"Please login with your Steam account to take the survey."

...Uh-huh.

If I'm a die-hard Linux user, what is the probability that I have a Steam account? Moreover, what is the probability that I'm going to open a Steam account for the sole purpose of advising Valve about all the ways they could potentially screw this up?

Perhaps some Linux users would like to be able to use Steam and run games natively and would like to help this sort of thing come true?

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

Experienced? Well I've got Linus Torvalds on speed dial so we can collaborate on the new kernel, cause I'd love to implement it in that new distro I'm working on in my free time /shameless liar

Nah I dual boot for gaming reasons but if I can help make this happen, maybe I can un-partition the 2TB.

 

[weirdee]

well, there's a good chance a linux user that games has a dual boot setup so they can run stuff in windows if they have to, or wine if they can configure it correctly

they're not stupid

 

[Strazdas]

so Win8 screwed up so hard that steam is already moving to linux, and win 8 isnt evne out yet (oh wiat is it now?). some peopel still use XP, you think peopel are going to transit to win 8 so fast? Besides, steam wants to try its AWFUL beginings once again? over 10+ years they managed to make the client usable, and they want that again.

P.S. capcha got crazy?

 

[AlexanderPeregrine]

I've only been messing around with Linux for the past month or so, but from what I've seen, it's great (if really fidgety and unintuitive in configuration). It has come a long, long way since the "I'm a giant nerd!" days of old. If Valve can bridge the gaming gap once and for all, it would only take marketing money for Linux to "win" the OS war (or at least siphon away the "screw Microsoft!" Apple users, but that's good, too).

Anyway, for those who like playing with new toys, all the good Linux releases are 100% free, ready for download, and can be run from your flash or CD drive without changing anything on your regular operating system. They basically work right out of the box with zero driver configuration and most common tasks covered (e.g. internet, word processing, multimedia, etc.). Since everything is open source and freely distributed, things evolve and refine at a ludicrous pace.

Here are the links to a couple of the distributions mentioned in Valve's survey:

* Ubuntu [http://www.ubuntu.com/download]: The most famous (or infamous) superversion. Love it or hate it, this is what Valve is going to prioritize if they're smart.
* Kubuntu [https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Lubuntu/GetLubuntu] outside of the latter being a confusing pile of crap.
* Fedora [http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora]: Seems intended more for IT professionals at a glance. Amahi Home Server was originally built around this and there are apps that only work with it, so I'm going to have to get used to this soon.
* Debian [http://www.debian.org/intro/free]: Also for IT.
* Mint [http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php]: I know nothing of this. Wikipedia says it's an Ubuntu variant.

And a bonus:

* you can go even lighter [http://puppylinux.org/main/Download%20Latest%20Release.htm].

 

[Evil Smurf]

I hope the game is TF2

 

[fenrizz]

"Please login with your Steam account to take the survey."

...Uh-huh.

If I'm a die-hard Linux user, what is the probability that I have a Steam account? Moreover, what is the probability that I'm going to open a Steam account for the sole purpose of advising Valve about all the ways they could potentially screw this up?

Yeah, man.
How dare they try to work with the Linux community to try to bring games to the OS?!


OT:
Great effort from Valve!
I'm sure bringing Steam to Linux will result in at least some new users to the community.

 

[Vivi22]

"Please login with your Steam account to take the survey."

...Uh-huh.

If I'm a die-hard Linux user, what is the probability that I have a Steam account? Moreover, what is the probability that I'm going to open a Steam account for the sole purpose of advising Valve about all the ways they could potentially screw this up?

A friend of mine has used Linux for years now, had a Steam account already from his Windows days, and wanted to keep playing CS:S and some other games badly enough that he went to the trouble to get Steam to run on his Gentoo build and get CS:S running better than it ever did under Windows. I'd imagine he's not alone on this either, so I'm guessing there are plenty of Linux users with Steam accounts who could, and would, like to help beta test. And this is to say nothing of those who might simply volunteer because more native Linux support from major game companies is always a good thing.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

I would take the "experienced" part with a grain of salt. If it's anything like the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta, they'll want to deliberately include at least a few newbies so they can gauge what the experience will be like for people who are planning to switch but have never used Linux before in their lives.

As for me, I'm experienced... at failing to make the bloody thing work right! Seriously, I don't think I've ever succeeded in getting any distribution to install and work properly. Inevitably something goes wrong, usually drivers. Sadly I do not have a hard drive nearly big enough to install Linux on... but hey, in the very unlikely chance I get in, it'll give me a good excuse to shell out for one.

 

[number2301]

I'll be reinstalling Ubuntu if I get through to this, even if new Ubuntu is pretty much worse than Windows 8.

Oh please let this work and drive the entire world to Linux. That would make me a very happy person.

 

[bobajob]

Look, I just want to use my desktop to run games in DX11 & do some 'net browsing, photoshop & watch movies. I don't want or need touch-screen functionality. I want moar powweerrrr.
Not everyone wants a server farm or to do every goddamn thing on a smartphone/tablet.

This is a step in the right direction though.

If Linux eventually does everything Windows does(and I mean EVERYTHING) but for free then I'm in.

'til then....

 

[Penguinis Weirdus]

I'll be reinstalling Ubuntu if I get through to this, even if new Ubuntu is pretty much worse than Windows 8.

Oh please let this work and drive the entire world to Linux. That would make me a very happy person.

Yeah but you can get rid of the Unity Desktop Environment and replace it with a better one quite easily. <link=http://linux-software-news-tutorials.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/ubuntu-1110-oneiric-remove-unity-and.html> Here http://linux-software-news-tutorials.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/ubuntu-1110-oneiric-remove-unity-and.html With Windows 8 you can ummmmmm.... put up with it?

 

[number2301]

I'll be reinstalling Ubuntu if I get through to this, even if new Ubuntu is pretty much worse than Windows 8.

Oh please let this work and drive the entire world to Linux. That would make me a very happy person.

Yeah but you can get rid of the Unity Desktop Environment and replace it with a better one quite easily. <link=http://linux-software-news-tutorials.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/ubuntu-1110-oneiric-remove-unity-and.html> Here http://linux-software-news-tutorials.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/ubuntu-1110-oneiric-remove-unity-and.html With Windows 8 you can ummmmmm.... put up with it?

Oh yeah I know that, in fact I think I'll try Cairodock if I reinstall as it's much less effort. Things like that are why I so want to see gaming on Linux, it's the only thing keeping me on Windows (aside from 7 being pretty damn good).

 

[Andrew_C]

At the moment I use Win7 more than Linux, because in the end it's less hassle, but I recently went for a year without booting into Windows. I ran Steam under Wine on Linux for a long time. Steam and Valve's games are very well supported by the Wine project.

There are a lot of people who succesfully use Wine to run Windows games under Linux and most will have Steam logins. These are the people this is aimed at, because even with winetricks you need a fair bit of persistance and technical know-how to get Wine running multiple games smoothly. I used multiple WINEPREFIXes , which allows each game in it's own environment.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Does Gabe Newell fear/hate Windows 8 that much?
Bringing core PC gaming to Linux has been attempted before to some smaller degree; nothing like this though.

I'm very pleased to hear that this development is occurring; I use a couple of distros for work currently, and would only be too happy to remove more of my technical dependency on Windows.

Captcha: Same twice in a row. Good fucking job!