this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2024
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Linux Gaming

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Discussions and news about gaming on the GNU/Linux family of operating systems (including the Steam Deck). Potentially a $HOME away from home for disgruntled /r/linux_gaming denizens of the redditarian demesne.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

AMD CPU use among Linux gamers is at around 69%

Nice.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago

I just got an AMD rig. It's 70% now. Sorry.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 weeks ago

Thank fuck steam has a runtime compatibility layer otherwise a lot of programs would run into the same issues as some apps do due to distro differences

(You can force it on like you do with wine BTW, naming scheme follows TF2 Classes)

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's because of me, I installed Mint on an old laptop.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago

You're the hero we need but don't deserve.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

A bit fun that the "other" category is so large. Wonder what percentage Fedora is at.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

You can install steam on Fedora using an RPM repository. But everyone using the Steam Flatpak will show up as Freedesktop SDK, no matter the distribution. For Fedora-based gaming distributions such as Bazzite, this is the default way to use Steam.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Yep, that's me in there. I'm a Fedora KDE + Flatpak user.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Yeh thats probably the reasoning. Its relatively simple for most users to just install via Flatpack in the GUI.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

Not too surprising considering the sheer amount of distros out there.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I predict a decent bump during the holidays. Annecdotaly, my Nintendo Switch gamer friends have spent the year either buying a StreamDeck or planning to buy a SteamDeck. I bet a significant number of folks will grab one to celebrate the New Year.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

One of us!

And yeah, a few of my coworkers have been talking about getting one as well. So far, their main reason was, "I don't need one," but that's perfect territory for a Christmas present.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

Error margin is the word here.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

That's so cool that nearly 5% are using Steam in Flatpak, despite that not being officially supported by Valve (official installer is still a .deb).

Has anyone here used it in a flatpak? Do controllers work properly?

I haven't had any issues on my openSUSE Tumbleweed installations, but I've considered moving to openSUSE MicroOS, and if I do, I'd end up using the flatpak.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I use it in flatpak, and controllers work properly. The biggest downside to flatpak is that I don't know how to debug it when things go wrong, but so far, nothing has gone wrong enough for me to move away from flatpak for the last 3 years.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Usual debug pattern for flatpak is

flatpak run com.valvesoftware.Steam

on the command line, there's also log files down in ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/data/Steam/logs.

But I also have never needed to use it in anger, great when things just work, no?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Switched to flatpak because my distro no longer supports installing from official repo or apt. It has troubles with cloud syncing sometimes, especially with larger save files. It stalls out for a minute and then comes back with a "Cloud Sync Failed" noti. Have to retry it a few times.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

I can't imagine playing Factorio on a Steam Deck, so I haven't gotten one, but it'd be nice to be able to being my factory with me on the airplane. I figure some AR glasses would make for a nice display, but the controls need most of the keyboard, the mouse, and as many mouse buttons as you can afford, and I haven't worked that part out yet.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Trackpad makes it somewhat playable, not as fast and comfortable as keyboard and mouse, but playable

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah, rimworld has the same problem.

Fully native Linux version, so it’s deck verified, but good luck doing anything with a controller in a top down, resource management game like that.

I mini Bluetooth keyboard and mouse helps, but quickly becomes awkward if you don’t have a desk to play at.

Still love my deck for casual single player games though. Play a lot of sonic, doom, wolfenstein, the Witcher 3, etc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

This is a market opportunity. Screen real estate is solved; we just need a clever mobile keyboard/mouse solution. Maybe some sort of haptic feedback gloves.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

Yeah, I don't think Factorio would be as fun on a Steam Deck.

That said, there are a ton of great games that are a ton of fun on the Deck, so much so that most of my gaming time is spent in bed on my Steam Deck, because the gaming experience is good and definitely beats going over to my desktop.