Nov 29, 2012

Community Announcements - Frank

We've just updated the Steam for Linux client. Your Steam client will update automatically but if you wish to force the update, click Check for Steam Client Updates..., from the top-level Steam menu.
Here's the changelist for this release:

added libgl1-mesa-glx and libgl1-mesa-dri dependencies to the Steam package
fixed the minidump generator to upload properly versioned minidumps
initial bootstrap now generates minidumps
fixed window titles for the Gnome desktop
fixed overruns when drawing multi-line text
fixed crash that occured when downloading TF2
bootstrapper now continues execution even if UI can't be displayed
fixed numpad key symbol occurences when in Num Lock mode
fixed a common joystick crash

Nov 20, 2012

Steam for Linux Client Update

Community Announcements - Frank

We've just updated the Steam for Linux client. Your client will update automatically but if you wish to force the update, click Check for Steam Client Updates..., from the top-level Steam menu.
The following fixes are included in this release:

added support for detecting kmod: video driver packages to the video driver detection code
fixed the video driver version check bootstrapper and added X API error handling
corrected top level window titles
fixed truncated text in Steam settings dialog
fixed low download speed problem
fixed overlay occasionally not exiting if game crashed
added support for keypad Enter button messages
improved the tracking of game windows by the overlay
fixed how the Steam client waits for child process exits
added support for using xdg-user-dir-lookup to find the DESKTOP directory
fixed bug with maximize button not working
made the Steam install directory relocatable
steam install now properly updates the /usr/bin/steam directory
added support for proper reinstallation if the Steam install bootstrap fails
fixed a glyph rendering bug that resulted in heap corruption
the locale is now set to generate proper character input

Nov 15, 2012

How's it going?

Community Announcements - Frank

It's been a little over a week since we kicked off the beta, and we're happy to report that it's going well.

The Steam for Linux team and our game developer partners have been keeping a close eye on the discussions here. Participants' feedback has been really helpful – keep it coming! The bugs reported in our [url=https://steamcommunity.com/login/home/?goto=app%2F221410%2Fdiscussions%2F1%2F
]sub-forum[/url] for beta participants have led us to focus recent work on the following areas:

UI inconsistencies
Graphics drivers, both open source and proprietary
Steam store configuration tweaks
General stability

For those readers who want to know more about the technical details of the limited beta, we've added read-only access (to all group members) to the Limited Beta sub-forum. This is a forum we've been using for bug tracking and we've gotten great response so far.

Although we're primarily targeting Ubuntu 12.04, we also have testers using Steam for Linux on a variety of other distributions such as Arch Linux and Debian, with more to come.

Our beta remains small at this point due to stability issues. That said, recent incremental improvements in our client's stability have enabled us to invite 500 more survey respondents to the beta this week. Next week, Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS) participants will start joining the program and testing the client too. We're thrilled to see so many Steam users excited to join in and help out. We're working furiously to further improve stability and support for more participants. Stay tuned, as we’ll continue broadening beta access over the coming weeks.

Nov 6, 2012

Steam for Linux limited beta has arrived!

Community Announcements - Frank

The Valve Linux team is proud to announce the launch of a limited access beta for its new Steam for Linux client.
The Steam for Linux Beta client supports the free-to-play game Team Fortress 2. Approximately two dozen additional Steam titles are now also available for play on Ubuntu. Additionally, the Steam for Linux Beta client includes Big Picture, the mode of Steam designed for use with a TV and controller, also currently in beta.
For the latest news and discussion, come on over to the Steam for Linux group discussion.

Nov 6, 2012

Steam for Linux Beta Now Available

Press Release - Valve

Nov 6, 2012--Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the launch of a limited access beta for its new Steam for Linux client.

The Steam for Linux Beta client supports the free-to-play game Team Fortress 2. Approximately two dozen additional Steam titles are now also available for play on Linux systems. Additionally, the Steam for Linux Beta client includes Big Picture, the mode of Steam designed for use with a TV and controller, also currently in beta.

“This is a huge milestone in the development of PC gaming,” according to Gabe Newell, Valve President and co-founder. “Steam users have been asking us to support gaming on Linux. We’re happy to bring rich forms of entertainment and our community of users to this open, customer-friendly platform.”

The Steam for Linux Beta client is currently available for installation on Ubuntu 12.04. “An overwhelming majority of beta applicants have reported they’re running the Ubuntu distro of Linux,” according to Frank Crockett, a member of the Steam for Linux team, “We intend to support additional popular distros in the future; we’ll prioritize development for these based on user feedback.”

Within its first week, Valve received over 60,000 responses to its request for participants in the Steam for Linux Beta. The first round of beta participants has been selected from this group of respondents.

The Steam for Linux Beta client will become available to a widening group of users over the course of the beta. Subsequent participants will be chosen among survey respondents, and once the team has seen a solid level of stability and performance across a variety of systems, the Steam for Linux client will become available to all users of Steam.

Steam is a leading platform for the delivery and management of PC and Mac games with over 50 million accounts around the world and over 2,000 titles offered.

More details regarding Steam for Linux, including community discussion, beta participants’ feedback, official announcements and syndicated news can all be tracked on the new Steam for Linux Community Hub at http://steamcommunity.com/linux.