I'm considering to make Linux my primary OS again, since I'm getting sick of windows and Steam runs on Linux now. Right now, I've got a windows 7-really outdated Ubuntu dual boot, but I've been hearing people say Ubuntu got ruined apparently, so I'm looking for a new distro. Preferably one that's optimized and not too hard to get into (been two years since I really used Linux, so I'm a bit rusty). Any of you dudes use Linux with Steam, or know a good distro?
Hey man. If you want to install Steam without some funkery at this point, you don't really have any options. They're supporting Ubuntu exclusively (at this point). I'm a Debian guy, have been for over a decade, and I've got Steam set up (woot!) but not in a way that I'm entirely happy with. I think Ubuntu's still got an option to mimic the old desktop feel. You might Google around for "ubuntu classic desktop".
As long as you do a derivative of Ubuntu, you should be fine. Linux Mint tends to be the most popular choice at the moment. It uses the Ubuntu repositories (which is where you install Linux software). Really, any distribution that supports .deb packages should be fine, as long as it has the required dependencies. If you want to play it safe, go for Xubuntu, which is based on Ubuntu, but uses the XFCE desktop environment. (The main complaint about Ubuntu is the switch from the Gnome 2 desktop environment to the Unity environment. Gnome 3 isn't exactly loved either.) It's a bit lighter on the fancy visuals, but it's rock solid and quite fast in comparison to other DEs. Kubuntu is another option that uses KDE, but it isn't exactly the best implementation of KDE at the moment. OpenSuse tends to do a better job. Of course on Linux, you can get any software to run on any distro, it just requires repackaging for that distro's packaging standard. Within a week of being released, Steam for Linux was available in .rpm form for Fedora/Red Hat, as a tar.gz for Slackware, and if I recall correctly, some folks even got it running on Gentoo. Of course, all that means you have to do some research on your own, but hey, Linux is about learning too.
Even back before it was OpenSuSE, SuSE's had an awesome run on their KDE desktop. This... isn't quite true. It requires tinkering that goes well beyond a distro's packaging standard. Here's a link with some useful information and references for getting Steam working on Debian, included just to give you an example of some of the foolery I'm talking about. http://aspensmonster.com/2012/12/07/ste ... ng-wheezy/ This could be a good thing to do with a distribution that you want to learn more about. Do be prepared to re-install at some point (maybe keep your home directory on another partition). We're all learning here, and early attempts to repackage software for different distros tends to come with some "oh, oops" moments.
I was oversimplifying somewhat, but yes, that is correct. I have only had experience with installing it on Slackware, which isn't that difficult. (Make sure you have multilib, install dependencies, install 32-bit compatible libraries, unpack .deb and move/rename a couple items, disable pulseaudio support in Steam.) Since Slackware tends to be more involved than many distros, most of the other ones, especially the Debian derivatives, tend to be a lot more straightforward when it comes to setting up. In any case, I'm glad you got it working, thebigpill.
If you don't like default Ubuntu DE, you can just install whatever you prefer and switch to it at login. If you really want to try and clean up the system tho, then it would require something like : Code: $ apt-get remove ubuntu-desktop && /etc/init.d/lightdm restart Or you can just install from the server ISO (ubuntu minimal install), which will give you the equivalent of a Debian testing/sid install with the Ubuntu repository.
