Why is Steam still broken after multiple .revisions?

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oldfeller

Why is Steam still broken after multiple .revisions?

Post by oldfeller »

Steam is still broken after nearly a year and multiple . revisions. The internet is choked with different work-arounds that seem to address a changing set of problems.

What gives? Has Steam quit on supporting Linux Mint? Has the basic nature of Linux Mint shifted away from what it was so badly that it lost backwards compatibility?

Seriously, can somebody simply give some sort of background on this issue as it may affect my choice of distro as I do want my STEAM.
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externa1
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Re: Why is Steam still broken after multiple .revisions?

Post by externa1 »

On my Mint 18.3 installation steam is working as expected - what problem did you see on your installation ?

rg
Christian
oldfeller

Re: Why is Steam still broken after multiple .revisions?

Post by oldfeller »

Running the Steam Icon on a fresh install.

Running Steam on linuxmint 18.3 64-bit
STEAM_RUNTIME is enabled automatically
Installing breakpad exception handler for appid(steam)/version(0)
libGL error: unable to load driver: r600_dri.so
libGL error: driver pointer missing
libGL error: failed to load driver: r600
libGL error: unable to load driver: swrast_dri.so
libGL error: failed to load driver: swrast
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externa1
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Re: Why is Steam still broken after multiple .revisions?

Post by externa1 »

What Grafik HW do you have on this PC/NB ?

I now tested on an new install too and that also works without problem
One PC has ATI/AMD R9 390 the other is a laptop with NVIDIA Quattro 880M

can you please post output of
lspci -nnk | grep "VGA\|'Kern'\|3D\|Display" -A2

you should not use the open kernel drivers with steam you should install the proprietary ones through driver manager or downloaded from amd for ati cards

rg
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Hoser Rob
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Re: Why is Steam still broken after multiple .revisions?

Post by Hoser Rob »

Steam's problems have nothing specifically to do with Mint. They have to do with poor Linux code optimzation. And often poor Linux graohics driver optimization, which doesn't really have anything to do with Steam but affects it.

Have you noticed that the minimum Linux requirements for Steam games include an Nvidia graphics card? I could be wrong but I don't think that's trrue for Windows.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong - H. L. Mencken
rene
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Re: Why is Steam still broken after multiple .revisions?

Post by rene »

I'd advise grabbing Steam as a Flatpak rather than from the repositories. The error you get points to a gcc and/or C++ library incompatibility I recognise from Mint 17 days. Exactly this type of issue is THE primary reason for Flatpak, Snap and AppImage to exist in the first place -- and at least I can assure you that the Steam Flatpak as available from Software Manager works fine on 18.3, both on a system with integrated Intel graphics and on one with (older) AMD.

(if you happen to have a "Music" symlink rather than directory in your home it trips over that; delete the symlink and/or complain to Steam).
oldfeller

Re: Why is Steam still broken after multiple revisions?

Post by oldfeller »

OK, the Steam flatpak worked just fine. Also seemed quicker than past Steam installations, probably due to optimized drivers and settings contained inside the flatpak.

Read up a bit on the flatpak system, it also tends to minimize the chances of any future problems, and gives a controlled correction mechanism for faster fixing.



Back to the original question:

If the Steam flatpak is the real answer, [u]why doesn't Mint use that flatpak system as default directly from the Software Manager?[/u]
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Re: Why is Steam still broken after multiple .revisions?

Post by rene »

The flatpak system is "new"; if I'm not mistaken 18.3 was the first version of Mint to support flatpak at all. If/when the system catches on, also in the larger Linux ecosystem, I'm sure that it'll get to be the norm more and more, at least for ISV stuff such as Steam.
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Re: Why is Steam still broken after multiple revisions?

Post by Hoser Rob »

oldfeller wrote: Sat Apr 07, 2018 1:51 pm OK, the Steam flatpak worked just fine. Also seemed quicker than past Steam installations, probably due to optimized drivers and settings contained inside the flatpak.

Read up a bit on the flatpak system, it also tends to minimize the chances of any future problems, and gives a controlled correction mechanism for faster fixing.



Back to the original question:

If the Steam flatpak is the real answer, [u]why doesn't Mint use that flatpak system as default directly from the Software Manager?[/u]
The fact that it's running better has nothing to do with "optimized drivers" per se, that has as much to do with the games as anything.

There's no 'default' anything in Software Manager or any other software version of much of anything in Mint or Linux at all.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong - H. L. Mencken
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