Steam for Linux Confirmed; Now Live for Mac OSX

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the folks over at insanelymac and osx86project just got a new reason for existing beyond making mac's out of PC's. Now there is some hardware that can actually do "Mac gaming" with some authority. Albeit unoptimized in terms of drivers, but at least one could have a decent video card using osx on a non apple product that doesnt cost 2400 at a minimum.
 
When Mac and Linux start getting TF2, CS:S, MW2, Mass Effect, etc. (they only have Portal, Torchlight, Civ. 4 atm for Mac as far as huge titles go) then I will be impressed. Until then, the PCs with Unix-based OS's (OSX/Linux) are seeing no "major" gaming benefit. The titles available now are mainly the same games you can already play, just under Steam's roof.
 
The biggest problem is that the vast majority of PC's sold today are laptops. And, of those laptops, the vast majority ship with Intel graphics. When Apple decided to ditch Intel graphics for nvidia and AMD, I'm sure they got Valve's attention.

PC fanboys can say all they want about Mac hardware, but know this: In the Mac world there are no Celeron, Turion, or even Pentium Dual-Core processors. And for the last two years Apple has not shipped a single computer using (only) Intel graphics, and all the drivers come from a one source - Apple. There isn't a single PC manufacturer that can make the same claim.

Markets are not ruled by the superlatives: fastest, biggest, or the best. It's the law of averages that make computer gaming a profitable endeavor. Apple's laptop computers deliver a better gaming experience (on average) than PC laptops.
 
[citation][nom]dwave[/nom]If more games start getting ported over, Linux will definably become a more viable platform. Games still keeps me tied to Windows.[/citation]
Same here. Well, that and Netflix.
 
[citation][nom]fenixkane[/nom]Please don't crush my hopes and dreams.[/citation]
more to jhansonxi's point. I have UT3, and I'm still waiting for the Linux client port that was promised half a decade ago.
 
[citation][nom]kronos_cornelius[/nom]Same here. Well, that and Netflix.[/citation]
Then perhaps you should demand Linux versions. You should never be "tied" to a platform because you're at the whim of the publishers and Microsoft. If the market demands Linux ports, they will get Linux ports. Just hoping it will one day be that Linux has the same number of games as Windows simply pushes that "one day" back another decade.
 

Duh? Cause nobody in the PC world would implement a close system like Apple. So what's the point of claiming that if in reality, the drivers really came from the manufacturers themselves.

And honestly, don't compare apples to apples if the apples don't cost the same. What you're comparing (PC's with celeron, turion, etc and intel graphics) are way cheaper than the cheapest Macs.
 
To the nay sayers, there have been Linux Dedicated servers for most games since the beginning of steam, Counterstrike Source was the first then all the others followed.

Anyway this is indeed great news, i am currently posting from Linux Mint. Go steam!
 
I really wish an open cross-platform sdk would be developed specifically for gaming to beat out directx. On top of that, ati develop linux drivers. Shifting from windows to linux for a gaming platform would be great.

Ubuntu 9.1 here
 
I don't care about Apple but this is definitely a big step forward for Linux.Perhaps people will get more interested in Linux as it is not perceived by many as a gaming platform.
 
I don't mind how poor the selection of games is at the start. All I care about is that enough Linux users sign up to the service to make the Software Companies take notice. On the topic of sdk's OpenGL are addressing this with Blind Elf.

http://blendelf.com/index.html#Demos

It was time for this, the professional rendering brigade were holding OpenGL back as a viable sdk but with this forking things should improve rapidly.
 
[citation][nom]Tamz_msc[/nom]I don't care about Apple but this is definitely a big step forward for Linux.Perhaps people will get more interested in Linux as it is not perceived by many as a gaming platform.[/citation]

If your steam work, it doesnt mean any of the 3rd party games on steam will... Hint: DX9/10/11
 
[citation][nom]pyroghozt[/nom]I'm looking forward to comparing performance of source games running under Linux natively vs Windows. You'd think there would be a noticeable fps gain^^.[/citation]
Not unless they get very optimized video card drivers from both companies first 😛 Whether the better FPS is possible or not, without the polished drivers from ATI and nvidia it's not gonna happen.
 
Sweet, time to think upgrade my gaming rig running XP right now. Add another HD with Win7 OEM and wipe XP off and dual boot with Ubuntu. I have a couple real old PC games that if 7 will not run them WINE should handle them.
I will then use Linux for my STEAM account.
 
[citation][nom]rtfm[/nom]thats very decent of them, you wouldn't catch EA doing that[/citation]
Or UBIsuck and others. Won't bother running it on my MiniMac, not when I have a monster gaming rig sitting under my desk. (thanks newegg)
 
[citation][nom]TEAMSWITCHER[/nom]The biggest problem is that the vast majority of PC's sold today are laptops. And, of those laptops, the vast majority ship with Intel graphics. When Apple decided to ditch Intel graphics for nvidia and AMD, I'm sure they got Valve's attention.PC fanboys can say all they want about Mac hardware, but know this: In the Mac world there are no Celeron, Turion, or even Pentium Dual-Core processors. And for the last two years Apple has not shipped a single computer using (only) Intel graphics, and all the drivers come from a one source - Apple. There isn't a single PC manufacturer that can make the same claim.Markets are not ruled by the superlatives: fastest, biggest, or the best. It's the law of averages that make computer gaming a profitable endeavor. Apple's laptop computers deliver a better gaming experience (on average) than PC laptops.[/citation]

You think Apple jumped ahead than Windows PCs? WRONG. Apple was way behind because Windows PCs were already doing Nvidia/ATI graphics. The Celeron, Turion, etc are budget processors and are usually put into laptops that cost less than $500 and will have Intel/AMD based graphics. Granted they do not make Celeron's anymore from Intel's end, it is all Corei3/i5/i7. Still even the top end Windows laptop will cost much less than a Mac laptop with similar or better specs.

The difference in hardware between Windows and Mac PCs is the compatibility with the OS/API. Other than that they are using the same Nvidia/Intel hardware. Not to mention the "Mac" 285 that EVGA released cost $50-$100 more than a normal 285, while the specs were exactly the same. It even took a year and a half for this particular card to be released.

The drivers still come from Nvidia/Intel, however they have to be certified through Apple before distribution. Linux/Windows on the other hand can grab whatever drivers they want whether it is 3rd party, beta, or official drivers. Stick that up your tailpipe, wait it is closed.

Still, until Jobs stops being paranoid and opens up the access to the components of OSX required to get major titles rolling in, more users are going to look at Linux as an option. Linux would be proceeding faster than Mac with Steam seeing as it is open, free, easier, and pretty much the same OS as OSX (I have a 10.04 Ubuntu system, and have used an OSX at work, I know). Also people need to get off this notion that PCs mean Windows computers, it doesn't. PC = Personal Computer, meaning every computer out there used for a personal use is a PC. Linux, OSX, Windows, Unix, etc are OS's not computers.
 
[citation][nom]huntarus[/nom]I personally don't mind using Windows, but I do mind the amount of resources it uses up sometimes. I have an old gaming laptop (T8300, 8600M GT, 6 GB) so I need all the extra resources I can get when playing games.[/citation]

Ati is now supporting Ubuntu 10
 
I've been a real steam naysayer because of their privacy problems, but recently I got on the bandwagon. Problem is, although they have a lot of games, they only have 2 or 3 that I'd even want to play (free or not). They need to expand their catalog of games in a big way.

However, it's a pretty groovy setup for the games I do buy through steam.
 
[citation][nom]bochica[/nom]The drivers still come from Nvidia/Intel, however they have to be certified through Apple before distribution. Linux/Windows on the other hand can grab whatever drivers they want whether it is 3rd party, beta, or official drivers. [/citation]
That has advantages. You're far less likely to have driver bugs if you install drivers that have been rigorously tested than if you install the latest and greatest beta from NVIDIA.
 
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