FREAKIN FINALLY

[Launchpad McQuack]

You sure have to jump over a lot of hoops to get TF2 thing working on Linux. Thankfully my google-fu was strong today. Say what you want but I can clearly see why Windows is the most common platform for gaming. Everything works on first time. Even getting Minecraft working was challenging. TF2 seemed quite impossible.

[Shane]

Is easy to run minecraft, just download openjdk ^^
But i agree with you, Windoows is a lot easier than linux.
But the biggest problem actually is .. steam think linux is ubuntu.

[Anorak Man]

If you were plonked in front of a windows PC for the first time ever, I doubt you'd do a lot better. Yes - Windows is now a mature operating system these days, but does no one remember DLL hell and BSODs caused by graphics drivers?

I'm glad you got it working though. I hope you didn't go through all that just to get the TF2 item.

What specific problems did you have? If we can collate this kind of information, we can make it less difficult for future users.

[gradinaruvasile]

For starters, Linux != Windows. If you know your way around it and have a decent computer with AMD or Nvidia card, TF2 and the like isnt complicated (hint: all you have to do is to install correctly the video driver).
Its true, you have to resort to certain workarounds if you dont use a recent Ubuntu. But thats Steam's fault because Linux != Ubuntu.

I dont know whats so hard to make a generic Linux installer because if you unpack the .deb installer it will most likely work on any recent Linux distro.

[Launchpad McQuack]

It failed to launch. Just flashed black screen and back to desktop. I installed latest AMD beta drivers from their site. I tried to install TF over a month ago when my Windows broke (would not boot) and I wanted to play something without having to go trough new win installation but i could not figure out what was wrong so i played minecraft instead. I would not bother to try again if it were not for the penguin.
Now i am thinking if i should name him Rico or Skipper.

[Anorak Man]

You would have had to install drivers in Windows too.

When you couldn't figure out what was wrong, did you ask for help anywhere?

[Launchpad McQuack]

Yes on this forum actually. No help came and btw I thought that I do not have to worry about the drivers because in Ubuntu settings I selected "Use proprietary driver from fglrx-updates" and I thought that that is all I need. In windows GPU driver is one of the first things I install but ubuntu got me convinced me that i have a proper driver. So yeah lets just blame Ubuntu.

[Marentis]

I don't know what to say. Even on Gentoo I got it up and running out of the box and Gentoo is among the most difficult distributions out there, because you build it nearly from scratch.

That being said I'm not saying that you're wrong or lying, I just would like to know what exactly was difficult. It would help to improve your experience (because developers need to know what's going wrong to react).
In general all you have to do is to install the binary drivers for your graphic's card which is - depending on your distribution - handled via your paket manager and SHOULD be a one liner or one click if you're using a GUI.

Edit: sorry, my post was written while you've written your reply. Well, to be absolutely honest, the AMD drivers aren't in best shape on Linux (I'm using a Radeon HD 6870) which is not your fault of course. Sometimes their installation can partially fail on Ubuntu, leading to an installation where the package seems to be installed (that's why Ubuntu thinks everything's in order) but X11 is still using Mesa.

[TeknoTroll]

Първоначално публикувано от Anorak Man:

If you were plonked in front of a windows PC for the first time ever, I doubt you'd do a lot better. Yes - Windows is now a mature operating system these days, but does no one remember DLL hell and BSODs caused by graphics drivers?

I'm glad you got it working though. I hope you didn't go through all that just to get the TF2 item.

What specific problems did you have? If we can collate this kind of information, we can make it less difficult for future users.

Ohh man. I remember the days you had to reboot after every freakin' install, be it driver, update or game! And back then windows would load so long!

[Oerthling]

My experience installing Minecraft (Ubuntu):
* Click the download button on minecraft.net.
* Start the game.
* Punch tree.

My experience: installing TF2 (Ubuntu):
* (already had NVidia drivers installed (from Software Center) - just a few clicks)
* already had Steam beta installed (was no problem - double-click on downloaded deb file) - but de-installed and re-installed the official release from Ubuntu Software Center.
* Click on TF2
* Wait for 10 GB download
* Start the game

I only have 1 problem with Steam for Linux release: L4D" has't been released yet. ;-)
Still have to start that with Wine (which worked fine for years).

[Anorak Man]

Yeah - the AMD drivers have always been pretty bad. I'm using a "legacy" card, (a radeon 4850 hd).
Until last month this didn't work at all, and then AMD brought out updated legacy drivers. Except these ones don't support the Xorg 1.13, so I had to downgrade X. Which was a shame.

I also intend to try the open source drivers before switching to nvidia. - I need a new card anyway, graphical corruption is getting worse on windows + linux.

[Anorak Man]

Първоначално публикувано от JUSTME:

* Wait for 10 GB download

Ha. Good grief it's gotten big.

[blackout24]

lol at installing stuff from websites. That's typical windows user behavior.

$ pacman -S steam
$ pacman -S nvidia

Voila. All I have to do on Arch Linux. Steam installed. Latest NVIDIA driver installed. Start Steam let it download TF2 and click play. PROFIT.

Only because you don't know much about Linux yet as a beginner doesn't mean Windows is easier.

Try installing Firefox on Windows.

1. Open Internet Explorer
2. Go to google.com
3. Search "Firefox Download"
4. Search around for a download button
5. Open File Explorer
6. Start the installer
7. Hit Next. 5 times and pretend to read the license
9. Make sure it doesn't intall any f*cking toolbars
9. Delete the installer
10. Go to the Desktop and Double Click Firefox Icon

Installing and starting Firefox on Arch Linux

$ pacman -S firefox
$ firefox

ZOMG WINDOWS SO EASY! :D lol

[Shane]

Windows is easy..
Linux never wont be a good environement for desktop.. Stop trying to give bad advice lol.
When i tried to get gnome in archlinux, it never worked.
Linux miss : Photoshop, Visual environement. Windows win, point

[Marentis]

I think Windows startet being really usable (aka stable) when they released Windows XP. Windows 7 indeed is a great OS and I'll keep using it along my Gentoo installation.

To be absolutely honest: I couldn't say which is better. Windows clearly has more software and more third party support. On the other hand I can customize my Gentoo and Portage takes care of all updates.

So in contrast to most other people I don't believe that there's anything as black and white in live, just gray. Sometimes one thing will do the trick, the other day it will be another.

[Anorak Man]

Първоначално публикувано от Lincia Canatra:

Windows is easy..
Linux never wont be a good environement for desktop.. Stop trying to give bad advice lol.
When i tried to get gnome in archlinux, it never worked.

Most new users don't go near Arch. In fact, they're actively discouraged. You only use arch if you're comfortable figuring it out for yourself and want to configure EVERYTHING.