Installing 'gdb' and other development tools?

[0xC0DED00D]

I want to use the Steam Machine to develop our game. Unfortunately, I am a linux noob, and I'm failing to get gdb installed. I tried:
sudo apt-get install gdb, but it says "Package 'gdb' has no installation candidate"

I tried an sudo apt-get update, and it looks like it only is pulling packages from repo.steampowered.com.

In the long term, could GDB be added to the steampowered repo? I think that would save Linux n00bs like myself some potential headache.

If that's not possible in the near term, perhaps could someone guide me through getting gdb on SteamOS?

While I'm sure the SteamOS team is quite busy, it might be really nice to get some documentation for getting started developing on Steam Machine. Our game runs on Ubuntu but not SteamOS, so it'd be helpful to develop on the actual platform.

Thank you very much!

-Matt

[jvert]

Because of the Steam runtime, a Steam app shouldn't really see much difference between Ubuntu and SteamOS. Are you seeing SteamOS-specific bugs that don't also show up on Ubuntu?

Anyway, if you do want to do this, there is an excellent write-up about how to install Debian applications here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/648814396114274132/

[0xC0DED00D]

Now that you mention it, perhaps it's an issue with Big Picture on Linux. I'm not sure we ever tested that on Ubuntu. Is there a way to run the regular Steam Client on SteamOS, so I can make sure it's not Big Picture mode?

Thank you for your help!

-Matt

[directhex]

It's sorta awkward.

Switch to desktop mode, "sudo nano /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf", and comment out the default user line so it doesn't log into BPM at boot. Reboot, and you should be able to log in as the "steam" user and a "gnome" session rather than a "steam" session (which just keeps BPM running)

[timeisaparallax]

Since this thread is the top hit on google for "gdb" + "steamos" I figured I'd pitch in for anyone else getting their feet wet too.

The directions jvert references worked for me once I found a proper mirror. For me (in the US) http://mirrors.kernel.org/debian/ worked nicely.

[0xC0DED00D]

I did a bunch of testing and it appears that our game has some sort of incompatibility with the SteamOS session and our game. I did a lot of testing, and here's what I found:
1) Running Neverending Nightmares from Big Picture on Ubuntu works fine.
2) Running from windowed steam client on SteamOS works fine.
3) Switching windowed steam client to BPM on SteamOS and then running game works just fine. (Surprisingly!)
4) Booting into the SteamOS session to start BPM automatically produces sound and updates, but the screen is black with the exception of the Steam interface stuff.

So basically every combination I can think of besides the normal SteamOS boot (before I changed lightdm.conf) worked just fine.

I am a relative Linux noob, and I am really stumped. Does anyone have any idea of why there would be an incompatibility between our game and SteamOS? Is this something someone at Valve could look into?

Thanks!

-Matt

[directhex]

Sounds like a problem with the SteamOS compositor, which handles various duties (mostly fullscreening and window focus) for the SteamOS session.

[Pierre-Loup]

Does the Steam overlay function properly with your game? It is a requirement for the game to work in SteamOS.

[0xC0DED00D]

On SteamOS, the Steam overlay works fine, but everything else is black. Both the game and overlay work fine on Ubuntu. Any ideas what might be wrong?

[Pierre-Loup]

Not sure yet; I'd have to look into it. What is your AppID and the branch you're testing from?

[0xC0DED00D]

Our app id is: 253330 and we are testing from the default branch.

Thank you so much for your help!

-Matt

[Pierre-Loup]

OK, this works fine here in SteamOS so I'm not sure what to think so far. When you say "the Steam machine", do you mean the Gigabyte Brix box?

[0xC0DED00D]

Yes, sorry. The only computer I have running SteamOS is the Gigabyte Brix box.

I know it isn't just a simple hardware incompatibility because the game runs fine on the Gigabyte Brix box (under Steam OS) when I changed lightdm.conf and booted to a gnome session. We are just using boilerplate SDL stuff, so I'm not sure why there would be an issue with SteamOS session and our game on the Brix...

Thank you for your help!

[0xC0DED00D]

HI Pierre-Loup,

I believe this problem is specifically relating to anti-aliasing. Neverending Nightmares has AA on all the time. I enabled 2x AA in both Penumbra: Overture and Penumbra: Black Plague, and it had the same results as in Neverending Nightmares (The screen is completely black when running from the SteamOS session). Booting to a Gnome session fixed black screen in those games as well.

Hopefully this helps track down the issue.


Thanks!

-Matt

[Pierre-Loup]

Thanks; looks like something the Intel graphics guys need to look at, I'll let them know.

[0xC0DED00D]

For SteamOS do we have to worry about updating graphics drivers, or are those pushed as part of the OS updates? Can you keep me in the loop as to when it is fixed?

Thanks!

-Matt