Almost every distro I’ve used so far ends up having problems installing Steam due to mismatching i386 packages. I’ve heard that they’re being removed upstream. Anyone happen to know a timeline?
I’m not sure what you’re referring to.
Steam itself is only available as a 32-bit binary, if I remember correctly.
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Yeah, on my system, looks like a 32-bit binary.
If Steam runs a game, which can be either 32-bit or 64-bit, I believe you need to have libraries for the corresponding architecture for stuff that isn’t in the Steam Ubuntu-based collection of libraries, the stuff in ~/.steam/steam/ubuntu12*. If you’re running a 64-bit binary, you need 64-bit libraries, and for a 32-bit binary, you need 32-bit libraries.
I have GPU libraries for both architectures installed on my Debian system, like libdrm-amdgpu1:amd64 and libdrm-amdgpu1:i386, with multiarch.
i could be wrong but my understanding it’s still 32 bit because of game compatability with older steam games and since the app itself is only a limited web browser and library. It doesn’t need that much memory. So the compatibility wins out for as long as it can.
Steam itself doesn’t run the games, right? Couldn’t they easily build a small 32 bit launcher for the older games that need it?
You can start steam just fine without the packages. In fact, if you install without them, it’ll ask you to install them every time, but you can skip that and it’ll work, just 32bit games won’t launch
Edit: Looks like I’m partially wrong, as pointed out by a commenter below, steam currently only launches the 32-bit version of the client, despite support for a 5l64-bit client
Isn’t it a regression? I cannot upgrade Debian unstable, either, at the moment. Last time when LLVM had a major upgrade, it took weeks until it was fixed.
Aren’t they needed to run all the 32-bit games that are on Steam?
I use the Steam flatpak. The nice thing about that is that 32bit libraries aren’t installed on the host system.
Only reason I haven’t done that is because of VR. Not sure if VR works through flatpak.
I’d be down to set that up. I thought VR just flat out doesn’t work with flatpak. Do you know where I can find out how to set it up?
Works perfectly fine, actually. I have a Valve Index. The only headsets with Linux support are the one I have, the HTC Vive and standalone headsets that work with ALVR (e.g. the Quest ones).
