Unique Linux gaming situation
Unique Linux gaming situation
So I've got a unique situation. I just got a new laptop, and it has a nice CPU, but only an iGPU. It can certainly run older games, even with an iGPU, but I don't know how I should go about it. I don't like to use steam because it's a proprietary, and I also don't like to use wine because of the dependency and compatibility issues. I have tried emulation but that's a good bit more demanding than native/translated games. Does anyone have ideas for a solution, or should I just quit trying and install another distro for gaming uses?
Assuming you're playing proprietary games, I'm not sure why Steam also being proprietary is a step too far for you.
Anyway if you're playing games with low enough spec requirements to run on an iGPU, they'll just run, no extra steps needed. Distro shouldn't matter either.
By install another distro, I meant install a distro that has a nonfree repo(I'm using pureos), and just boot from a usb. I'm not sure how steam is packaged, but I'd imagine it would go against the point of a distro like pureos.
If you don't want to use Steam you can use the Heroic Launcher that does Epic and other games, especially itch.io games.
I don't like to use steam because it's proprietary
Um.. were you looking for only open-source games? Good luck
It's just a preference, I prefer downloading from GOG, without the DRM or proprietary clients. Edit: I know steam has an open source command line tool
Proton is Wine with prefixes, basically, you can use it without Steam on Lutris for example (Wine-GE suggested); also, emulation for old games isn't so demanding, try different cores for RetroArch.
Proton is Wine with prefixes
Can you elaborate? Do you mean that it includes prefixes with it?
emulation for old games isn't so demanding
By old, I meant 2010 to 2015, which is where my laptop reaches it's limits. I've tried ps3 emulation and it couldn't pull that off, and there is no emulator for 360 on linux(that I know of).
If you want to learn more in depth about how Proton works I suggest you to ask here on [GloriousEggroll's Discord](https://discord.gg/6y3BdzC.
For emulation, X360 and PS3 needs intense resources and their emulators may be in an early development state; look back to the previous generations, maybe with a cool megabezel shader on RA.
Despite Steam being proprietary, Proton (it's emulation system) is so profoundly stable I feel like it's a necessary evil at this time.
I haven't found a single "windows" game yet in my library that doesn't work with steam
Thanks for the input, do you use the official steam client?