Posted by Brandon Romano on February 16, 2013

Downloading Steam on Ubuntu 12.10

As you have come across this article, I’m sure you’re aware of the good news… STEAM FOR LINUX!  All this is good news, but the only issue is to get it up and running.  This task actually proved to be very tedious for me (due to my graphics driver being out of date), but for you I’m going to make it very simple for you.

In this blog post I’m going to walk you through step by step how to get steam on Ubuntu.  I’m running 12.10, but I’m sure this guide can be applied to previous (and future) versions of Ubuntu.

1. Downloading Steam from the Ubuntu Software Center

• Open up Ubuntu Software Center
• Search “Steam”, and select the appropriate version (32-bit vs 64-bit)
• Select “Buy…” (It’s free, don’t worry!)
• Either Log-in or Register, and the download will start.
• Try to open steam via the Unity Launcher, if it opens you’re done.  If it doesn’t open, you need to update your graphics drivers, continue to the appropriate step 2.

2(a). Downloading the Nvidia Driver (Desktop Series)

• Open the terminal (ctrl + alt + t)
• Install Linux Headers

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic

• Uninstall Nvidia drivers

sudo apt-get remove nvidia-current nvidia-current-updates nvidia-experimental-304

•  Re-install
  

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current-updates

• Restart your computer.
• Open Steam, and allow updates to run.  Now Steam is downloaded.

 

2(b). Downloading the Nvidia Driver (Laptop Series (M/Optimus))

• There is no native support for the Nvidia-Optimus series, here we will use a driver called Bumblebee, which does support the Nvidia-Optimus series.
• Add the repository and update 

/x-updatessudo apt-add-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat
sudo apt-get updates

• Install the Bumblebee/bumblebee-nvidia drivers

sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia

• Install Linux headers

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic

• Restart your computer.
• Open Steam, and allow updates to run.  Now Steam is downloaded.

2(c). Downloading the ATI Driver

• Download the driver following these directions.
• Restart your computer.
• Open Steam, and allow updates to run.  Now Steam is downloaded.

Happy gaming!

Topics: ATI, Nvidia, Steam, Ubuntu