Steam Client Now Features Hardware Acceleration on Linux
The latest stable release of Steam includes a feature that Linux gamers have been waiting for that brings a much-improved experience.
Steam helped to herald in an age of gaming on Linux like no other software. But for the longest time, Linux users had to deal with performance issues that made it lag behind that of Windows. Animations would often lag and the UI (as a whole) wasn't nearly as responsive as it should be.
Say goodbye to those performance issues, thanks to the latest stable update of the platform. With the latest iteration, users can finally take advantage of hardware acceleration on Linux. The only caveat to this new addition is that it's not quite stable with NVIDIA GPUs, when running on the aging X11 protocol. Because of that, hardware acceleration is disabled (by default) for machines using NVIDIA GPUs. At the same time, DPI scaling may be problematic with acceleration switched off.
Other features for the new release include better KDE Plasma support, more options for notifications, an overhauled in-game overlay, new notes functionality (that includes rich text formatting, image pasting, and offline functionality), greatly improved visuals (including dialogs, menus, fonts, and colors), and numerous bug fixes.
You can read the full release notes from the official Steam blog. To update your Steam client, open the app and go to Steam > Check for Steam Client Updates. If there's an update available, make sure to apply it to enjoy these exciting new additions to the Linux version.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Hannah Montana Linux Is Back!
Developer Noah Cagle decided the world needed the once obscure but beloved Linux distribution and gave it a decidedly pink refresh.
-
System76 Refreshes the Lemur Laptop
If you're looking for a laptop with tons of power and battery, look no further than the latest iteration of the System76 Lemur Pro.
-
More than 43 Million Lines of Code in Linux Kernel 7.2
Using the cloc utility, Michael Larabel of Phoronix discovered that Linux kernel 7.2 has over 43 million lines of code.
-
Kubuntu Focus Goes Ultra
The Kubuntu Focus team has upped the performance ante of its M2 and Zr laptops with the latest, greatest CPUs from Intel.
-
Linux Gamers May Soon See Less Mouse Lag in KDE Plasma
Gamers using KDE’s Plasma desktop have been suffering from a slight input delay in mouse movement that could lead to getting fragged.
-
Three Lines of Code Improve Linux Storage Performance
A developer changed three lines of code, giving Linux storage performance a 5% bump.
-
AUR Hit Again with Malicious Packages
Once again the Arch User Repository is plagued by a high volume of malicious packages.
-
Alpine Linux 3.24 Features Fresh Desktops and a Newer Kernel
If you're a fan of Alpine Linux, it's time to upgrade because the latest version has been released with KDE Plasma 6.6, Gnome 50, and Linux kernel 6.18 LTS.
-
EU Open Source Strategy Plays Key Role in Tech Sovereignty Package
Comprehensive measures adopted by the European Commission aim to reduce dependency on non-EU countries.
-
Linux Foundation Report Indicates AI Driving Tech Hiring
Within growing security and skills gaps, AI has been found to be a positive driving force behind tech hiring trends in Europe.
