Kjetil's Information Center: A Blog About My Projects

Steam on Slackware 14.2

Slackware 14.2 was recently released, so I decided to attempt a Steam installation on it, which succeeded in the end.

Here are the steps I followed:
1) Download and install the 64-bit version of Slackware 14.2. You can get it here: http://www.slackware.com/getslack/torrents.php
2) Setup "multilib", so the system is able to run 32-bit programs. Use this guide: http://www.slackware.com/~alien/multilib/.
3) Install OpenAL, which is a dependency for Steam. I recommend to use SlackBuilds: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/libraries/OpenAL/
4) Install Steam. Also easy with SlackBuilds: https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/games/steam/
5) Install a proprietary graphics driver, for better OpenGL performance.

It is important to install a 64-bit base system because some of the games on Steam are in fact only 64-bit. However, Steam itself and certain other games are only 32-bit, hence the need for multilib. I use an nVidia graphics card, and this had to be installed AFTER multilib had been set up, so I recommend doing the same.

I have done only minor testing so far, but I am still a bit sceptical about the OpenAL dependency. It seems that some games bundle their own OpenAL libraries, so they aren't always needed. It is also possible that a 32-bit version of the OpenAL library needs to be installed for certain stuff to work.

Topic: Configuration, by Kjetil @ 07/07-2016, Article Link