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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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ELI5: What causes a Steam game not to run on an operating system like a Linux distro? (lemmy.world)

submitted 21 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I primarily use my pc for gaming, and want to avoid upgrading to Windows 11. Beginning the journey of looking into alternatives.

I am ignorant, trying to be less so. I have a hard time understanding what exactly makes a game not work just because of OS.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Most "normal" programs use some "abstraction" libraries, so the programmer doesn't need to know which platform it is running on. This "platform" is important because it is the layer that actually talks to things like your SSD, RAM, GPU, etc.

Videogames, tho, are very very specific programs that really benefit from very optimized code, so some of these "abstraction" libraries simply will be worked on for a specific operative system.

Thankfully, the people from the WINE project and lots of work from Valve themselves have made it possible to "trick" these libraries into thinking they are talking to Windows. It's not perfect, tho, so some stuff is still not working, but you'd be surprised how much we've got already. Check out the ProtonDB project.