Ubuntu can make for a very nice gaming system if you have all the apps to run the games you want. What if you could install a lot of the apps all at once?
Gamebuntu is a script that installs a lot of different apps to give you a very nice gaming system. As I’ve mentioned in other apps, there is a shortage of gaming systems. I can tell you from experience that nearly all retailers are out of gaming consoles. People must rely on their computers to provide for their gaming needs.
Gamebuntu Installation
As the name implies, Gamebuntu is for Ubuntu, specifically versions 20.04 and up.
Before installing Gamebuntu, update your system with the commands:
The Gamebuntu script can be downloaded from ‘https://gitlab.com/rswat09/gamebuntu/-/archive/main/gamebuntu-main.zip’. It may be best to save the file to your Desktop. Once saved, select it and extract it on the Desktop. You should now have a folder named ‘gamebuntu-main’. Right-click on the folder and select ‘Open in Terminal’. A Terminal should open with the Present Working Directory (pwd) is already inside the Desktop folder that was extracted.
Execute the installation shell script with the command ‘./gamebuntu.sh’.
NOTE: Before installing any games, Gamebuntu and updates should take around 6 GB of disk space. Games will add a lot more. Be sure you have plenty of drive space for Gamebuntu.
When prompted, enter your password to allow ROOT access for the installation.
An error may appear about Flatpak not appearing until we restart the system. The script should continue anyway.
After a while, it will prompt you to press ‘[ENTER]’ to add the repository ‘https://launchpad.net/~polychromatic/+archive/ubuntu/stable’. Make sure you press ‘Enter’.
In the middle of the installation, a message goes by fairly quickly that gives a command to run. Your User account needs to be added to the ‘plugdev’ group, which is accomplished with ‘sudo gpasswd -a $USER plugdev’. When the process has completed, run the command to add your user account to the ‘plugdev’ group.
The last message before you run the previous command is ‘If you'll be using Steam, it's recommended that you enable Proton to run Windows games in Wine.’. Let’s look at this next.
It may be best to reboot your system before we look at Proton.
Enable Proton
The step of enabling Proton is very important. If we skip this step, any games that are Windows-based will not install on a Linux system.
Open Steam and let it update, then close it. It may be best to update Ubuntu one more time with the commands:
You could reboot your system. When the BIOS has completed, press the ‘SHIFT’ key to load the GRUB menu. Choose ‘Advanced’ from the menu and at the next screen, make sure you are loading the newest kernel version (this should be the default, just make sure it is the first one at the top).
Once Ubuntu starts, open Steam again and log in to an existing account or create a new one.
Steam has a menu at the very top-left of the window. Select ‘View’ and then from the drop-down list and click on ‘Settings’. When the ‘Settings’ window appears, select ‘ Steam Play’ from the left pane. Place a check-mark in the box before ‘Enable Steam Play for all other titles’. For ‘Run other titles with’, change ‘Proton Experimental’ to ‘Proton 6.3-8’. Select ‘OK’ and it will prompt you to restart Steam, so click on ‘Restart Steam’.
You should now be able to run Windows games in Steam and Linux games.
NOTE: See https://www.linuxcompatible.org/story/proton-638-released/ for compatible games with Proton version 6.3-8. When programmers release a different version, be sure to look for the newer version on the website for an updated compatibility list.
Testing Proton
For a test, I selected ‘The Riftbreaker Demo’. Steam downloaded Proton 6.3 for this download.
Since the game is free and is only for Windows, I’m using it mainly for testing a Windows game on Linux using Proton. It should show me how well my system handles running it.
When the download has finished, you can select ‘Play’. The initial setup will start and download other files as well as install them. The other files include DirectX, which will be necessary for other Windows games.
Conclusion
Starting with a demo will let you see the way games will run with Proton and WINE. If your system does not handle the game well, then you will need a better system to provide for better playability. Do not buy games unless a free game works well. Be sure to check the compatibility list for games with Proton.
Any games that have a Linux version should be fine as long as your system meets, or preferably exceeds, the hardware requirements. Keep in mind that since this is gaming, you need to have a decent system with a good video card and lots of RAM.
Gamebuntu is a script that installs a lot of different apps to give you a very nice gaming system. As I’ve mentioned in other apps, there is a shortage of gaming systems. I can tell you from experience that nearly all retailers are out of gaming consoles. People must rely on their computers to provide for their gaming needs.
Gamebuntu Installation
As the name implies, Gamebuntu is for Ubuntu, specifically versions 20.04 and up.
Before installing Gamebuntu, update your system with the commands:
Code:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
The Gamebuntu script can be downloaded from ‘https://gitlab.com/rswat09/gamebuntu/-/archive/main/gamebuntu-main.zip’. It may be best to save the file to your Desktop. Once saved, select it and extract it on the Desktop. You should now have a folder named ‘gamebuntu-main’. Right-click on the folder and select ‘Open in Terminal’. A Terminal should open with the Present Working Directory (pwd) is already inside the Desktop folder that was extracted.
Execute the installation shell script with the command ‘./gamebuntu.sh’.
NOTE: Before installing any games, Gamebuntu and updates should take around 6 GB of disk space. Games will add a lot more. Be sure you have plenty of drive space for Gamebuntu.
When prompted, enter your password to allow ROOT access for the installation.
An error may appear about Flatpak not appearing until we restart the system. The script should continue anyway.
After a while, it will prompt you to press ‘[ENTER]’ to add the repository ‘https://launchpad.net/~polychromatic/+archive/ubuntu/stable’. Make sure you press ‘Enter’.
In the middle of the installation, a message goes by fairly quickly that gives a command to run. Your User account needs to be added to the ‘plugdev’ group, which is accomplished with ‘sudo gpasswd -a $USER plugdev’. When the process has completed, run the command to add your user account to the ‘plugdev’ group.
The last message before you run the previous command is ‘If you'll be using Steam, it's recommended that you enable Proton to run Windows games in Wine.’. Let’s look at this next.
It may be best to reboot your system before we look at Proton.
Enable Proton
The step of enabling Proton is very important. If we skip this step, any games that are Windows-based will not install on a Linux system.
Open Steam and let it update, then close it. It may be best to update Ubuntu one more time with the commands:
Code:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt autoremove
You could reboot your system. When the BIOS has completed, press the ‘SHIFT’ key to load the GRUB menu. Choose ‘Advanced’ from the menu and at the next screen, make sure you are loading the newest kernel version (this should be the default, just make sure it is the first one at the top).
Once Ubuntu starts, open Steam again and log in to an existing account or create a new one.
Steam has a menu at the very top-left of the window. Select ‘View’ and then from the drop-down list and click on ‘Settings’. When the ‘Settings’ window appears, select ‘ Steam Play’ from the left pane. Place a check-mark in the box before ‘Enable Steam Play for all other titles’. For ‘Run other titles with’, change ‘Proton Experimental’ to ‘Proton 6.3-8’. Select ‘OK’ and it will prompt you to restart Steam, so click on ‘Restart Steam’.
You should now be able to run Windows games in Steam and Linux games.
NOTE: See https://www.linuxcompatible.org/story/proton-638-released/ for compatible games with Proton version 6.3-8. When programmers release a different version, be sure to look for the newer version on the website for an updated compatibility list.
Testing Proton
For a test, I selected ‘The Riftbreaker Demo’. Steam downloaded Proton 6.3 for this download.
Since the game is free and is only for Windows, I’m using it mainly for testing a Windows game on Linux using Proton. It should show me how well my system handles running it.
When the download has finished, you can select ‘Play’. The initial setup will start and download other files as well as install them. The other files include DirectX, which will be necessary for other Windows games.
Conclusion
Starting with a demo will let you see the way games will run with Proton and WINE. If your system does not handle the game well, then you will need a better system to provide for better playability. Do not buy games unless a free game works well. Be sure to check the compatibility list for games with Proton.
Any games that have a Linux version should be fine as long as your system meets, or preferably exceeds, the hardware requirements. Keep in mind that since this is gaming, you need to have a decent system with a good video card and lots of RAM.