How to Run Steam Inside a Container LXC on Ubuntu

We are talking about now days Steam beta version of Ubuntu and we also learned to bypass the limits imposed by the beta program. You may notice that Steam, , however, is 32-bit version and Valve is recommended for use only on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. Personally I also tried Steam beta of Ubuntu 12.10 32-bit and found no major problems, but it seems my luck has been : I have heard several complaints from users <strong > Ubuntu 12.10 64-bit , as Steam refuses to work on that operating system (probably because of multiarch support that seems to still some problems).

Running Steam in a virtual environment complete (which could be VirtualBox or VMWare ) be a real blow for your operating system and your brain , as you would be required to configure the virtual machine to the smallest detail, so not have problems to access the 3D rendering direct host and to enjoy your favorite games, audio direct. Why, then, do not use a so-called “container”, a virtual environment (rather complex to use) that uses few system resources and can be accessed without any problem at all system devices?

Stéphane Graber has done by writing a program in Python, this Steam-LXC that allows you to automatically configure a container – to run Steam on Ubuntu – using a virtual Ubuntu 12.04 32-bit capable to access hardware acceleration and direct audio system. The container is chosen by Steph LXC , virtual environment that uses hardly any system resources, used mainly in mechanisms of testing (I LXC used quite often too), especially during the development of kernel / modules / applications in general that need testing on multiple architectures. LXC turns out to be, in fact, one of the containers more scalable and reconfigurable on the existing scene, earning the alter-ego of “chroot on steroids.”

Before continuing I want to let you know that Steam-LXC has been tested only of <strong > Ubuntu 13.04 64-bit Raring using a video card Intel , and there is a possibility of have some problems of video hardware that are used proprietary drivers ( the nVidia or Catalyst, so to speak), there should be no problems, however, with the open drivers Nouveau or Radeon. In all cases .. any feedback is welcome!

Ubuntu – Installation of Steam-LXC

Install the preconfigured container is absolutely simple! Stéph provides us with a convenient PPA (for Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10 and 13.04) to proceed. All you have to do is open a terminal, and type

sudo add-apt-repository ppa: ubuntu-lxc/stable
sudo apt-get sudo update
apt-get install steam-LXC

Into Then, it is the first time we use LXC , we need to create the directory dedicated to the container, with the command

sudo mkdir -p / var / lib / LXC / var / cache / LXC

After that we prepare the environment and download everything you need (including Steam) to test it, do not worry, things will be done automatically! Also from the terminal, type

sudo steam-LXC create

and wait for the completion of the process (the time will vary depending on the speed of your internet connection, it may take up to an hour). Without this there is nothing left to run Steam virtual environment just created with the command

sudo steam-LXC run

Into Enjoy!

[geeks] as you can see doing so you will not be able to run Steam bypassing the limitations of the beta. I gave a fleeting look at the code of the script and I concluded that, in order to be able to bypass the limitations of the beta, you should change the boot command Steam inside the python script. To do this, from the terminal, type

sudo gedit / usr / bin / steam-LXC

located this piece of code

self.run_command ("DISPLAY =% s =% s PULSE_SERVER steam"%

and turn it into

self.run_command ("DISPLAY =% s =% s PULSE_SERVER steam steam :/ / open / games"%

Then start Steam in LXC with the command

sudo steam-LXC run

should work perfectly!

NB: you can also use the container to run Steam on the official Ubuntu variants (X / K / L / Edubuntu) – making sure that the dependencies are installed inside the container and not on your operating system .