If you have always wished to have a Linux operating PC as your main computer but the lack of games made you reconsider your decision, Proton is here to fix that problem. Proton is an open-source compatibility tool for Steam Play, allowing users to play Windows games on GNU/Linux systems. There are more and more games supported on the platform with each update.
It is so much easier to game on Linux now thanks to Steam Play, Proton, and Wine. Wine is also a compatibility layer that aims to let you run games and applications designed for Windows on Linux as well; and Proton is based on it, completely focusing on games.
To check which games are compatible with Proton and how well they run, click here.
Play Steam games on Linux with Proton
If you would like to play non-Linux-native Steam games on Linux, you can use Proton to make it possible. Here is how to do it step by step:
Step 1: Download Steam Launcher
First, you need to get Steam Launcher for Linux here. Steam and Proton were run on Ubuntu 22.10 in this how-to article.
You can also run this command in the terminal to install Steam:
sudo apt install steamStep 2: Launch Steam and fix the libc.so6 error
Launch Steam. If you get the “you are missing the following 32-bit libraries and steam may not run libc.so.6” error, try these commands in the terminal:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libc6-i386If you keep getting errors, try running the command on Step 1 to reinstall Steam.
Step 3: Find your non-Linux-native game on Steam
After you have found your game which is not native to Linux, it should look like this. While some games can be native to Linux, such as Terraria, some are not. Proton is here to fix this problem specifically.
Step 4: Activate Proton in Settings
The install button should be grayed out, which means we need to make sure “Enable Steam Play for all other titles” is selected and select Proton to run the titles with. Go to Steam > Settings > Steam Play section to activate it.
Step 5: Install your game
As you can see, the Install button no longer grayed out; which means your game is ready to be installed on your Linux system. Click the Install button the install the game.
Step 6: Play the game
After the installation process finishes, simply click the Play button to launch the game. Enjoy!
