Welcome to the unofficial Linux discussion thread. Whether you're a Linux user or not you're welcome to join our discussion with any questions and thoughts you may have burning on your mind, or if you just want to share the love.
This first post is reserved for Star Citizen specific and related FAQ whereas the next few posts below this one may be more "general", a good read if you would like to know more about Linux (without any specific relation to Star Citizen).
Several threads have been merged with this one, so it may be confusing to read through it from this page to the last. Unless you're enthusiastic enough to read the whole thing from start to finish, feel free to just jump to the last one or two pages to join the talks.
Will Star Citizen come to Linux?
Yes! Eventually!
So far we don't know when, but since CryEngine (The Engine SC is built upon) version 3.8.1 officially added Linux support, there is hope that we will see a Linux version before the first official release of the game.
According to Ben Lesnick, we will most likely see a Linux version "around launch".
How does Linux's gaming performance compare to Windows?(Drivers)
Check out this Nvidia based Ubuntu vs Windows 10 (OpenGL) benchmark just to see that the Linux GPU drivers are quite competitive with the Windows ones. Alternatively, here is a benchmark with GTX 670 and 550-Ti on Linux vs Windows driver performance including OpenGL 3.2 on both Windows and Linux and DX11 on Windows.
Here's an AMD Catalyst benchmark, Gallium3D is the open source driver which can sometimes outperform their (now deprecated) closed source catalyst driver. AMD are actively improving their Linux performance today with their new AMDGPU kernel driver for Radeon R9 285 and newer cards (Polaris support already included!). If you're interested wait for more news on AMD GPU-Pro's (catalyst replacement) release (currently beta).
In graphical performance (which gaming is all about today) both Nvidia drivers and AMD drivers for Linux are very competitive with the Windows ones to the level that neither is better than the other, as is. But I've seen common claim in Nvidia's case that their drivers outperform the Windows ones, as well as that they actually removed functionality from them to reduce their linux drivers capabilities down to the level of Windows on several occasions.
Peripheral device support is also decent as far as I can tell, and Valve is working to even further improve peripheral device support. Any Xbox360 emulating (or Xinput) controller will work plug and play out of the box like you'd expect them to. No comment on HOTAS setups from me though (would be nice if someone has experiences with that and could comment). But at least we can expect HTC Vive to be supported.
As for DirectX12, we have Vulkan instead. Both are based very heavily on AMD's Mantle code, and so both will probably be rather on-par with each other in real performance. Chris Roberts did mention interest in vulkan support, and it can easily be assumed that CIG's former statement claiming they will support AMD's Mantle directly translates to now supporting Vulkan instead as Vulkan is the true spiritual successor of the short lived Mantle that there is no longer any value in supporting at all.
Can Star Citizen be run through Wine?
TL;DR: Not yet. The major fault here is that Wine does not yet support DX10/11 (but this is in progress, and you may have some luck with wine staging (e.g. alpha builds))
The best place to look for whether Wine supports a game or not is through it's AppDB you can see from here (after searching Star Citizen, or Hangar Module) that the hangar module will not run as it requires DirectX 11. DX11 support is being worked on by Wine devs though. Wine is not perfect and it can be a bother to configure it, especially to those who don't know how. If you want to use wine for running Star Citizen or anything else, chances are you will need to give yourself a few hours to learn how to properly use it. I recommend Steam's brand new In-Home Streaming service as a great alternative to Wine for gaming (if you have the resources)
For the hardcore, there is also the quite recent VGA-Passthrough technology (more here)
Where do I go to ask to join the Star Citizen Linux Alpha/Beta?
The Linux announcement is still just that; an announcement. There is no official Linux alpha/beta planned yet, and quite frankly we don't know when it will be or how it will be handled. But as is, here is the unofficial thread for it.
Are there any Linux organizations in Star Citizen?
Yes there are, currently the known ones are:
Linux User Group
Steam Linux User Group
Linux For Everything
Order of the Dragonfly
If you have a Linux organization that you want me to add to this list, shoot me a PM or comment it in this thread and I shall add it to the list.
Other Star Citizen Q&A
Is a linux build of the game in progress? (May1; Apart from the server, no. Not yet)
Will the game come to Mac? (Ben Lesnick: Not confirmed) Do not lose hope Mac folks, Mavericks finally added long awaited support for OpenGL 4.1 and Crytek has announced CE support for Macs coming as well.
I want to try out Linux, where should I start?
There is a free online course on linux it used to cost around 2400$
You could also start in this below post.
Where else can I go to keep track on Linux outside of Star Citizen?
Phoronix is one of the most popular news pages for Linux.
GamingOnLinx is also a popular news page for Linux but dedicated to gaming.
The Official Linux Homepage
Hope this info helped