Why can't I download Steam?

Question

I recently started gaming on my Ubuntu laptop and made a Steam account. I went to the Ubuntu Software Center and tried to download the Steam application.

But the problem is, it won't let me download.

When I click install, It prompts me to type my password. I do and I click authenticate. It starts installing, and after about four seconds the progress symbol at the top of the page stops spinning and the Software Center turns gray.

When I try to exit, I get a message saying "This window is not responding" I get two options: Wait or force quit. force quit stops the install and waiting does nothing.

I tried to install super tux and it installed perfectly fine. Can someone please help me?

Solution 1

You should probably download the .deb from Steam instead of searching for it on the Software Center. There are two Steam applications, and only the .deb will give the right one to install.

http://store.steampowered.com/about/

Solution 2

When I say "run" I'm referring to running the command in Terminal which can be opened by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T

Try running sudo apt-get install steam That should work, if not try this (adapted from the Steam Github README):

1. run sudo apt-get install gdebi-core

2. run wget -O ~/steam.deb https://media.steampowered.com/client/installer/steam.deb.

3. run sudo gdebi ~/steam.deb

Comments

[Grammargeek]

could you please comment on the solutions found and tell us if they didn't work and any output they may have produced? And if one solved your problem please mark it as an answer.

[ThePerfectoGamer]

some of these answers i've tried but the others are confusing me because i've only used computers for a week now.

[Jost]

Please download the .deb using https:// instead of http://.

[muru]

There's no reason to use gdebi. The Software Centre handles deb files just fine: xdg-open ~/steam.deb.

[Grammargeek]

This was simply what it said on the Github page for steam: github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/blob/master/README.‌​md

[Grammargeek]

@muru Didn't mean to cause any harm it's just that he said it didn't work in the software center so I figured I should stay away from that as it may cause confusion.

[muru]

Yes, but please provide proper attribution. Otherwise, it's plagiarism.

[Grammargeek]

I simply used the readme as a source and if I had a bibliography I would add that however they are nowhere near exact and have several things removed and added the only thing that is the same is the link and sudo apt-get install gdebi-core

[Grammargeek]

@muru I added a bibliography

[Grammargeek]

The bibliography is in MLA format