Cloud Gaming on Linux

Just to round out this series, I recently discovered that the AWS g4dn can run Linux AMIs. And that the NVIDIA Tesla T4 is a supported card with the NVIDIA driver. So, we have the basis for running Steam on Linux, and streaming our games from a Linux host. The following is from memory, so please excuse any missed steps. There was some troubleshooting involved between installing Steam and getting Steam to run, but I believe that the resolution was to install the 32-bit NVIDIA GLX library (see below).

Setup for this is surprisingly simple, though it does require a license for RealVNC (realvnc.com). Install the Ubuntu Linux 20.04 AMI on a g4dn. Once booted, install the NVIDIA drivers (nvidia-driver-460) and the 32-bit NVIDIA GLX library (nvidia-gl-460:i386).

nvidia-xconfig

This will install a basic xorg.conf. Install the lightdm display manager (lightdm). Install and license RealVNC VNC-Server. If you do not have a VPN, you’ll also need to add a cloud token to the VNC server so that you can connect via Internet. Please see the RealVNC documentation for details. Once RealVNC is configured, you should be able to connect to the VM.

Verify that the NVIDIA drivers installed correctly. Install the mesa GL utilities (mesa-utils)

glxinfo | less

Look for the vendor string at the top, and verify that it is NVIDIA.

glxgears

You should get 3d-accelerated gears. Framerate on my system was ~13k/s.

Download and install Steam.

apt install -f

It was necessary to install additional dependencies to complete the Steam installation.

That’s it! My experience with this VM has been pretty good thus far. Most games work right out of the box. However, the ones that don’t have proven to be very difficult to determine why it’s not working and I’ve had to abandon the effort.