Intel NUC 13 Pro Mini PC Running Linux: Configuring Ubuntu 23.10

Steam and Heroic Games Launcher

For this series, I’m going to be testing a variety of Linux games on the NUC 13. Some of these games run using Wine, so I’ll install both Steam and Heroic Games Launcher, the latter lets me access the large collection of free games I’ve built up from the regular free offerings from Epic Games and GOG.

Installing Steam and Heroic Games Launcher worked without a hitch.

Do an update

$ sudo apt update

Install Steam

Open a terminal window, and add the multiverse repository with the command:

$ sudo add-apt-repository multiverse

You’ll be prompted for your sudo password. Once you’ve successfully authenticated, you’ll then be prompted to hit Enter on your keyboard.

$ sudo apt install steam

Start Steam and you’ll see the Steam Installer popup.

A quick steam update is actioned.

Now we’re ready to sign in to Steam.

Heroic Games Launcher

Heroic Games Launcher (“Heroic”) is a free and open source games launcher for Epic Games and GOG. Epic Games is an American video game and software developer and publisher. GOG is a digital distribution platform.

We can install Heroic on the NUC 13 via Flatpak, AppImage, as well as a .deb package. I prefer using DEB. I downloaded the file heroic_2.9.2_amd64.deb to my ~/Downloads directory from the project’s GitHub repository, and installed with the command:

$ sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/heroic_2.9.2_amd64.deb

Here’s an image of my giveaway library. I’ve connected EPIC and GOG accounts.

All of the games shown above are Windows-only. But courtesy of Wine, a compatibility layer that aims to allow application software and computer games developed for Microsoft Windows, the games run under Linux. I’ll be testing some of them on the NUC 13 to see what games are playable with its GPU.

If there are any games you’d like me to test on the NUC 13 that were included in the weekly freebies on the Epic or GOG stores, drop a comment below.

Next page: Page 6 – Flatpak

Pages in this article:
Page 1 – System Update and Firmware
Page 2 – Installing Software
Page 3 – Ubuntu Desktop with GNOME 45
Page 4 – Graphics
Page 5 – Steam and Heroic Games Launcher
Page 6 – Flatpak
Page 7 – Swap File and Summary

Complete list of articles in this series: