Fix Steam Install — MX Linux 23.6 AHS

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# Fix Steam Install — MX Linux 23.6 AHS

## Eliminate **glXChooseVisual failed** / **llvmpipe** and confirm you are on NVIDIA’s proprietary driver

---

### 1  Quick Driver Check (are you on non‑free or nouveau?)

```bash
# 1. Renderer string — Gallium ⇒ nouveau / llvmpipe ; NVIDIA ⇒ proprietary
glxinfo | grep "OpenGL renderer"
# 2. Proprietary modules present? (empty = nouveau)
lsmod | grep nvidia
```

**Expected proprietary output**

```
OpenGL renderer string: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060/PCIe/SSE2
nvidia … nvidia_uvm … nvidia_modeset …
```

If you instead see *Gallium … NVxxx* or nothing from `lsmod`, you are on the open‑source driver.

---

### 2  Symptoms when 32‑bit stack is missing

* Steam fails with

  ```
  CVulkanTopology: failed create vulkan instance
  glXChooseVisual failed
  ```
* `vulkaninfo` (run **without sudo**) shows **llvmpipe** instead of your GPU.

---

### 3  Root Cause

Steam needs both 64‑ & 32‑bit NVIDIA GL **and** Vulkan ICD libraries. Without them the Vulkan loader falls back to Mesa software (`llvmpipe`).

---

### 4  Remediation

```bash
# A. One‑time: enable i386 architecture
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 && sudo apt update

# B. Install complete 32‑bit GL stack
sudo apt install \
  nvidia-driver-libs:i386 \
  libgl1-nvidia-glvnd-glx:i386 \
  libnvidia-glcore:i386 \
  libnvidia-eglcore:i386 \
  libegl-nvidia0:i386

# C. Install Vulkan ICDs (64‑ & 32‑bit)
sudo apt install nvidia-vulkan-icd nvidia-vulkan-icd:i386

# D. Confirm ICD JSONs exist
ls /usr/share/vulkan/icd.d | grep nvidia   # expect nvidia_icd.json & nvidia_icd.i686.json

# E. Reload NVIDIA modules (no full reboot needed)
sudo systemctl isolate multi-user.target   # drop to TTY
sudo systemctl isolate graphical.target    # back to GUI

# F. Validation — must show your GPU twice
nvidia-smi | head -n3
vulkaninfo | grep "deviceName        = NVIDIA" | head -1

# G. Launch Steam
steam  # Proton games will now pick NVIDIA
```

---

### 5  Important Notes

* **Never run `sudo vulkaninfo`**: it loses `DISPLAY`/`XDG_RUNTIME_DIR` and always reports llvmpipe.
* Use **Debian/MX repo Steam**, not Flatpak (sandbox blocks driver path).
* Secure Boot must be disabled or NVIDIA modules signed.
* DKMS auto‑rebuilds after kernel upgrades; no need to reinstall these libs.
* Optional cleanup:

  ```bash
  sudo apt autoremove
  ```

---