It's a CLOSED beta. Not intended for the average user yet. It'll be easy once they've worked out the bugs.
It will possibly still require workarounds for non-ubuntu users though, the official sources are only citing compatibility with Ubuntu as a goal. That said, every distribution will likely have a package available through non-official sources. Arch for example already has a working user package for the current client. And I can also confirm that it is slow and buggy as was to be expected.
Re:Steam for Linux Beta Now Available
by ricardobeat on Tuesday November 06, 2012 @08:40PM
(#4751794)
If you are not a Ubuntu user, odds are that you won't mind the trickery required.
Well, the workarounds seem to be mostly for people using unsupported distros or (more commonly) installing it despite not being in the closed beta.
Re:Steam for Linux Beta Now Available
by carlosantolin on Tuesday November 06, 2012 @04:16PM
(#4750806)
No, I dowloaded a .deb which installed steam, witch then downloaded the full program without any issue.
Windows and Mac it is simple as download and go. But with Linux there seems to be issues and work arounds.
Still not for the average user.
Look at all the comments.