I think a Steam Service should be ideal. It can run in the background and keep you logged in. Also supply an API to integrate Ubuntu's Dash into Steam to make games searchable and also launchable from the Dash or anywhere, really.
Actually, I've just realized there is an option "Run Steam automatically when my computer starts" in Settings -> Interface.
This option should provide the windowless mode a) by default or b) by another checkbox: "Start Steam in minimized mode".
I don't think a service is necessary, at least not to achieve this behavior. :)
Run Steam with -silent to run it with no windows on startup (tray icon only).
@davidw-valve: Nice, thanks, although it's not documented, steam --help doesn't work. :)
Can you consider adding the option into Settings (see my comment above)?
Please see https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Command_Line_Options#Steam_.28Windows.29 for Steam command line options, which includes -silent.
May I ask where I can use this "-silent" option? There is a checkbox in steam settings for autostart, but no checkbox for this "silent mode".
I guess it creates a shellscript file in some autostart folder - but I did not manage to find it.
You can edit ~/.config/autostart/steam.desktop, adjusting the Exec line to include the param after /usr/bin/steam
Thanks, I'll try that.
Nothing extracted yet.
It'd be really nice if Steam has an option, (e.g.
--windowless) to start without any windows.Adding this option would make starting steam on session startup more pleasant.
(Of course this make sense only when a tray icon is available, but since this wouldn't be turned on by default, it's up to the user.)