SteamOS *Official Discussion Thread*

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DPI

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And so it begins... the first public beta of Valve's pure PC gaming operating system: SteamOS

BETA download link (960MB): http://repo.steamstatic.com/download/SteamOSInstaller.zip
Alternate: http://repo.steampowered.com/download/

FAQ and Installation Instructions: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/648814395741989999/

NOTE: Valve has advised that this release is being made available to those already experienced with Linux and troubleshooting, and that most people should wait until next year for a more polished version.
 
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I thought for sure this would be a customized Ubuntu given how much Steam plugged it. The choice in using Debian is interesting.

[edit] This sheds some light on it:

Valve Software has made available images for Steam OS, it’s GNU/Linux based gaming distribution. Valve has also released more information about the operating system. Unlike popular belief Steam OS is not based on Ubuntu; it’s based on Debian 7.1 Wheezy. Steam OS is using Gnome as it’s default desktop environment.

It’s a pretty reasonable decision considering Ubuntu’s own struggle with developing in-house technologies like Mir and many others. There may be other issues as Linux Mint founder recently said in an interview that Canonical is using binary licensing to restrict what derivative can and can’t do. Valve is a much bigger company than Canonical and it certainly won’t rely on a company which is not known for having very good relationship with the free software community.
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http://www.muktware.com/2013/12/steam-os-available-download-based-debian-7-1-ubuntu/17572
 
Canonical's decisions have been making a lot of people upset lately. Might be why it was skipped for Debian.
 
Seems it's limited to NVIDIA GPUs for now... I wonder if they have AMD drivers hidden in their repo
 
ocellaris said:
Ubuntu is based on Debian...
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CrimsonKnight13 said:
I know that. Debian & Ubuntu are not one in the same though, which is why my statement holds true.
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I always figured it was more like this:
Ubuntu is a "fork" of mainline Debian, doesn't use the same repositories.

Linux Mint is a "variation" based on Ubuntu, uses same repositories as Ubuntu but not Debian.

SteamOS is a "variation" of mainline Debian, possibly uses same repositories as Debian.
​
If I'm wrong, correct me wherever.
 
Most likely the 500 GB install is just a min spec by valve but does not have any checks. Power users are likely to know the limitations and not have a problem with smaller drives. If you want to try it, do so and see what happens. Come on guys this is hard forum people install windows 7 on Pentium 2s.

The interesting question is will this work well with xbox 360 controllers which many people have?
 
rudy said:
Most likely the 500 GB install is just a min spec by valve but does not have any checks. Power users are likely to know the limitations and not have a problem with smaller drives. If you want to try it, do so and see what happens. Come on guys this is hard forum people install windows 7 on Pentium 2s.

The interesting question is will this work well with xbox 360 controllers which many people have?
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Depends, how good of a support is the 360 controller in Linux?

I've never really tried using mine yet in Linux Mint with Steam, I'm too used to keyboard and mouse.
 
Very, VERY glad they used Debian instead of Ubuntu. However, I would much rather have them use Testing instead; stable Debian is hugely antiquated. A little annoyed that it isn't including AMD GPU drivers, but I can understand them adding one at a time. I'm also glad to see that they're allowing users to apt-get whatever they want from user-added repositories; so glad they aren't locking it down to only "preferred" applications. Likewise, using as much FOSS as possible, where everything seems to be FOSS with the exception of proprietary drivers if chosen, and of course Steam itself. I can only hope that Steam For Linux will eventually have all the SteamOS features (ie streaming/playable Windows games, the UI if chosen etc...) for those who may want to install the full SteamOS experience on the Linux distro/environment of their choice.

So far, good show Valve!
 
octoberasian said:
I always figured it was more like this:
Ubuntu is a "fork" of mainline Debian, doesn't use the same repositories.

Linux Mint is a "variation" based on Ubuntu, uses same repositories as Ubuntu but not Debian.

SteamOS is a "variation" of mainline Debian, possibly uses same repositories as Debian.
​
If I'm wrong, correct me wherever.
Click to expand...

Ubuntu doesn't use the same repositories normally but can use any Debian-based repository just as long as there's no conflicts with the distro's main repositories.

Linux Mint is a variation & fork of Ubuntu - same repo rules apply as above.

SteamOS is in the same boat as Linux Mint, just for Debian instead of Ubuntu.

SteamOS & Linux Mint are downstream variants and/or forks (depending on who's explaining it) that utilize their own repos but also pull from their originating distros when needed (but not always required).

Note: I'll gladly be corrected as well if I've erred in explaining this. :)
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
Seems it's limited to NVIDIA GPUs for now... I wonder if they have AMD drivers hidden in their repo
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I guess it all depends how much support that Valve has or has not received from AMD during SteamOS's development and planning. What I do know is NVIDIA hopped right on board already in late 2011, and began allocating resources immediately, including stationing a few NV engineers fulltime inside Valve's office. http://www.tomshardware.com/news/steam-box-steamos-nvidia-valve,24405.html No doubt one of the first questions NVIDIA probably asked Valve was about making SteamOS/Steamboxes NVIDIA-exclusive in a partnership arrangement, and Valve wisely doesn't seem to have any interest in that because it would only limit SteamOS, and they're looking to leverage one major advantage PC gaming has over the entrenched consoles which is the *lack* of need for a rigid hardware spec.

Right now I imagine AMD is preoccupied with trying to make something happen with Mantle, and will probably jump on the SteamOS bandwagon as it gains more momentum. The trouble with AMD taking a "wait and see" stance is their customers may have to wait around longer for SteamOS to finally support their cards.
 
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I have an AMD video card so I don't meet the system requirements apparently. Also am I reading this right that you can't just burn the ISO to a DVD and install from that ? It seemed like a lot of work to get an OS installed even for Linux.
 
DPI said:
Right now I imagine AMD is preoccupied with trying to make something happen with Mantle,
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Or maybe busy with an official driver for R9 290 cards. I can't believe we still only have beta R9 drivers and the cards have been out for over a month.
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
Seems it's limited to NVIDIA GPUs for now... I wonder if they have AMD drivers hidden in their repo
Click to expand...

When I was browsing through the zip file I saw AMD drivers in there.

I think it's more a matter of just focusing on NVIDIA testing for the hardware beta at this point. It looks like Valve has pulled in a lot of realtime patches for the kernel; getting these to work with GPU drivers can be hairy, so maybe Intel and AMD need a bit more time for this particular context.
 
after some hoop jumping ive got the OS installed on an old non uefi HP C2D rig with a gt420 and 64gb ssd

i used the files at the end of this
http://w3.reddit.com/r/SteamOS/comments/1su4t1/uefi_requirement_with_steamos/
to get it to boot.

however the quick and dirty way i got the system to boot via USB is rename zip to iso, used unetbootin to copy contents to USB, copied files from said link then when booting the drive scroll down to "unknown grub 0" or something it will go thru the autoinstall and wipe the system. follow instructions for grub in link above.

i just cant seem to get steam to run or the post install script to work
 
couple unboxing vids -

cool supply crate packaging:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXCbdn00pKY

bootup/shaky camera geforce promo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khC927-1fRY

the os looks pretty damn slick, and I'm sure this could be installed on a much smaller drive. boot/recovery/swap occupy only ~30G, the installer won't check for anything besides minimum space for the partitions other than home drive. ars did a pretty detailed writeup of the install process for their custom box, there you can see the file system details:

 
also happy to share it auto detected my xbox wireless reciever and synced right to my controller
DLing some L4D2.

what i do find is it already sees what games are installed on my primary machine and gives me an option to stream them however dual login isnt enabled yet so it fails at the authentication step
 
mikey976 said:
after some hoop jumping ive got the OS installed on an old non uefi HP C2D rig with a gt420 and 64gb ssd

i used the files at the end of this
http://w3.reddit.com/r/SteamOS/comments/1su4t1/uefi_requirement_with_steamos/
to get it to boot.

however the quick and dirty way i got the system to boot via USB is rename zip to iso, used unetbootin to copy contents to USB, copied files from said link then when booting the drive scroll down to "unknown grub 0" or something it will go thru the autoinstall and wipe the system. follow instructions for grub in link above.

i just cant seem to get steam to run or the post install script to work
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I'll test this on my spare non-UEFI box.
 
I guess I'll be waiting until next year, as I are H.R. Linux noob and stuff. But a big thanks to valve for taking some huge steps for us pc gamers to rid ourselves from everything microsoft.

will they make all future steam releases steamOS mandatory?
 
By the way, the game streaming from a Windows PC isn't ready yet and is not included in this build of SteamOS. You will have to wait until they add it. For now, I guess this is to test installation and boot up, and set up on some hardware.
 
CrimsonKnight13 said:
Thanks for the info. I'll test this on my spare non-UEFI box.
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trick is after post install what they leave out of the instructions is when you log into gnome session as steam/steam you must run Steam via terminal. after accepting EULA then close/logout and complete instructions as perscribed.

may run into issue where its booting into steam BPM and drops to intrafms, just perform a hard reboot and should come up clean and prompt for first login
 
horse said:
will they make all future steam releases steamOS mandatory?
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That would be a terrible decision.

90% of their market is not people that you'd find here at [H]. They wouldn't know how to install a new OS on their parents Dell Dimension. Hell, most people don't even know what OS they're running when I ask them.
 
Anybody get steam os working properly in virtualbox? I was able to get it installed but it would only go to desktop mode and not steam big picture mode. I was able to install guest additions but after a couple reboots it crashed to the cli screen at startup. I have an ATI card if that makes a differnce.
 
I have been meaning to on my X79 box, but just haven't had the time yet
 
pcjunkie said:
Anybody get steam os working properly in virtualbox? I was able to get it installed but it would only go to desktop mode and not steam big picture mode. I was able to install guest additions but after a couple reboots it crashed to the cli screen at startup. I have an ATI card if that makes a differnce.
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I found a few instructions online:

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/0/648814395797000712/

https://gist.github.com/voltagex/7955961

--------------------------------------------------------

Relevant articles for Steam OS:

ArsTechnica's take on it and how they got it working:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/...-install-steamos-on-your-very-own-computer/2/

(Default session is "SteamOS")

Intel HD graphics do work on SteamOS:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU0NDU

As well as AMD drivers:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU0NDQ

Phoronix's Nvidia GPU tests in SteamOS:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=steamos_linux_benchmarks&num=1
 
jwcalla said:
When I was browsing through the zip file I saw AMD drivers in there.

I think it's more a matter of just focusing on NVIDIA testing for the hardware beta at this point. It looks like Valve has pulled in a lot of realtime patches for the kernel; getting these to work with GPU drivers can be hairy, so maybe Intel and AMD need a bit more time for this particular context.
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That's pretty much the case - same thing with the audio (focussed on HDMI).
There *are* unofficial mods that allow installs on non-EFI/UEFI hardware (including virtual machines) - I used one for my own test setup (OS number three on my setup - temporarily replacing OS X Mavericks). Intel drivers (along with AMD drivers) were updated recently (as of all of two days ago) - also, VM driver support was officially added by Valve to the repos.
As long as you have modern (HD5xxx or later for AMD, Sandy Bridge or later for Intel, or GeForce 5xx for nVidia) GPUs, and HDMI for any (except for some Intel-based motherboards - so far, it's not every motherboard), you're set.

I had to go "unofficial" for two reasons - no UEFI (yet) and my GTX550Ti has a mini-HDMI port - not a full-sized one. (Because it was a refub, no mini-HDMI/HDMI dongle was included - my only quibble.)

Also, *all* Creative PCI-E or USB sound cards are detected (and are normally supported as Intel HDA Audio devices); however, you'll need the linux firmware support from the Debian wheezy repos (as it's not in the SteamOS repos yet) - my Recon3D has solid audio in desktop mode.
 
Its been a quiet year in terms of public SteamOS news, but there have been hints along the way that Valve was continuing to work with development partners and generally getting their ducks in a row.

In two weeks at GDC 2015 we'll find out why Valve has thrown its weight behind glNext, Khronos' low level graphics API that people are speculating will be the recommended or required library for SteamOS titles. AMD may also be involved in some capacity since glNext is being speculatively touted as "all the good parts of OpenGL married to Mantle". Apparently AMD gave Khronos their Mantle specs and allowed them to use whatever they liked. And glNext being unveiled after just 1 year suggests much of Mantle may have been reused.

In any case, the lineup of presenters here are all part of Khronos - people from DICE/EA, Epic, Oxide, Unity and Valve - and have been participating in the creation of the new API. According to John McDonald (Valve) during SIGGRAPH 2014, the group's goal is "one API usable on all platforms", which means not only Linux but also Windows.

Johan Andersson | Technical Fellow, Electronic Arts, Frostbite Engine Team
Pierre-Loup Griffais | Developer, Valve Software
John McDonald | Developer, Valve Software
Niklas Smedberg | Senior Engine Programmer, Epic Games
Dan Baker | Graphics Architect, Oxide Games
Aras Pranckevicius | Graphics Architect, Unity Technologies
Tom Olson | Chair of the Working Group, Khronos

http://schedule.gdconf.com/session/glnext-the-future-of-high-performance-graphics-presented-by-valve
 
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