SteamOS available for download December 13th.

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octoberasian

2[H]4U
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Wrench00 said:
I am willing to try it just for fun.
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Same here, I have a spare computer lying around that can be a guinea pig for this. I know how bad my Wi-Fi reception is in my house given the signal has to pass through a floor to get to the den where the computer and TV would be. It'd be a great way to test the latency and response times when streaming a game from my computer upstairs.
 
I have a spare SATA drive I will dedicate to this. I'm real curious on how it will work, and I really hope it takes off and dethrones Windows. From the articles I've read, this is pretty much a beta and they won't have all the kernel-hiding, user-friendly features for another few months.
 
While the company suggests that the new operating system won't necessarily be easy to install — "unless you're an intrepid Linux hacker already, we're going to recommend that you wait until later in 2014 to try it out," says Valve
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Challenge accepted.
 
"As Valve said earlier this week, at this stage, Steam OS is not for the faint of heart, or those people short on hard drives. According to Valve’s system requirements, installing the operating system requires a blank hard drive with at least 500 GB available (one installation method requires a 1TB drive), and a Nvidia graphics card. At the moment, cards from ATI and Intel aren’t supported, though Valve says that will be coming in the future."

So much for an install on a small SSD.
 
When I wipe out an extra HDD, I'm going to try playing with it. Debian Wheezy based. Hmmmm

heatlesssun said:
What the hell requires a 500 GB drive?
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lol, Ars test installed it and the biggest partition had 400GB+ free on a 500GB drive. Nothing is using the extra space, but having minimum specs for Steam Machines isn't a bad thing (piston shipping overpriced 128GB SSD only steam machines = no! :p). FSM knows my Steam games drive is being stretched with "only" 750GB.
 
rflcptr said:
also, let's preemptively eliminate windows 8 discussion from this thread, since we know you won't be using SteamOS :)
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Why would I run an OS that doesn't support all of the games and hardware that I've already paid for? If you have an good answer to that question then I would imagine everyone would run SteamOS.
 
heatlesssun said:
Why would I run an OS that doesn't support all of the games and hardware that I've already paid for? If you have an good answer to that question then I would imagine everyone would run SteamOS.
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You know full well it's not prime time. You don't have to try it, but feel free.
 
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odoe said:
You know full well it's not prime time. You don't have to try it, but feel free.
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I never said I would try it, I try lots of things, hell I'm running Steam games with touch overlay on a Bay Trail tablet. All I'm saying is that it's difficult for me to predetermine why I would run it. I simply would want some feature or capability that I don't already have.
 
heatlesssun said:
I never said I would try it, I try lots of things, hell I'm running Steam games with touch overlay on a Bay Trail tablet. All I'm saying is that it's difficult for me to predetermine why I would run it. I simply would want some feature or capability that I don't already have.
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A couple of my friends want the power/flexibility of PC gaming but to do it on a TV (not that they can't already....but I digress). I'm not one of those people and I can't imagine its a huge market. If they were to develop some must have exclusives that might make things more interesting.
 
rflcptr said:
also, let's preemptively eliminate windows 8 discussion from this thread, since we know you won't be using SteamOS :)
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I don't think he's going to be using it as his primary OS. I don't think a single rational person will ever want to use Steam OS as their primary OS for quite a while, since it's just not a rational thing to do.

That doesn't mean, though, that he couldn't be using Steam OS in conjunction with Windows. What does it take to put together a crapbox next to your TV, put Steam OS, and stream games from your Windows machine? Not much, and that setup gives you all of the useful features of Steam OS. If you have old hardware sitting around, you can turn it into a stream machine and play your games on your living room TV.
 
heatlesssun said:
I never said I would try it, I try lots of things, hell I'm running Steam games with touch overlay on a Bay Trail tablet. All I'm saying is that it's difficult for me to predetermine why I would run it. I simply would want some feature or capability that I don't already have.
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The biggest feature it really offers is this:

"You can play all your Windows and Mac games on your SteamOS machine, too. Just turn on your existing computer and run Steam as you always have - then your SteamOS machine can stream those games over your home network straight to your TV!"
http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamOS/

Of course, unless you have hardware sitting around that isn't completely worthless, you're probably best off waiting for the official Steambox.
 
Phoronix has a pretty comprehensive guide to everything Steam OS so far: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=steamos_linux_benchmarks&num=1

Titles of several articles provide a good overview:
- SteamOS 1.0 Is Based Upon Debian Wheezy
- SteamOS Has Its Own Graphics Compositor
- SteamOS Compositor Details, Kernel Patches, Screenshots
- Former NVIDIA, Microsoft Developers Doing Lots Of The SteamOS Work <-- see lol below
- Running The SteamOS Kernel On Ubuntu Linux
- The Steam Controller Works "Out Of The Box" On Linux
- NEW: AMD Catalyst Graphics Do Work On SteamOS <-- lol, read the reason on Phoronix
- NEW: It's Easy Getting Intel Graphics To Work On SteamOS

(links to those articles are in the link I posted above)

edit: Interesting benchmarks about Steam OS kernel performance: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU0NDA

In gaming, the Steam OS kernel (3.10 w/patches) is significantly slower than the stock Ubuntu kernel (3.10) or Git 3.13 kernel in 2 of the 3 tests which were actual games. In the 3rd (a synthetic benchmark) it's pretty much even between all 3.
 
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lol @ AMD

well at least there's litecoin


now where's that pohzzer guy to tell us about how AMD was going to dominate the Steam boxes and NVIDIA is doomed? it's been awhile since we've heard that line.
 
jwcalla said:
lol @ AMD

well at least there's litecoin


now where's that pohzzer guy to tell us about how AMD was going to dominate the Steam boxes and NVIDIA is doomed? it's been awhile since we've heard that line.
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nVidia was chosen due to nVidia having better support (especially older nV GPUs) on that custom compositor that SteamOS uses - I have a GTX550Ti, and that's not even the oldest nV GPU running a native SteamOS install without quibble; there are reports in the SteamOS forums of nV GeForce 2xx GPUs cutting the ketchup. AMD and Intel GPUs *will* work - however, it's more that nV GPUs (currently) fit the compositor better. (This isn't news, even on Phoronix - haven't there been cases of distributions having a distinct bias toward nV or even Intel - and hasn't openSuSE (both while it was still part of Novell and since it separated from Novell) been accused of an AMD bias, more than once? Quibble, quibble.)
 
Hmm, annoying. Tried it on my desktop and can't get audio working. No support for the Asus Xonar under Linux?
 
Dogs said:
I don't think he's going to be using it as his primary OS. I don't think a single rational person will ever want to use Steam OS as their primary OS for quite a while, since it's just not a rational thing to do.
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I never said he would.
 
heatlesssun said:
Why would I run an OS that doesn't support all of the games and hardware that I've already paid for? If you have an good answer to that question then I would imagine everyone would run SteamOS.
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Oh god it's threadcrapping here too, must be slow day for microsoft defense force. someone go post something in a windows thread so it gets distracted for five minutes.

It does make you wonder, if SteamOS is such a nonfactor then why are the MS zealots so nervous about it, let alone paying any attention to it. Should just put their heads back in sand and ignore another industry shift that's going to unfold over the next few years, that's worked out so well for MS lately.
 
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Need to check your calendar and nice way to avoid answering a valid question about this platform. You can promote a platform with infinite amounts of troll calling.
 
Please. Being intentionally obtuse with rhetorical questions about "Why would I run this OS" isn't contributing to the discussion and is little more than threadcrapping. If your interests do not lay here then buzz off, nothing here for you.

The reality is the reasons will unfold, as SteamOS is a long play and still in development. Plenty of people asked "Why would I want Steam when I can just install from CD" and "Why would I want Android when iPhone". Valve will have plenty of reasons as to "why" people will want it, that much is guaranteed.
 
If you can't answer the question why would I or anyone else would run this OS, then it does point to a problem this platform could face.
 
Using this OS for anything more than running an auxiliary box that sits by the TV is a silly thing to do. If you're going to sit at your desk and use the computer, using Steam OS is just sacrificing 99% of the functionality of your computer for features you already get under Windows and Linux. Anybody comparing Steam OS to Windows or Linux, or suggesting that it is anything remotely close to a viable competitor is inane. They are orthogonal. It'd be like worrying about your microwave competing with your dishwasher.

There is, however, a market for this platform. It isn't the mainstream computer market, certainly, but it does have a place. It's its own niche. Steam OS is just another cog in the home entertainment machine. Steam OS seeks to bring PC games to the couch, the TV and the controller by working with, rather than replacing, your existing gaming setup. You can put together a fast Windows computer for your traditional computing needs, but stream your gaming content to your TV to enjoy it as you would a console.

heatlesssun said:
If you can't answer the question why would I or anyone else would run this OS, then it does point to a problem this platform could face.
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As I've mentioned before, the reason why you'd use it is obvious; Streaming. This software enables you to expand your ability to use your existing PC for entertainment. The reason why you'd replace your existing operating system with it, however, is non-existent, because that would be a foolish thing to do. That idea needs to immediately make it's way out the window. Don't let that thought distract you from what Steam OS can do for you.
 
Dogs said:
As I've mentioned before, the reason why you'd use it is obvious; Streaming. This software enables you to expand your ability to use your existing PC for entertainment. The reason why you'd replace your existing operating system with it, however, is non-existent, because that would be a foolish thing to do. That idea needs to immediately make it's way out the window. Don't let that thought distract you from what Steam OS can do for you.
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This would indeed be a reason. It looks like this is essentially a Linux PC console with a console interface and I can see the efficacy of that idea in that it simplifies the use of a PC for use with a couch and TV gaming environment.
 
Yeah I can see how tying up both the computer AND the big screen TV for one persons gaming might be desireable lol.
 
B00nie said:
Yeah I can see how tying up both the computer AND the big screen TV for one persons gaming might be desireable lol.
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That's a bridging strategy, not the longterm goal. Longterm (think next 3-5 years) it will just be SteamOS native games, as AAA development now begins a slow migration to SteamOS.

I like the draw of having an operating system geared towards gaming performance instead being geared towards running bloatware.
 
DPI said:
That's a bridging strategy, not the longterm goal. Longterm (think next 3-5 years) it will just be SteamOS native games, as AAA development now begins a slow migration to SteamOS.

I like the draw of having an operating system geared towards gaming performance instead being geared towards running bloatware.
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B00nie said:
Yeah I can see how tying up both the computer AND the big screen TV for one persons gaming might be desireable lol.
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Yeah, we shouldn't expect the SteamOS being a primary platform to play PC games even if streaming from the PC, even Valve admits it in the Steam Machines/OS page on their website.

Why use it then?

Well, for a lot of people, this is going to be for those that have one computer in the den or their bedroom wanting to play a game in the living room, and just let the game stream from PC to the Steam Machine/SteamOS box. Minimal headache and setup for normal people.

The platform will get better over time given it's not as rigid as a console's OS and hardware. When developers start porting more games to Linux, streaming some titles from the Windows PC will be slowly replaced by playing games natively on a Steam Machine/SteamOS box.

The whole point, of how I see it, is to make PC gaming a little bit easier to understand for normal, nearly non-techie people. I meet these kind of people often and a lot of the questions I get usually center around "Can my game run on this [insert computer part here]?"

Even in an age of smartphones, tablets, and social networks, there are still a lot of people out there that do not know if one game can run on a certain piece of hardware. It'd be like expecting them to understand Egyptian hieroglyphics without the Rosetta Stone. I think that's what Valve is going to attempt to do-- make PC gaming as accessible as a video game console while bringing it out of the family room, den, or bedroom and into the living room.

Not everyone knows how to use and install Linux, but given that many people can navigate ChromiumOS or Android, give them an easy-to-use and understand interface, and make the items they want to use accessible and people will learn how to use it for the purpose it was intended for.

And, not everyone is a techno-phile posting on PC hardware forums that can discuss the ins-and-outs of PC hardware, or debate why one OS is better than the other, either.

If you have a Windows PC that you already play games on and know how to connect it to your HDTV in the living room, then maybe SteamOS isn't for you.

However, if it's easier to just have a smaller box in the living room stream those same games into the living room, then this might work better.

Give this a bit of time and it'll probably be better than what it is now, and we'll see where Valve will take this.
 
drescherjm said:
Under linux I would just use motherboard sound.
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Motherboard audio on my particular board is noticeably noisy, especially when gaming (it picks up a lot of EMF from the graphics card / PCIe bus).

I'll take that as a "no, an Asus Xonar sound card wont work properly under Linux"
 
DPI said:
as AAA development now begins a slow migration to SteamOS.
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I really doubt that. What you'll see is dozens more crappy indie games added to the Linux Steam library, and a few high profile (non-Valve) games supporting it, likely from companies which made Linux games in the past.

Direct3D and the other components of DX are too much of useful crack to give up in favor of a bunch of disparate Open this and that components whose most current features are fragile to driver releases.
 
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