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If the SteamOS version isn't updated, you have to ask some serious questions about what's going on. You'd figure these games are amongst a few that are meant to set an example of what to expect.

Many early ports will be like that because they can't afford to put the same amount of effort they put into the Windows version.

The fact a graphically demanding game such as Metro: LL even has a Linux port is major news. Even if it's subpar it's a big thing. For now..

 

[nded]

If the SteamOS version isn't updated, you have to ask some serious questions about what's going on. You'd figure these games are amongst a few that are meant to set an example of what to expect.

To be fair, this whole thing is still in beta. I really wouldn't expect much SteamOS specific stuff for anything outside of Valve's own games this early on.

The fact a graphically demanding game such as Metro: LL even has a Linux port is major news. Even if it's subpar it's a big thing. For now..

It actually looks and runs pretty nice on my Ubuntu test rig, considering how low its specs are. But yeah, I was kind of surprised when I opened up the settings and found a single slider.

 

[ashecitism]

Are you talking about the game in particular or about tessellation in general? Because OpenGL supports tessellation, of course.

Didn't know that.

You'll have to search for it, but there is a Vergecast video podcast thing from either the same day or that week. They are in absolute hysterics about it and seemed blown away that he even spoke to them

Wouldn't surprise me.Valve clearly weren't planning any info blowout at CES this year, but Xi3 with their announcement and the press jumping on it forced their hands.

 

[Symphonic]

When does this drop?

 

[UnrealEck]

Why?
We are talking about operating systems here. Quite fundamental pieces of software who both run with totally different code under the hood.
By which I mean: IF we would see a big difference in performance, wouldn't it be attributed to the operating systems? In the past all you could do was buy better hardware to run a game better. Going forward, I think the OS choice will also now matter.

Didn't game developers say DirectX is a train wreck?

The graphics API is the only thing I can really seeing having an impact (good or bad) on the performance of games.
I hadn't thought about this though. Valve has said before that OpenGL is faster than DirectX. I'm sure other people have said it too. So I guess it could give a nice boost.

I'm wondering how AMD's Mantle will also fit in and what nVidia will do.
But it's early days for Steam OS.

 

[MutonCommander]

You'll have to search for it, but there is a Vergecast video podcast thing from either the same day or that week. They are in absolute hysterics about it and seemed blown away that he even spoke to them

Amazing, I will look for it. Gaben is a boss!

 

[wsippel]

VirtualBox has an option to enable 2D video acceleration that uses the host machine's hardware. So it could work I think.

That's not the same thing. You need access to PureVideo/ UVD. Maybe it actually does work, but I really wouldn't hold my breath.

Didn't know that.

OpenGL officially supports tessellation since 4.0 was released back in 2010. OpenGL does anything D3D does, and in some cases, multithreaded rendering for example, did so long before Microsoft adopted it. Though it sometimes requires messing with non-standard extensions, which can get a little ugly.

 

[Nzyme32]

Amazing, I will look for it. Gaben is a boss!

Wouldn't surprise me.Valve clearly weren't planning any info blowout at CES this year, but Xi3 with their announcement and the press jumping on it forced their hands.

Not the video I was talking about but it explains what happend, and it seems Ashecitism might be right

http://youtu.be/RyUMUMtCqGY?t=15m54s

 

[MutonCommander]

Thanks, I will watch it! Why isn't SteamOS out yet, I want to try it out

 

[Interfectum]

Thanks, I will watch it! Why isn't SteamOS out yet, I want to try it out

Valve time.

 

[Partial Gamification]

I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas.

source

 

[Sir Abacus]

Thanks, I will watch it! Why isn't SteamOS out yet, I want to try it out

2pm PST is the time. So three hours then, yeah, Valve Time.

 

[MutonCommander]

Aaaaaaaaany second now. Volvo give SteamOS!つ◕_◕༽つ

 

[valouris]

Which page should I be endlessly refreshing waiting for this to happen?

 

[UnrealEck]

Which page should I be endlessly refreshing waiting for this to happen?

http://steampowered.com/steamosbeta

 

[cebri.one]

http://steampowered.com/steamosbeta

F5F5F5F5

 

[_Ryo_]

I read that you'd need a really powerful computer to run SteamOS. I don't understand this. Steam works perfectly fine on my craptop on Windows. No I can't run demanding games, but still.

Linux Mint works well enough on my computer too, if I use an old version of a window manager. Games worked quite well when I had it as my main OS. World of Goo, Fofix, various emulators, Penumbra, Amnesia, etc.

So, confused. I mean, I wouldn't expect it to play mega power house games but it should work, no?

Also keep getting this on the page.

Not Found

The requested URL /steamosbeta was not found on this server.


It died.

 

[ashecitism]

That zdnet article is rubbish. Don't pay attention to it. Just because Valve is sending out high-end prototypes (not all of them are) doesn't mean the OS has high sys reqs.

 

[flaxknuckles]

I read that you'd need a really powerful computer to run SteamOS. I don't understand this. Steam works perfectly fine on my craptop on Windows. No I can't run demanding games, but still.

Linux Mint works well enough on my computer too, if I use an old version of a window manager. Games worked quite well when I had it as my main OS. World of Goo, Fofix, various emulators, Penumbra, Amnesia, etc.

So, confused. I mean, I wouldn't expect it to play mega power house games but it should work, no?

Also keep getting this on the page.

Not Found

The requested URL /steamosbeta was not found on this server.


It died.

That's because it's bullshit. No Operating System needs 16gbs of RAM to run.

 

[MutonCommander]

Yeah, it's just ZDnet being dumb. Ignore it.

 

[UnrealEck]

I read that you'd need a really powerful computer to run SteamOS. I don't understand this. Steam works perfectly fine on my craptop on Windows. No I can't run demanding games, but still.

Linux Mint works well enough on my computer too, if I use an old version of a window manager. Games worked quite well when I had it as my main OS. World of Goo, Fofix, various emulators, Penumbra, Amnesia, etc.

So, confused. I mean, I wouldn't expect it to play mega power house games but it should work, no?

Also keep getting this on the page.

Not Found

The requested URL /steamosbeta was not found on this server.


It died.

I think it's a safe bet that it'll use much less resources than Windows 7 with all your regular services and stuff running.

The website for steam os is not up atm. You'll only get a 404 for now.

 

[VVIS]

Something's happening, @steam_games just tweeted some sales. OMG

 

[Dicer]

http://steampowered.com/steamosbeta

404 time

 

[Nzyme32]

I read that you'd need a really powerful computer to run SteamOS.

You have been lied to. Some of the streaming solutions will run steamOS and are intended to run on very low spec systems

 

[cyberheater]

Time to start prepping those USB keys chaps.

 

[Burekma]

That zdnet article is rubbish. Don't pay attention to it. Just because Valve is sending out high-end prototypes (not all of them are) doesn't mean the OS has high sys reqs.

That's because it's bullshit. No Operating System needs 16gbs of RAM to run.

There is a possibility high specs are required solely because AMD and Nvidia will not give a single fuck about supporting their older and/or low spec cards for gaming on Linux.

AMD is already notorious for dropping Linux driver support as soon as the cards hit the ~3+ y/o mark. Nvidia, while much better, still doesn't give Linux the same support as Windows.

There shouldn't be any reason for high ram and a powerful CPU requirements, however.

 

[KtSlime]

How limited of game selection does this have, for instance can I play FF7/8 or the Y's games put on Steam with this?

 

[sekrit]

My partitions are ready.

 

[TouchMyBox]

AMD is already notorious for dropping Linux driver support as soon as the cards hit the ~3+ y/o mark. Nvidia, while much better, still doesn't give Linux the same support as Windows.

Nvidia is still delivering acceptable driver support as far back as GeForce 6000 series in linux. 6000 and 7000 series cards are relegated to the "legacy" driver, but they update it more often than I expected them to.

Their drivers perform quite well, but is missing proper support for many of the more advanced features.

 

[commedieu]

My partitions are ready.

lul

 

[UnrealEck]

How limited of game selection does this have, for instance can I play FF7/8 or the Y's games put on Steam with this?

If it's listed here, there's a good chance it'll work on Steam OS.

 

[Tain]

How limited of game selection does this have, for instance can I play FF7/8 or the Y's games put on Steam with this?

Those games won't work.

 

[PandaPedinte]

How limited of game selection does this have, for instance can I play FF7/8 or the Y's games put on Steam with this?

http://store.steampowered.com/browse/linux/

.

 

[nded]

How limited of game selection does this have, for instance can I play FF7/8 or the Y's games put on Steam with this?

Here's a list. Those games you mentioned don't have Linux support, so you can't play them on SteamOS.

 

[vio]

Got my second HDD formated for this.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

I hope they are really pushing the performance envelope with SteamOS. When I see some comparisons showing 5-10fps gains in games I will be on board. Until then, I have no use for it but I'll happily read about how things are going.

Traditionally, new platforms have driven adoption from the entrenched, existing ones through compelling exclusive content (software, apps, games or DLC in this case) but I am told this won't happen and I hope that is accurate. I don't want to feel forced into dual-booting my PC.

 

[Kocolino67]

Which page should I be endlessly refreshing waiting for this to happen?

I bet that this is a good choice http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse#announcements

//edit... and this one http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/648814395741989999/

 

[emag]

I think it's a safe bet that it'll use much less resources than Windows 7 with all your regular services and stuff running.

In a ideal world, this should allow 99% of the machines resources; memory, GPU, CPU to be used by the game. Unlike Windows which is constantly sucking up memory and CPU cycles. So yes. If the drivers are properly optimised, the game should run quicker and smoother.

It's total bullshit that Windows is a significant drain on system resources. These aren't the 486 days where you really needed that 4 MB of RAM dedicated to Windows (and even then, Windows 95 generally ran full-screen DOS games just as well as DOS).

Windows uses a negligible amount of system resources. On any modern machine, 99% of GPU/CPU resources are dedicated to the software you're running on top of the OS, not Windows itself. Even the memory dedicated to standard Windows services (which, on any modern machine, will be less than 5% of system memory) will be swapped out as necessary. Certainly a full-blown GNU/Linux setup with X11/X.org is going to be no better.

Today, any particular game/driver can be written in a more optimal fashion for OpenGL or DirectX, Windows or Linux, but that's up to the developers [in]competence rather than significant performance differences in the underlying OS/API.

 

[UnrealEck]

It's total bullshit that Windows is a significant drain on system resources. These aren't the 486 days where you really needed that 4 MB of RAM dedicated to Windows (and even then, Windows 95 generally ran full-screen DOS games just as well as DOS).

Windows uses a negligible amount of system resources. On any modern machine, 99% of GPU/CPU resources are dedicated to the software you're running on top of the OS, not Windows itself.

I wasn't saying the contrary. In fact I said that previously about why I think outside of graphics APIs, the performance will probably be negligible.

The sentence you quoted of me was in reply to someone who had read that Steam OS will have high system requirements and I went on to explain how it's very likely that it'll use even less than Windows, and as such won't have system requirements outside those similar to Windows.

 

[joesiv]

It's total bullshit that Windows is a significant drain on system resources. These aren't the 486 days where you really needed that 4 MB of RAM dedicated to Windows (and even then, Windows 95 generally ran full-screen DOS games just as well as DOS).

Maybe, but is windows in it's current state designed down the core for the needs of gaming? It's getting better and better, but it's just a question. An OS can make minimal use of system resources, but the OS is still the gate keeper for all processing and memory management.

 

[HolyBaikal]

There's a lot of Windows games built for Direct X and the Windows file system in general that will probably take a very long time to come to SteamOS, unless SteamOS becomes very success. Though there's also still going to be a large library of games that will only come to Steam through Windows, as there is a large library of perhaps millions of titles for the PC that have yet to come to Steam. And may eventually come to Steam or GoG or other services, but are Windows exclusive.

The PC versions of Final Fantasy and Ys games were developed for Windows exclusively. As are most Japanese games that are available for the PC. Most Japanese games on the PC are MMORPGs, Japanese developers trying to broaden their appeal, and doujin circle developers.

Very few doujin developers have experimented with Linux. Having an audience on the PC has already been a difficult industry in Japan. And would only become more so with Linux. So developers have had little incentive to experiment with Linux.

I can imagine things could change, if Valve heavily supported the Steambox inside of the console industry. And that the Steamboxes could sell as many units as the XBOX One. That would give a lot of developers an incentive to port their games to Linux, both console and PC developers alike.

 

[valouris]

I bet that this is a good choice http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse#announcements

//edit... and this one http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/648814395741989999/

Thanks!

 

[KtSlime]

There's a lot of Windows games built for Direct X and the Windows file system in general that will probably take a very long time to come to SteamOS, unless SteamOS becomes very success. Though there's also still going to be a large library of games that will only come to Steam through Windows, as there is a large library of perhaps millions of titles for the PC that have yet to come to Steam. And may eventually come to Steam or GoG or other services, but are Windows exclusive.

The PC versions of Final Fantasy and Ys games were developed for Windows exclusively. As are most Japanese games that are available for the PC. Most Japanese games on the PC are MMORPGs, Japanese developers trying to broaden their appeal, and doujin circle developers.

Very few doujin developers have experimented with Linux. Having an audience on the PC has already been a difficult industry in Japan. And would only become more so with Linux. So developers have had little incentive to experiment with Linux.

I can imagine things could change, if Valve heavily supported the Steambox inside of the console industry. And that the Steamboxes could sell as many units as the XBOX One. That would give a lot of developers an incentive to port their games to Linux, both console and PC developers alike.

That's too bad, as those are the types of games I would be interested in playing on a Steambox.

 

[Grief.exe]

There's a lot of Windows games built for Direct X and the Windows file system in general that will probably take a very long time to come to SteamOS, unless SteamOS becomes very success. Though there's also still going to be a large library of games that will only come to Steam through Windows, as there is a large library of perhaps millions of titles for the PC that have yet to come to Steam. And may eventually come to Steam or GoG or other services, but are Windows exclusive.

The PC versions of Final Fantasy and Ys games were developed for Windows exclusively. As are most Japanese games that are available for the PC. Most Japanese games on the PC are MMORPGs, Japanese developers trying to broaden their appeal, and doujin circle developers.

Very few doujin developers have experimented with Linux. Having an audience on the PC has already been a difficult industry in Japan. And would only become more so with Linux. So developers have had little incentive to experiment with Linux.

I can imagine things could change, if Valve heavily supported the Steambox inside of the console industry. And that the Steamboxes could sell as many units as the XBOX One. That would give a lot of developers an incentive to port their games to Linux, both console and PC developers alike.

I highly doubt they are going to sell anywhere close to XboxOne numbers, Wii U numbers would be more attainable and even then I'm doubtful.

 

[Reversed]

Hope there's a live CD version of it. Awaiting for the release.

 

[Nzyme32]

Hope there's a live CD version of it. Awaiting for the release.

Bootable USB son, I haven't got any blank disks!

 

[Shambles]

That's because it's bullshit. No Operating System needs 16gbs of RAM to run.

FreeNAS using ZFS does. /illbethatguy

 

[Kocolino67]

Hope there's a live CD version of it. Awaiting for the release.

I have no doubt there will be at least one sooner or later. Just imagine you visit a friend, boot your SteamOS from USB with your games and play on.

 

[Alec]

I have no doubt there will be at least one sooner or later. Just imagine you visit a friend, boot your SteamOS from USB with your games and play on.

If Valve doesn't officially release one, I would be shocked if someone doesn't make one almost immediately.

 

[Kerub]

Hm, I get 404 on this page.

http://steampowered.com/steamosbeta