SteamOS out now (beta)

mattiewheels said:
One thing that would make me install this on my HTPC is if you could control essential media apps with a 360 controller
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My gaming PC boots straight into Big Picture mode. I have XBMC defined in my library. I only need my Xbox 360 controller to play games or watch any of my videos. No need for mouse or keyboard at all.

In terms of drivers. I'm still forced to use a mouse and keyboard for housekeeping. I hope that gets solved at some point in SteamOS.
 
MutonCommander said:
I don't understand, is he running SteamOS or Ubuntu? Both? And an AMD card? Isn't SteamOS Nvidia only for now?
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He's using the SteamOS kernel on a Ubuntu 14.04 installation since SteamOS uses a heavily modified version of the 3.10 kernel. Ubuntu 14.04 includes support for AMD cards so it'll work with a Radeon.
 
water_wendi said:
There will be used as a Trojan horse for Half-life 3.
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I thought I read somewhere that Valve have already said that Half Life 3 won't be SteamOS only. They are not going to force this OS on anyone.
 
drgambit said:
It's Linux, it won't get any better...
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It's main function is to play games, it can already do this, it's a BETA, it will get better.

Au{R}oN said:
The OS (linux) isn't a bad idea at all, the problem is the fact that 90% of the game devs, will not release a linux version of the game.
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270 games support Linux on Steam and the numbers are rising.

Moronie said:
OMG.... this OS is a big joke, not more.
What a crap.

This is the challenger vs Windows? Really?!
hahahahahah...ahahahahahaha..hahahahahahaha.

Welcome in the past NeoGaf.
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Well that was fast.

water_wendi said:
There will be used as a Trojan horse for Half-life 3.
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I <3 you too.
 
cyberheater said:
Yes. That was one of them. I saw something else by another dev who also reported the same thing.

I think the future is going to be very bright for SteamOS. Over time, the kernel and drivers will improve and devs will be getting extremely good performance from your hardware without the bloat of Window.

Hopefully it will be massively successful and MS will once again realise that they had a golden opportunity to provide a low resource thin API gaming OS but couldn't be bothered.

I can't wait to see how this ride will turn out.
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Again, this is absolutely and entirely false. There's nothing about GNU/Linux (with X11, etc.) that offers a lighter/thinner/more optimized gaming environment. Windows has extremely low overhead as it is; features and software support are not bloat, at least not in the way that you imagine.

Of course a game engine that's rewritten for modern hardware and modern graphics APIs in 2013 is going to perform better than an aged engine from 2004. That has nothing to do with the OS.

SteamOS is Debian with the UI locked down. The performance is going to be the same as Debian with Steam, which has been available forever. There have been numerous benchmarks. It doesn't perform any better than Windows (some tests are about on par, some are appreciably worse).

There's nothing magical here with regards to performance.
 
cyberheater said:
I thought I read somewhere that Valve have already said that Half Life 3 won't be SteamOS only. They are not going to force this OS on anyone.
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Well if thats true then i am wrong. i could easily see HL3 coming with Steam OS on the disc and it creating a separate OS partition of a nominal size all through an easy to navigate install interface. Its too perfect an opportunity to pass up, imo.
 
emag said:
Again, this is absolutely and entirely false. There's nothing about GNU/Linux (with X11, etc.) that offers a lighter/thinner/more optimized gaming environment. Windows has extremely low overhead as it is; features and software support are not bloat, at least not in the way that you imagine.

Of course a game engine that's rewritten for modern hardware and modern graphics APIs in 2013 is going to perform better than an aged engine from 2004. That has nothing to do with the OS.

SteamOS is Debian with the UI locked down. The performance is going to be the same as Debian with Steam, which has been available forever. There have been numerous benchmarks. It doesn't perform any better than Windows (some tests are about on par, some are appreciably worse).

There's nothing magical here with regards to performance.
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Yep. SteamOS isn't a performance thing. It's a hedge against Microsoft going batshit insane and declaring that Windows 9 is going to be App Store only and Steam won't be allowed to play.
 
BigDaddyFatSack said:
Just use Big Picture mode in Windows. More games are compatible with it than linux. What is the point of Steam OS again?
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Valve hated that Microsoft was trying to sell games from their own OS and store, so Valve made their own OS that they could use to sell games...from....their.....own store......
 
I wonder what will be Valve's stance on the war betwen Mir and Wayland. Sure thing is, as soon as Steam supports one, the other will be dead.
 
Durante said:
Answer me this: if someone asked you what graphics hardware to buy, and his use case is that he needs to use modern high-performance OpenGL on Linux, which hardware manufacturer would you suggest to them? Because that's the situation Valve was in, and I think they made the right choice. Here is very recent data which I believe helps in motivating it.
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Oh, I agree with their choice. For their use case, Nvidia is the best option; my point was that AMD and Intel are better for a different set of requirements, not just to do with free software zealotry.

Nvidia themselves are realizing this (partially motivated by Valve, it seems) and changing their stance when it comes to providing specs and even code.
 
Unless this is literally just meant for the livingroom it seems like you'd want some kind of desktop environment, just for stuff like out of game voice chat, video capture / streaming software and of course modding. It's nice when Steam simplifies some of those things but I only ever want that to be an option, I want the ability to do things my way if that's what I feel like.
 
eot said:
Unless this is literally just meant for the livingroom it seems like you'd want some kind of desktop environment, just for stuff like out of game voice chat, video capture / streaming software and of course modding. It's nice when Steam simplifies some of those things but I only ever want that to be an option, I want the ability to do things my way if that's what I feel like.
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I soon expect to see some projects that employ a more robust desktop environment. Everything is open-source after all. Sky is the limit, I'm really pumped for this thing's future.
 
Have a Nice Day said:
Still so bummed out because of the UEFI requirement, I really wanted to try tinkering with this.

My 890FXA-ud5 am cry.
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MutonCommander said:
I'm in the same (fail)boat, I have three PCs in my house and not one of them is UEFi :'(
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Sir Abacus said:
Some smart cookie figured out a BIOS boot method.
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Seems valid, made Ars Technica write-up.

Edit: consequencse of following procedudre are unknown,
Should you go out and do this yourself? Right now, no&#8212;the much ballyhooed home streaming that everyone is desperate to try out isn't present in this version of SteamOS, so really all it is today is a way to run a limited subset of your existing Steam library on an odd version of Steam that requires a dedicated computer. For now, unless you've actually got a Valve-branded Steam Machine in hand, there isn't anything here for you to really do.

Not yet, anyway. But there will be.
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MutonCommander said:
Personally I'm excited for SteamOS because it is designed from the ground up for gaming. That means a level of optimization, responsiveness and performance that Windows can't match due to its nature as a productivity OS.
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But It is not designed or coded from the ground up. It still contains millions of lines of code that have nothing to do with gaming. It is based on a Debian distribution after all.
We need to see some analysis first to judge how much VALVe actually dug down into the code or what got stripped out, compared to just making their BIG PICTURE mode work on top.
 
valouris said:
I soon expect to see some projects that employ a more robust desktop environment. Everything is open-source after all. Sky is the limit, I'm really pumped for this thing's future.
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Or you know, install a linux distro like ubuntu or some variant and just use the steam client which have all the same functions.
 
emag said:
Again, this is absolutely and entirely false. There's nothing about GNU/Linux (with X11, etc.) that offers a lighter/thinner/more optimized gaming environment. Windows has extremely low overhead as it is; features and software support are not bloat, at least not in the way that you imagine.

Of course a game engine that's rewritten for modern hardware and modern graphics APIs in 2013 is going to perform better than an aged engine from 2004. That has nothing to do with the OS.

SteamOS is Debian with the UI locked down. The performance is going to be the same as Debian with Steam, which has been available forever. There have been numerous benchmarks. It doesn't perform any better than Windows (some tests are about on par, some are appreciably worse).

There's nothing magical here with regards to performance.
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I'm not going to argue with you. We'll find out soon enough.
 
dvize said:
The only potential problem area i see is the maintenance of drivers for your hardware (wi-fi adaptors, specialized controllers like fighting joysticks). It would require manufacturers to really kind of customize drivers for the user. and adoption rate. New games i could see coming specific for the linux distro, but developers probably don't want to go back and redo their game engines.

I used linux for a little bit and I remember it was a nightmare getting hardware to run. Having to edit config files and just even finding the information was tough. I'm not saying this is a bad idea. In fact, it's healthier for the market. I'm just saying this is a huge barrier that they have to overcome.
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You don't need drivers for HID devices. Any standard compliant input device should work, including joysticks.

Also, hardware manufacturers are advised not to provide their own drivers, but instead either develop open source drivers or write up some documentation and send their stuff to project maintainers for inclusion (audio drivers to ALSA, printer drivers to Foomatic and so on), so that everything will eventually just work out of the box.
 
MutonCommander said:
I saw some YouTube videos where people used wireless 360 and PS3 controllers so these should be good to go as well.
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I'll have to try the wireless controller later.

No option for a screensaver, as far as I can see in the settings. 6 hours of downloading overnight, no automatic screen saver.

Anyone apply the available update? I'm afraid to try.
 
BigDaddyFatSack said:
You think so? Today's games are mostly multi-platform (PC & Consoles) and Windows allows them to port console game seemelessly saving them $$ in the long run. Why would they be motivated to develop for Linux as well when huge user base is already established on Windows?
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The whole reason is FUD about Windows 8 and the future removal of desktop and all Metro future.... which I honestly don't think is gonna happen.

MS takes so much shit for trying to just be allowed to do what others have done.. everyone else can have their own store on a device, but MS.. nope?

Gaben is doing this to assure Steam's longterm future.. but he more than likely is fighting a phantom that doesn't exist.
 
NervousXtian said:
The whole reason is FUD about Windows 8 and the future removal of desktop and all Metro future.... which I honestly don't think is gonna happen.
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Except it did happen. See: Microsoft Surface

MS takes so much shit for trying to just be allowed to do what others have done.. everyone else can have their own store on a device, but MS.. nope?
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They're a monopoly in the PC gaming market. The entire market is underpinned by their OS. If they deliberately start ripping the foundations out of that market they're just setting things up for chaos.

Gaben is doing this to assure Steam's longterm future.. but he more than likely is fighting a phantom that doesn't exist.
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Or just because he/we don't want to have to fight every stupid, petty fight with Microsoft because some Marketdroid thinks stupid feature X is the wave of the future. See: Xbox One shitfight.

One time we'll lose a critical shitfight instead of winning it. Then what? Unless we have a backup plan to where we can shift en masse you'd see PC gaming ripped in a thousand different directions.
 
NervousXtian said:
The whole reason is FUD about Windows 8 and the future removal of desktop and all Metro future.... which I honestly don't think is gonna happen.

MS takes so much shit for trying to just be allowed to do what others have done.. everyone else can have their own store on a device, but MS.. nope?

Gaben is doing this to assure Steam's longterm future.. but he more than likely is fighting a phantom that doesn't exist.
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Maybe. But he worked at Microsoft. He might know how it works on the inside. All it would take for Seam to be done for is if Microsoft decided in their next Windows iteration that their store is the only way you can install apps. Because it'll be curated and "safe". That means any other store like Steam or GOG are done. It's a smart to make the preemptive move to multiple OS's just in case. And now Steam IS safe because it's already on Mac, Linux and Windows.
 
sekrit said:
Or you know, install a linux distro like ubuntu or some variant and just use the steam client which have all the same functions.
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Yeah, but I bet there are going to be some very Steam/VGame-centric distros coming out. Nothing like that exists right now for Linux to my knowledge (which isn't that vast).
 
So much miss information in his thread.

Windows does not make porting console games easier. The Playstation os is based off Linux and OpenGL not a wind yes and directx.

The problem with porting games to Linux has always been dev tools and mainly any good debuggers. Valve is helping develop those tools for developers.
 
pixlexic said:
So much miss information in his thread.

Windows dies make porting console games easier. The Playstation os is based off Linux and OpenGL not a wind yes and directx.

The problem with porting games to Linux has always been dev tools and mainly any good debuggers. Valve is helping develop those tools for developers.
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windows is here to stay.
 
Ultra Magnus said:
Being that this OS is in its infancy, how long before a user friendly version comes out?
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I'm taking a guess at maybe June or July. They mentioned a mid 2014 release for Steam Machines but knowing Valve that will get delayed anyway. UI elements and perhaps a theme set for Gnome that make it user friendly along with some other tweaks are likely to be something that happens in the later stages. Right now much of the OS level stuff is the priority and I'd imagine optimising the system and increasing performance will be the goal following that, much in the same way that they did when initially moving games to linux with driver optimisation.

Could be completely wrong, I'm no expert on gaming OS development
 
Mutanthands said:
All I get is the GRUB command prompt when I try to start the system. Wiped the hard drive, and tried fresh again using the SYSRESTORE file. No luck, will try again tomorrow.
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When this happened for me it was a corrupt download. Make sure to check the md5 of the zip before copying it over.
 
Sir Abacus said:
Yep. SteamOS isn't a performance thing. It's a hedge against Microsoft going batshit insane and declaring that Windows 9 is going to be App Store only and Steam won't be allowed to play.
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Won't happen. Too many businesses and industries rely on custom software supplied directly by the vendor to the customer.
 
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