Valve announces SteamOS

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TheLegendOfMart said:
Don't really see the point to be honest, if it is going to be a straight up pure gaming os that just boots into steam then that's useless for people who use their machine for more than just gaming.
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Well it is first and foremost created for the Steam Machine lineup.

But they are also releasing it for everyone else who wants to try it.
 
TheLegendOfMart said:
Don't really see the point to be honest, if it is going to be a straight up pure gaming os that just boots into steam then that's useless for people who use their machine for more than just gaming.
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There is evidence that you can access the linux desktop. Just enable it from settings. Also this being linux, you can install any window manager you want.
 
TheLegendOfMart said:
Don't really see the point to be honest, if it is going to be a straight up pure gaming os that just boots into steam then that's useless for people who use their machine for more than just gaming.
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dual boot? I mean if you have a day off and want to hang out and play games on your sofa, just dualboot into steamOS so that the full power of your machine is available to games. if you want to go back to work, reboot and log into windows
 
SteamOS is supposed to:

- be optimized for games
- be free
- provide an easier path to PC gaming for the masses

How are people still asking "what is the point"?
 
MutonCommander said:
SteamOS is supposed to:

- be optimized for games
- be free
- provide an easier path to PC gaming for the masses

How are people still asking "what is the point"?
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I think the main point, besides the ones you mention that may be true too, is for Valve to keep their business safe in case MS one day decides they want a chunk of their sales.
 
Sure, but that is mainly of Valve's concern and it won't matter much to the average user. The above three reasons benefit us directly.

Edit: this is in reply to Speedofnuts.
 
SpeedOfNuts said:
I think the main point, besides the ones you mention that may be true too, is for Valve to keep their business safe in case MS one day decides they want a chunk of their sales.
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This is exactly it. Valve is taking it a step further and removing MS from the picture entirely by not even relying on their OS or APIs. Beauty of it is you can now build a gaming PC and not have to pay the $180 to purchase Windows if you so choose.
 
bdouble said:
This is exactly it. Valve is taking it a step further and removing MS from the picture entirely by not even relying on their OS or APIs. Beauty of it is you can now build a gaming PC and not have to pay the $180 to purchase Windows if you so choose.
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That in itself is a big win, IMO. It will take time to convert people and games to Linux but there will be great benefits with it.
 
MutonCommander said:
Sure, but that is mainly of Valve's concern and it won't matter much to the average user. The above three reasons benefit us directly.

Edit: this is in reply to Speedofnuts.
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For Valve it's about getting even more control over the DD market, that's their long game. I will be jumping ship if stores like GoG and others can sell games on it without jumping through hoops or giving Valve a cut.
 
MutonCommander said:
SteamOS is supposed to:

- be optimized for games
- be free
- provide an easier path to PC gaming for the masses

How are people still asking "what is the point"?
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What's so hard about installing a game on a Windows PC? If anything, SteamOS seems to be more exclusive. I don't really see who they are trying to target with this. Seems pointless.
 
Morzak said:
For Valve it's about getting even more control over the DD market, that's their long game. I will be jumping ship if stores like GoG and others can sell games on it without jumping through hoops or giving Valve a cut.
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Pretty sure GOG said they won't be supporting linux anytime soon, if ever.
 
I'm not going to install this yet, but I'm interested in hearing about how it updates drivers and things like that. A major drawback to my experiment in using Ubuntu is that I destroyed it somehow by trying to install my AMD 7970 drivers, and I did not have enough Linux skill to bring it back without reinstalling. I hope they make this seemless.

Also I want to see the hacks that people to do it. I am generally hoping that this is finally a linux version for dummies.
 
Wonder if it will work ok on my laptop. I'm kinda worried about my GPU, since it has both Intel Graphics HD4000 for light use and an AMD GPU for heavier use. Remember a friend with a similar setup, using Intel and Nvidia, had some problems running steam games on Linux.
 
So how will installing this go about? Can I just install SteamOS directly to a blank partition? Or do I need to install Linux first?
 
Tiu Neo said:
Wonder if it will work ok on my laptop. I'm kinda worried about my GPU, since it has both Intel Graphics HD4000 for light use and an AMD GPU for heavier use. Remember a friend with a similar setup, using Intel and Nvidia, had some problems running steam games on Linux.
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Yeah, switchable graphics are pretty half-baked in linux atm. Things are decent on the Nvidia side as of late, but it still requires some user-input.
 
velociraptor said:
What's so hard about installing a game on a Windows PC? If anything, SteamOS seems to be more exclusive. I don't really see who they are trying to target with this. Seems pointless.
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Seems like it's for people who want to build or buy a home theater PC dedicated to just playing games, movies and music and maybe browsing the internet. This isn't replacing Windows, just offering a specialized alternative to people who don't really want the extra functionality and overhead. At least you can't complain about the price.
 
I want this to take off. I have been ready to ditch windows for years now since I never use it except to play on steam. So, this is actually perfect. Will be installing on my Mac Pro for sure.
 
Any word on how Valve is going to boost the prevalence of Linux ports? Are they just going to hope developers opt into it voluntarily or take a more proactive approach?

I know that they've talked to some of the big guys, but I'm not going to believe that just talking does anything until we start seeing Linux versions across all of their games, not just a few centerpieces that are thrown up for the sake of PR. Valve has the kind of sway where they could definitely start providing a healthy incentive, if not straight dictate, by providing/denying marketplace visibility, revenue split discounts/taxes, and working through contract requirements.

I'm not saying that they should absolutely enact those kinds of punitive measures, but I do think they need to do something because most large publishers are going to need an extra push to add Linux ports, especially if Microsoft identifies SteamOS as a legitimate threat and starts actively fighting it.
 
EatChildren said:
Awesome. Cheers man.
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Though steam itself will still be an application running on top of the distro. It will certainly come bundled and will have a deeper OS integration than we have seen before.

I'm curious to see what they end up doing with it. Big picture mode is probably broken off into it's own thing.
 
Burt said:
Any word on how Valve is going to boost the prevalence of Linux ports? Are they just going to hope developers opt into it voluntarily or take a more proactive approach? I know that they've talked to some of the big guys, but I'm not going to believe that just talking does anything until we start seeing Linux versions across all of their games, not just a few centerpieces that are thrown up for the sake of PR. Valve has the kind of sway where they could definitely start providing a healthy incentive, if not straight dictate, by providing/denying marketplace visibility, revenue split discounts/taxes, and working through contract requirements. I'm not saying that they should absolutely enact those kinds of punitive measures, but I do think they need to do something because most large publishers are going to need an extra push to add Linux ports, especially if Microsoft identifies SteamOS as a legitimate threat and starts actively fighting it.
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I certainly agree with you, but ultimately it is going to come down to the numbers. If people do not install and instead are still stuck in their ways tied some Windows OS then this initiative is going to take a long time. In otherwords, stand be counted.
 
NuclearSpy said:
I certainly agree with you, but ultimately it is going to come down to the numbers. If people do not install and instead are still stuck in their ways tied some Windows OS then this initiative is going to take a long time. In otherwords, stand be counted.
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Valve is not banking their SteamOS initiative on how many people install it. It will live or die based on the success of Steam Machines.
 
NuclearSpy said:
I certainly agree with you, but ultimately it is going to come down to the numbers. If people do not install and instead are still stuck in their ways tied some Windows OS then this initiative is going to take a long time. In otherwords, stand be counted.
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Yeah. At this point I'm trying to play any game that has a Linux version in Linux, even if the port is a little bad.

Playing TF2 and King Arthur's Gold lately though, and they are both great ports. Even play nice with my bullshit non-standard desktop environment.
 
Interfectum said:
Valve is not banking their SteamOS initiative on how many people install it. It will live or die based on the success of Steam Machines.
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Also, how shitty Windows gets in terms of the walled garden model. Gabe's given a few speeches about how this whole initiative started because Windows is trending towards a closed system that would do a great deal of harm to consumers and their freedom/options/power.
 
Interfectum said:
Valve is not banking their SteamOS initiative on how many people install it. It will live or die based on the success of Steam Machines.
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And game support. Unreal Tournament didn't help linux support, Quake 3 Arean didn't help linux support, I don't think DOTA or Team Fortess 2 are going to do anything either. They need the big guns to support linux. They need the penetration and the games.
 
TheLegendOfMart said:
Don't really see the point to be honest, if it is going to be a straight up pure gaming os that just boots into steam then that's useless for people who use their machine for more than just gaming.
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That's exactly what I want. I've already got a dedicated Gaming PC that's bloated with loads of Windows crap.
Give me a machine that's fast, uses all the resources for games and is virus free.
 
Still no download for SteamOS?

I think with the end of XP support in 2014, a free gaming OS could go really big in countrys like China.

Sadly it will take years to realize if SteamOS was a fail or not.
 
Was hoping to tinker with this before work.. :/

Still really curious if there will be any built in stuff yet or will it just be a standalone BPM at this point.
 
velociraptor said:
What's so hard about installing a game on a Windows PC? If anything, SteamOS seems to be more exclusive. I don't really see who they are trying to target with this. Seems pointless.
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Please try to expand your view outside of your own personal needs.

I am very excited about the possibility of being able to ditch Windows long term.
 
Burt said:
Also, how shitty Windows gets in terms of the walled garden model. Gabe's given a few speeches about how this whole initiative started because Windows is trending towards a closed system that would do a great deal of harm to consumers and their freedom/options/power.
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yep, Gabe called Linux a 'get out of jail free pass for the industry'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeYxKIDGh8I#t=1568 (26m in if it doesn't take you there)
 
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