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#1 2013-09-23 18:18:39

headkase
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Registered: 2011-12-06
Posts: 1,975

Valve announces SteamOS

Valve has announced a new Linux distro, SteamOS.  It is meant to be their foray into a "living room" computer.  One notable feature of it is that you can stream over your home network games from your Windows PC to your big-screen running SteamOS.  The operating system will of course be freely redistributable and should be available soon.  This announcement is the first of three expected announcements this week.  Valve is also expected to announce a "SteamBox," a dedicated console, soon as well.

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#2 2013-09-23 19:05:41

Unia
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From: Stockholm, Sweden
Registered: 2010-03-30
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Re: Valve announces SteamOS

I'm curious what DE it will ship with. Or is it just Steam in Big Picture mode?


If you can't sit by a cozy fire with your code in hand enjoying its simplicity and clarity, it needs more work. --Carlos Torres

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#3 2013-09-23 19:19:28

headkase
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Registered: 2011-12-06
Posts: 1,975

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

It is light on the details so far, I don't know the answer to that yet.  It may be "turn-key" boot straight to Steam or it might be a full-fledged desktop environment where you can launch Steam as one of many things to do.  We'll see.. wink

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#4 2013-09-23 19:22:53

kaszak696
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Registered: 2009-05-26
Posts: 543

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Unia wrote:

I'm curious what DE it will ship with. Or is it just Steam in Big Picture mode?

That would be awful, operating system should be more than just a Steam client, i hope they don't go that way. Other than that, it sounds like a neat idea. Linux enthusiasts (like us wink ) will run steam on anything anywhere anyway, and people that don't want to tinker will get a distribution that will work with steam ootb. Let's just hope they don't pull of a second Ubuntu that's splitting further and further away from the rest of Linux ecosystem with every release.


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#5 2013-09-23 19:44:12

mar04
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From: Poland
Registered: 2010-02-08
Posts: 117

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

That's a great news. I wonder if they will build it from scratch or base it on some existing distro - I would guess debian or ubuntu.

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#6 2013-09-23 20:24:51

Joof
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Registered: 2013-09-23
Posts: 2

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

I'm gonna guess that it's going to look like an extension of big picture mode out of the box (package netflix for it and whatnot...), but with the ability to use it as a more traditional OS if wanted. More interesting is that they can build it into a direct competitor for consoles, which they couldn't really do on Windows. Linux being open source, Valve has access to kernel-level optimizations that they wouldn't normally have any control over in Windows. There are also no restrictions on DE, so they can make an accessible (read: probably not what most archers want; I prefer xmonad myself for most applications) interface for gamers. Personally I'm missing an interface that can be navigated with a controller, so that would be nice. Gaming is considered one of the most common uses for computers now (which is kind of strange if you think about it...) and it's certainly one of the biggest barriers that comes up when I try to convince my friends to use Linux.

For us I think it means more support for games and a surge of development in graphics / audio which should allow all sorts of possibilities for future developers. For me, I can reduce the size of my Windows partition and only use it for when I'm forced to use Visual Studio / Windows development.

EDIT: btw, first post because I haven't been active in the forums for a few years and forgot my old account (or it was deleted?). I <3 my video games and I'm curious to see what other archers think of steamOS.

Last edited by Joof (2013-09-23 20:26:34)

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#7 2013-09-23 23:03:25

Box0
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From: Italy
Registered: 2011-09-21
Posts: 218

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

I hope this does not turn out to be "Android for consoles", so that the entire community will benefit from their contribution to the linux world. OMGUbuntu folks are talking about a rumor according to which SteamOS will be based on Ubuntu1204, so maybe they'll stick with X.org.

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#8 2013-09-24 00:32:08

blackout23
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Registered: 2011-11-16
Posts: 781

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Gabe has been to LinuxCon, employes the SDL developer, works on a Linux debugger, preaches openness even on the Steam OS website, you can be pretty sure that this isn't an Android-like Linux. This is an attempt to give "Linux" a bigger install base (will probably ship on the Steambox aswell if it ever comes) and a good target platform for developers which end up benefiting the PC as a whole, since your using cross-plattform technologies. You can turn your Mac and Linux/Windows PC into a console through streaming. This is the best concept you can think off. It's not designed as a replacement or competition for any plattform currently supported by Steam.

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#9 2013-09-24 03:30:19

ANOKNUSA
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Registered: 2010-10-22
Posts: 2,141

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Box0 wrote:

I hope this does not turn out to be "Android for consoles", so that the entire community will benefit from their contribution to the linux world. OMGUbuntu folks are talking about a rumor according to which SteamOS will be based on Ubuntu1204, so maybe they'll stick with X.org.

Are Canonical still talking about devising their own graphics stack to compete with Wayland?  If Valve jumps on that wagon, there'll be trouble.  Barring that, SteamOS would be a huge incentive to PC game devs and gamers: Open platform, no b.s. licensing fees, and with the huge pricing/privacy/marketing cluster of the upcoming consoles, PC gaming is likely to see an upswing.

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#10 2013-09-24 07:35:46

Box0
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From: Italy
Registered: 2011-09-21
Posts: 218

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

ANOKNUSA wrote:
Box0 wrote:

I hope this does not turn out to be "Android for consoles", so that the entire community will benefit from their contribution to the linux world. OMGUbuntu folks are talking about a rumor according to which SteamOS will be based on Ubuntu1204, so maybe they'll stick with X.org.

Are Canonical still talking about devising their own graphics stack to compete with Wayland?  If Valve jumps on that wagon, there'll be trouble.

Yes they are, but if Ubuntu1204 is used as base then it will be X.org, at least for the first generation of Steam Boxes.

Let's put it this way:

worst case scenario: Android for consoles;
not good scenarios: Going for Mir or reinventing some wheel;

Anything else should bring some benefit to all of us.

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#11 2013-09-24 08:28:37

Grinch
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Registered: 2010-11-07
Posts: 265

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Hot on the heels and perhaps related, Nvidia is offering documentation and feedback towards the Nouveau project: http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/n … 14480.html

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#12 2013-09-24 08:35:28

headkase
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Registered: 2011-12-06
Posts: 1,975

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Grinch wrote:

Hot on the heels and perhaps related, Nvidia is offering documentation and feedback towards the Nouveau project: http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/n … 14480.html

I think that at this point linking SteamOS to nVidia opening their hardware documentation is just conflation.

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#13 2013-09-24 11:40:10

GloW_on_dub
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Registered: 2013-03-13
Posts: 388

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Is gaming about to switch to linux based OS ?

http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamOS/

There is good and bad in this.

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#14 2013-09-24 11:44:47

headkase
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Registered: 2011-12-06
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#15 2013-09-24 12:00:49

fukawi2
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From: .vic.au
Registered: 2007-09-28
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Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Merging

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#16 2013-09-24 12:13:45

Stalafin
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From: Berlin, Germany
Registered: 2007-10-26
Posts: 617

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Finally! No more need for Arch Linux. Everybody switching?? wink

Last edited by Stalafin (2013-09-24 12:13:56)

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#17 2013-09-24 12:17:31

headkase
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Registered: 2011-12-06
Posts: 1,975

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Stalafin wrote:

Finally! No more need for Arch Linux. Everybody switching?? wink

I'm going to install it when it's released.  I would like to try out the "streaming" function.  I'll have my Windows machine stream non-Linux games to my (then) SteamOS box and see how well that works.. smile

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#18 2013-09-24 12:56:38

WorMzy
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From: Scotland
Registered: 2010-06-16
Posts: 11,788
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Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Stalafin wrote:

Finally! No more need for Arch Linux. Everybody switching?? wink

Until someone crowbars pacman into SteamOS, I'm sticking with Arch. tongue


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#19 2013-09-25 20:21:13

LyCC
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Registered: 2012-09-05
Posts: 155

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Stalafin wrote:

Finally! No more need for Arch Linux. Everybody switching?? wink

not me, if i ever switch, i think it's going to be the Arch based manjaro, if i will be to lazy to configure a fresh installation Arch again smile

anyway, looking forward to try out SteamOS, hopefully it won't disappoint, there is a real need for a distro on which (out of the box)
you can play games, surf the net and watch videos. So hopefully it will configure the videocard drivers for hardware acceleration out
of the box (where the hardware supports it of course), especially video playback.

I have a spare partition named windows that i will install SteamOS to try it out as soon as it appears for download.

Last edited by LyCC (2013-09-25 20:22:50)

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#20 2013-09-25 20:41:00

WorMzy
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From: Scotland
Registered: 2010-06-16
Posts: 11,788
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Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Slightly scary fact: ~3.5 people complete the Steam Machine beta signup badge every second.

I think, if Valve can get the prices right on these machines, they'll get a lot of demand. And the more demand they get, the more developers will see it as a viable platform, so fingers crossed, we may well be seeing a lot of native Linux games in the next year.


Sakura:-
Mobo: MSI MAG X570S TORPEDO MAX // Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 5950X @4.9GHz // GFX: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT // RAM: 32GB (4x 8GB) Corsair DDR4 (@ 3000MHz) // Storage: 1x 3TB HDD, 6x 1TB SSD, 2x 120GB SSD, 1x 275GB M2 SSD

Making lemonade from lemons since 2015.

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#21 2013-09-25 20:53:53

shmibs
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Registered: 2012-09-11
Posts: 93
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Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Box0 wrote:

Let's put it this way:

worst case scenario: Android for consoles;
not good scenarios: Going for Mir or reinventing some wheel;

Anything else should bring some benefit to all of us.

what about all the windows developers it will inevitably attract, though? that will mean a huge influx of the software design mentality that's causing all the ubuntu/gnome 3 drama in the first place.


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#22 2013-09-25 21:13:44

Box0
Member
From: Italy
Registered: 2011-09-21
Posts: 218

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

shmibs wrote:

what about all the windows developers it will inevitably attract, though? that will mean a huge influx of the software design mentality that's causing all the ubuntu/gnome 3 drama in the first place.

As you're saying we already have that now, so there's no need to blame SteamOS tongue

Jokes aside, I don't care if a part of the community goes into a direction I dislike, it's perfectly fine to have different ideas of the desktop experience. So, as long as the new stuff doesn't prevent me from enjoying my Linux box like I do now (for example introducing an incompatible graphical server that forces me to reboot into SteamOS to play Football Manager), I'm happy.

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#23 2013-09-26 19:54:45

LyCC
Member
Registered: 2012-09-05
Posts: 155

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Box0 wrote:
shmibs wrote:

what about all the windows developers it will inevitably attract, though? that will mean a huge influx of the software design mentality that's causing all the ubuntu/gnome 3 drama in the first place.

As you're saying we already have that now, so there's no need to blame SteamOS tongue

Jokes aside, I don't care if a part of the community goes into a direction I dislike, it's perfectly fine to have different ideas of the desktop experience. So, as long as the new stuff doesn't prevent me from enjoying my Linux box like I do now (for example introducing an incompatible graphical server that forces me to reboot into SteamOS to play Football Manager), I'm happy.

Hopefully the linux steam client won't evolve into something that only runs on SteamOS, or the vast majority of linux version games only run fine on steamos, although i will try steamos, i don't plan on switching from Arch to anything else ... i still wish to enjoy all my steam games on Arch.

Last edited by LyCC (2013-09-26 19:56:23)

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#24 2013-09-26 22:42:45

blackout23
Member
Registered: 2011-11-16
Posts: 781

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

Steam OS is just a Debian/Ubuntu.
http://repo.steampowered.com/hometest/

You can point your sources.list to this and install packages like steam-desktop and steam-autoupdate.

It sounds like they are releasing the source code for Steam OS anyway.

Can I download the OS to try it out?
You will be able to download it (including the source code, if you're into that) but not yet.

Source: http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamMachines/

I think it will be trivial to reimplement it ontop of Arch Linux.

Last edited by blackout23 (2013-09-26 22:44:13)

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#25 2013-09-27 08:02:53

MrElg
Member
Registered: 2013-08-04
Posts: 49

Re: Valve announces SteamOS

blackout23 wrote:

Steam OS is just a Debian/Ubuntu.
http://repo.steampowered.com/hometest/

Where di you get this? It was quite interesting to read. No surprise to see that it could be Ubuntu based, but what else we can see in the pool....
It is possible that this is just a start, and listings are only to speculate tho.

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