SteamOS

[sesselpupser]

So it's finally real, the Steam OS. Based on Linux, probably the only feature I'll ever want or need: You can stream PC and Mac games to it. Hell. Yes.

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

Now I'm thinking up all sorts of stuff I could do with this. I have that PowerMac G5 case with no use in mind beyond just making a case, but it's a bit big to house under the TV. Maybe I'll make a console-shaped case for a netbook's guts and install it on that? Maybe it'll run on the Raspberry Pi, BeagleBone Black or something similarly small and cheap? Now THAT would be amazing.

Any interest from you all? Bearing in mind it probably won't run anything other than Linux-native games on its own, of course, so it's not going to replace my PC any time soon.


Valve has another announcement coming in 48 hours from now, and another (probably) 48 hours after that. I'm guessing one of them will be the SteamBox. As for the third, no idea. Exciting!

 

[stiggygonzalez]

Hmm looks interesting.
This could well steal sales from SONY and MS.

 

[dan0543]

just heard about this. seems a great idea, one i suspected for a while after they started bashing on windows. can't remember a source off the top of my head, but I think at one point Gabe Newell said windows 8 was a disaster for gaming. And then came all of the problems like with games for windows live being compulsory if you wanted to play anything at all, and the cmos battery problem which resulted in one benchmark website voiding all windows 8 entries.
Will look forward to dual booting this on my PC, can't abandon windows yet because of college work and whatnot. Should be interesting if it does bring any performance benefits.
EDIT: It seems the community has taken to calling it the Gabecube

 

[Luminis]

So, an Operating System that isn't Windows but might be working very well for gaming? I like the sound of that! Very much so! Bring it on, Valve, bring it on. Looking forward to it.

 

[Coxis]

SteamOS?

This has potential... count me in.

 

[Dan]

Valve has another announcement coming in 48 hours from now, and another (probably) 48 hours after that. I'm guessing one of them will be the SteamBox. As for the third, no idea. Exciting!

Three announcements, from Valve. Valve doesn't do three.

You know what that means. HALF LIFE 3 CONFIRMED!

 

[Sprite]

Well if this is the gaming platform for PC that trounces windows in terms of performance then I'm in for my PC build. Suppose you can always duel boot with windows.

 

[Grayfox]

Very few games work on steam.

All Source ones work but other than that there is very little support

While that is starting to change, a few games here and there are still no match for companys that are too lazy to make it work on linux.

 

[Pako]

Well if this is the gaming platform for PC that trounces windows in terms of performance then I'm in for my PC build. Suppose you can always duel boot with windows.

You would host the game on your main machine (Mac or PC) and stream it to the steamOS box on your own network that's connected to your bigscreen.

The concept is interesting. I can do all that with a HDMI cable, but SteamOS might be nice if I want to to play a game, say, in a different room.

 

[Omnis]

Steam that runs on linux? It's should be called Sauna.

 

[Sprite]

You would host the game on your main machine (Mac or PC) and stream it to the steamOS box on your own network that's connected to your bigscreen.

The concept is interesting. I can do all that with a HDMI cable, but SteamOS might be nice if I want to to play a game, say, in a different room.

I'm sure you'll be able to play the games directly on your rig too, apparently they're trying to get rid of the large overheads Windows and OSX have. I don't think they would have you install a flavour of Linux to a machine just to enable streaming.

Can't wait to hear and see more.

 

[Luminis]

Thing is, Valve and Steam are pretty big. They might just be able to convince developers to work with SteamOS in mind. Now, it's gonna take a while if it's ever going to happen, but this might challenge Windows' dominance on the gaming front.

 

[Joey D]

I'm pretty excited about this and can't wait to try it out.

Very few games work on steam.

Wait, what? I have 350 games an never once I have found one that didn't work.

 

[F1GTR]

I'm pretty excited about this and can't wait to try it out.



Wait, what? I have 350 games an never once I have found one that didn't work.

He's talking about Steam on Linux.

 

[Joel]

More like StreamOS amirite?

I'm pretty excited for this actually, the streaming would be nice when I'm home, I could bring an old PC back from the dead or build a basic HTPC to stream my games too and play from the couch. I like the idea of having a gaming rig running SteamOS at some point in the future, would ideally come with less headaches than Windows.

 

[Joey D]

He's talking about Steam on Linux.

He probably should mention that then.

 

[Sprite]

Saw this interesting article today about Nvidia wanting to offer more support to Linux and the graphics drivers.

LINK

Bodes well for Steam OS if Nvidia start to really help develope drivers properly. It's a start anyway.

 

[Luminis]

Give it a bit of time, let SteamOS become popular and see how fast developers are going to make their games compatible. People were laughing at Steam (Steaming pile of crap, remember?) years ago - and I don't hear any laughing anymore

 

[F1GTR]

He probably should mention that then.

You could have inferred that Grayfox was talking about Linux from his last sentence. Anyway, it's a valid concern, although I'm sure that Valve have thought of a workaround for Windows/OSX games, perhaps through some form of emulation/VM? Or (more realistically), only future games that are specifically developed with SteamOS in mind will work, the rest will rely on streaming. I think Valve have enough experience with Steam and the industry weight to start making Linux based gaming a viable alternative to Windows though.

 

[nk4e]

Give it a bit of time, let SteamOS become popular and see how fast developers are going to make their games compatible. People were laughing at Steam (Steaming pile of crap, remember?) years ago - and I don't hear any laughing anymore

I just remember all the problems that came with it. Steam constantly updating for long periods of time, no way to protect the player if his/her account gets hacked, anti-cheat not working, etc etc

 

[Joey D]

You could have inferred that Grayfox was talking about Linux from his last sentence. Anyway, it's a valid concern, although I'm sure that Valve have thought of a workaround for Windows/OSX games, perhaps through some form of emulation/VM? Or (more realistically), only future games that are specifically developed with SteamOS in mind will work, the rest will rely on streaming. I think Valve have enough experience with Steam and the industry weight to start making Linux based gaming a viable alternative to Windows though.

Considering how he likes to make really out there claims about various technology, it's kind of hard to figure out what he exactly meant.

There are a fair number of games that work on Linux though, right now Steam has 185 supported games and they are adding more all of the time. It's not bad considering Linux users make up less than a 2% share of the personal OS market.

 

[Luminis]

I just remember all the problems that came with it. Steam constantly updating for long periods of time, no way to protect the player if his/her account gets hacked, anti-cheat not working, etc etc

Yup, and yet, Valve managed to evolve it into the most dominant gaming-related network/digital distribution tool on the market. That's why I'm even considering it a possibility for them to do the same with SteamOS... They did stick with Steam back then and just made it work. So, I'm hoping to see something similar with SteamOS

 

[dan0543]

This is turning out to be a very interesting week in tech. Steam OS is on the way, free and supported by a mammoth gaming service, AMD reveal graphics cards which use tech called mantle which works towards bypassing windows directX (has already been accomplished and shown running BF4), intel say it's the year of linux (again I know lol) and Nvidia pledge to increase their driver support for linux.
A whole large part of the market there, putting the pieces together to move away from windows... pretty exciting really.
Also, AMD say that using mantle, their new flagship graphics card the R9 290X which is less powerful than a gtx780 can outperform a titan on BF4 at least. I hope we're seeing the start of an upturn in PC gaming

 

[Sprite]

I think it's about time Linux started to get some support. I personally don't run Linux anymore, but in the past I've dabbled with various versions of Unbuntu and also Meego.

I think that because Microsoft have basically dominated the market for OS they have become complacent and over-bloated the system with garbage, causing overheads that slow everything down.

Since Linux has always been about streamline and performance rather than ponce it makes sense to use it to run games. I personally welcome it and if it's a viable option compared to Windows down the line then I'm in.

It will take time and effort but all the big guns seem to be placed to push it along. Intel have some experience with distros, and AMD seem to not want to be left behind so it's looking good.

 

[Grayfox]

Back in the days of WinXP I nlited my windows and got it to use 80MB of RAM just by removing crap that was on the system.

 

[dan0543]

Yep, memory hogging is a big problem in windows. At the moment I've got windows 7 professional 64 bit, and i've got two internet windows open with one playing some pink floyd on youtube. basically this gaming pc with a sandy bridge E i7, 8gig of ram shouldn't have to lift a finger. yet it's managing to use upwards of 3 gig. Somehow I think my old PC with 2 gigs of ram on windows XP could handle this pretty easily and wouldn't use nearly as much. It seems the OS just wants everything you've got

 

[Luminis]

Well, the reason why I'm getting tyred of Windows is that Microsoft seems go get more and more caught up with designing it around its looks. The whole thing is getting more and moer bloated; but it also seems to be designed in a way that, in theory, a midly intelligent chimp would be able to use it. However, that interfers with what you can actually do. I don't know, I feel more restricted in what I can do with every release of Windows. They're trying to make it idiot proof, but this also limits the non-idiots in what they can freely do.

 

[NLxAROSA]

Valve has announced the Steam Controller. Haptic feedback, so may not suffer from the same drawbacks as regular touch interfaces. Would love to see it in action!

 

[Robin]

That's a pretty cool controller but it's sometimes better to have the resistance of a stick for quicker reactions. I wish the next gen consoles controllers looked as futuristic.

 

[Luminis]

Hm, I'm a bit weary about touch stuff, to be honest. They might provide better haptic feedback than regular rumble effects do, but there's a distinct difference between experiencing some rumble upon using a touch interface compared to pressing a button. My phone does something similar, although not as sophisticated - and it just doesn't feel right, at all.

I mean, people are going for mechanic keyboards because they offer better tactical feedback than regular membrane keyboards... And I've got to admit, I'm close to doing that, myself. My new Razer Sabertooth gamepad uses mechanical switches for the face buttons, and it feels great - I can't imagine going into the opposite direction, really. Granted, the Valve Controller is likely aimed at a much more casual crowd than mechanical keyboards and said gamepad I use, but still...