SteamOS

[Dot Matrix]

one of the designers of frostbite says, the best driver is no driver!

 

Then how are devices supposed to run? Is this "designer" bonkers?

[medhunter]

well. Ater all these post, I can say : 

1. Still more iinfo to come to form a clear image
2. Steam O.S is a good thing to have, because it will be compete for something and raise innovation
3. It is not just game based but for media and general purposes as well
4. Causality: Having invested so much in linux steam client and having such a vast install base.In addition to the obvious hatred of win8

Moreover, there has been a Ubuntu based distro: dedicated only for gaming.Would Steam O.S be different?

 

Oh great, so one of SteamOS's hardware requirements can be "A completely separate PC with beefy hardware running Windows on your home network"

 

Or I could, you know, connect my Windows PC to my OMG LIVING ROOM TV just as easily I could a box running Steam OS.

 

Good question and no one really answered that.

[Arceles]

Then how are devices supposed to run? Is this "designer" bonkers?

They are refering to "direct to metal" programming, far more powerfull than any API out there... is like programming in ASM for... oh wait!

 

... this reminds me to "When men were men and programmed their own drivers...."

[spaceelf]

I like that it would very likely be easier to deal with than Linux for gaming or anything else.

 

And it might well be a serious contender for gaming OSes, but short term I'm probably not putting it on anything.

[Woelfel]

I'm trying to figure out the point. Of course I'll wait for more information but for right now...I don't see a point in this. Ok, they make a steambox (we all know it), a configurable gaming console. SteamOS is for your TV...to play for PC games on your TV, wouldn't that mean I would have to move my kb/m to my living room to play certain games? Ok, cool, but then...I could do all of this at my current PC (granted I have 2 40" 1080p tv/monitors). Sooooooo I'm still not getting why I should do this?

 

Just make another console (which they are) and have exclusives on it...Half Life 3, name some other multiplatform games and call it a day. People will buy it for HL3. All this other stuff...stupid imo.

[theyarecomingforyou]

Valve has the potential to challenge Microsoft and Sony when it comes to gaming. The XB1 and PS4 are both fixed spec platforms that will age quickly - we've already heard that graphically intensive games like Battlefield 4 will only run at 720p in order to maintain 60fps. Given that performance is an issue now the situation will only get worse. SteamOS will allow manufacturers to produce systems capable of better performance and visual quality. While such systems will be more expensive than consoles to start with the advantage will becomes more pronounced as the years go by, which will be helped by the fact that games are considerably cheaper on Steam than on console.

 

Valve's best chance is to focus on 4K and make a push into the living room in about four to five years time when the next-generation consoles will be struggling. Microsoft and Sony are both committed to eight year cycles so they don't have much flexibility.

[Andre S. Veteran]

This could quickly become the dominant HTPC OS if it can get enough games to support it. I'm not going to ditch Windows just yet because it runs SNES and N64 emulators making my HTPC an incredibly versatile machine, but still.

 

I do wonder what do they mean by performance and latency improvements. Improvements over what, Linux or Windows? Windows drivers are pretty much optimized to death now, I don't think there's much they can do to best that.

[trooper11]

After thinking about this announcement more, I think the big draw to this is not playing games directly from some steam box, but the streaming function.

 

People are getting all excited about gaming on Linux and a steam box used to play all of these games, but I think what will actually make this interesting is the streaming capability.

 

I think the reality is that this will be a niche product for quite some time.  Your not going to suddenly convert a bunch of pc gamers and console gamers to a brand new gaming platform.  I'm not convinced that Valve is going to build the SteamOS to be as robust as say Windows for general hardware support and general usage beyond gaming.  That would be costly and very time consuming, so a steam box would basically be like another console, expect that it can also be an extender from your pc. That means that it could be a while before a steam box could stand on its own, having a strong library of games, limiting its appeal.

 

So the strength in the SteamOS + Steambox would be as a pc extender.  Think about it.  Sony announces the Vita TV, which is a $99 device that can stream ps4 games along with natively playing Vita, etc.  MS has had plans for an Xbox TV device for a couple years that would be the same idea.  So why not have a $99 device that can stream any pc game to your TV.  The draw is that its a relatively cheap device that is small and quiet, easily hidden away at your TV. 

 

So I think this has potential if its combined with a cheap steambox. As far as being a serious competitor to consoles and pc gaming, that could take much longer to materialize.

 

One negative that came to mind is the fact that your limited to whatever is out on Steam.  Even if Steam is popular, it does not have a monopoly on pc games.  There are other ways to buy games, games that may not be on Steam at all.  So it acts like a console would, a closed system tying you to what gets put on Steam.  The ideal thing would be a small device that could stream games played on a pc, whether it was via Steam or not. 

[trooper11]

This could quickly become the dominant HTPC OS if it can get enough games to support it. I'm not going to ditch Windows just yet because it runs SNES and N64 emulators making my HTPC an incredibly versatile machine, but still.

 

 

Maybe a dominate htpc that is focused on gaming, but I highly doubt it would replace an htpc that is focused on media playback.  Basic things like playing a bluray movie via an htpc, playing back a host of local media formats, being able to tweak the video and audio output with the various tools out there for windows, etc would need to be supported to come close to supplanting windows as the htpc os of choice.  I have a hard time seeing Valve wasting their time building their OS to cater to all of those functions. 

 

It sounds like they will focus on getting a few streaming media services on board and leave it at that. 

[Andre S. Veteran]

Maybe a dominate htpc that is focused on gaming, but I highly doubt it would replace an htpc that is focused on media playback.  Basic things like playing a bluray movie via an htpc, playing back a host of local media formats, being able to tweak the video and audio output with the various tools out there for windows, etc would need to be supported to come close to supplanting windows as the htpc os of choice.  I have a hard time seeing Valve wasting their time building their OS to cater to all of those functions. 

With the wealth of available libraries on Linux it wouldn't be hard for SteamOS to provide these functionalities, and in a much more streamlined and integrated way than on Windows. XBMC is great but it doesn't do games, so on Windows you'll always have to juggle with at least two different interfaces. SteamOS has the potential for a truly integrated multimedia + gaming experience that's grandma-friendly. I'd be disappointed and surprised if they missed that opportunity.

[Growled Member]

 SteamOS has the potential for a truly integrated multimedia + gaming experience that's grandma-friendly. I'd be disappointed and surprised if they missed that opportunity.

 

If they could do that then the sky is the limit.

[trooper11]

With the wealth of available libraries on Linux it wouldn't be hard for SteamOS to provide these functionalities, and in a much more streamlined and integrated way than on Windows. XBMC is great but it doesn't do games, so on Windows you'll always have to juggle with at least two different interfaces. SteamOS has the potential for a truly integrated multimedia + gaming experience that's grandma-friendly. I'd be disappointed and surprised if they missed that opportunity.

 

Well I'm coming from the Windows Media Center crowd, so it was already a streamlined, integrated experience where I boot straight into it and never have to leave it.  I can launch games, play all sorts of media, etc. Real easy for the family to use.

 

In Windows 8, I've already transitioned to using the start screen as my media control panel as it were, allowing me to launch whatever media apps I want via my remote.  I use the MediaBrowser 3 software to manage most media, including my game library, which also works nicely with Steam games. So I'm not really looking to give all of that up, but I'm happy to see more competition to drive everyone.  Google really dropped the ball, and Apple has shown little interest in doing anything to support local media playback, so I'm basically down to using Windows or SteamOS if it offers something similar.

 

So if they can match that functionality in a slick UI, then great, I'm more than happy to try it out as such, but I'm still not convinced that Valve has any interest in pursuing that usage.  I think the only way we see that is if they open up their app store in a way that encourages app developers to give us that media solution.

[trooper11]

If they could do that then the sky is the limit.

 

 

I agree, but I think we need to be careful not to put too much hype on this just because its based on Linux.  Android is also based on Linux, but you don't see Google using it properly to bring out a complete multimedia solution.  They seem more interested in focusing on streaming media only. 

 

My worry is that they (Google) and Valve don't feel there is enough demand to devote development time to those features.  Maybe they feel like most people just want Netflix, Hulu, etc and that will cover it. 

 

We will see.

[HawkMan]

I'd be highly surprised if Valve hasn't already spent considerable time talking with developers to see what their requirements would be for putting games on their platform.

Seriously, it's Gabe. He probably expects all the gaming companies to come to him as the great messiah...

[(Account no longer active)]

I can think of many benefits:

- no antivirus software running in the background

- fast boot (under 10 seconds possible on a HDD, a few seconds on an SSD)

- low OS resource usage (if based on LXDE/XCFE RAM usage would be under 100MB easily)

- gives Windows/Mac users a chance to discover Linux

- if free, reduces Windows pirating, which is still a big problem

[HawkMan]

What makes you think you don't need an AV

fast boot time? on linux ? never seen it. 

OS resources will probably be higher than that, big screen mode alone uses more.

No it doesn't really give them a chance to discover linux, they'd only use it as a SteamOS , not as a linux OS.

It only reduces windows pirating if it can replace windows, it can't. 

[FarCry3r]

I can think of many benefits:

- no antivirus software running in the background

- fast boot (under 10 seconds possible on a HDD, a few seconds on an SSD)

- low OS resource usage (if based on LXDE/XCFE RAM usage would be under 100MB easily)

- gives Windows/Mac users a chance to discover Linux

- if free, reduces Windows pirating, which is still a big problem

It won't reduce Windows pirating problem, most peoples will still pirate Windows, along with the games on it. Most of them pirates both, and if so, will they use SteamOS if the games can't be pirated? So what's the benefit then? If that thing somehow broken, who will average Joe turn to?

 

I'm not against SteamOS, it's everything I've dreamed about (except the Linux part), but other than enthusiast, this thing won't make much of a different. At least not around the part of the world I live in.

[Athernar]

Seriously, it's Gabe. He probably expects all the gaming companies to come to him as the great messiah...

 

If your posts from that other thread weren't proof enough that you're incapable of practicing what you preach, this one is more than enough.

 

fast boot time? on linux ? never seen it.

 

Then you clearly don't know much about Linux at all. systemd, look it up.

[HawkMan]

If your posts from that other thread weren't proof enough that you're incapable of practicing what you preach, this one is more than enough.

 

 

Then you clearly don't know much about Linux at all. systemd, look it up.

Linux can boot fast, just not that fast on a usable system, more than systems needs to start.

As for your other trolling, nope, again I'm merely pointing out facts and criticism and your incapable of seeing a humorous post and instead uses it to keep trolling. Go on, you'll realize it's against the rules eventually.

If you knew anything about Gabe and how he operates you'd probably get it.

[Athernar]

Linux can boot fast, just not that fast on a usable system, more than systems needs to start.

As for your other trolling, nope, again I'm merely pointing out facts and criticism and your incapable of seeing a humorous post and instead uses it to keep trolling. Go on, you'll realize it's against the rules eventually.

If you knew anything about Gabe and how he operates you'd probably get it.

 

You do realise that's exactly what systemd does right? :rofl:

 

You really should look up systemd, and the definition of trolling while you're at it.

[trooper11]

I think some people are over thinking this a bit right now.

 

At this point, there is no evidence that Valve is planning to dump users into a typical Linux environment like a desktop.  I really doubt this is going to spur general Linux adoption, acceptance, etc.  Again, Google adopted Linux to create Android, but that hasn't spurred a spike in Linux usage.

 

At this point, it sounds like you will be dumped into the Steam UI and from there play games or load other apps that get pushed through the Steam store.  Why would Valve waste resources on a general purpose OS like some seem to be pointing to.  If its really an OS that's all about gaming, then your unlikely to see anything that looks like a regular pc. Instead, think of it as a new console OS.

 

It will be like running the Xbox OS.  As we know, the Xbox OS on the X1 uses very few resources and can boot very quickly, focusing it all on the gameplay.  SteamOS should be something like that.  The main difference being that the SteamOS will also have to manage an app store and be able to load non gaming apps, so maybe its more like a cross between the Xbox OS and Win RT.

[HawkMan]

You do realise that's exactly what systemd does right? :rofl:

 

You really should look up systemd, and the definition of trolling while you're at it.

 

I know what it does. But a fully loaded linux system still takes quote some time to start to a fully usable desktop. sure if you strip it down it's fast.

 

Then there's the Steam update issue and that steam pretty much has a new update every time you start it, and it takes forever to download and apply...

 

either way, boot time is hardly the deciding factor anyway, as sleep is the standard today anyway, if you even bother turning it off at all. 

[HawkMan]

I think some people are over thinking this a bit right now.

 

At this point, there is no evidence that Valve is planning to dump users into a typical Linux environment like a desktop.  I really doubt this is going to spur general Linux adoption, acceptance, etc.  Again, Google adopted Linux to create Android, but that hasn't spurred a spike in Linux usage.

 

At this point, it sounds like you will be dumped into the Steam UI and from there play games or load other apps that get pushed through the Steam store.  Why would Valve waste resources on a general purpose OS like some seem to be pointing to.  If its really an OS that's all about gaming, then your unlikely to see anything that looks like a regular pc. Instead, think of it as a new console OS.

 

It will be like running the Xbox OS.  As we know, the Xbox OS on the X1 uses very few resources and can boot very quickly, focusing it all on the gameplay.  SteamOS should be something like that.  The main difference being that the SteamOS will also have to manage an app store and be able to load non gaming apps, so maybe its more like a cross between the Xbox OS and Win RT.

 

 

Think of it more like running big screen steam as the OS shell.

 

Which you could, actually. though it wouldn't be very useful. 

[Athernar]

I know what it does. But a fully loaded linux system still takes quote some time to start to a fully usable desktop. sure if you strip it down it's fast.

 

Then there's the Steam update issue and that steam pretty much has a new update every time you start it, and it takes forever to download and apply...

 

either way, boot time is hardly the deciding factor anyway, as sleep is the standard today anyway, if you even bother turning it off at all. 

 

No, you don't know what it does at all. You made that painfully obvious in your previous post. The statement that Linux boots slower than other OSes at this point is nothing more than FUD or ignorance.

 

I can't personally comment on the "Steam update issue" as I opt-in to the Client beta and do get daily updates as a result, but if the news feed for the stable client is anything to go by, your comments are false.

[+virtorio MVC]

Seems like it could have potential as an OS for a dedicated gaming PC in the living room.