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SteamOS

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Re: SteamOS

#231

Post by baldfat »

corresation wrote: post #64
estel wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The streaming works if you have a beefy Windows machine in your house already, it's not a solution for people wanting a dedicated "Steam" console.

It is a brilliant tactic to migrate the considerable Steam base to the Steambox. It is transitional, of course, but brilliant for it.

Okay I have 1 beefy PC. I want a second machine upstairs.

Old Way) I have to spend all the money for equally good hardware. I also need a copy of Windows.

New Way) Just get something that can render YouTube videos well. I now have a second Gaming PC. No copy of Windows!

Re: SteamOS

#232

Post by stonemetal »

antsar wrote: post #21
sixdimensional wrote: post #5

Open ecosystem (Linux, hardware) + gaming = well done Valve, sounds good, I like it!

Not open source, however. Not a dealbreaker, but an important distinction to keep in mind.

Users can alter or replace any part of the software

Sounds open source to me, or did you mean the games?

This press release isn't targeted at technical people so the jargon isn't there to definitively say one way or the other.

Re: SteamOS

#233

Post by fooqux »

asdasf wrote: post #185
XorNot wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love to see Linux get 1st class graphics driver support from vendors. I pay as much for my Radeon card as anyone else, but the fglrx drivers STILL don't support X composite. But other then gaming I never boot into Windows these days anyway.

I'd love to see them just publish docs so we can get good drivers instead. Bluescreens from video drivers are still a problem on windows, it is an even bigger problem on linux with fewer resources going into making the driver, and fewer people using them to serve as paying testers. Nvidia and ati/amd have both made it very clear that they either do not have the desire or they do not have the resources to make good dr…

Depending on who makes the hardware in the upcoming Steambox, we might finally get some decent drivers for 3D hardware acceleration. I would imagine Valve has the pull to entice AMD, nvidia, or maybe Intel to devote additional resources to it.

Re: SteamOS

#234

Post by skriticos2 »

xSwag wrote: post #45

So what is the chance that Gaben will make everything proprietary? Releasing games for the SteamOS with license restrictions to make them unplayable on other Linux distros? What if he makes a deal with AMD/NVidia to make drivers only for SteamOS which won't be available to normal Linux users? I don't want linux to go towards that direction.

Not much. They benefit a lot from the open image and maintenance model. Going proprietary on the platform side makes zero sense and would just increase the cost and bind a lot of resources better used for generating money with their core business.

Re: SteamOS

#235

Post by baldfat »

snotrockets wrote: post #180
kaolinite wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tonnes of AAA titles are 'available' on FreeBSD - the PS3. Publishers won't be bringing their games to Linux, they'll be bringing them to SteamOS.

PS3 runs FreeBSD likes Android runs Linux. That is, they may share a kernel and some tools, but the user spaces are mostly alien.

PS3 ran on Cell CPU Architecture. Now PS4 run FreeBSD 9.0 modified BUT x86 architecture!

Android = Linux Ubuntu = Linux they both run the same exact kernel! BSD != Linux because they are 2 different kernels.

Why do people always try to say Android is not Linux?????

Re: SteamOS

#236

Post by [deleted] »

mikevm wrote: post #201
theschwa wrote: post #13

"In SteamOS, we have achieved significant performance increases in graphics processing, and we’re now targeting audio performance and reductions in input latency at the operating system level." I'm really interested to see the trickle down effect that this will have on other Linux flavors. Having a push for standardization from a big name company like Valve should provide a better Linux experience for everyone.

What performance increases in graphics processing are they talking about? I'm with you thought, I do hope all of their work will be landed in mainline kernel so everyone could enjoy the benefits, and we could play games (through Steam or other methods) on most Linux distros, without much hassle.

[deleted]

Re: SteamOS

#237

Post by flyingbuttress »

pathy wrote: post #186
saraid216 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gaming is one of the last legitimate refuges of Windows dominance. There are a lot of us who wouldn't care about (read: would be willing to switch) their OS if not for PC gaming.

>Gaming is one of the last legitimate refuges of Windows dominance. What about pretty much all larger businesses in the world? Windows sure dominate the corporate space.

I think he meant in terms of being the best option available. You would have a hard time arguing that Windows is significantly better than competitors like RHEL in the corporate space. For gaming, on the other hand, no other OS comes close to offering the selection that Windows has, at least for now.

Re: SteamOS

#238

Post by skriticos2 »

siphr wrote: post #15

The idea itself is not novel as such. Just like every other company the difficulty is having to disassociate yourself from Windows. As it stands the store relies heavily on Windows titles. The real feat would be if they managed to get the whole catalog across to SteamOS by under the hood cross compatibility layer.

That's not going to happen any time soon. Wine is in active development by very talented people all the time and they get a lot of the latest AAA stuff running, but generally there are so many corner cases that it would be a support nightmare and financial suicide to attempt this as generic service. Plus they'd probably get some brain-dead software patent lawsuits.

Re: SteamOS

#239

Post by VLM »

asdasf wrote: post #206
cwoods wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really doubt an ethernet connection can push a full HD video frame in 1ms. The <1ms is for ping, which uses a really small network packet. Pushing 1080p HD video is a totally different matter.

ping uses whatever size packet you tell it to: $ ping -s 1450 192.168.11.10 PING 192.168.11.10 (192.168.11.10): 1450 data bytes 1458 bytes from 192.168.11.10: icmp_seq=0 ttl=255 time=0.646 ms 1458 bytes from 192.168.11.10: icmp_seq=1 ttl=255 time=0.478 ms 1458 bytes from 192.168.11.10: icmp_seq=2 ttl=255 time=0.469 ms

It would be insane to do this, but you could shove ATSC between boxes over ethernet by shoving each 188-byte MPEG transport stream packet in an ethernet frame and skipping all the layer 3 stuff. Or UDP it, if you want to route it. They probably like the idea of a difficult to route protocol keeping data on one ethernet segment.

My HDhomerun ATSC receiver certainly has no problem shoving a couple megabits of high def video over ethernet. Nor does my mythtv setup, or even just plain old NFS shares to watch videos.

Re: SteamOS

#240

Post by ZeroGravitas »

matthew-wegner wrote: post #48
rkalla wrote: post #26

This is effectively the software-only equivalent of a console launch. Is anyone else skeptical that they can motivate publishers to spend time/money porting their games to the Linux platform? Valve certainly has a better chance than most at pulling this off (and likely enough user/market data to make this seem like a valid investment) I am still super skeptical that these publishers are going to spend the time portin…

Valve has three announcements this week: http://kotaku.com/looks-like-well-hear-about-valves-new-hard... One of the announcements is widely believe to be the long-rumored Steam Box hardware...

The controller is the most interesting hardware component, the rest can improve over time much more easily.
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