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SteamOS Linux 3.8 released as stable

store.steampowered.com

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Re: SteamOS Linux 3.8 released as stable

#41

Post by CodesInChaos »

jonathanstrange wrote: post #8

Very cool. As a Linux Mint user, I'm starting to get interested in SteamOS. So maybe someone with experience can answer my question: How good is SteamOS as a general distro for a desktop machine? What are the Pros and Cons?

I found it very annoying and restricting. Most significantly being restricted to flatpak. For example I failed at installing whonix and couldn't get rust and vscode to work together.

If I didn't plan to get rid of by steam deck, I'd install a different distro in it. I definitely wouldn't install it on a desktop, support for the deck's keyboardless form factor is the only reason I might choose SteamOS over a normal distro.

Though I didn't know about distrobox then, perhaps that works better.

Re: SteamOS Linux 3.8 released as stable

#42

Post by CodesInChaos »

koolala wrote: post #39
CodesInChaos wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my experience with the steam deck: If you're already logged in, you can use it online. But if it decides to log you out, and you're offline, then you're out of luck. Older versions allowed you to switch to desktop mode without logging in (with broken on screen keyboard, since that's only available once you log into steam), but that option is missing in newer versions.

They changed its location and it was bugged for an update. You go to Settings > System and then enable Show Switch to Desktop Mode.

For me the "Switch to Desktop mode" button only showed up after logging into steam but was hidden while logged out.

Re: SteamOS Linux 3.8 released as stable

#43

Post by koolala »

CodesInChaos wrote: post #42
koolala wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They changed its location and it was bugged for an update. You go to Settings > System and then enable Show Switch to Desktop Mode.

For me the "Switch to Desktop mode" button only showed up after logging into steam but was hidden while logged out.

Right that setting is to make it show when logged out. You can get to the setting without logging in.

Re: SteamOS Linux 3.8 released as stable

#44

Post by pjerem »

koolala wrote: post #40
jon-wood wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if you don't want to use Steam. I'm not really sure what point you think you're making here by constantly asking whether you can use SteamOS without logging in to Steam. You can however install literally anything you like on a Steam Deck.

It's nice on something like Steam Frame where it's hard to install a new OS. Forcing a log-in like Windows is evil and sucks when you don't have internet.

Nobody knows if it will be hard to install another OS on the Frame.

Re: SteamOS Linux 3.8 released as stable

#45

Post by koolala »

pjerem wrote: post #44
koolala wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's nice on something like Steam Frame where it's hard to install a new OS. Forcing a log-in like Windows is evil and sucks when you don't have internet.

Nobody knows if it will be hard to install another OS on the Frame.

The hard part is making one work on it since none already exist like the hundreds that exist for normal computers like Deck. They might not let their 6dof headset tracking code be shared and getting that working would be very hard.

Re: SteamOS Linux 3.8 released as stable

#47

Post by altmanaltman »

jonathanstrange wrote: post #8

Very cool. As a Linux Mint user, I'm starting to get interested in SteamOS. So maybe someone with experience can answer my question: How good is SteamOS as a general distro for a desktop machine? What are the Pros and Cons?

I mean it literally is not meant to be used as a general distro for a desktop machine so I'm guessing not very good.

Re: SteamOS Linux 3.8 released as stable

#48

Post by pbmonster »

toofy wrote: post #6

i’d love to see blackmagic jump in with steamos as their main distro. i think they build for rockyos currently but… if they jump to building davinci resolve (and its new lightroom style photo editing) on steamos rather than rocky.. this would be pretty powerful combine the insane wonders steamos is doing for gaming on linux and add davinci, that would really open up the linux landscape for a ton more people. i’m curr…

This might make sense once SteamBox is a large percentage of Linux Desktop installs.

Right now, it would be insanity. Just the situation with running SteamOS on hardware with NVIDIA cards would be a showstopper. And a whole lot of consumer PCs ship with NVIDIA chips...

Re: SteamOS Linux 3.8 released as stable

#49

Post by TiredOfLife »

bandrami wrote: post #46
TiredOfLife wrote: post #5

That line about update arch base means it is shipping only a year old packages and not 1.5 year old ones.

When you maintain systems long enough you realize that's a feature rather than a bug

When it's not based on a rolling disto.

Re: SteamOS Linux 3.8 released as stable

#50

Post by bandrami »

TiredOfLife wrote: post #49
bandrami wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you maintain systems long enough you realize that's a feature rather than a bug

When it's not based on a rolling disto.

Everything's ultimately based on a rolling distro; Debian is frozen from Sid and Fedora (and ultimately RHEL) are frozen from Rawhide.
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