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SteamOS

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Re: SteamOS

#461

Post by Mikeb85 »

gavanwoolery wrote: post #293
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…

Ultimately, what other choice does Valve have? Every single other company is coming out with its own "App Store" - few are exclusive at this point, but the tide might turn that way (already I believe Microsoft and Apple have taken steps that have made it more difficult for Steam). That said, OpenGL is an increasingly relevant player due to WebGL, mobile devices, Apple's growing market share, etc. It is also possible…

Targeting DirectX is a waste of time because Windows can run OpenGL, and players can use the latest OpenGL features on every version of Windows (ie. not have to update to Windows 8.1 just to use a newer version of DirectX)...

Re: SteamOS

#462

Post by Mikeb85 »

pekk wrote: post #349
jeltz wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most games currently at Steam have no problems running at almost any modern Linux distro.

That's worlds away from certifying that all the Steam games will run on arbitrary Slackware boxes.

If the Steam client itself can be made to run on Slackware (I don't see why not, it runs on Arch just fine), the games will run as well. Steam installs all the dependencies, it's not dependant on distro-specific packaging...

Re: SteamOS

#463

Post by stormbrew »

wonderzombie wrote: post #396
davidhollander wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are your definitions for "traditional Linux userspace software" and "traditional Linux users"? Do you consider Android to be "Linux"?

"Traditional Linux userspace software" is an informal definition, but let's say something like X. Or your average window manager. Or, say, almost anything from GNOME. "Traditional Linux users" is another informal definition, but if you use a distro, you're probably a traditional Linux user. Contrast this with an Android user. They run the Linux kernel but the software they interface with is an entirely different bree…

I think it's pretty unlikely that Xorg won't be a part of it somehow. X+extensions is basically the only meaningful, portable, direct interface to video hardware that exists on linux. At least if you want the hardware vendor's own drivers (which steambox obviously would, Nouveau is not up to the challenge).

It would also mean that all the 300+ games that currently work on Steam For Linux would have to be retooled for whatever proprietary windowing layer Valve would have to invent. And Valve would have to convince nVidia to come along for the ride.

Re: SteamOS

#465

Post by devx »

hrkristian wrote: post #328
devx wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I were them I'd make Half Life 3, Portal 3 and whatever next versions they have of their own games, exclusive to their own Steambox, at least first months or so. They might not get as much money on the games themselves initially, but they'd make so much more on the hardware (they don't need to all Blu-ray and all the extra crap, so they could be profitable on it), and it would also be a great way to seed their con…

Alienating their main user-base for the sake of promoting their own console seems like a high-risk play when most people already are aiming at spending their "console-allowance" on the PS4 or One. The Steam Box is supposed to be modular (upgrade-able), while being strictly plug&play, this alone gives it a huge edge over existing consoles. Now we know SteamOS will be Open Source, and we know both Nvidia and AMD are co…

Too bad PS4 wasn't based on Linux, too. Both could've helped Linux games a lot more.

Re: SteamOS

#466

Post by Yuioup »

I'm guessing that o+o means split-screen gaming on the t.v., streaming from two separate Windows machines.

Re: SteamOS

#467

Post by gillianseed »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #306
Mikeb85 wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nvidia's Linux drivers are at feature parity with their Windows drivers. And perform at least as well...

Meaning they randomly lock up the system about once every three days?

Are you running beta releases of drivers?

Anyway the reason NVidia has had strong Linux driver support for such a long time has nothing to do with desktop Linux and certainly not Linux gaming.

It's because Linux is huge in 3d and special effects (mainly movie, tv) and of course dominant in hpc.

However, Steambox is likely resulting in NVidia improving their Linux video drivers with focus on game performance.

Re: SteamOS

#468

Post by gillianseed »

xentronium wrote: post #18

I'm somewhat disappointed. While perfectly logical for Valve, it might end up being not very beneficial for other distributions. In worst case scenario, hardware manufacturers cherry pick specific devices ("steambox") and software ecosystem to support (SteamOS) while totally neglecting all other linux distributions.

Steam as it stands is officially focused on Ubuntu but I can run it on Arch without problem thanks to the work done by the Arch package maintainers.

SteamOS obviously differs since it's (by the sound of it) a whole distribution.

But I don't see why I wouldn't be able to continue using the Steam client just as I do now to play Steam games, the SteamOS is from what I understand the equivalent of a streamlined distro for Steam gaming, likely with optimizations for Steambox hardware configurations.

As an end user the choice is mine, use this streamlined distro for Steam gaming, or continue to use the Steam client from my distro of choice. I don't see the problem?

Re: SteamOS

#469

Post by Glyptodon »

xhrpost wrote: post #38
Glyptodon wrote: post #22

The streaming of other OS games from your other OS systems seems like a pretty compelling and surprising feature. I wonder if it will work with all games.

It's implied that it will. I wonder if this is basically like having your own mini OnLive cloud deployment.

I was more curious as to whether it might present licensing issues.

Re: SteamOS

#470

Post by CamperBob2 »

gillianseed wrote: post #467
CamperBob2 wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meaning they randomly lock up the system about once every three days?

Are you running beta releases of drivers? Anyway the reason NVidia has had strong Linux driver support for such a long time has nothing to do with desktop Linux and certainly not Linux gaming. It's because Linux is huge in 3d and special effects (mainly movie, tv) and of course dominant in hpc. However, Steambox is likely resulting in NVidia improving their Linux video drivers with focus on game performance.

No, I'm running Windows x64, so it's possible that Linux drivers don't have the same problem. I was being somewhat facetious, but the fact is that I can't run any nVidia driver after 314.22 on my system for more than a few days without occasional temporary freezes and some that require a cold restart. This isn't an isolated complaint. They have a bug, somewhere, that's been there for a few months now.
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