SteamOS Official Thread.

Boomstick777

Boomstick777

Boomstick777

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SteamOS is an operating system based on the Linux kernel in development by Valve Corporation. It will be the primary operating system for the Steam Machine games consoles, and freely available to install on PCs when it releases on 13 December 2013.

SteamOS is designed primarily for playing video games. Users will be able to stream games from their Windows or Mac computers to one running SteamOS, and it will incorporate the same family sharing and restrictions as Steam on the desktop.[1] Valve claims that it has "achieved significant performance increases in graphics processing" through SteamOS.[2] The operating system will be open source allowing anyone to build on or adapt the source code,[3] which can allow access to Xbox, Playstation and Nintendo games and will run on Steam Machines.[4]

Since SteamOS is designed for playing games it will not have many built-in functions beyond web browsing and playing games; for example there is no file manager or image viewer. Though the OS does not, in its current form, support streaming services, Valve is in talks with streaming companies to bring the feature to SteamOS.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SteamOS


http://www.pcper.com/reviews/General-Tech/Video-How-Install-and-Configure-SteamOS-Beta
 
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SteamOS Guide: Steam OS and Steam Machines Explained

What is SteamOS?
SteamOS is a gaming-centric operating system made by Valve, the developer/publisher behind games like Half-life 2 and the proprietor of Steam, the biggest digital games portal in the world.

The system is designed to offer an experience that bridges the divide between PC gaming and the more relaxed style of console gaming, and to try and bring back the ‘PC games’ (i.e. non-console) audience, which has gradually eroded over the last decade.
Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/steamos-and-steam-machines-faq-guide#p8wBiROfsJHJv0QA.99
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Read more at http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/steamos-and-steam-machines-faq-guide#p8wBiROfsJHJv0QA.99
 
so the streaming function might be live from day 1?:eek: hope so but that's more than I'm expecting right now tbh. will it only stream games own in steam though or can games that you can launch through steam be streamable as well? so many questions about steamOS and so little info
 
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Hmm I'm very curious to know how well the streaming performs also...

Kinda sucks how they say "You may have to lower the settings on your game to get good performance"... which is fair enough... but not for games where you can't set the settings from within the game, as you'd have to go to your main PC to adjust the settings...

Added to that if you also play the same game on the main PC sometimes it would be annoying having to change the settings - I wonder if they could somehow make it so that the game can tell whether it's being launched over a stream or if it's being run locally?
 
Any news on what controllers the OS will support out of the box?

Obviously the Steam Controller, but I'd hope the 360 controller is supported out of the box, as Big Picture Mode felt very much designed around it.
 
I don't get it, why would anyone want to lock themselves into an OS which only allows you to buy games from one company and then wraps them heavily in DRM so you can't even trade or resell the games you buy? At least with Windows you have a choice where else to buy games with no DRM and if you want DRM'd Linux based games for the TV go with PlayStation, at least you can buy/sell second hand and I suspect the console will be somewhat cheaper than a well enough specced "steambox" PC. Can't help but feel Gabe really has lost the plot a bit on this one, people aren't daft.
 
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Macro said:
I don't get it, why would anyone want to lock themselves into an OS which only allows you to buy games from one company and then wraps them heavily in DRM so you can't even trade or resell the games you buy? At least with Windows you have a choice where else to buy games with no DRM and if you want DRM'd Linux based games for the TV go with PlayStation, at least you can buy/sell second hand and I suspect the console will be somewhat cheaper than a well enough specced "steambox" PC. Can't help but feel Gabe really has lost the plot a bit on this one, people aren't daft.
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I dont get this viewpoint. At what point has anyone said that you can ONLY play Valve games on SteamOS? Is this just some massive assumption that people are making? Because by the looks of things this is just stripped back Ubuntu with Big Screen mode Steam set to run when you start up the gui (like putting "exec steam" in .xinitrc). You can still access the desktop and install whatever you want, be that Mumble, Skype, Firefox or any non-steam game.
 
Macro said:
I don't get it, why would anyone want to lock themselves into an OS which only allows you to buy games from one company and then wraps them heavily in DRM so you can't even trade or resell the games you buy? At least with Windows you have a choice where else to buy games with no DRM and if you want DRM'd Linux based games for the TV go with PlayStation, at least you can buy/sell second hand and I suspect the console will be somewhat cheaper than a well enough specced "steambox" PC. Can't help but feel Gabe really has lost the plot a bit on this one, people aren't daft.
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Reason why people might want to try it out..

The OS is free, try it and don't like it, you have lost nothing.
Supposedly the performance can be better for gaming.
A lot of people are tired of Windows, especially Windows 8.
People like Steam.
It also has a desktop mode which I'm assuming could very well allow other games to be played that can run on Linux.
It would generate more support for Linux gaming as a whole, speed up AAA game development on Linux, competition against Windows gaming is welcome.
It's different, variety is the spice of life :p
 
Q: What software runs on SteamOS?
SteamOS is designed to run Steam and Steam games. It also provides a desktop mode which can run regular Linux applications. SteamOS makes use of the standard APT package manager for software updates; you can add third-party sources to your subscribed repositories to gain access to more applications. SteamOS currently provides a limited set of packages, but many Debian wheezy packages work fine on SteamOS. We plan to make a wider variety of packages vailable directly from the SteamOS repositories over time.
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Awesome.

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/648814395741989999/
 
Q: What are the SteamOS Hardware Requirements?

Intel or AMD 64-bit capable processor
4GB or more memory
500GB or larger disk
NVIDIA graphics card (AMD and Intel graphics support coming soon)
UEFI boot support
USB port for installation
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Hmm, does this mean no display for AMD cards?
 
Not out of the box I'd imagine, but if it's got apt/Deb support then it can't be too much of a faff to get the fglrx packages on there.
 
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