Valve confirms it'll support the ROG Ally with its Steam Deck operating system
Valve confirms it'll support the ROG Ally with its Steam Deck operating system
Dual boot is still on the menu, too.
Recent patch notes sounded like they might be hinting at upcoming ROG Ally support, but it's now confirmed.
Great news! The more devices running SteamOS the better
This will make that device so much more usable.
As long as you don’t use the sd card slot
This is so exciting, very happy for Ally owners. Choice is a strength of PC ecosystem, and I'm confident SteamOS experience is going to win over many users. It's a great upgrade.
Edit-
"And it's not like Valve is suggesting it'll offer SteamOS for rival handhelds anytime soon, either"
Oh :( I thought this was further along than it is.. got excited.
It would make the Ally usable. Windows holds it back a ton because it’s a trash OS.
There’s still some hardware issues to contend with. Like the fact that it fries SD cards due to poor card slot placement… and the control stick bug…
Let’s just say my wife has one and we recently got her a Steam Deck instead. I had to replace one of the sticks on the Ally and still had problems. She also can’t use the SD card slot at all. It’s flawed hardware with potential (after a couple revisions).
Potential that will never go anywhere. It's ASUS, they're on the 8th iteration of phone and still having problems, the Ally X is having problems too.
ASUS is just a problem company.
Hell yes! More Linux more better!
@ipha @Fubarberry u wonder when or if at all well get a desktop version thats as easy to install as installing steam os on the steam deck is
They keep saying it's coming, bazzite is pretty solid for now, but I'd really like to get an official valve iso.
Insert ="More, More!"= meme here.
If Asus wants some positive PR after a rough 2024, they should offer the Ally with SteamOS preinstalled.
It would be a win for Asus and Valve alike
Distros like bazzite have really picked up but they'll always be niche projects in the eyes of game dev and publishers. Steam os at least can help them realise that Linux isn't an instant dismiss because they haven't used it before.
I have friends in AAA game dev and they all have the same kinda dated idea of Linux being this sweaty crazy programmer distro even though we all play games online together.
If valve can carry on increasing the market share it'll definitely help get rid of some stereotypes for Devs which in turn brings more market share.
This is the right move
How funny/great would it be if the PSP2 and Switch 2 ran branches of SteamOS?
Vita 2 when
You can run Linux on the Switch: https://switchroot.org/
The exciting thing I am taking from this, specifically because of the ROG Ally are two things:
- Valve intends to support nvidia drivers in SteamOS (the ROG Dock)
- Valve intends to ensure eGPUs are a good experience on SteamOS
If these do make it to fruition that would be a huge benefit overall for Linux gaming.
I'm actually a bit surprised this takes so long for Valve. Because I think Valve wants to be in a position what they envisioned with Steam Machines, where many systems are created by different manufacturers. Only with a reference model that everybody can fallback to as the base model, the Deck. Guess creating an operating system that can be installed on arbitrary handhelds is not easy (go figure).
BTW this is not a unique concept either, because we had similar strategies before with home computer systems and console like systems in the 80s and 90s: MSX (actually from Microsoft) and 3DO are "popular" examples.
I really hope Valve takes up this market with strong software. I believe Microsoft is lagging behind just using regular Windows for that.
Yeah the more gaming landscape gets matured outside of Windows the better
I saw an ad for this thing on TV the other day. IDK why, but seeing things like this on TV always makes me giddy ever since I first saw Secret of Mana advertised on TV. Seeing new tech (and video games before a certain time) having commercials on television is like seeing a unicorn.
Big W as usual from Valve. We need more privately owned companies again.
Finally the buyers can make use of that hardware!
@Fubarberry good guy valve. Rather than getting butt hurt about competition they embrace it.
I've been looking at the ally for a while, the eGPU support is interesting too. SteamOS support would be the final addition to make me pull the trigger on it. Anyone own it and can give their 2¢?
Don't own it, but I would recommend against the regular Ally due to some known hardware issues and Asus warranty trying to scam people into expensive "not covered by warranty" repairs.
The new Ally X has some tempting hardware upgrades though, if no major defects have shown up in a couple months it might be worth checking out.
Their proprietary external GPU connector (xg Mobile graphics) was recently reverse engineered so you may soon* be able to connect desktop graphics cards.
Still in the early revisions, though all the info is on GitHub by osy86
Valve shouldn't give their blessing to SteamOS on the Ally. That should be Asus‘ job. However they could give Asus a cut on every game sold through their device on SteamOS (like a few percent). That would make it much more financially interesting for Asus and they might put an official team behind it, to support SteamOS.
It mentions that the work from Valve was for accessory support. So they may not be extending that much effort towards getting it on specific devices. Rather, I think they're working on generic PC support on the side.
Shiitttttt..
I mean. The ROG Ally has much better hardware..
The original Ally was pretty debatable hardware wise when compared to the deck. It was more powerful, but had worse battery life (especially in low power games), worse controls, poorly designed heat routing that burned up SD cards, etc. There was also stuff like how the higher resolution screen wasnt really necessary for the screen size, and the performance hit was very significant unless you capped at 720p.
Right on. I'm just excited that this form factor is going to "be a thing" for a while, because god damn, I love my deck.
But realistically, it could be a drop in replacement for my mobile computing solutions if it was just a bit beefier.
It's missing trackpads, which is a pretty big oversight for a device like that.
The new one indeed have it... considering your paying the combined price of a desktop pc gaming + a steam deck to buy one.
Dual boot this....and I may have the perfect device.