Looks like Valve is preparing to release SteamOS to the public (or at least to third-party hardware manufacturers)
Looks like Valve is preparing to release SteamOS to the public (or at least to third-party hardware manufacturers)
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/23210770
Full Document: https://cdn.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/steamworks_docs/english/steam_brandGuidelines.pdf
Credit to @mr_MADAFAKA@lemmy.ml for the original post.
Good for gaming, good for linux, good for a lot of the other open source projects involved. It's so close to being critical mass :)
Still waiting for official steamOS 3.x generic installer.
I remember reading like a year ago that they wanted to get it on other handheld devices first (which this post looks to cover), so don't hold your breath but hopefully it's a step closer
Hopefully getting some OEMs on board (that want SteamOS on their handhelds) makes it easier to maintain - I'm sure that's what they're kind of hoping for before releasing a general release.
I really don't understand why people even want that when great alternatives like Bazzite exist.
I don't even run SteamOS on my Deck anymore, so I can't imagine running it on another PC.
The image on the tweet with a few more pixels
I’m out of the loop and I don’t own a deck but didn’t Valve have a Linux OS years ago?
They silently switched from Debian to Arch under the hood for the Deck and never released it to the public for download.
They didn't maintain it, let it die, and made a new one.
As someone else mentioned, that one was based on a different distribution of Linux, and had a lot of differences in function/setup to the current version of SteamOS on the steam deck. The steam deck's version is steam deck exclusive right now, and people have to use other options like Bazzite and HoloOS if they want a Steam Deck-like experience on another device.
This implies that Valve is finally ready to let other vendors use SteamOS, which is great news.
SteamOS 2 came out almost 10 years ago (!) with the release of Steam Machines in 2015. That one was public but it seems Valve has pulled the links to download it. SteamOS 3 is what is on the Steamdeck which isn't publicly available yet.
While SteamOS is open-source and everyone can build one for themselves, it is only officially supported on Steam Deck. They promised to release a generic version of it targeting more devices in the past, and this post hints that that day is closer.
They promised to release a generic version of it targeting more devices in the past, and this post hints that that day is closer.
This post says that Valve is talking about hardware by Valve partners with SteamOS developed in collaboration with these partners. It says nothing about it being generic.
So, Steam Machines could be back?
There's definitely plans to bring SteamOS to more handhelds, we've seen partial support for the ROG Ally being added over some recent patch notes for example. This may just be for other handhelds for right now.
On the other hand, we just recently started getting links on the new Steam Controller. That could just be a Steam Deck accessory, but maybe Valve is planning on trying Steam Machines again.
This isn't big news IMO. SteamOS has been planned for a "hardware agnostic" release with a proper installer for a while now. Makes sense they'd add some graphics to market devices with.
That being said, it would be nice if it's truly a precursor to some new handhelds supporting SteamOS as first party options; more Devs and more users on Linux is a great thing. But I wouldn't take this as a sign of anything certain yet
I didn't do any reading because I'm a bastard but I hope it is Linux or unix like at the very least
edit: damn I kinda wish I knew what it is in this message that really pisses people off
It's a modified version of Arch Linux.
Have you seen what valve has been doing over the past like 13 years. Of course it's going to be Linux.
people got pissed at your comment because you spent a few seconds making a comment when you could have googled it instead
Yooo Steam Machines 2?????
And also it makes sense releasing it to other manufacturers, due to Linux kernel being GPL(Not including the userspace Steam Client/Game Mode).