Whats going to hold you back from running SteamOS/Linux

[Childs]

Why would I install SteamOS when Win7 works perfectly?

The same could be said for Windows 8. :biggrin:

 

[ThinClient]

The same could be said for Windows 8. :biggrin:

Except that there's no reason to upgrade from Win7 to Win8. 10 seconds faster boot means jack shit. SOME games are faster, but not by more than 10% which isn't worth the hassle. On top of that, it's $150 to upgrade for what amounts to a dumbed down moronic Apple Fanboi interface.

 

[Remobz]

Its free. When MS makes the next major rev of DX requiring the next Windows, I will probably bow out of PC gaming. These days I use my PC as a console, with the only difference being using a KB and mouse. If I didn't play shooters I could get by with a controller. I dont think Windows is inherently important for PC gaming, and in many ways its holding it back because MS uses DX to force gamers to move to newer versions, or push that crappy GFWL service which gave many gamers a bad experience. Or throwing tons of money at traditional PC developers to make Xbox exclusives. Lets face it, MS would rather have PC gamers buy their Xbox instead of game on their PC. I would rather have my OS made by a company that wants PC gaming to be successful...or at least not try to cripple it. Windows is only good for gaming because most people already have it. There was a time when DX was a benefit...now it just fragments the user base.

If most newer games, or more of the games I want to play run on SteamOS, I would switch over in a heartbeat. Actually, if it was just BF and Valve games, that would be good enough.

SteamOS will fail. Sorry to tell you that

 

[Childs]

SteamOS will fail. Sorry to tell you that

Maybe, but I'm glad someone is trying it. If it does fail, maybe the next person who tries it will learn from the mistakes and improve on it. Just the announcement might have gotten MS to reevaluate what they are doing with PC Gaming.


But I dont see a total failure. This would probably end up eating into Ubuntu's mindshare. If I was going to run Linux, I would rather run SteamOS. Assuming the gaming and home theater stuff just works.

 

[desura]

Except that there's no reason to upgrade from Win7 to Win8. 10 seconds faster boot means jack shit. SOME games are faster, but not by more than 10% which isn't worth the hassle. On top of that, it's $150 to upgrade for what amounts to a dumbed down moronic Apple Fanboi interface.

Yeah, well, by that same token there's no reason to choose Win7 over Win8 at all.

 

[Jodell88]

Linux user here. I'll just inform you of things that have support or don't have support on your list.

windows only games - This is the elephant in the room IMO. WINE does a good job a lot of the time but Linux will never rival Windows in the area. I may even install Windows on my next PC to play games.

Windows Media Center - XBMC should be able to do this. You can even set it up in windows if you want to try it out.

Sound/video management - I don't see why this should be a problem. Pulseaudio should handle your use case easily.

MS office - LibreOffice is a good alternative IMO. There's also the option to use WINE if you really need MS Office.

Netflix - Officially, it isn't supported. Some resourceful folks have gotten it to work in Linux. I have it installed on my system and it works flawlessly. :thumbsup:

VSO convertXtoDVD - Not sure if there something comparable. k3b may be a good option though.

Xpadder - There's jstest-gtk and qjoypad

Cloud Services - Google sucks, Microsoft sucks and Amazon sucks. Dropbox, SpiderOak, and a few others have support though.

wireless support - I've never had trouble with the wireless or bluetooth in any laptop I've installed Linux on. I'll stay away from broadcom though, those can be troublesome.

Emulators - All major emulators have Linux support, Dolphin included.

Filesystem support - Windows doesn't support any filesystems other than NTFS and FAT(16, 32, exFAT). You'll have to create a partition that windows can read, unfortunately.

Remote Desktop - This shouldn't be an issue at all.

Fitbit - Installing it via WINE is worth a shot.

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[VirtualLarry]

Why would I install SteamOS when Win7 works perfectly?

What about a few years down the road, when Win7 doesn't get patched anymore, and hardware makers no longer write drivers for Win7?

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

Lol, wat? You're thinking of Microsoft, as they rebrand themselves into a services and support company with SaaS projects. Will you enjoy a subscription fee for Windows 9?

I'd rather enjoy a subscription fee to Windows 9 then the alternative. A world where the GPL is so into everything you're stuck either using it, or being incompatible with everything. Then you can't sell code, because you're stuck with the GPL too and the first time you sell it, whoever bought it gets the rights to resell it themselves.

Since creating that world is the goal of GNU and the FSF, I'm simply not interested at all.

 

[Jodell88]

I'd rather enjoy a subscription fee to Windows 9 then the alternative. A world where the GPL is so into everything you're stuck either using it, or being incompatible with everything. Then you can't sell code, because you're stuck with the GPL too and the first time you sell it, whoever bought it gets the rights to resell it themselves.

Since creating that world is the goal of GNU and the FSF, I'm simply not interested at all.

LOL! This should stop here since the thread would get offtopic, but... LOL!

 

[PhatoseAlpha]

LOL! Don't question why our Free software came with a list of things you can't do! Screw Microsoft! LOL!

 

[uOpt]

I run Linux and FreeBSD everywhere, the problem is that I don't run Ubuntu.

 

[crashtestdummy]

I'd rather enjoy a subscription fee to Windows 9 then the alternative. A world where the GPL is so into everything you're stuck either using it, or being incompatible with everything. Then you can't sell code, because you're stuck with the GPL too and the first time you sell it, whoever bought it gets the rights to resell it themselves.

Since creating that world is the goal of GNU and the FSF, I'm simply not interested at all.

You can, in principle, put closed-source software on Linux. The only real problem with it that there is such a diversity of Linux distributions that you'd have to create many binaries to distribute to "Linux" as a whole. Valve (prior to SteamOS) decided to deal with this by saying they were only going to develop Steam for Ubuntu, and that if you want it running on something else, you have to adjust your distro to support it.

 

[Jodell88]

The only real problem with it that there is such a diversity of Linux distributions that you'd have to create many binaries to distribute to "Linux" as a whole. Valve (prior to SteamOS) decided to deal with this by saying they were only going to develop Steam for Ubuntu, and that if you want it running on something else, you have to adjust your distro to support it.

False. You can target one distro and the other distros will package it as it sees fit. Steam only targets Ubuntu but other distros have it running as well. AMD only targets Suse, Red Hat and Ubuntu, but it is installed on other distros as well.

 

[HeXen]

I don't chase it. I get the cards that are good enough with window room for some future play. But it is not the reasons why I PC HDTV game.

Being able to play any media file, unrestricted, without much effort on a Windows system is another big one. I can access any website, on any flavor of browser, with all access - not gimped by cellular or mobile restrictions, having access to my file systems to work with the web interfaces out there, and having the greatest choice of internet services.

But it also does not stop there.

Peripherals. I can choose from a larger pool of peripherals so far for the PC. I can throw any number of hard drives and it will work with no additional effort. Heck, I can even throw in capture cards and do what console gamers are just now doing with their own boxes for game recording - and I can also record more than just games, my own screen as well.



The .doc and .docx interoperability with ebooks? It is a confilict of working with someone's standards and not falling in line, expecting those standards to be your own. But file type interoperability has always been an issue. Perhaps one also needs to look at the infamous .pdf extension.

Not to mention, when Word was first conceived, it would never be dreamed that it would be going as far as being used for e-reader programs - of which also has their own operands and standards - and may not play nice to begin with anyways.



I also would mention, I use stable drivers, not beta. I do not overclock. I use the standard memory settings.

Lol, wtf. Are you trying to sell me on some idea? I know what a dam pc can do, I've been using them since the 80's.

 

[crashtestdummy]

False. You can target one distro and the other distros will package it as it sees fit. Steam only targets Ubuntu but other distros have it running as well. AMD only targets Suse, Red Hat and Ubuntu, but it is installed on other distros as well.

That was my point. You can play with the binary (but not recompile source) of Steam to try to get it working elsewhere, but Valve isn't going to be putting any effort to help you out. That pretty much has to be the norm for closed-source Linux development, as no company wants to support a dozen different versions of it's binary.

 

[v8envy]

As a past and present Linux gamer hobbyist (mostly running Windows games under Wine) and someone using Linux almost exclusively for work and home (the only non-Linux machine in the house is the xbox360 and arguably PS/3 -- all mobile, desktop and laptops run a Linux variant) I personally can't see the first few iterations of SteamOS and the SteamBox being successful.

The cost of Linux gaming (assuming your free time is worth minimum wage) is simply too great for anyone I can think of. Most gamers would rather be gaming than futzing with their OS. It took forever for hardware makers to transition from DOS to Windows 3.X, and I expect it'll take a long time until any old PC will work with SteamOS without tweaking, googling for the exact hardware model, etc. It's not hard, but that kind of transition takes time. Even today only Nvidia offers a trouble-free graphics driver for Linux. You can read Phoronix threads on the montly AMD releases to learn the joys of going red+penguin.

The current advantages of Linux over Windows (lack of 0 day vulnerability exploits in the wild) would evaporate if Linux caught on as a mainstream OS.

So that leaves only lock-down of existing software and hardware and a push for subscription model for software as the only reason to go open. That, and if Steam stops being supported on Windows. It's just too convenient of a storefront.

 

[ibex333]

Windows 7 or XP all the way. Despite what some say, there is no substitute. (Note, I didn't say Win 8 because it's a POS, and I am happy to use this opportunity to mention this for the cazillionth time to those who say it's fine - It's NOT fine damnit!)


Anyway, Linux is cool and all, and I used it many times, but it's missing many of my favorite programs. For example, I code in Notepad++ and I do not want to switch to anything else. The code editors available for Linux are simply not to my liking. Also, windows only games are a must. They are not optional, and the issue is not trivial. Windows games are not better or worse than other games, it's just that the fact is, one should ALWAYS be able to play windows games if he wants to.

There is no need to choose between SteamOS and Windows. Personally I will get the best of two worlds and have each OS installed on a different PCs. Given how dirt cheap PCs are now, I can afford to have two even with my low pay.

 

[Raduque]

What's holding me back from it, is that it's pointless.

 

[Ancalagon44]

For a desktop PC, Windows is a no brainer - it just works, and it works with everything under the sun.

If I were to build an HTPC, I would be more inclined to give SteamOS a shot. However, at the first sign of wireless not working due to bad drivers, or something silly like that, I'd run back to Windows.

 

[darkewaffle]

"Apathy" mostly. And not seeing any real advantage to doing so, it's more change for the sake of change than change for the sake of benefit to me.

 

[HeXen]

SteamOS 1.0 is likely intent for more of a growing infrastructure for the future, Like Android 1.0. Perhaps by SteamOS 4.0 or whatever and the release of Windows 10 + will come into a world where Windows dominance on desktops is mostly irrelevant or to say that the market will continue to evolve in it's current trend of other OS's gaining market share to a point where SteamOS takes off...kinda like Android did.
Windows may just end up sharing much of that market with other OS's much like it is in the mobile world right now.
No one here will like this idea now, but I really believe this trend of desktop sales downward spiral will evolve moreso to where the trend will be most PC gamers having either laptops or HTPC like systems. Won't happen overnight but in a decade I think the large tower builds will be hard to find parts for.