Will there be advantages of going with SteamOS over let's say.. Ubuntu or Linux Mint?

[Kalmah]

I'm considering throwing a cheap-ish box together to hook up in the living room for gaming, netflix, youtube etc. It won't be my main gaming rig.

I'm considering options such as the new Steam controller and/or wireless keyboard with built-in mouse pad. Maybe an IR receiver for a controller.

With Valve working on getting games to run in Linux, I feel like traditional Linux distros + Steam might actually make more sense than SteamOS.

This isn't anything that I'm in a hurry to do. I'm just trying to toss around some ideas.

Any thoughts?

 

[Elixer]

Can't say yet, but, in theory, anything done on SteamOS can be done on the other distros.
If they start to change the kernel though, then, all bets are off.

 

[BrightCandle]

In many ways anything Valve did to improve Linux for gaming they would be required to share with the original developers, because its all covered by the GPLv2 and v3 open source licences. So if they did do something to improve things it would absolutely be possible and most likely to see that also on other distributions as well. If they change the Kernel then they will have to publish the changes and they would presumably get included into the original source code at some point.

Steam OS seems more to be something where they can package and control that gamer experience, set configured values to things that benefit gamers specifically and try out these concepts and get them to a user base quicker than submitting them to the appropriate groups to be included in the official releases. Since most distros are on a 6 month to 12 month cycle that may or may not matter depending on what Valve actually does.

 

[you2]

If they write new software for interfacing with the GPU they are not required to share it - only if htey modify an existing software layer. Probalby the only advantage will be less hassle - i suspect they will share their changes with the community but you would still have ot configure the machine yourself. Also (if you like them) they probalby include their controllers. No clue if the controllers are any good.

 

[Cappuccino]

Anyone here not playing a Crusader at launch? Just wondering.

 

[Stringjam]

With Valve working on getting games to run in Linux, I feel like traditional Linux distros + Steam might actually make more sense than SteamOS.

It isn't just Valve making things happen - - we're seeing some of the major engine builders bringing Linux into the stable (possibly as a result of Steam OS).

Cryengine is bringing native Linux support to their engine, and I can't imagine others are going to be too far behind. That means AAA gaming titles available for SteamBox (or any Linux box).

May be something that's still a bit down the road, but I still believe at some point it's going to be a strong platform for gaming.

 

[sandorski]

I don't really know the answer, but it would seem that SteamOS would be already suited for that purpose. So you may be able to make another Distro work fine, but why try and duplicate what SteamOS already does?

 

[mmntech]

From what I understand, SteamOS operates along the same vein as XBMCbuntu. It runs Steam Big Picture as a front end, but it's regular Linux in the back. It's based on Debian, which forms the foundation of the most common Linux distros including Ubuntu and Mint. So what can be done on SteamOS can be done on those other distros. It makes no difference to Valve as you're using their software regardless. SteamOS is just tweaked to work without needing keyboard and mouse in a living room setting. It's intended to be set up out of the box so the gamer doesn't have to fart around with settings and the terminal.

Whatever the case, it will be a huge step forward for Linux as a whole. Mainly due to better hardware support. Driver support from Nvidia and AMD has been nothing short of terrible over the years. AMD if I recall doesn't even support GPGPU on Linux.

For gamers of course it gives an alternative to Windows. When I'm building a gaming rig, I'd rather spend that $100 on better hardware or more games. There's very little that I do in Windows these days that I can't do in Linux. The two major exceptions are gaming and managing Apple devices.

 

[Elixer]

If they change the Kernel then they will have to publish the changes and they would presumably get included into the original source code at some point.

That depends on the kind of kernel changes though. If they optimize the kernel for games, I don't think that most distros would add the patches at the expense of something else. I do admit that I am getting way ahead of valve here, since I have no idea if they are planning anything major. I just heard of some rumors.

 

[sweenish]

All the major changes they're making are likely going to be closed-source.

GPU companies don't want their drivers open-sourced, SteamOS is just getting them to try harder. Steam will never be open source, but again, they're actually making the effort.

They're just trying to bring as much closed-source stuff as they can to make Linux game compatibility as high as possible. They don't want to elevate Linux, they want to clone Windows on their terms.

Typically, *nix types are against this, but it's Valve. Everything they do is acceptable.

 

[Jodell88]

Whatever the case, it will be a huge step forward for Linux as a whole. Mainly due to better hardware support. Driver support from Nvidia and AMD has been nothing short of terrible over the years. AMD if I recall doesn't even support GPGPU on Linux.

Nvidia has been doing well IMO. Even having support for new Xserver versions before they are even released.

AMD on the other hand has been laughable at best. GPGPU does work in Linux since Luxrender/SLG has been using them for a rendering for a few years now.

 

[Jodell88]

@OP

It really depends on what you want to do with your computer. If you only want to play games then SteamOS is a great option, if you want to do other things then install something else. You can get any linux distro to boot into big picture if you want to.

 

[Anteaus]

Just to add, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is currently the only distribution that Valve officially supports. SteamOS GUI is built on top of it. As Ubuntu is Debian based you can also go that route, but the reason Ubuntu was chosen was because Canonico has no problem using open and closed source software to get everything working, thus more out of the box compatibility. Mileage will vary greatly once you get away from Ubuntu and apt-get package system. Established Linux users won't have issues, but the change can be rather abrupt for the newcomers. People who honestly thought Windows 8 was hard to use might want to stick Windows.

 

[you2]

Hum 14.04 should be out in a couple of months.

 

[Jodell88]

Hum 14.04 should be out in a couple of months.

Next month. The Ubuntu release numbers is the year.month.