Valve Releases SteamOS with non-UEFI Support

[exfileme]

Valve now has a version of SteamOS that not only allows dual boot, but supports BIOS.

Valve Releases SteamOS with non-UEFI Support : Read more

 

[bejabbers]

I love the way Valve is doing this! It's so refreshing to see a company that listens to, and incorporates ideas from the userbase into their products. Not only that, but makes the OS open to anyone who wants to try new things. This is definitely going to be a console killer, in my opinion. Game devs should definitely be jumping on this bandwagon.

 

[vmem]

on good, finally a SteamOS that is somewhat accessible to the public...now if only it has games that I can't already play by using Steam on my PC... I might actually be interested

 

[captaincharisma]

not trying to pick a fight but why would you dual bot this? i mean its nothing but a stand alone steam client that you can just install within an OS like windows

 

[antilycus]

Im excited to put my HTPC to use... Size of Wii, more graphical power than 360...yay 7850k APU

 

[bustapr]

not trying to pick a fight but why would you dual bot this? i mean its nothing but a stand alone steam client that you can just install within an OS like windows

Its still a separate OS, not a standalone steam client. the reason you might want to dual boot is because steamOS is built for gaming performance, unlike windows. Of course theres the problem of a lacking linux library, but the few games that are available are really good and the library is bound to grow exponentially in the next year or 2. again, this aint for everyone. But it is a good thing for people who like or are interested in linux.

 

[damianrobertjones]

Nah... I have absolutely ZERO need for this. None. Zero. Nadda. I'm already, kind of, stuck with Steam under WIndows so I'm NOT going to get stuck with their OS as well.

 

[Aaron Briggs]

Nah... I have absolutely ZERO need for this. None. Zero. Nadda. I'm already, kind of, stuck with Steam under WIndows so I'm NOT going to get stuck with their OS as well.

Exactly I have 0 need for this as well, my windows PC runs all my games on steam, orgin, Uplay, old games, roms my Network SaN all without any issues,and its pointless to sit and wait for valve to add stuff into the OS that windows has had for years and years. Sorry but I am not going to support a OS just cause the owner of valve hates windows, also there is no game exclusives, controller works for windows I just fail to see the point unless you love Linux and love to tinker.

 

[Darkk]

Nah... I have absolutely ZERO need for this. None. Zero. Nadda. I'm already, kind of, stuck with Steam under WIndows so I'm NOT going to get stuck with their OS as well.

Exactly I have 0 need for this as well, my windows PC runs all my games on steam, orgin, Uplay, old games, roms my Network SaN all without any issues,and its pointless to sit and wait for valve to add stuff into the OS that windows has had for years and years. Sorry but I am not going to support a OS just cause the owner of valve hates windows, also there is no game exclusives, controller works for windows I just fail to see the point unless you love Linux and love to tinker.

You don't have to use Steam OS if you don't want to. This is about choice. Now for first time people have a choice to install a game designed OS without paying a Windows license if they use it on a separate computer such as HTPC. Granted not everybody is Linux savvy but the install process is pretty straightforward with predefined settings and programs already installed. More importantly it's not locked down like a game console so if they want to tinker with it they can.

 

[sanctoon]

not trying to pick a fight but why would you dual bot this? i mean its nothing but a stand alone steam client that you can just install within an OS like windows

It's not for everyone, yet, Valve themselves say it's only for Linux tinkerers in it's current form.

I for one, am going to dual boot SteamOS, I like to test out a new OS, and try to find its limits or even break it.
First I'm gonna benchmark all my Steam games that support both. Then i'll ad some usefull software to SteamOS, like a file manager, firefox, openoffice, VLC, and some needed proprietary libraries, and do the benchmarks again.

So yeah, dual booting is great for people like me, tinker on one OS and get real work done on the other. Still I'll give it 2 years before it's ready for a real living room OS, but you have to start somewhere.

Hope that sort of answers your question/fight.

Happy Gaming

 

[K-beam]

I agree there may not be a very valid reason now for SteamOS adoption, but a few years down the line, with the development of the OS, I can see two important aspects that would give the extra flexibility:- Configurable and downloadable SteamOS bootable live CD/DVD/flash images with pre-installed few of the best free-to-play games and/or Demos- A "SteamOS-Light" solution for older single-core systems that are on outdated OSs like Win2000 that have currently zero access to Steam

 

[back_by_demand]

I love the way Valve is doing this! It's so refreshing to see a company that listens to, and incorporates ideas from the userbase into their products. Not only that, but makes the OS open to anyone who wants to try new things. This is definitely going to be a console killer, in my opinion. Game devs should definitely be jumping on this bandwagon.

It is cool that they put in good ideas from "out there" but SteamOS will never, ever be a console killer, much less a Steam on Windows killer, until it does what it is designed for and that is playing games. Whilst it only plays around 10% of the games that exist and almost none of the AAA titles then as a gaming platform it is not fit for purpose - regardless of support for BIOS or otherwise.

 

[techguy911]

A steam machine does not play games you need a gaming rig to stream from so let see you spend $2500 on an alienware steam box that does not play games only streams them.If steam os could be loaded on a mini-pc or tablet and ran from there it would make sense not buy another gaming rig.

 

[bloodroses75]

Very good news. Regardless as to how well Steam does in the market versus the PS4 and XBone, it is still a win/win situation for PC gaming; especially on Linux.And as many have commented, due to the nature of the Steam OS and its open hardware design, a super expensive machine is not necessary. $300-$400 will get you an AMD or Intel with on-board graphics that would be 'good' enough to at least make games playable.Best thing is that later down the road you will be able to upgrade the system to be able to have graphics much higher than the competition. Lets see the XBone or PS4 do that.

 

[Slatteew]

I am still interested to see if there are any performance differences between Linux(any version) with Steam client vs SteamOS. Because if there are none, installing Linux is probably better than just SteamOS as you can use it for a lot more. Making an easy transition from Windows to Linux while playing games. Been wanting to switch to Linux permanently for a while, but games.......that's all that is holding me back from permanently switching.