SteamOS in 2017

[Not_Sean]

Hey guys, 

 

So been playing around with a bit of Linux recently mainly Ubuntu and mint,and it got me thinking, busy Downloading the ISO now, just wanted to know how people found SteamOs in 2017 ? It getting as much attention as HL3 ? or is there still a bit of work been done ? 

[Himommies]

1 minute ago, Not_Sean said:

Hey guys, 

 

So been playing around with a bit of Linux recently mainly Ubuntu and mint,and it got me thinking, busy Downloading the ISO now, just wanted to know how people found SteamOs in 2017 ? It getting as much attention as HL3 ? or is there still a bit of work been done ? 

Steam OS is still less functional than Orbis and whatever Microsoft calls there's simply because there isn't youtube on steam and all that.Other than that it's much easier to navigate than the other 2 and I find myself finding games easier and such on SteamOS

[KenjiUmino]

19 minutes ago, Himommies said:

Steam OS is still less functional ... simply because there isn't youtube on steam and all that.

steam OS is a debian based distro AFAIK, so it should be possible to install something like minitube, add it to the steam library as if it was a non steam game and launch it via the steam interface.

 

i tried this with kodi and it worked. should in theroy also work with many other applications such as retroarch.

 

kodi also has some sort of youtube addon btw.

[Not_Sean]

Yeah been playing around and so far Ubuntu honestly looks like the nicest one i've got to play around with. Mint is really nice as well. SteamOs has been a pain so far

[PlayStation 2]

SteamOS gets as much attention as Team Fortress 2. Which is, to say, no attention.

[Not_Sean]

Just now, Dan Castellaneta said:

SteamOS gets as much attention as Team Fortress 2. Which is, to say, no attention.

Thanks, thats the answer I was looking for. Think I'll dual boot Redstone with Ubunto and Windows. 

[SCHISCHKA]

theres really no reason to use steamOS when it works fine on ubuntu

[Guest]

On 16/08/2017 at 5:29 PM, KenjiUmino said:

steam OS is a debian based distro AFAIK, so it should be possible to install something like minitube, add it to the steam library as if it was a non steam game and launch it via the steam interface.

 

i tried this with kodi and it worked. should in theroy also work with many other applications such as retroarch.

 

kodi also has some sort of youtube addon btw.

Indeed, SteamOS has a Full Desktop running XFCE *I thinks. You can install what ever you want like chrome or firefox that runs in Lnux just like any other distro. That being said, steam is a game company not a Linux software company. take that for what it is.

[KenjiUmino]

On 17.8.2017 at 8:19 AM, SCHISCHKA said:

theres really no reason to use steamOS when it works fine on ubuntu

well, steamOS is the closest you can get to having the "console experience" on pc hardware without any amount of tinkering up front. 

 

so for people who want to play PC games but don't want to see a desktop with tiny icons right after pushing the power button this might actually be interesting. 

 

sure, you can totally have windows or linux boot straight into steam big picture mode instead of a regular desktop but that requires some fiddling and the whole look and feel of the UI may not be as seamless as on a playstation or xbox. 

 

25 minutes ago, snkiz said:

That being said, steam is a game company not a Linux software company. take that for what it is.

valve does not even need to turn into a software company because the linux software is already here and if SteamOS is based on plain old debian, all that free software should work as expected.

[Guest]

22 minutes ago, KenjiUmino said:

well, steamOS is the closest you can get to having the "console experience" on pc hardware without any amount of tinkering up front. 

 

so for people who want to play PC games but don't want to see a desktop with tiny icons right after pushing the power button this might actually be interesting. 

 

sure, you can totally have windows or linux boot straight into steam big picture mode instead of a regular desktop but that requires some fiddling and the whole look and feel of the UI may not be as seamless as on a playstation or xbox. 

 

valve does not even need to turn into a software company because the linux software is already here and if SteamOS is based on plain old debian, all that free software should work as expected.

Lol you must have never used vanilla debian. Ubuntu and other dirivitives exist for a reason

[KenjiUmino]

13 minutes ago, snkiz said:

Lol you must have never used vanilla debian. Ubuntu and other dirivitives exist for a reason

actually i have used vanilla debian a couple of times.

 

it is missing some things for convenience, for example an easy-to-use software center or update assistant like the ones found on ubuntu and mint.

 

but once you got all the needed software installed and a graphical desktop running, it works just like the derivativies. 

 

I even installed debian on a G4 powerbook - that was painful to use but that had less to do with debian and more with the fact that a 1GHz single core PPC CPU can't handle 2017 computing

[Guest]

1 hour ago, KenjiUmino said:

 

it is missing some things for convenience

That is an understatement, But their goals are different.

[AshleyAshes]

Windows 10 + Steam set to launch at start up in Big Picture Mode = Best 'SteamOS'. >_>

[KenjiUmino]

6 minutes ago, snkiz said:

That is an understatement, But their goals are different.

exactly. the goals are different. and that is a good thing.

the thing i love about the linux ecosystem is diversity. 

almost every linux distro shines in a particular use case. 

 

4 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Windows 10 + Steam set to launch at start up in Big Picture Mode = Best 'SteamOS'. >_>

agreed. this is what i did with my living room PC - with the difference that i use windows 7 as the base.

 

i created a new user and made it start steam.exe instead of explorer.exe - that means it does not load a "desktop" and starts straight into steam instead. 

 

i created another user for kodi and made it start kodi the same way so the login screen acts as a  "mode selector" 

 

now, when the computer is turned on, one can select to start kodi or steam. i could add another entry to start emulationstation and have all media and gaming needs covered without ever seeing the desktop. sort of. 

 

the difference between this and steamOS is that there are still situations where it is obvious that this is a windows machine dressing up as a media player / console hybrid

 

it still has some rough edges, steamOS and kodibuntu just feel more "monolithic" - if that makes sense. 

 

but it works good enough that even my mom can watch movies from the NAS without getting confused.

[AshleyAshes]

Just now, KenjiUmino said:

agreed. this is what i did with my living room PC - with the difference that i use windows 7 as the base.

 

i created a new user and made it start steam.exe instead of explorer.exe - that means it does not load a "desktop" and starts straight into steam instead. 

 

i created another user for kodi and made it start kodi the same way so the login screen acts as a  "mode selector" 

 

now, when the computer is turned on, one can select to start kodi or steam. i could add another entry to start emulationstation and have all media and gaming needs covered without ever seeing the desktop. sort of. 

 

the difference between this and steamOS is that there are still situations where it is obvious that this is a windows machine dressing up as a media player / console hybrid

 

it still has some rough edges, steamOS and kodibuntu just feel more "monolithic" - if that makes sense. 

 

but it works good enough that even my mom can watch movies from the NAS without getting confused.

I don't replace the Shell because I'm not THAT picky, but FYI, Kodi has a 'Steam Launcher' addon that can be used to kill Kodi, Launch Steam (Right into BPM if you want) and it'll wait until it detects Steam exiting, where it'll then relaunch Kodi for it.  You may find that handier than using whole OS login switching.  It's what I use on my main HTPC.

That said in my 'Laptop recycled into a desktop' build, it's literally just running Windows 10 + Drivers + Steam BPM cause it really needs nothing else.

[KenjiUmino]

2 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

I don't replace the Shell because I'm not THAT picky, but FYI, Kodi has a 'Steam Launcher' addon

oh cool, I didn't know that.

 

this might indeed make things easier. 

[Guest]

I wouldn't say it's best, but if you want windows games, Cerinaly easier. I like having a full desktop behind steam, just more options and tools at your disposal and I want that system to do what I want and not phone home every day.

[AshleyAshes]

1 minute ago, KenjiUmino said:

oh cool, I didn't know that.

 

this might indeed make things easier. 

Yeah, it's in the official Repo and has a thread on their forums.  I've been using it for years, super handy for 'Appliancizing' a Windows machine into a HTPC.

[KenjiUmino]

2 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

super handy for 'Appliancizing' a Windows machine into a HTPC.

this is EXACTLY what the living room PC is about.

 

sit down, fire it up, watch movies, play games.

 

i disabled the shell on purpose because the PC is there to be used by everyone. that means family AND their friends. 

 

i am not always around to play "watchdog" when one of them friends uses this box so i also want this PC to just work and not be damageable on the software side - and without the shell it is less likely someone can screw with the OS

 

my first solution was to leave the desktop active and just add steam to the autostart folder. yeah ... until some of my brothers stupid friends used the computer and they started to alt+tab out of steam to download and install random shit.

 

desktop disabled = no file explorer = no klicking on installers = problem solved 

 

they might know enough about computers to install useless trash and fuck up audio settings but don't know enough to start explorer.exe (or any other program) without desktop icons to click on.

[AshleyAshes]

5 hours ago, KenjiUmino said:

this is EXACTLY what the living room PC is about.

 

sit down, fire it up, watch movies, play games.

 

i disabled the shell on purpose because the PC is there to be used by everyone. that means family AND their friends. 

 

i am not always around to play "watchdog" when one of them friends uses this box so i also want this PC to just work and not be damageable on the software side - and without the shell it is less likely someone can screw with the OS

 

my first solution was to leave the desktop active and just add steam to the autostart folder. yeah ... until some of my brothers stupid friends used the computer and they started to alt+tab out of steam to download and install random shit.

 

desktop disabled = no file explorer = no klicking on installers = problem solved 

 

they might know enough about computers to install useless trash and fuck up audio settings but don't know enough to start explorer.exe (or any other program) without desktop icons to click on.

I live alone, so I don't have to worry about anyone mucking up my machine's but me.   (Though I do tend to muck it up at times. >_>) But yes, I can see that when you want the machine to be as much of an 'appliance' as possible, restricting users from going Alt-Tab, pulling up a browser, and doing whatever they want could be a critical problem. "No, I know this cool site where can get OverWatch for FREE just by installing an EXE from OverWatchTotesFree.ru!"

[KenjiUmino]

10 hours ago, AshleyAshes said:

But yes, I can see that when you want the machine to be as much of an 'appliance' as possible, restricting users from going Alt-Tab, pulling up a browser, and doing whatever they want could be a critical problem. "No, I know this cool site where can get OverWatch for FREE just by installing an EXE from OverWatchTotesFree.ru!"

exactly that. if i mess up my own machine, my problem.

if they mess up their own machines, well, their problem.

 

but it get's more complicated on a shared machine and i don't want to hear shit like how "that stupid computer you built always does not work when i want to use it" because someone else turned it upside down

 

[AlTech]

On 8/17/2017 at 4:57 AM, Not_Sean said:

Hey guys, 

 

So been playing around with a bit of Linux recently mainly Ubuntu and mint,and it got me thinking, busy Downloading the ISO now, just wanted to know how people found SteamOs in 2017 ? It getting as much attention as HL3 ? or is there still a bit of work been done ? 

I tried SteamOS in 2015 or 2016 and there was a lot of work to be done on it.

 

I'd recommend using Ubuntu over SteamOS.......

 

Ubuntu is a more free and open platform where you're not committed to anything. SteamOS is basically Valve's portal for you to buy Steam games which run on Linux and pay them money for it.

 

Ubuntu could be used for video editing, photo editing, content creation, gaming or other stuff.

[Terryv]

4 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

Ubuntu is a more free and open platform where you're not committed to anything. SteamOS is basically Valve's portal for you to buy Steam games which run on Linux and pay them money for it.

 

Ubuntu could be used for video editing, photo editing, content creation, gaming or other stuff.

Not true, steamOS is built on Debian. You can leave BPM and use it as normal Debian once the proper repositories are added.

[AlTech]

3 minutes ago, Terryv said:

Not true, steamOS is built on Debian. You can leave BPM and use it as normal Debian once the proper repositories are added.

It is more difficult to install all the programs you want on SteamOS.

 

It's not got a great desktop environment and is basically only meant for users to use Steam Big Picture.

[Terryv]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

It is more difficult to install all the programs you want on SteamOS.

 

It's not got a great desktop environment and is basically only meant for users to use Steam Big Picture.

yup, it's a pain to get it set up compared to standard debian but it is possible to use it as a standard PC. XFCE is fine for most things. I used it for my HTPC for about 6 months and it served me well.