SteamOS doesn't/won't support the ability to put the system to sleep.

[GoodBytes]

In a world where game console consume a lot of power, the ability to have a good standby system to put the console to sleep to save power is becoming a must, especially that consoles so fancy that they take time to boot, unlike the older cartridge based console.

Valve has mentioned in a bug report that SteamOS does not, and they have no plans to, support sleep feature like Windows powered systems. This is probably because a big problem with Linux is drivers support, and sleep is not a feature that is easy to implement, and therefor few hardware actually properly support it without issue continuously.

However, instead of trying to have it, Valve decided to just simply to remove it. You can only turn off your SteamOS powered system, or leave it on all the time consuming hight amount of power idle.

Source: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/08/steam-machines-wont-have-a-suspend-function/

[qwertywarrior]

hmm but doesnt ubuntu support sleep ?

[Picky Peep]

Ever since I had the thought of moving to Linux, I've been bombarded with the cons of using Linux...

Good game Internet, good game.

[Tycho]

hmm but doesnt ubuntu support sleep ?

sleep and hybernation is not the same

[qwertywarrior]

sleep and hybernation is not the same

i didnt say it was

i thought ubuntu supported sleep

[othertomperson]

In a world in which an OS, particularly one as lightweight as Linux, can be booted from an SSD in under 10 seconds, does this actually matter?

[Misanthrope]

This I can overlook easily since Linux on an SSD can boot as fast as windows, hardly a problem nowadays, but this really is smaller news preceding another big announcement: I don't think steam os will support AMD GPUs or APUs at all. There's just no signs of life at all of any short of driver improvement and we're a few months away from release.

 

So really once again, Linux gaming is dead in the water due to gpu driver support. Honestly it's kinda shitty even on windows but it's literally on a not usable state for Linux.

[burnttoastnice]

sleep and hybernation is not the same

 

almost all x86-64 versions of linux support sleeping. It's embedded and custom made devices such as the Raspberry Pi and various android tablets that don't support sleep."Sleep" on Android is literally just the screen turning off and the processor slowing down to as low as 200MHz. Real Sleep is when the computer powers down whilst still sipping on power to keep the data alive in RAM.

 

In a world in which an OS, particularly one as lightweight as Linux, can be booted from an SSD in under 10 seconds, does this actually matter?

 

The PlayStation 3 is an example of such a console - as old as it is - that can boot its unix-based OS from even a hard drive in roughly 10-20 seconds.

[AnnoyedShelf]

hmm but doesnt ubuntu support sleep ?

All the distros I've run support sleep. And I've run A LOT of distros.  They even support sleep in live mode sometimes.  Including Debian, which is what SteamOS is based off of.  I think OP's article is a little BS.

[Misanthrope]

In a world in which an OS, particularly one as lightweight as Linux, can be booted from an SSD in under 10 seconds, does this actually matter?

 

It does because of the quoted reason: poor driver support. This will cause endless problem and really will ultimately lead to this projects' failure imho.

[burnttoastnice]

All the distros I've run support sleep. And I've run A LOT of distros.  They even support sleep in live mode sometimes.  Including Debian, which is what SteamOS is based off of.  I think OP's article is a little BS.

 

If Valve is using custom hardware that is not following any kind of specification unlike PCs, then sleep is not practical to implement.

[Trik'Stari]

Aren't you supposed to not use sleep/hybernate when using an OS installed on an SSD?

[GoodBytes]

Aren't you supposed to not use sleep/hybernate when using an OS installed on an SSD?

Huh? No. You can do what you want.

[Trik'Stari]

Huh? No. You can do what you want.

Yes but everything I've ever read has said to turn off sleep and hybernation because the files created from entering sleep/hybernation cause excess writes.

[Xorbot]

 

 

 This is probably because a big problem with Linux is drivers support, and sleep is not a feature that is easy to implement

 

But Linux is the best operating system, right?

 

[burnttoastnice]

Yes but everything I've ever read has said to turn off sleep and hybernation because the files created from entering sleep/hybernation cause excess writes.

 

Sleep? Nope, completely different. Sleep doesn't have anything to do with local storage. Sleep just tells the rest of the computer to shut up before it shuts them down and keeps only the RAM turned on.

Hibernation? Depends how many programs you have open. Generally it won't matter. It doesn't cause anywhere near the amount of damage defragmenting does.

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

the one thing i always use in windows, Hybrid sleep.... really , when was the last time you really shut down your PC ?

[MageTank]

Wouldn't the Power C States still work on a bios level? Undervolting the CPU to save power? Wouldn't GPU's scale their speeds down when not in use, like they do on windows? Even if it does not support sleep directly,  hardware in general has plenty of features to save power when not being tasked to do things. I do not see this as that big of a deal.

[AnnoyedShelf]

If Valve is using custom hardware that is not following any kind of specification unlike PCs, then sleep is not practical to implement.

That's true, but it's an EASY feature to implement.  It's not like it's even hard to add that package.  Plus, I'm sure lots of people would use the feature.

[burnttoastnice]

That's true, but it's an EASY feature to implement.  It's not like it's even hard to add that package.  Plus, I'm sure lots of people would use the feature.

 

Waking the computer from sleep is another thing. At the moment, Steam OS is literally a program running on top of Linux. With things like controllers, they'd need some solid hardware integration to allow those peripherals to wake up the console. Unless they work with the hardware manufacturer to allow a USB port or a certain peripheral to stay powered during sleep, which would have the ability to wake the system.

[GoodBytes]

Wouldn't the Power C States still work on a bios level? Undervolting the CPU to save power? Wouldn't GPU's scale their speeds down when not in use, like they do on windows? Even if it does not support sleep directly,  hardware in general has plenty of features to save power when not being tasked to do things. I do not see this as that big of a deal.

You have basic power management for the CPU and about all your processors/controllers in anything in your computer. But Windows adds logic control system (if you want to call it that), which by knowing better at what you are doing with the system, can better control the power usage.

Undervolting saves power, but you increase instability, especially if you want to really save power. Also, assuming you can do that and cut a lot, powering RAM and part of the motherboard consumes far less power than having a computer on all the time.

[MageTank]

You have basic power management for the CPU and about all your processors/controllers in anything in your computer. But Windows adds logic control system (if you want to call it that), which by knowing better at what you are doing with the system, can better control the power usage.

Undervolting saves power, but you increase instability, especially if you want to really save power. Also, assuming you can do that and cut a lot, powering RAM and part of the motherboard consumes far less power than having a computer on all the time.

It's been far too long since i've last looked into ACPI. I'll have to go take another look at it i suppose. Either way, this is marketed on those "steam gaming consoles" right? I normally shut my consoles down after a gaming session. I can't imagine wanting to leave them on all the time. I guess to each their own.

[GoodBytes]

It's been far too long since i've last looked into ACPI. I'll have to go take another look at it i suppose. Either way, this is marketed on those "steam gaming consoles" right? I normally shut my consoles down after a gaming session. I can't imagine wanting to leave them on all the time. I guess to each their own.

When you turn off your console, by default, it puts it to sleep.

[MageTank]

When you turn off your console, by default, it puts it to sleep.

You severely underestimate how old my consoles are 

 

[GoodBytes]

If you read my previous post, I mentioned it.