SteamOS will be coming to other handhelds before you can install it on your PC 'because right now, it's very, very tuned for Steam Deck'
www.pcgamer.com
"Oh, man, it's very high on our list."
    •  V ‎ ‎   ( @vanderbilt@beehaw.org ) English
      12•8 months ago

      Fact of the matter is the most successful Linux devices are the ones that you don’t need to know Linux to use. Chromebooks and steam decks are popular because they don’t need tinkered with. You can if you want, but the average person can just use it.

    •  averyminya   ( @averyminya@beehaw.org ) 
      8•8 months ago

      The Steam Deck is the first Linux machine that hasn’t killed itself on me or given me hiccups during basic installations of things.

      The only thing the Steam Deck hasn’t “just worked” for me for is Rocksmith.

      Again, the Steam Deck is the only Linux machine that I’ve had that just works and does not make me want to tear my hair out.

      When Linux accomplishes that it will be more popular. Until then, it feels like trying to play whackamole with fixes and solutions to things that should just work in the first place.

      •  SavvyWolf   ( @savvywolf@pawb.social ) 
        English
        6•8 months ago

        Yeah, the fact that it just works and comes with the hardware is good.

        However I think the article is suggesting a world where gamers go and install SteamOS as a regular distro. I think that’s going to be a lot harder and more error prone than just installing Mint and putting Steam on it.

        •  Railcar8095   ( @Railcar8095@lemm.ee ) 
          1•8 months ago

          The thing is valve is doing a ton of extra stuff. Game mode by default, for example. Mint won’t do that, or at least not to the same extend/speed. If your primary use is gaming, there’s value in a gaming focused distro. You can still do many other things with it anyway.

      •  /home/pineapplelover   ( @pineapplelover@lemm.ee ) 
        5•8 months ago

        Yeah as much as I love Linux, it’s much more tuned for tinkerers, developers, and techies because everything is rtfm and troubleshooting yourself. After the initial setup process though, you would have gained enough knowledge to fix a lot of things if it ever is broken.

      •  gnuplusmatt   ( @gnuplusmatt@reddthat.com ) 
        5•8 months ago

        I’d argue it hasn’t imploded on you because it’s immutable. You’d have a similar rock solid experience on any of the immutable Fedora releases (Silverblue, Kinoite etc) or some of the other immutable distros

        •  averyminya   ( @averyminya@beehaw.org ) 
          2•8 months ago

          That’s fair, although it could go further with how an immutable distro isn’t as effective for some of the desired uses - in the case of the Steam Deck it’s designed to do what it does and it does it. Other Linux installs are retroactively configured by the user, where whether it’s a regular computer for grandma or a server for a homelab will net you wildly different results of what distro you choose.

          While it’s nice having options, it doesn’t make things easier for new users when searching. Having a hundred ways to solve a problem just makes the problem more annoying to solve (inb4 rtfm)

          Also, I just remembered I lied. There’s one other Linux install I’ve never had issues with which was Tails, though to your point can be operated as immutable, though I think at the time mine was not set up to be RO

  •  V ‎ ‎   ( @vanderbilt@beehaw.org ) English
    23•8 months ago

    I hope it does because the biggest problem for handhelds like the Ally is the atrocious experience as soon as you leave steam big picture. Armor Crate is buggy as hell and trying to click anything in windows with the joysticks is not fun. Not to mention the usual Windows shenanigans of “update every damn day” and “spam me with bs about one drive and angry birds”.

    •  Fubarberry   ( @Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ) OPEnglish
      13•8 months ago

      Yeah, I feel like the Steam Deck is the only handheld PC that could be a decent experience without trackpad, since it provides a console like experience. It’s pretty unacceptable in my opinion to have windows handhelds forcing a windows desktop experience without a trackpad.

      •  V ‎ ‎   ( @vanderbilt@beehaw.org ) English
        11•8 months ago

        I imagine some of the smarter people at Microsoft are seeing the Steam Deck unfold and are realizing it’s a potential threat. Desktop is dying, and gaming is one of the few segments still doing alright in the space. Microsoft wants to make sure games continue to be made for Windows even as mobile and consoles take over the lion’s share of profits. They haven’t been buying up studios just to prop up Xbox 😉. The Deck runs Windows games, and if compatibility ever reaches a point that the average gamer doesn’t need to know they aren’t running Windows, Microsoft is in big trouble. With the progress made just in the last five years alone, it’s an eventual possibility.

        Licensing is a cost in an already razor-thin market. If gamers won’t care that a device isn’t running Windows - they won’t install Windows on it, and the OEM will just pocket the difference. Valve also has an advantage traditionally enjoyed by console manufacturers. They can sell it at no profit or even a loss, because Steam Store sales will make the money back.

        So long as Valve keeps steady progress and improving compatibility, they will carve out their niche. If they can somehow get studios with major multiplayer games to provide official support, the chicken and egg problem will solve itself.

          •  V ‎ ‎   ( @vanderbilt@beehaw.org ) English
            5•8 months ago

            Very true. It’s similar to NVIDIA in that way. Their money comes from data centers, licensing, and B2B - not gaming GPUs. I’m speaking in the terms of Windows on traditional consumer desktops and their position in that space. I don’t mean to sound like one of the usual “MS is dead any day now” people, cause frankly they are wrong.

  •  Chewy   ( @Chewy7324@discuss.tchncs.de ) 
    4•8 months ago

    I don’t think SteamOS is a good desktop OS. It’s designed for a gaming console, e.g. a handheld or gaming pc connected to a tv.

    The desktop mode is great but the immutable filesystem isn’t good for installing of system level apps that are necessary for day to day usage. E.g. kernel modules for OBS virtualcam, VirtualBox and similar.

    Any Linux distro with Steam is a generally better experience for desktop usage. SteamOS is big picture mode by default, a desktop OS should open the desktop by default.

    That’s why I think people will be disappointed if Valve releases SteamOS for any pc.

    •  Fubarberry   ( @Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz ) OPEnglish
      3•8 months ago

      Immutable OS’s are increasingly popular. While some types of software are harder to install, the system being harder to break is very appealing. I know if I setup my wife/kids/parents with a Linux OS I would go with an immutable OS to reduce how much they could accidentally break.

      Big thing is SteamOS needs a way to install traditional packages permanently. Other immutable OS’s usually offer an option to reboot to install packages not otherwise available/viable through flatpak or distrobox/nix.

    •  G0ldenSp00n   ( @G0ldenSp00n@lemmy.jacaranda.club ) 
      1•7 months ago

      Look into Fedora Silverblue, immutable filesystem OSes have come a long way. Things like Toolbx allow you to install packages in sub-systems similar to WSL and flatpaks make all the grapical applications avaliable. Plus package installation doesn’t pollute your base install with packages making the OS increasingly unstable.

      •  Chewy   ( @Chewy7324@discuss.tchncs.de ) 
        2•7 months ago

        I’ve used Fedora Silverblue for a while and it’s still on a laptop that keeps itself up to date without any user intervention. The specific way SteamOS is immutable is the problem, namely wiping apps installed through pacman on updates. Most apps work in containers (flatpak, distrobox) but gaming-related software like the xbox controller driver xone and v4l2loopback for OBS virtual camera support do not work well with how SteamOS currently works.

        My point is not that SteamOS couldn’t be a great desktop OS, but that Valve focuses on solving a relatively narrow use case. This makes it not an ideal general purpose desktop OS, altough that is subject to change.