SteamOS

SteamOS is the primary operating system for the Steam Machine gaming platform by Valve. It is based on the Debian distribution of Linux.[4]

SteamOS
DeveloperValve
OS familyLinux (Unix-like)
Working stateNot under development
Source modelOpen source base system with closed source components
Initial releaseDecember 13, 2013 (2013-12-13)
Latest releaseBrewmaster release 2.195 (July 18, 2019 (2019-07-18)[1]) [±]
Latest previewBrewmaster_beta release 2.195 (July 18, 2019 (2019-07-18)[2]) [±]
Marketing targetGaming, entertainment
Available inVarious languages
Update methodAPT
Package managerdpkg[3]
Platformsx86-64
Kernel typeMonolithic (Linux)
UserlandGNU
Default user interfaceSteam
Official websitestore.steampowered.com/steamos/

SteamOS is out of date, based on Debian Jessie, which was released in 2015.[5] It is at least temporarily abandoned, there is no expected release.[6]

Features

SteamOS is designed primarily for playing video games away from a PC (such as from the couch in one's living room) by providing a console-like experience using generic PC hardware that can connect directly to a television. It can run games natively that have been developed for Linux and purchased from the Steam store. Users are also able to stream games from their Windows, Mac or Linux computers to one running SteamOS, and it incorporates the same family sharing and restrictions as Steam on the desktop.[7] Valve claims that it has "achieved significant performance increases in graphics processing" through SteamOS.[8] The operating system is open source, allowing users to build on or adapt the source code, though the actual Steam client is closed.[9][10]

Since SteamOS is solely for playing games without use of mouse or keyboard, it does not have many built-in functions beyond web browsing and playing games; for example, there is no file manager or image viewer installed by default. Users can, however, access the GNOME desktop environment and perform tasks like installing other software.[11] Though the OS does not, in its current form, support streaming services, Valve is in talks with streaming companies such as Spotify and Netflix to bring their features to SteamOS.[12][13] However Steam does have full-length films from indie movie makers available from their store. The OS natively supports Nvidia, Intel, and AMD graphics processors.[14][15]

Valve stated that it has added support for movies, television, and music functionality to SteamOS, however, the video content is only from Steam's store which has a small number of films, while music playback only supports local music collections. In October 2015, an update allowed Netflix and other DRM protected content to function in the native built-in browser.[16]

The current system hardware requirements for default SteamOS installations include:[17]

A custom installer method is also available, which can require additional configuration steps. This method allows for smaller hard-disk sizes. There is also an ISO image installer that supports legacy BIOS motherboard.[19] The installers can be sourced through Valve's repository.[20]

History

During a panel at LinuxCon on September 16, 2013, Valve co-founder and executive director Gabe Newell stated that he believed "Linux and open source are the future of gaming", going on to say that the company is aiding game developers who want to make games compatible with Linux, and that they would be making an announcement the following week related to introducing Linux into the living room.[21] On September 20, 2013, Valve posted a statement on its website titled The Steam Universe is Expanding in 2014 which teased three new announcements from them related to "even more ways to connect the dots for customers who want Steam in the living-room".[22][23] The first announcement was revealed on September 23 as SteamOS, with Valve saying they had "come to the conclusion that the environment best suited to delivering value to customers is an operating system built around Steam itself".[24] A large focus of the reveal was the openness of the operating system, with it being announced that users would be able to alter or replace any part of the software, and that it would be free.[25]

In October 2013, Valve announced Steam Dev Days; a two-day developer conference where video game developers will be able to test and provide feedback on SteamOS and Steam Machines.[26] In October 2013, Nvidia also announced their collaboration with Valve to support SteamOS with the help of a development suite called Nvidia GameWorks which incorporates PhysX, OptiX, VisualFX and other Nvidia-proprietary APIs and implementations thereof.[27]

In November 2013, Valve confirmed that they would not be making any exclusive games for SteamOS, and were also encouraging other developers not to as it goes against their philosophy of selling games wherever customers are.[28] In December, Valve announced that a beta version of SteamOS would be released for download on December 13, 2013.[29] When this beta version released, Valve suggested waiting until 2014 to use it unless the user was confident using Linux operating systems.[30]

In mid-October 2015, preorders of the Steam Controller,[31] Steam Link,[32] and Alienware branded Steam Machines became available.[33] The official release date for Steam Machines was on November 10, 2015.[34]

Cancelled games

The following games which also included AAA titles, were advertised as coming to SteamOS, but were cancelled, or remain unreleased as of 2017:[35]

Releases
ReleaseCodenameBase distributionNotes
SteamOS 1.0alchemistDebian 7 (Wheezy) (2013-05-04)
SteamOS 2.0brewmasterDebian 8 (Jessie) (2015-04-25)Major changes compared to SteamOS 1.0[36]
  • Various third-party drivers and updated graphics stack
  • Updated kernel tracking the 4.1 longterm branch
  • Custom graphics compositor
  • Auto-update from the Valve SteamOS repositories
SteamOS 3.0clockwerkDebian 9 (Stretch) (2017-06-17)Not published as of 2019[37]

Performance

In December 2013, Phoronix compared three Nvidia graphics cards on SteamOS and Windows 8.1.[38] Overall, the Nvidia's proprietary Linux graphics driver can deliver comparable performance to that of the Windows drivers due to the largely shared code-base between the platforms.

In January 2014, GameSpot compared the performance to games running on Windows using identical hardware and settings with an AMD graphics card and a Nvidia graphics card. On the AMD graphics card, they found that Dota 2, Left 4 Dead 2 and Metro: Last Light all ran at considerably fewer frames-per-second under SteamOS. Left 4 Dead 2 also suffered from stuttering, which they attributed to a device driver problem. On the Nvidia graphics card Metro: Last Light ran at slightly higher frames per second, and Dota 2 ran at the same rate. They state that for Left 4 Dead 2 the Nvidia card actually performed better under SteamOS, but did not specify how as their chart indicated it performed at a lower frame rate. On both cards, Left 4 Dead 2 and Dota 2 both had longer load times compared to Windows.[39]

On the official release of Steam Machines in November 2015, Ars Technica compared the rendering performance of cross-platform games on SteamOS and Windows 10 running on the same machine, using average frame-per-second measurements, and found that games were rendered between 21% and 58% slower on SteamOS compared to Windows 10. Ars Technica considered this might be due to the inexperience of developers optimizing on OpenGL in contrast to DirectX, and believed that the performance might improve with future titles.[40] Ars Technica noted that its benchmark, comprising only six games on a single computer, was far from comprehensive.

Reception

On the gaming front, following the initial announcement many video game developers have shared their thoughts on SteamOS. Minecraft creator Markus Persson described it as "amazing news," and Thomas Was Alone developer Mike Bithell called it "encouraging" for indie games.[41][42] Other developers such as DICE, creators of the Battlefield series, and The Creative Assembly, developers of the Total War series, have stated that they may support their games on Linux and SteamOS.[43][44]

On the operating system front, Gearbox Software head Randy Pitchford commented that he believed the operating system needed a unique application to attract developers, saying "without that must-buy product driving us all towards this stuff, I expect that the industry at large will watch curiously, but remain largely unaffected."[45] Richard Stallman, former president of the Free Software Foundation, is cautiously supportive, although he does not condone the use of non-free games or DRM.[46]

The SteamOS beta release received mixed reviews. In TechRadar's review Henry Winchester praised the easy to navigate interface and future potential but criticized the hard installation and lack of extra features compared to the Steam software.[13] Eurogamer's Thomas Morgan did not incur installation problems however commented negatively on the lack of options available for detecting monitor resolutions and audio output and the lack of games available natively on the operating system. He did, however, also respond positively to the user interface and called it "a positive start".[47]

Since then, outlets such as Ars Technica have revisited the SteamOS since its initial debut, offering observations on the platform's growth, pros, and cons.[48] Both Falcon Northwest and Origin PC, computer manufacturers that were planning on offering Steam Machine hardware, opted to not ship a SteamOS-enabled machine in 2015 due to limitations of SteamOS over Windows; Falcon Northwest have said they will still consider shipping machines with SteamOS in the future if performance improves.[49][50]

See also

References
  1. "SteamOS update 2.195 released". SteamOS discussion board. The SteamOS team. July 18, 2019. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
  2. "SteamOS update 2.195 released". SteamOS discussion board. The SteamOS team. July 18, 2019. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
  3. "SteamOS". Retrieved December 12, 2013.
  4. Makuch, Eddie (September 25, 2013). "Valve reveals Steam Machines". GameSpot. Archived from the original on September 30, 2013. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
  5. "Searching For The Right Linux Distribution? Don't Trust Google". December 15, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  6. "Seems Valve do intend to go back to SteamOS at some point". March 25, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  7. Statt, Nick (September 23, 2013). "Valve fires up SteamOS, its bid for living room PC gaming". CNET. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
  8. Wilde, Tyler (September 24, 2013). "The pros and cons of SteamOS". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
  9. Lee, Dave (September 23, 2013). "Valve announces SteamOS as it renews living room push". BBC. Retrieved September 28, 2013.
  10. Statt, Nick (January 7, 2014). "Valve's Steam Machine lineup poses massive threat to gaming status quo". CNET. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  11. Cunningham, Andrew (December 14, 2013). "Valve releases SteamOS beta, early build-your-own system requirements". Ars Technica. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
  12. Gilbert, Ben (November 4, 2013). "This is Valve's Steam Machine prototype and SteamOS (hands-on)". Engadget. Retrieved November 24, 2013.
  13. Winchester, Henry (December 20, 2013). "Hands on: SteamOS Beta review". TechRadar. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
  14. Pitcher, Jenna (January 6, 2014). "SteamOS now supports Intel graphics out of the box, AMD support coming". Polygon. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
  15. Sarkar, Samit (January 9, 2014). "Valve updates SteamOS to add support for AMD cards". Polygon. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  16. "By the beard of Zeus...Netflix on SteamOS via the native browser! :: Steam Universe". steamcommunity.com. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  17. "Build your own Steam Machine". Valve.
  18. Michael Larabel (May 6, 2015). "SteamOS 159 Drops Support For NVIDIA's Pre-Fermi Graphics Cards". phoronix.com. Phoronix. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
  19. "Steam Community :: Group :: Steam Universe". steamcommunity.com. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  20. "SteamOS Downloads". Valve.
  21. Vandell, Perry (September 16, 2013). "Gabe Newell: "Linux and open source are the future of gaming"". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  22. Wilde, Tyler (September 20, 2013). "Three big Valve announcements coming next week, probably a Linux-based Steam Box". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  23. "The Steam Universe is Expanding in 2014". Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  24. Makuch, Eddie (September 23, 2013). "Valve reveals SteamOS". GameSpot. Archived from the original on September 26, 2013. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  25. "SteamOS announced by Valve, a free operating system "available soon" for living room PCs". PC Gamer. September 23, 2013. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  26. Grubb, Jeffrey (October 10, 2013). "Valve announces Steam Dev Days to give studios access to Steam OS, Steam Machines, and Steam Controller". Venture Beat. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
  27. "Nvidia announces GameWorks Program at Montreal 2013; supports SteamOS". NVIDIA. 2013. Retrieved October 29, 2013.
  28. Goldfarb, Andrew (November 4, 2013). "Valve Will Not Make Exclusive Games for SteamOS". IGN. Retrieved November 8, 2013.
  29. Hollister, Sean (December 11, 2013). "SteamOS will be available to download on December 13". The Verge. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  30. Wilde, Tyler (December 14, 2013). "Download SteamOS now — Valve's free Linux-based operating system releases". PC Gamer. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
  31. "Valve wants the Steam community to build its own controllers". Engadget. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  32. "Valve's Steam Link: better than a 50-foot HDMI cable". Engadget. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  33. "The Alienware Steam Machine: finally, a gaming PC for the living room". Engadget. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  34. Crossley, Rob (November 11, 2015). "First Three Steam Machines Released, Prices and Specs Detailed". GameSpot. Retrieved November 11, 2015.
  35. "Broken promises: Games that never made it to SteamOS and Linux".
  36. "SteamOS FAQ". December 13, 2013. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  37. "SteamOS News - Valve Counts to 3 - SteamOS 3.0 is Inbound, Codenamed Clockwerk". www.game-debate.com. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  38. "SteamOS vs. Windows 8.1 NVIDIA Performance". December 16, 2013.
  39. Walton, Mark (January 27, 2014). "How To Install SteamOS". GameSpot. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  40. Orland, Kyle (November 13, 2015). "SteamOS gaming performs significantly worse than Windows, Ars analysis shows". Ars Technica. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  41. Jackson, Mike (September 23, 2013). "SteamOS is 'amazing news', says Minecraft creator". CVG. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  42. Lee, Ben (October 4, 2013). "Valve's SteamOS "encouraging" for indies, says Thomas Was Alone creator". Digital Spy. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  43. Pitcher, Jenna (October 12, 2013). "Linux only needs one 'killer' game to explode, says Battlefield director". Polygon. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  44. Peel, Jeremy (October 9, 2013). "Creative Assembly "confident" that Total War: Rome II SteamOS port is possible". PCGamesN. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  45. Brightman, James (September 30, 2013). "Steam news only a "curiosity" without a must-buy like Half-Life 3 - Pitchford". Gamesindustry. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
  46. Stallman, Richard. "Nonfree DRM'd Games on GNU/Linux: Good or Bad?". GNU. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
  47. Morgan, Thomas (December 19, 2013). "Hands-on with SteamOS". Eurogamer. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
  48. "The state of Linux gaming in the SteamOS era". Ars Technica. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  49. Takahashi, Dean (November 13, 2015). "Why one PC maker decided not to ship a Steam Machine this year". Venture Beat. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  50. Futter, Mike (November 11, 2015). "Origin PC Decides Against Steam OS For Its Steam Machines". Game Informer. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
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