Ars Technica are usually quite interesting, but this latest SteamOS post bugged me a bit. The author tried out a Zotac's SN970 and had an issue with it.
Honestly, it sounds like he got sent a duff unit to review by Zotac, or his TV has a setting somewhere for low resolution inputs which is messing with the HDMI. The author didn't even mention those could be an issue either, which is a little alarming for a writer on such a well known and respected website.
The whole issue is this:
QuoteThe graphics, however, were interlaced, with distracting artefacts that occurred every time I moved the mouse pointer with the Steam Controller.
For which the article gained the headline "Hey, Valve: What’s the point of Steam OS?". So the author is slamming an entire ecosystem due to issues with this one unit and a 4K monitor, monitors with that resolution aren't even close to being normal right now.
QuoteThat, however, was easier said than done. Trying to type using the Steam Controller and the on-screen keyboard with its weird split layout is difficult enough at the best of times, but the visual artefacts made it nigh on impossible. I gave up and fetched a USB keyboard and mouse from the cupboard.
I get the visual issues are annoying, but how did he not realise you can use the stick normally to select letters, like you can on the Xbox, WiiU and PS4?
I do hope they try it with a more standard monitor or TV, and be honest about their results with it then. It's one thing to slam something, it's another to try it properly and admit if you're wrong, or show if the unit itself is in fact broken.
The comments on the article are also not in the authors favour by the looks of it.
The author also tweeted out:
QuoteFYI: do not fuck with Linux guys. And I thought games was tough.
I won't link to him directly, or comment on that as we all know my thoughts on people's silly remarks by now.
Update:
As I suspected, a hardware issue as pointed out by a comment on their website.
QuoteTo bang on the "try a different monitor" issue, looks like the monitor he was using has known issues with hdmi connections and requires 2 hdmi cables to display at 4k. That's hardly a mainstream situation. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asus-pq321q-4k-monitor-review,3698-4.html
If only the author of the article at Ars did a bit of research. The monitor is technically two monitors stitched together, so it's not surprising it has issues. Even with one cable for below 60HZ and 1080p it's not a normal monitor, and nothing close to what most people will be using. There's 4K, and then there's a 4K monitor that's actually two together. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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It's sad some anti-Linux trolls take advantage on this to blame Linux :
[link](https://what.thedailywtf.com/t/steam-based-their-os-on-linux-so-of-course-its-broken-shit/54252)
At least one of the posters have more brains and explains the facts :
[link](https://what.thedailywtf.com/t/steam-based-their-os-on-linux-so-of-course-its-broken-shit/54252/9)
Yes, the Ars article did some damage.
[link](https://what.thedailywtf.com/t/steam-based-their-os-on-linux-so-of-course-its-broken-shit/54252)
At least one of the posters have more brains and explains the facts :
[link](https://what.thedailywtf.com/t/steam-based-their-os-on-linux-so-of-course-its-broken-shit/54252/9)
Yes, the Ars article did some damage.
1 Likes, Who?
Mohandevir 28 Jan 2016
Because I wanted for kodi to be added as a launcher in there. Anyway, I'm happy you like it but imo it's crap. Ubuntu is a much better solution. In the end I just boot in ubuntu with kodi for movies and a modded Windows will solve my streaming problems (that one's on AMD though).As Liam mentioned, SteamOS is explicitly designed as a platform for playing games through Steam. It's not meant to be a general purpose operating system.
Personnaly I did exactly that and Kodi launches from BPM and works great if you follow the "How to" on SteamOS forum. The Steam Controller is a great remote control for Kodi, btw.
Anyway, even if Kodi didn't work well I wouldn't complain about it because for gaming, SteamOS is awesome.
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I agree with him. What IS the point is SteamOS? It's terrible. I made a media box with kodi for my father and I initially tried SteamOS - big mistake. Ended up installing Ubuntu and I'll probably put a Windows for good measure, as well, because streaming to a Linux pc with AMD card is a pain. So yeah - what is the point? How many of you use it? An OS that gives you all of the quirks but non of the perks of Linux. No thank you.If you want to bring up the point of the Steam OS as a stand alone product that's fine. But don't expect people to hold off from bringing other console's OSes into the conversation. Steam OS, like any other console OS, is there to provide a UI for keyboard and mouse impaired to play games in a casual setting. And for that it's fine.
If you want the benefits of doing other stuff, like media streaming, you should defer to another (linux) solution. The same way that if you intend to make competitive gaming steam machines, you would be setting up your own Linux distribution that is lean, mean and secure for the best and most consistent performance. Those kind of border scenarios are just a completely different ballgame, a ballgame Linux does just fine, just a little bit different.
Last edited by reaVer on 28 Jan 2016 at 11:31 pm UTC
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This doesn't surprise me one bit. This is the latest in a string of articles from Ars centered around gaming where it was readily apparent the person writing said article was woefully underqualified/underinformed and they've been dipping into click-bait territory with their article titles.
Overall, one wonders if people won't soon be starting to add a letter to "'Ars' Technica".
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ElectricPrism 29 Jan 2016
I can barely run most games at 4k on my GTX 970, and the framerate isn't steady or high enough to play.
Steam Big Picture doesn't scale properly most of the time with 4k anyways so it's obvious to me that their target is 1080p due to current GPU/CPU and other hardware limitations.
Not only this, but we know that "most" games on SteamOS/Linux take a performance hit because the quality of the port generally is a grade B or grade C which is usually "good enough" but not "stupendous" with the exception of Unreal Engine 4, Ark and several other Valve games (CS:S I get about 260-300 FPS).
Not only this, but nVidia has barely been technically able to output 4k on Linux in my experience. Only during the 358.XX release has my HDMI-1 to my 43" TV outputted 4k sort-of properly, which it still has issues detecting my display on HDMI-1 so I have to bind a xrandr set_resolution.sh to hotkey Super + 9 in gnome just to bring the thing out of Sleep via setting the resolution.
I finally decided to create a dedicated 1080p Steam User on my Arch that only runs in Big Picture and the FPS and experience is much better.
4k really isn't that necessary in gaming, and only becomes relevant on displays 40"+ in my opinion as that's closet to a 96 PPI density which doesn't require UI or App Scaling to solve the smallness eye-strain issues.
Anways, 4k in gaming? Maybe someday, but not today.
Steam Big Picture doesn't scale properly most of the time with 4k anyways so it's obvious to me that their target is 1080p due to current GPU/CPU and other hardware limitations.
Not only this, but we know that "most" games on SteamOS/Linux take a performance hit because the quality of the port generally is a grade B or grade C which is usually "good enough" but not "stupendous" with the exception of Unreal Engine 4, Ark and several other Valve games (CS:S I get about 260-300 FPS).
Not only this, but nVidia has barely been technically able to output 4k on Linux in my experience. Only during the 358.XX release has my HDMI-1 to my 43" TV outputted 4k sort-of properly, which it still has issues detecting my display on HDMI-1 so I have to bind a xrandr set_resolution.sh to hotkey Super + 9 in gnome just to bring the thing out of Sleep via setting the resolution.
I finally decided to create a dedicated 1080p Steam User on my Arch that only runs in Big Picture and the FPS and experience is much better.
4k really isn't that necessary in gaming, and only becomes relevant on displays 40"+ in my opinion as that's closet to a 96 PPI density which doesn't require UI or App Scaling to solve the smallness eye-strain issues.
Anways, 4k in gaming? Maybe someday, but not today.
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I can barely run most games at 4k on my GTX 970, and the framerate isn't steady or high enough to play.
I've got a GTX 960, which is usually plenty for 1080p, but I can't see me doing 4k with it. No matter the 4GB video memory or not.
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You cant actually game at 4k on steamOS at the moment. Im not sure why this passes so many people by, probably because most people running 4k who know about steamOS are running a PC with Big picture mode and a 4k monitor.
1080p is ( for now but probably going to be fixed up soon ) the maximum resolution.
1080p is ( for now but probably going to be fixed up soon ) the maximum resolution.
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Sadly I tried to chat to the author on twitter, he stands by the headline because he really doesn't see a point in SteamOS. We have our work cut out for us folks.
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Mountain Man 29 Jan 2016
Well, it's a pity he doesn't have the integrity and professionalism to admit that his problems are apparently due almost solely to his unfamiliarity with his non-standard monitor and his inability to troubleshoot a fairly trivial issue (such as simply trying a different monitor, or connecting a second HDMI cable).
What's happened to the tech industry? Used to be that technological advances like a dedicated Linux-based gaming OS would have been celebrated, and tech journalists would have eagerly dug into it to explore all the new possibilities. These days, anything that challenges the status quo is ridiculed instead.
It's a shame.
What's happened to the tech industry? Used to be that technological advances like a dedicated Linux-based gaming OS would have been celebrated, and tech journalists would have eagerly dug into it to explore all the new possibilities. These days, anything that challenges the status quo is ridiculed instead.
It's a shame.
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Sadly I tried to chat to the author on twitter, he stands by the headline because he really doesn't see a point in SteamOS. We have our work cut out for us folks.
What work? If he doesn't like it, then he doesn't like it. Nothing we can do about it. :(
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lucifertdark 29 Jan 2016
just because someone has a Journalism degree doesn't mean they know what they're talking about when it comes to SteamOS or Steam Machines.
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What's happened to the tech industry? Used to be that technological advances like a dedicated Linux-based gaming OS would have been celebrated, and tech journalists would have eagerly dug into it to explore all the new possibilities. These days, anything that challenges the status quo is ridiculed instead.
It's a shame.
Well you sort of answered your own question. These new 'reviewers' are journalists in the loosest possible sense, basic mouth pieces with no prior training or knowledge, not techsperts or even remotely interested in doing anything other than being self entitled. If you look to established media often at the very least they have media training / degrees and then research into their fields ( politics, science etc.. ) talking with real people who work in those areas, the internet lowered the bar so far down that anyone can publish a crap piece and get views.
The problem with the millennial 'smart everything' generation way of thinking is that nobody actually has to be smart or think. The point was to introduce technology to the masses that you didn’t need a computer science degree to understand, which is all fine and good but now some in this demographic think they have an automatic right to an opinion on how it works or should work .. even when they didn’t bother to learn the basics of how to get something to work in the first place.
Ars should be fairly ashamed. Rep damaged.
Last edited by on 29 Jan 2016 at 2:18 pm UTC
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Just got Aspyr's GameAgent newsletter ([http://blog.gameagent.com/weekly-roundup-questioning-steam-os/](http://blog.gameagent.com/weekly-roundup-questioning-steam-os/)), and they link to that story with the only comment
Zotac’s SN970 is great hardware, but Valve needs to take a long hard look at Steam OS.Admittedly, GameAgent describes itself as a "Mac gaming hub", but since they sell Linux games and Aspyr ports games to Linux, I would not have expected them to just buy into that Ars Technica article.
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Just got Aspyr's GameAgent newsletter (http://blog.gameagent.com/weekly-roundup-questioning-steam-os/, and they link to that story with the only comment
Zotac’s SN970 is great hardware, but Valve needs to take a long hard look at Steam OS.Admittedly, GameAgent describes itself as a "Mac gaming hub", but since they sell Linux games and Aspyr ports games to Linux, I would not have expected them to just buy into that Ars Technica article.
Wow, yeah that's a shame they just rolled with that, bit surprised.
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This doesn't surprise me one bit. This is the latest in a string of articles from Ars centered around gaming where it was readily apparent the person writing said article was woefully underqualified/underinformed and they've been dipping into click-bait territory with their article titles.
Dude, I'll tell you one thing, you've got the most legitimately disturbing user icon I've seen in a while. a weird looking man-ape with a thick black mane and a 1980's "brick" cell phone, what the f******... ;-) It gets your attention though!
This ars article is a joke. I'm on a low end Alienware Steam Machine, the i3, with SteamOS as my main distro for months now. After running the Professor Kaos scripts that add the full Debian repos and a few other hacks, SteamOS makes a fine Linux gaming desktop OS. There's not a single app that I can run in Ubuntu that hasn't also loaded just fine in SteamOS. But I'm on a 1080p monitor, maybe there are issues with 4K, since I've never owned a 4K monitor yet, I wouldn't know.
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Crazy Penguin 30 Jan 2016
Just got Aspyr's GameAgent newsletter ([http://blog.gameagent.com/weekly-roundup-questioning-steam-os/](http://blog.gameagent.com/weekly-roundup-questioning-steam-os/)), and they link to that story with the only comment
Zotac’s SN970 is great hardware, but Valve needs to take a long hard look at Steam OS.Admittedly, GameAgent describes itself as a "Mac gaming hub", but since they sell Linux games and Aspyr ports games to Linux, I would not have expected them to just buy into that Ars Technica article.
Wow, yeah that's a shame they just rolled with that, bit surprised.
Is it? IMHO GameAgent is right. SteamOS still needs lot of work to be done. At its current state it's a shame what Valve delivers. Zotac should be ashamed too. For bundeling such an great hardware with such a crap, which isn't even optimized for it.
Is is that complicated to build an optimized kernel for my hardware? IS IT? No, it is not! But did they care? No, they just delivered that ugly fat und slow kernel from SteamOS. There are many bugs and other annoyances too. After a week I kicked that **** from the drive and replaced it with a normal linux distribution including newest drivers and my own kernel. Which gave it a "little" extra boost xD It is like releasing a brake.
SteamOS is on its way, but Valve has still a lot to do.
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Is it? IMHO GameAgent is right. SteamOS still needs lot of work to be done. At its current state it's a shame what Valve delivers. Zotac should be ashamed too. For bundeling such an great hardware with such a crap, which isn't even optimized for it.
Is is that complicated to build an optimized kernel for my hardware? IS IT? No, it is not! But did they care? No, they just delivered that ugly fat und slow kernel from SteamOS. There are many bugs and other annoyances too. After a week I kicked that **** from the drive and replaced it with a normal linux distribution including newest drivers and my own kernel. Which gave it a "little" extra boost xD It is like releasing a brake.
SteamOS is on its way, but Valve has still a lot to do.
The problem isn't that they are linking to an article that is critical of SteamOS or Steam Machines, unbiased reviews and constructive criticism are generally a good thing. The issue is that the article neither, it's bashing SteamOS for a problem that's caused by the author's monitor and is in no way a general SteamOS problem. The folks at Aspyr really should know that it is very much possible to connect a Steam Machine to a monitor and use it to play games, so I would have expected them to either add a comment explaining the problems with the article, or, preferably, just not link to an obviously flawed article.
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StianTheDark 4 Feb 2016
Never had any hopes for SteamOS. Never had any hopes for Steam.
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