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What is SteamOS?
SteamOS is the console OS from Valve to turn PCs into consoles, but with PC things you love such as the ability to mod and use PC software. But it puts them in an easy to use package with a controller on the TV and removes some hassle that operating systems like Windows, Mac, Ubuntu (or other Linux distributions with a desktop GUI) and FreeBSD includes.
SteamOS grabs the drivers and updates the OS from within SteamOS Big Picture Mode. With Windows you have to download the newest drivers from websites and from Ubuntu you have to go to choose the drivers, then update them in the system updater, and then open steam. These all work and aren't particularly difficult but add a bit more hassle into a gaming experience.
SteamOS has little bumps in the road that prevent it from being a good console alternative for people who aren't used to the PC market.
Playable Games
SteamOS still has a way off having all games or games by default coming to both SteamOS and Windows, thus they need a better way of handling content not available for SteamOS coming into consumers eyes that they can't use. Currently if you open the store and go to Featured, you have a high chance of seeing some Windows only deal on the right hand side. For any Windows user it's like seeing Halo or Uncharted on the front page of Steam just to be told that you can't play it on Windows but need to go grab a PS4 instead. This is something that used to be a much bigger problem for Big Picture Mode as it used to just show whatever people running Windows would see, but to say it's not a problem currently is an issue.
People also realize there's a PC and phone client and a web app, which is great, but the problem with that is that Windows only games are shown there, possibly making SteamOS users feel upset about games they can't get. A solution could be to only show games that are available for all platforms by default, then choose the platforms you game on, and thus the front page would always only show you games you can play regardless of device.
Another difficulty people may have is that they're probably using a Steam Machine in a front room with no keyboard and mouse. They only have the Steam controller, which is great, and works with many more games than ordinary Dualshock 4s and Xbox 360 controllers, but there are still games that require a keyboard and/or mouse. Pony Island is one, you need a keyboard there to type. Sure you could use the onscreen keyboard option but that is a pain, is not practical in some games and is a lot less enjoyable than a keyboard. My solution to this would be, if you're in big picture mode with only a Steam controller connected, by default the only games that should show up are games that have full controller support or games that you can beat from beginning to end with a Steam controller—even if they originally needed a keyboard and mouse. This should include games that need keyboard and mouse if the system detects one, or one is selected in the store's settings screen.
Oneof the worst issues with Steam Machines is the confusion. What hardware we should buy is a problem we're going to have to deal with, but if a game works or not on your system with the current drivers shouldn't be a problem any more with SteamOS. SteamOS detects your hardware and Steam version, and knows the minimum system requirements for a game, so why not hide games with minimum system requirements that aren't met? This means gamers won't be disappointed that they can't play their game they just bought and that it's extremely laggy.
Please note that any game that I'm saying should be hid by default, should have an option not to hide. People who have the capabilities or are willing to deal with certain difficulties should be able to, just customers who perhaps don't have as much knowledge as hardcore gamers shouldn't have to risk these issues.
Separation of Media’s
Steam currently has several issues with displaying medias in Big Picture Mode. When you go to the store page the games and movies have an icon or a banner in which it shows a bit of the media the same way a bit of box art would. The issue is that they aren't separated at all, there's never anything to say which media it belongs to. The only thing below the icon is a price tag, possibly with a discount sticker with it. The only way you find out if the media is a game or movie is if you click on it, which isn't exactly a chore but makes the system seem less cohesive.
Steam does address this in some tabs a little further down if you wish to segregate medias inside a tab named “Browse”. This offers you to browse Games or Videos, so perhaps this isn't that big of an issue, but it should be talked about.
Now while we're talking about medias and videos, how can I miss out, Youtube and Netflix? There’s no app for SteamOS, simple enough. You can easily access these providers and many more via the internet browser but the UI isn't good, it's not fun, and is awful for a consumer. There's also no picture viewer or USB media playback. This means you can't browse photos on a USB stick or watch movies downloaded legally on your TV with the Steam Machine unless you pull yourself out of Big Picture Mode and into the desktop mode.
Perhaps a small amount of people like to view images on their TV via their console, but I'm sure many people use their consoles to play other media like music and videos. Whether that be via a USB stick, or YouTube, or Netflix, there are already tabs for music and videos. Why not let people import their own, and add a tab for apps and try to get big internet players on board?
Boot like a console
Currently SteamOS—at least on the Cyber, this is less true with the Alienware Steam Machine—is you turn it on, you get a BIOS screen, then a Steam Machine logo. Then sometimes it'll go to a SteamOS logo with a bar underneath it, go black for several seconds and then show the Big Picture splash screen.
With Alienware the BIOS screen doesn't show up—this as a console is a good thing. The BIOS screen makes it feel like a desktop when it should feel like a console. Just have a SteamOS boot screen in which you can go into the BIOS by holding down a button on the Steam controller or keyboard but don't make it look like a BIOS screen. Make it a SteamOS logo screen, then after a second or so of waiting the splash screen should awaken and let the players play.
The Steam Machine also boots games pretty slowly, perhaps this is a hardware issue, but for a console that costs double or more than a Playstation 4, the PS4 shouldn't boot games faster than the Steam Machine...
Adverts
Now that most uncertainties of SteamOS have a solution the next is selling devices and getting games. The first step is to let people know it exists, get some advert time on TV, get advert space and advertise like crazy, get bigger slots in game retailers for hardware, make Steam stores. Just get out there, and give the world SteamOS and Steam on Linux.
Exclusives
Now Valve has said there wont be any SteamOS exclusives from them:
Valve’s Greg Comer[Y]ou won’t see an exclusive killer app for SteamOS from us. We’re not going to be doing that kind of thing.
Source
I think this is negative for SteamOS; without exclusives there's little reason for anyone to try and use SteamOS or Linux. If they created Half life 3 and it was only available for SteamOS/Linux then you know a lot of people would install Ubuntu or SteamOS and may start to use it as their main gaming OS. If every new game comes to both systems and the exclusives are the difference between HL3, Portal 3, Team Fortress 3 on Linux and Halo Reach on Windows.
What do you think? What do you think would make SteamOS better and more successful in the mainstream?
This is something I also hope can be sorted, it's not a major issue, but convenience is what these machines are supposed to be all about.
It's a difference of what button turns the unit on, I don't see that as a major issue, but a convenience issue.
No matter how much economical sugar you put on top, it is fundamentally bad.
I'd rather see people buying a SteamMachine or install a Linux because they think it's crazy awesome, instead of being forced to do that because it's the only way for them to play the games they love.
Exclusivity, although undoubtedly an efficient marketing tool, is just the easy path. It's a fake way to lever your product above the others. It's easy to say "don't publish on this platform", although you could, it's a fake limitation. On the other hand, it's way more difficult to fix your product flaws and improve it to deliver a much better user experience than the competition. So yes, let's have Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Deezer, Kodi, a better UI, a better controller, a bigger, better game library, a better modularity and all of that with a competitive price tag.
I understand that we, Linux gamers, don't want to see Valve failing on SteamMachine and Linux, but it's not a reason to use cheap marketing strategies to have a temporary advertisement that, eventually, is bad for the customer (even though he doesn't understand it all the time). I'll be even prouder if gamers start choosing SteamMachine or Linux simply because it's better and not because they're forced to.
About the exclusives: I believe that the annoyances of SteamOS and some bugs need to be ironed out first, add some media possibilities and only THEN make some big titles SteamOS / Linux exclusive for a couple of months. The people who learn to know SteamOS that way won't be disappointed.
It would also be a strong signal about how seriously they take their platform.
It's sad but SteamOS probably will die, maybe sooner than everybody expect, the same way that happened with AMD's Mantle API.
PS.: SteamOS is a mess compared with any distro, there is no consistent game/software packaging like we have in all linux distros, there is no dependencies check and there is no file duplication check. I hope SteamOS devs show more organization before this turn a bad news...
Last edited by eddie-foss on 20 February 2016 at 8:43 pm UTC
But SteamOS is obviously not supposed to compete with all-rounders like Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch and the like. It's just a purpose-built vehicle for Steam. If that's not what you want, go ahead and run Steam on another, supported distribution like Ubuntu. Obviously you're not part of the target audience for SteamOS. Neither am I, so don't take this the wrong way.
I can't really see your point here. Vulkan is a graphics API that allows developers to build cross-platform 3D application. That's a fact. SteamOS is a distribution allowing to transform any PC into a console (a bit like Kodi transforms any PC into a media center). That's another fact.
But I can't make the relation you make between those facts. To me, the arrival of Vulkan is the announcement of more game on Linux (and thus SteamOS because it's based on a Debian). And SteamOS existence is still relevant because it's the only way to transform your living room PC into a real console.
If the various hiccups the article mentions can be fixed, and then the general situation in terms of games on SteamOS continues to improve (as it has been rapidly so far, and Vulkan may well help things keep on getting better), then at some point it might be worth starting to argue about exclusives again. Until then, I think exclusives would be basically pointless. Even then I'd likely be agin' em 'cause they're evil, but for now it's just not even worth arguing about.
For right now, improve polish, improve multimedia, push for better drivers, push Vulkan, get lots of games.
If you do checksum for all files with same name you will see many duplicated and actually most of the games has a folder with their needed dependencies which some of them is redundant.
In my years of linux I learned that symlinks is a very eficient tool to avoid the flaw of unpatched cloned files.
For us and developers it's fine, but for a person who learned different OS since the beginning there is no reason to move from a familiar OS to an unfamiliar OS, Vulkan will be compatible with almost everything, then, no need to change from one to other.
(ps. I still think that most of Steam Machines is overpriced)
The only way we have to turn linux more popular is teaching the people about the freedom that Stallman taught us.
I hope one day my friends be able to understand what I say.
Last edited by eddie-foss on 21 February 2016 at 1:10 am UTC
All platforms are missing a ton of games that are available elsewhere.
This isn't unique for steamos, which was missing less games at launch with 1000+ games available than any other console, which started out by missing ALL - ~10-15 games.
IMO, SteamOS needs a standardized and organized SDK like XBoxes, Playstations, Nintendos SDKs; Also less copies of same files means more free storage space for users, the package management is the core of the ecosystem of a "rolling release" gaming system.
I don't know where I heard that but, "Doing better doesn't mean doing best"
Building walls around the "garden" would also go against many of the reasons Steam is such an attractive platform for developers. A great console OS won't do much if developers have no incentive to get their games on it. Valve's idea seems to be to minimize the actual effort of developing and maintaining SteamOS ports for Windows games, so that there's little reason not to. Every cross-platform API (like Vulkan) is a step closer to this goal. And I'd say this strategy seems to be bearing fruit so far. Not quickly enough for many of you, but personally I'm quite optimistic. Even if SteamOS never takes off, I doubt Steam on Linux is going to disappear any time soon.
One thing is compete with digital stores that you "control", or almost that need the user action to enter and agree with less management options, apps and games(EA, Ubi, GOG...G2A, GR...) and the other is an app store that are pre-installed in the system and pertains to the same company that have the power to kick them out from (I know... this will never happen... almost in short term) and the power to show to the face of the clients that is more "easy" to clic in the "already- installed app store" to buy a game than to install another app store and fight with installation and all those stuff...or make killer app store exclusives (Quantum Break... here we go!)
Like it or not Valve did more for the PC gaming than anyone (Microsoft included) and went too far ahead to let others eat their cake at this moment. So they are making SteamOS as their own system and pushing Linux as a "open" system that they can control and explore.
The next thing is to have a "hardware ecosystem" to move SteamOS forward, and Steam Machines are the answer. But I think they need to "open" the Steam Machine certification to more companies. Relying in a few "big" companies to build and sell the hardware is a mistake if you want to make a price-competitive market (or loose them if the business is not as big as they expected or wanted... Falcon Norwest...?).
I know its more comfortable to work with less people and few companies to have only a few models and control the market, but this isnt competitive for the users, with less options, higher prices and no "local companies" that can show your product to the customers right in the corner.
I work in my very little company making gaming rigs. I know we are not a big company with hundreds of employees, big budgets and millions of euros, but we are a very few passionate guys making what we love, and the most important think... we believe in the product and want to make it success. Why dont they let us make, promote and sell our Steam Machine is beyond my knowlege.