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SteamOS isn't being left out in the cold like some would believe, as it too today got a big update with new shiny stuff.

Note: This is currently in Beta.

jvert, ValveThis is a large update. Notably it includes updates to Mesa 13.03, NVIDIA driver 375.26 and Debian 8.7

While this doesn't give SteamOS any major new features, it is really great to see SteamOS get much more recent drivers. With a more recent version of Mesa, this should make it a much better experience for AMD GPU owners who want to try out SteamOS.

Once this update goes stable, it should make SteamOS better for everyone.

See the full update notes here.

I am hoping to see more interesting work on SteamOS this year. Notably absent on Linux/SteamOS is that we still don't have Steam Broadcasting.

What are your hopes for SteamOS this year? Sometime this year Linux and SteamOS directly should get Virtual Reality support on Steam, so that's something to look forward to. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Beta, Steam, SteamOS
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opera 19 Jan 2017
Great! I was waiting desperately for updated graphics driver. Now I can finally upgrade my SteamMachine graphics card to a Nvidia Gtx 1060. Hope it doesn't take too long until these updates get out of beta.

Notably absent on Linux/SteamOS is that we still don't have Steam Broadcasting.
I sometimes watch some broadcasts when I am kinda bored. The viewer numbers are ridiculously low. That feature looks pretty dead. They should remove it and better get some decent Twitch integration.

What are your hopes for SteamOS this year?
I would like to have some streaming apps for Youtube, Twitch, Amazon Prime and Netflix. But I actually don't expect any big updates besides VR support.


Last edited by opera on 19 Jan 2017 at 11:26 pm UTC
slaapliedje 19 Jan 2017
Nice. I'm still betting that once Debian Stretch goes into it's deep freeze, SteamOS will be updated to that. And it's looking to be a fine release, with kernel 4.9 already in unstable, it will most likely make it into Stretch, and the thousands of other new things with it.

Sounds like they took the drivers from testing and backported it for SteamOS. I find it funny with all the doom and gloom about it, people don't understand there is a reason that Valve went with a Debian base over the Ubuntu one the rumors were all about. Debian is stable over many years, and Ubuntu rushes too hard to meet their release schedule. It was appealing back when Debian was stuck in a freeze for so long that their software ended up being ancient. That hasn't been the case the last few releases.
Philadelphus 19 Jan 2017
Debian 8.7
Wow, that was fast! That only came out, what, last Thursday or Friday?
Nyamiou 20 Jan 2017
Alienware was suppose to release an AMD based Steam Machine at some point. I hope it come soon, it could help revive the project.
bubexel 20 Jan 2017
Updating drivers, and updating client vulkan loader. Well, it's ready to deploy vr to linux and steamOS.
g000h 20 Jan 2017
Cool, I've just updated my Steam Client on Debian, and it's now a 19th Jan 2017 build. ( Under "Help" menu in "About" )


Last edited by g000h on 20 Jan 2017 at 1:08 am UTC
Eike 20 Jan 2017
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Sounds like they took the drivers from testing and backported it for SteamOS.

... or are they using the Debian backports?
libgradev 20 Jan 2017
Great! I was waiting desperately for updated graphics driver. Now I can finally upgrade my SteamMachine graphics card to a Nvidia Gtx 1060. Hope it doesn't take too long until these updates get out of beta.

I've got a 1060GTX - they run fine. The driver required for it was added in an update months back...
neffo 20 Jan 2017
Updating drivers, and updating client vulkan loader. Well, it's ready to deploy vr to linux and steamOS.

Expect almost zero support for VR games on Linux for the short term. VR game sales mean they are not profitable yet, adding another OS to support makes zero sense financially.
Mike 20 Jan 2017
Steam Broadcasting and even more games please Valve :)
opera 20 Jan 2017
I've got a 1060GTX - they run fine. The driver required for it was added in an update months back...
What driver version do you have? Current SteamOS Nvidia drivers are at version 367.27.
According to Nvidia documentation this version does not support the Gtx 1060.
http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverresults.aspx/104284/en-us
Mike 20 Jan 2017
Great! I was waiting desperately for updated graphics driver. Now I can finally upgrade my SteamMachine graphics card to a Nvidia Gtx 1060. Hope it doesn't take too long until these updates get out of beta.

Notably absent on Linux/SteamOS is that we still don't have Steam Broadcasting.
I sometimes watch some broadcasts when I am kinda bored. The viewer numbers are ridiculously low. That feature looks pretty dead. They should remove it and better get some decent Twitch integration.

What are your hopes for SteamOS this year?
I would like to have some streaming apps for Youtube, Twitch, Amazon Prime and Netflix. But I actually don't expect any big updates besides VR support.

While I agree that the user base is kinda low, I don't see it as a competitor to Twitch or Youtube Broadcast but more as a way to show my Steam friends a game that they might buy to play together without having another layer of app like Twitch. They can come and leave whenever they want without having anything more than the steam client opened.
Nanobang 20 Jan 2017
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I'm interested in SteamOS, but haven't been keeping close tabs on it across the years. I'd love to see a live version available to just get an idea how well it would suit me, even if it weren't any use to actually launch games with. (I'm thinking in particular about the handful of desktop apps I simply won't do without on my living room media box, and wondering in general whether SteamOS shares the shortcomings of BPM: resource guzzling, incomplete lists, deficient chat client, etc. etc.).

[Addendum:] And that broadcasting feature, I'd like that as well, please. And a pony.


Last edited by Nanobang on 20 Jan 2017 at 2:04 pm UTC
niarbeht 20 Jan 2017
What are your hopes for SteamOS this year?
I would like to have some streaming apps for Youtube, Twitch, Amazon Prime and Netflix. But I actually don't expect any big updates besides VR support.

I, too, want to see YouTube/Twitch/Netflix/Hulu/Crunchyroll/ALL_THE_THINGS available to watch from inside SteamOS. That'd be good. That's currently one of the things that makes me sad about my Steam Machine. If it could do those things, it would probably replace my Apple TV (that I got for free).
libgradev 20 Jan 2017
I've got a 1060GTX - they run fine. The driver required for it was added in an update months back...
What driver version do you have? Current SteamOS Nvidia drivers are at version 367.27.
According to Nvidia documentation this version does not support the Gtx 1060.
http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverresults.aspx/104284/en-us

You're officially correct! I had it in my mind they had done a small driver bump SteamOS update...

It, however, runs fine:

lscpi:
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 6GB] (rev a1)

Xorg.0.log:
[    12.527] (II) NVIDIA dlloader X Driver  367.27  Thu Jun  9 17:57:30 PDT 2016

See also: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/340412122414605537/#c340412122416978964


Last edited by libgradev on 20 Jan 2017 at 4:36 pm UTC
Xicronic 20 Jan 2017
Mesa 13.03? When did they switch from AMDGPU-PRO?
opera 20 Jan 2017
It, however, runs fine:
Thanks for the info. Looks like I waited for nothing. Just ordered my new GTX 1060...

Also found this on phoronix:
For my GTX 1060 testing I was using the 367.27 driver that's been available for a few weeks. The only driver issue encountered is that the GTX 1060 isn't formally recognized, but NVIDIA is said to be releasing a new driver today that will add the formal product string for the GeForce GTX 1060.
dmantione 20 Jan 2017
Mesa 13.03? When did they switch from AMDGPU-PRO?

They did not. The update is mostly relevant for Intel GPU users, allthough if I am not mistaken, there are a few AMD cards that are powered through Mesa as well. VMWare virtual Steam Machines also benefit from the updated Mesa, because it unlocks higher OpenGL versions in the guest system.

Because of the relevance of Vulkan for Valve, I expect that they are not in a hurry to drop AMDGPU-PRO, at least not until the open-source Vulkan driver provides equivalent functionality.


Last edited by dmantione on 20 Jan 2017 at 6:15 pm UTC
libgradev 20 Jan 2017
It, however, runs fine:
Thanks for the info. Looks like I waited for nothing. Just ordered my new GTX 1060...

Also found this on phoronix:
For my GTX 1060 testing I was using the 367.27 driver that's been available for a few weeks. The only driver issue encountered is that the GTX 1060 isn't formally recognized, but NVIDIA is said to be releasing a new driver today that will add the formal product string for the GeForce GTX 1060.

You're welcome :)

I haven't had any issues with it as far as I can tell and it's possible that I saw that Phoronix article before I purchased the card!
skinnyraf 21 Jan 2017
I'm interested in SteamOS, but haven't been keeping close tabs on it across the years. I'd love to see a live version available to just get an idea how well it would suit me, even if it weren't any use to actually launch games with. (I'm thinking in particular about the handful of desktop apps I simply won't do without on my living room media box, and wondering in general whether SteamOS shares the shortcomings of BPM: resource guzzling, incomplete lists, deficient chat client, etc. etc.).

[Addendum:] And that broadcasting feature, I'd like that as well, please. And a pony.

SteamOS is the BPM running on Debian, with a tweaked compositing manager that scales everything to 1080p and performs some other tricks. The system is configured to log directly into the BPM.

That's SteamOS, nothing else.
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