Valve along with their partners at open source consulting firm Collabora have ported over the standalone Steam Link application to the traditional Linux desktop.
Originally available as the Steam Link hardware that was discontinued in 2018, which Valve then replaced with the standalone application. The idea is that it allows you to stream content from Steam on one PC to another, or to a different device like an Android phone. Previously the app was only supported for Windows, iOS, Android, or a Raspberry Pi but that ends now with the official announcement today adding traditional Linux desktops to the mix.
So why now? Well, Valve only just recently announced Remote Play Together - Invite Anyone, which uses the Steam Link to allow people without a Steam account to join a game hosted by someone else. So you could host a game of your favourite co-op or multiplayer experience, let's say Stardew Valley, and someone only needs the Steam Link installed on whatever device they have available to join your game with a link you send over.
You can grab the Steam Link for Linux from Flathub and you can see the reference files on GitHub. Looks like this is Valve's first official release as a Flatpak package.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Edit: arg, seems like x86_64 only. Why Valve? Why? We were able to run a normal Steam Linux client on x86 before :( What is really missing is an Arm64 build of the steam-link :(
Last edited by Julius on 2 March 2021 at 9:33 pm UTC
Despite discontinued is the Steam Link hardware still being updated with latest software updates ?
I wish they built it for ARM as well, though maybe it is usable in qemu-binfmt? Is it using HW-accelerated decoding with VA-API or similar?
I also wouldn't be surprised if it ends up reverse-engineered.
hardpenguin Mar 2, 2021
sgtnasty369 Mar 2, 2021
Now it's possible to just share your games for some remote couch gaming, which is just great. Eases multiplayer with your friends, instead of finding a random stranger that purchased the game.
Quoting: sgtnasty369So if I have a Windows 10 PC running steam, I can play via my Laptop/Linux
You already could, as well as Linux <—> Linux. But you needed to install the Steam client and have a Steam account. Now you don't.
Quotebut I need a Steam Controller?
You don't need a Steam controller. They don't even make them any more.
Quoting: MayeulCThis is huge, especially the bit about they releasing it on flathub.
I wish they built it for ARM as well, though maybe it is usable in qemu-binfmt? Is it using HW-accelerated decoding with VA-API or similar?
I also wouldn't be surprised if it ends up reverse-engineered.
This ! Steam Link would go very well with the Pinebook Pro (well, assuming it can use the hardware decoder)
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