During CES, Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais spoke to Frandroid about SteamOS, Steam Deck and more and there's some interesting bits in there about the future. In case you missed it recently Valve announced a public beta of SteamOS is coming as 'SteamOS expands beyond Steam Deck'.
The interview on Frandroid is in French, but here's some Google-translated info for you. On the subject of SteamOS for everyone, it appears that issues with both Intel and NVIDIA drivers are part of what's holding up the release:
One of the promises was to release SteamOS for everyone, how difficult is it to release it now?
“I think there are a couple of factors. One is that on some platforms, the support is still very basic. Intel, it works a little bit better than before, but our driver teams and Intel are working on it. NVIDIA, the integration of open source drivers is still pretty nascent. There’s still a lot of work to be done on that side… So it’s a little bit complicated to say that we’re going to release this version when most people wouldn’t have a good experience.”
“And then there’s the ease of installation. We had an installer for SteamOS 2, but here we started with the Steam Deck so everything came straight out of the box, so the process right now is basic. Unlike some community alternatives that add this layer of installation that accompanies users. We haven’t done that yet.”
“It’s just a matter of priorities.”
So it's all in progress and they're working on it together with various driver teams. Eventually the situation should be solved.
Anyone who uses NVIDIA on desktop Linux will know how badly Steam Big Picture Mode currently works, so this is not exactly a big surprise to me. When I switched over to an AMD GPU, it was like a night and day difference.
As for the upcoming Legion Go S that will use SteamOS, an interesting note here is that Valve / Lenovo will be using the open source tool Input Plumber:
Are the works of Bazzite, ChimeraOS, Nobara also profitable for you?
“Sometimes yes. A lot of their work is integration, where they use things that the community has developed to create a much more streamlined installation and support experience than our development trees. But there are also quite a few components that are originally developed by the community that we use. For example, on the Legion Go S, we use a component called Input Plumber to manage the controller.”
"We're not too interested in inventing our own sauce [sic]. If something is already done and meets our standards of performance and functionality, we use it."
If you're hoping that SteamOS is going to be the Windows-killer that other news sites keep reporting on, Valve have much calmer words to say about that:
Back in the Windows 8 days, Gabe Newell accused Microsoft of killing the PC ecosystem. Is SteamOS the Windows killer developed by Valve?
"I don't think the goal is to have a certain market share, or to push users away from Windows. If a user has a good experience on Windows, there's no problem. I think it's interesting to develop a system that has different goals and priorities, and if it becomes a good alternative for a typical desktop user, that's great. It gives them choice. But it's not a goal in itself to convert users who already have a good experience."
Valve are also leaving the door open for a future Steam Machine:
Are Steam Machines still in sight, or are portables your priority?
"Right now, we're focused on handhelds. But as our work expands our ability to work on other platforms and have a good experience in different form factors... We've already done a lot to make these consoles connectable to screens, connectable to a controller..."
"We're not there yet to give priority to a Steam Machine. But in collaboration or internally, it's an open door to the future."
So in other words, they're just focused on providing a good experience for their own Steam ecosystem. Users moving over if they see it works better for them is nice to have, but they're not trying to directly compete against Windows completely (yet…).
You can also follow the interviewer on their YouTube channel.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
At some point it will end up like with them & the gaming industry as a whole - they don't really need to do anything about their competitors
Last edited by based on 15 Jan 2025 at 4:35 pm UTC
nebadon2025 a day ago
Last edited by nebadon2025 on 15 Jan 2025 at 3:23 pm UTC
soulsource a day ago
At this point I have given up on trying to convince people to switch. They obviously enjoy sitting on a cactus.
Mohandevir a day ago
We're not there yet to give priority to a Steam Machine. But in collaboration or internally, it's an open door to the future.
It could be interpreted like they are not actively working on a Steam Machine, but the "Fremont leak"... What could it be?
Last edited by Mohandevir on 16 Jan 2025 at 1:27 pm UTC
Maybe Valve is trying to convince Nvidia to expose DLSS as a proprietary library that could be called from Open Source code? That seems like the best compromise to me.
mr-victory a day ago
Like, A: no, you won't. And B: they have no idea what they're talking about, SteamOS is looking to be focused exclusively on console/handheld experience, not the desktop. Why would you switch your desktop to something that's designed to be navigated with a controller?
But I do get it, it's the copium that some need to convince themselves they aren't interested in the nerd OS, if you explain that something like Bazzite is basically the same thing but with better desktop experience, they get scared. SteamOS doesn't have Linux in its name so it must be an easy and polished alternative to Windows.
I don't really care what people use on their computers, do stay on windows if you want, it's just that those people could at least know what they're talking about first, before spreading misleading info and farming likes.
I think what many of those people are not aware of is the nature of software over on the penguin side, and how its mostly collaborative and open-source, SteamOS doesn't (and likely won't) exclusively have the secret sauce that suddenly makes a windows user jump ship with zero hiccups, the experience will largely be the same in the mainstream distros as well, since it's mostly made by the same open source software.
"We're not too interested in inventing our own sauceAs they proved already with Mangohud very prominently! Great to hear that
Caldathras 23 hours ago
those delusional people online who say things like "the MINUTE SteamOS is out, I'm leaving windows!1!!11"I wonder if it's more the cache that the brand name "SteamOS" has than anything? Valve has built an incredibly positive reputation for SteamOS (much deserved) through the success of the Steam Deck. I suspect that a lot of these individuals don't understand the significant differences between a handheld OS and a desktop OS. Games can be played on both so they assume the OSs must be comparable in other ways as well.
It does demonstrate the frustration that they must be feeling with the latest iterations of M$-OS though ...
pleasereadthemanual 23 hours ago
mr-victory 23 hours ago
I never considered steamos or linux in general as a way to "kill" windows but rather give people the choice, and I for one have loved embracing the open-source, community driven ideology behind Linux, where-as windows hasn't done anything innovative or good since like Windows 7
ElectricPrism 18 hours ago
@soulsource - And yet, most Windows users I have talked to recently fail to see any issues with ads showing up in their application launcher, or in their notifications. Or stuff randomly breaking. Or...
At this point I have given up on trying to convince people to switch. They obviously enjoy sitting on a cactus.
The takeaway for me personally -- It's unnecessary that Linux "compete" with Windows. We just need to be way cooler, more fun, and awesome in every measurable way.
Linux is Awesome, and by just being way cooler, and having better stuff we'll win.
Parabola is a great example -- YT download frontend -- Non Linux Alternatives are plagued with Adware, Warez, Viruses, Malware, etc...
Software sourcing -- downloading random .exes off the net and installing them is slightly weird, maybe it's changed lately and I support the User's rights to do what they want, but it's fucking weird and a security oof.
Bars & Menus -- don't like Gnome menu? KDE, don't like that, Waybar, Cinnamon, whatever gets the job done -- users have choices.
Filesystem & Snapshots -- don't ever break your computer again, roll back the funk to the last good state.
Easy Hardware Transfer -- New computer but don't want to redo the software? Most AMD Linux you can just pull the NVME and plug it into the new hardware and it just works if there's no proprietary blobs needed.
Need obscure software or beta software? Just install via the beta channel via bin or have your machine compile it yourself automatically, no biggie.
Got random Windows .exe from Y2K that you still need to run? Decent chances it'll run in WINE OOB even if it no longer runs on Windows.
Want to buy a machine and not dick around with software? No problem, buy from one of Linux laptop manufacturers and get a great community, support and access to optimal hardware right away.
Viruses and Malware? We laugh.
Games? I stopped counting after 10k on Steam, plenty to play.
Controllers? Got that.
Hardware support? Most hardware works OOB and if it doesn't it's easy to find options that do.
Tired of slow computers? Linux doesn't really slow down after 6 months from a big fat registry, or rando weird software mods to the file tree -- it stays as fast as it always was.
Don't like Distro A, no problem Distro B, C, D are options.
I could probably continue this list a bit, but the takeaway is pretty simple -- we already are the optimal choice in so many ways -- and we just need to let people know that we are happy and having a awesome time.
When people see that they are drawn, and want to have that for themselves.
Windows works for your friends? That's fantastic. Linux works for us.
Last edited by ElectricPrism on 15 Jan 2025 at 11:52 pm UTC
pleasereadthemanual 15 hours ago
lack of HDRFor the other issues, I believe you, but they aren't my areas of expertise. For HDR, I think it would be prudent to wait until the CM&HDR protocol is actually merged before NVIDIA's lack of support for it is highlighted as an issue. It'd be nice if DisplayCAL could work on Wayland too, but I guess that's a whole different issue...
FLO (free/libre/open) is in this case a better option for collaboration between corporations as well since the parties prioritize making high quality stuff at low prices over their insecurities about losing their secret sauce. If you are vastly dominant in a market (or even a monopoly) you have much more to lose from opening up. So it will be quite interesting how Nvidia and Valve will progress here.
Last edited by chr on 16 Jan 2025 at 9:41 am UTC
Claude_Lib 8 hours ago
hardpenguin 6 hours ago
Anyone who uses NVIDIA on desktop Linux will know how badly Steam Big Picture Mode currently works, so this is not exactly a big surprise to me. When I switched over to an AMD GPU, it was like a night and day difference.
This. Thank you, I feel seen.
@Soulsource - And yet, most Windows users I have talked to recently fail to see any issues with ads showing up in their application launcher, or in their notifications. Or stuff randomly breaking. Or...
At this point I have given up on trying to convince people to switch. They obviously enjoy sitting on a cactus.
Odd, that's not been my experience at all. I've run into lots and lots of people who complain about the ads all the time and want an alternative. Several people I know would switch in a heartbeat if Linux can get it together on the gaming front and work flawlessly in that department.
Last edited by Leahi84 on 16 Jan 2025 at 2:40 pm UTC
Patreon
PayPal
An idiots guide to setting up Minecraft on Steam Deck / SteamOS with controller support
How to install extra software, apps and games on SteamOS and Steam Deck
See more from me