this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2023
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Good, I believe that SteamOS has the ability to bring Linux to the masses, but we don’t need a repeat of last time.
Of last time?
Steam Box era SteamOS. About a decade ago.
Yeah.
Back in 2013 or so, Microsoft launched the Windows Store alongside Windows 8, and was making some noises that sounded a lot like shutting out independent software stores like Steam and requiring everything on Windows to be sold through the Windows Store.
Valve reacted to this by saying "Welp I guess it's time to start investing in gaming on Linux" and launched Steam Machines, little PCs designed to be connected to a television to bring the Steam experience to the living room couch. They ran a modified version of Debian Linux along with their own tweaked version of Wine that could run some Windows games alongside several (including Valve's own library) that shipped Linux native versions.
The project itself was a bit of a flop; they relied on other companies to make Steam Machines, like Alienware and such. But a lot of things came from it.
They spent most of the 20teens adding steady improvements for Linux gaming to the point that we switched from having a list of games that ran on Linux, to a list of games that don't run on Linux because that became easier to manage. Then they launched the Steam Deck, an unqualified successful Linux gaming platform. Then I came here, and then it was now, and then I don't know what happened.
Thanks!
Awesome summary, I had forgotten most of this it was so long ago. Thanks a bunch
Steam machines madre the same mistake the 3DO made I'm glad they recovered and something very good camel out of it.
Genuine question: what happened last time?
Steam Machines. They were supposed to bring PC gaming to the living room but didn't live up to that promise.
StreamOS was a bitch to install on an ordinary PC then. I tried multiple times and just got a black screen or it didn't boot at all.
It sucked.
I ran it. it was fine for the games I played but it made my fans rev up like jet engines.
Nothing. Nothing at all.
Isn't Android very heavily based on Linux too (even if a lot of it is hidden at the surface level)? I can't think of anything more mainstream than that.
I'm old enough to remember the Phantom Console bringing PC gaming to the masses too. Safe to say the Steam Deck is quite a lot more successful than that, given the only part they ended up making was a keyboard and mouse you could use from the sofa.
Android is Linux. It's funny because this is the rare case where Stallman's pedantry comes in handy. Android is absolutely not GNU/Linux, the OS family known as 'Linux', but the kernel is the Linux kernel.
If people don't see Android as bringing Linux to the masses (which I don't), then it's dubious SteamOS would either. If it's just a container for Steam, it's not really the same thing as Linux adoption. ChromeOS actually is GNU/Linux, but I doubt many would count that either.
Even so, more consumer products with Linux inside means more improvements that benefit everyone.
Because it's not. The kernel is meaningless if the user space is gimped.
What was the last time?
Valve tried selling Linux boxes for gaming back in 2013, but noone wanted to sell/make/buy them b/c the library wasn't there and it's a hard sell when Windows is already baked into OEM hardware pricing anyways (so it wasn't any cheaper to buy a pre-made Steam Machine than it was a similar-spec windows box).