I am waiting for SteamOS Desktop. I want to ditch Windows, but also want a company dedicated to gaming to provide a distro. Odds are, it will be user-friendly and standardized enough for power-casuals to allow me to do what I want, without worrying about obscure Linux technical stuff.
Nobody tell this user about Linux Mint or Ubuntu, okay? We’re saving it for the surprise party.
Joking aside, I understand wanting a company like Valve to directly provide strong support.
I also think that’s why it won’t happen, though. I think it is just too far outside of Valve’s core business.
Valve does contribute to other projects, here and there, to help Steam succeed on Linux. I doubt they’ll go beyond that, at least until the Steam Machine releases.
In the mean time, the closest option I can think of is buying a PC with Linux pre-installed, from System76 or Tuxedo, and then just search up “Steam” in the software center.
Mint yes, Ubuntu no. It really is not easy to not be able to install applications with nothing but command line
I’ll mention bazzite despite the tone in case someone reads this and might like that.
PopOs?
I prefer Valve. 800lb gorilla, main driver of Proton, not likely to suddenly vanish or change leadership, brand recognition means many people will develop extensive documentation and implementation specifically for SteamOS. I want to install an OS once, and never be forced to change it on that machine.
I want to install an OS once, and never be forced to change it on that machine.
I’d be wary of putting all your eggs in a single basket, many people believed Windows was the be-all OS until Microsoft started making funky decisions ultimately changing people’s perspective of their business.
Steam is great now but consider who is going to replace Gabe Newell when he retires or passes away. Think about Steam as a business in 10-20 years and what will change in their policies.
I prefer Valve. 800lb gorilla, main driver of Proton, not likely to suddenly vanish or change leadership, brand recognition means many people will develop extensive documentation and implementation specifically for SteamOS
Under the hood SteamOS/Bazzite are Arch based whereas Ubuntu/PopOS/Linux-Mint are Debian based, the documentation that really matters is going to come from these base gorrillas.
Frame I’m interested in. Controller I’m going to buy 100%
I have an Oculus CV1 that I have no idea how to use without Windows. So I’m definitely interested in the frame as well. However I suspect it’s going to be fairly expensive.
My Valve controller still works fine, although the new one would certainly be a nice upgrade (I don’t use controllers much).
Controller is going to be a buy from most of us on here I bet.
I want them all, but I don’t know which order to get them in. I have a PS5+VR2, a Quest 3, and a Steam Deck, so I’m thinking Steam Machine first, since it has a controller, I can stop buying newer games from PlayStation, and I might be able to use my PSVR2 with a PC adapter. Then get a Frame later on after we get an idea of how “spatial computing” develops on Linux, and maybe a pass-through getup becomes available for it.
But holy hell would I be happy to rid myself of Meta as soon as humanly possible.
The Steam Machine… Eh.
I have a gaming laptop a few years old that I installed Bazzite on and hooked into my TV. It works as my living room gaming PC already and feels like a Steam Machine already :)
Wakes up from my Xbox controller, sleeps and resumes games perfectly, etc.
I do not have a gaming laptop though, and if Steam Deck has taught me anything, it’s that a Machine from Steam will have unnaturally long relevance and pretty cool support from Linux enthusiasts.
Very interested to see pricing for the Frame. Might be my first VR purchase!
Assume $1000 and be pleasantly surprised if its not. Start saving money now.
I’ve sold all my base stations, knuckles and headset and now I’m here twiddling my thumbs
Same! Pls let me have this final joy before it all collapses and life becomes unaffordable 🙏
yeah pls let me hide in vr as the bombs coming down :'(
We’re riding a fine line here…
I had a Quest 1 and used it play some early levels in Half Life Alyx and now I’m waiting till the Frame is out to finish it.
You are me. I am you. Looking forward to more pixels and less Meta!
In this economy it’ll cost as much as the apple vr set
I am going to be optimistic until reality punches me in the gut.
But I would expect Valve to think about what to do with it before release. I’m still not sure what Apple really planned for it, and I’d guess it’s the same for them.
I’m impressed the Steam Frame can run Half Life Alyx.
The Frame supports foveated rendering so that will help reduce the requirements a bit. Additionally, while the game looks impressive, it’s mostly corridors and the like so it’s not doing a huge amount of GPU work.
I might be remembering incorrectly, but didn’t the Frame support foviated streaming not rendering? As in, isn’t foviated rendering a game specific thing, not a headset specific thing?
It supports both, but yeah, for rendering it will require updates to the game.
The headset has eye tracking to make it possible, but yes, apps have to implement foveated rendering for it to work.
I think it is possible for the VR compositor to do some eye tracking optimizations for the app without the app doing special stuff, but I don’t know how much that helps (or if it’s even implemented in SteamVR).
I played it on a 2060. Low graphics settings, yes, but it was playable. As far as I can see Valve didn’t say what graphics settings they used.
I managed to play it half decently on a 1050ti lol. I would say about 60-75% ran at good framerates.
It can!? Like standalone? That’s crazy impressive! I’m buying one regardless but if it’s that powerful it’s exceeding my expectations.
alyx can run on bricks I swear. well not really but if the gpu has 8gb vram I’m almost certain even the slowest of them will work. anything that can be baked is, and it looks excellent.
Still no release date for the controller :/
They’re most likely all realeasing on the same day
But the controller has no RAM and I only want a controller. They could already be making a profit and solve all the panic/bulk-buy shenanigans for one of the things at least.
I think they’re holding the controllers back because they worry they won’t keep up with demand when the Steam Machine releases.
I wish they would just start selling them to us, though.
It might be a strategy to wait until closer to release and shortly after price reveals so people don’t hoard and panic buy the controller.
Personally my Steam Controller is nearing the end of its life on the stick and touchpad so it would be really cool if they at least have a presale for those who have purchased the Steam Controller before or people who had it in their wishlist.
Plesse let at least the new controller release lol I want the frame too but I have been holding out with mad drift waiting for thr controller.
Went from “build to ship in 2026” from “we’ll ship in the first quarter/half of 2026” though… so that’s not great
Ships by Christmas
Thanks “AI”. /s
