8 ms·

SteamOS: What we know so far and what to expect

91 points by galapago 13y ago

sandGorgon 13y ago
I'm seriously curious about their sound and graphics framework more than the actual games (unless it is HL3). I am betting (and hoping) that they are going to start using Wayland as well as a custom sound framework. I also wonder if they are using a custom packaging format based on top of .deb .
- viraptor 13y ago
  Why do you think they wouldn't go for straight deb-s? (apart for game data - I assume that will be downloaded the same way it is in typical steam application)
  - sandGorgon 13y ago
    Because it is not based on Ubuntu and nobody knows for sure what the base distro is - earlier they had claimed Ubuntu 12.04 but that was refuted by an Engadget team recently [1] As promised, the OS is built on Linux (not based on Ubuntu, we're told, but entirely custom), though you'd never know it as the only interactive layer is all Steam [1] http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/04/valve-steam-machine-hands-on/?ncid=rss_truncated http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/04/valve-steam-machine-hands...
    - TsiCClawOfLight 13y ago
      They will probably base of Debian testing with custom backports.
      - thomasknowles 13y ago
        Description: Beta build of SteamOS 1.0 distribution based on Debian 7.1 Wheezy
    - mackal 13y ago
      Its Ubuntu, the Engadget guy interpreted the Dev wrong. Or I should say for most of its history its been Ubuntu based but it is still entirely possible they changed it, but I think its more likely the reporter is wrong.
      - Arelius 13y ago
        Do you have any evidence to back this up? We've never seen SteamOS so we can't say what it's been for any of it's history. This sounds like pure speculation to me, and if I had to speculate I think it's more likely that the reporter is correct, and it is unlikely Ubuntu.
        TsiCClawOfLight 13y ago
        What makes you think that? Valve has been focusing on Ubuntu up to now, and they have an APT repo. If they don't base SteamOS on Ubuntu, they will probably base directly of Debian testing. Debian makes up most of desktop linux anyway...
        Arelius 13y ago
        > Debian makes up most of desktop linux anyway Actually, I'm pretty sure that spot belongs to Ubuntu, which is why: > Valve has been focusing on Ubuntu up to now They focus on Ubuntu release because that is where their target players are. SteamOS, being it's own release, doesn't have the same restriction. > If they don't base SteamOS on Ubuntu, they will probably base directly of Debian testing Nice save, anyways, the argument is moot now: http://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown http://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown Debian being, indeed, The most obvious choice.
        TsiCClawOfLight 13y ago
        what save? I thought it was probable, so I wrote it.
- dubcanada 13y ago
  No they will most likely use .deb that's what they use now for everything. Games will be downloaded and installed the way they currently are in Steam, a giant pile of files with random game data stuff.
- jcastro 13y ago
  From what they've said publicly they're pushing OpenGL and SDL, I don't see why they would make up another sound framework.
  - sandGorgon 13y ago
    This is taken from their website - I dont know what they intended, but it sure looks like a possibility. In SteamOS, we have achieved significant performance increases in graphics processing, and we’re now targeting audio performance and reductions in input latency at the operating system level.
    - jcastro 13y ago
      They have a guy working on SDL directly, and they've been doing a bunch of work around GL and working with driver manufacturers: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btNVfUygvio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btNVfUygvio - http://www.paranormal-entertainment.com/idr/blog/posts/2012-07-19T18:54:37Z-The_zombies_cometh/ http://www.paranormal-entertainment.com/idr/blog/posts/2012-... You could take the statement on the site to seem that they could be working on their own stuff, but if you watch their video it seems that they are keen on working on existing things like SDL and participating in the Khronos group than building things from scratch.
      - cheald 13y ago
        They don't just have "a guy", they have Sam Lantinga, the guy who created SDL. I don't know if he's working on it or not, but the fact that they have him at the company speaks volumes about where they're headed.
- hansjorg 13y ago
  Wayland is missing the driver support right now. It's also one abstraction down from what game developers should worry about. I imagine Valve are going to focus on SDL. Sam Latinga, the original SDL dev, is employed by them now (was with Blizzard before).
timc3 13y ago
My serious hope for this is XBMC/Plex integrated and not some homegrown TV/Video playback mechanism (Or the APIs for me to do it). XBMC has many of the problems of video/movie/TV playback and library support sorted and they can't hope to match it in the early days.
- cbhl 13y ago
  Would codec patents would prevent them from bundling XBMC wholesale into SteamOS?
  - Nikker 13y ago
    If it has a repo it could be easily installed via a meta package or a GUI element. Integration of 'apt' and the Steam Store would be cool. I may be incorrect but I believe most codec patents revolve around the hardware implementations which would be covered through the hardware acceleration components that exist in most modern CPU/GPUs.
  - nitrogen 13y ago
    For video they can just offload decoding of common formats to the GPU, which most likely already has a decoder license. They should also be able to send raw DTS and AC3 over Toslink, S/PDIF, or HDMI.
je_bailey 13y ago
Understanding that this is conjecture, I'm wondering if the list of games that have steam controller configurations are indicators of games that they are planning on running directly on the steam box itself. i.e. running native on linux
- valarauca1 13y ago
  I'll just go down the list and try to hit each item. Counter-Strike: All versions are already linux supported. Half-Life 2: Most are ported, the game engine is ported to linux. Team Fortress 2: Ported to linux. Left 4 Dead 2: Used as the original test bed of steam for linux [1], I'm unware of if it has been ported. Portal 2: Game Engine Ported, unaware of game's state. Natural Selection 2: Developer has plans too, but game engine needs Direct3D layer. Claims it can be over come. [2] Bioshock Infinite: Has no plans to be ported to linux, but has been ported to mac [3]. Civ V: Apparently supports PC/Mac/Linux/Unix according to its amazon page. Serious Same BFE: Ported. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: Can run in linux via wine [4] if you trust that source, seems sketchy. But the publisher isn't linux friendly. [5] or maybe it is [6]. We don't know for sure, this is a developping story. Metro LL: Is ported. DiRT3: Uses Games for Windows Live. There's a few non-legal hacks to get it working but nothing offical. BoardLands 2: Unreal Supports Linux [7], but there are no developer statements A:tDD: Ported Skyrim: Is actually Unsupported by their Developers (they've moved on to other projects). So porting it now seems unlikely. [8] At this point we can say Controller =/= Linux Support. [1] http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/ http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/ [2] http://unknownworlds.com/ns2/spark-engine-questions-and-answers-1-2/ http://unknownworlds.com/ns2/spark-engine-questions-and-answ... [3] http://forums.2k.com/showthread.php?221791-Please-port-Bioshock-Infinite-to-Linux!&p=3056926#post3056926 http://forums.2k.com/showthread.php?221791-Please-port-Biosh... [4] http://community.callofduty.com/thread/200382760#.UqstR7TyRHY http://community.callofduty.com/thread/200382760#.UqstR7TyRH... [5] http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU0MTA http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU0MTA [6] http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU0MjE http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU0MjE [7] http://www.unrealengine.com/licensing/faq/ http://www.unrealengine.com/licensing/faq/ [8] http://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/846962627045969760/ http://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/8469626270...
Shorel 13y ago
Yes, they have to make a custom distro. Currently Ubuntu's Unity in Saucy has big drawbacks for gaming. I just tried last night to play Brutal Legend, to test my new gamepad. Unity makes the game unable to fully be fullscreen. The same happens with any Windows game via Wine. I love Ubuntu for developing stuff, but they need to fix a lot of stuff to compete with Windows in gaming.
- jcastro 13y ago
  I've been running Brutal Legend fullscreen with Unity and a gamepad since it came out, no issues here.
- wavefunction 13y ago
  I don't see why Ubuntu would want to go head to head with Valve. Seems like a losing proposition...
- k_bx 13y ago
  Removing Unity is completely different from removing whole Ubuntu, really. p.s.: I hope Unity gets these sorted out, since it's really the best DE I know.
  - TsiCClawOfLight 13y ago
    try awesome, it's awesome. :P
thenomad 13y ago
Hmm, I wonder if they'll manage to find some way to include Netflix support? I know it's tricky for any Linux-based distribution to do, but if they did, I know I'd be looking seriously at a Steam Box as my next media center, replacing the PS3 that currently gently warms my TV stand.
sliverstorm 13y ago
I'm surprised more people aren't talking about in-home streaming. To me, this is something I've wanted for years. I've got a state-of-the-art machine I like to keep in my basement (cooling), and with this I'll (hopefully) be able to play hardware-intense games on my media center PC upstairs. Just crossing my fingers that my 5-10Mbit powerline network is good enough.
- dcu 13y ago
  I have this one and it's very very good. And it's just 22.99 http://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Powerline-Ethernet-Adapter-TL-PA4010/dp/B00CUD1M66/ http://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Powerline-Ethernet-Adapter-TL-...
  - sliverstorm 13y ago
    Wow, they've come down in price! I actually wound up with 200Mbps TP-Link adapters, because the 500Mbps adapters fall off to fast with distance in my house. AV2 adapters are supposed to sustain performance better over distance, so I'm biding my time and waiting for those to mature a bit.
- nwh 13y ago
  Not something I've ever desired. Either in the home or externally rendered. In the home there's absolutely no way my consumer hardware is going to to keep up with 1080p or 2160p streaming over a network (heck HDMI barely manages), and externally there's no way you can possibly play a game with the sort of latency (400ms+) you get on Australian internet connections. I can see why it would be attractive if you had a basement, but why not just run a DisplayPort cable and USB?
  - jcastro 13y ago
    Consumer hardware handles 1080p streaming over a network just fine, have you ever seen an Nvidia shield? It streams PC games in 1080p to the mobile device and the control is then sent back to the PC game. It works surprisingly well.
jljljl 13y ago
I'm sure this has already been described somewhere, but if I install SteamOS, do they provide a compatibility layer so that I can play games without Linux support? Or will I need to dual boot Windows?
- TsiCClawOfLight 13y ago
  You will probably be able to run wine.
- Narishma 13y ago
  You will need to dual-boot. Or stream from another PC running Windows.
- fluffyllemon 13y ago
  Well, there's this: "In-home Streaming You can play all your Windows and Mac games on your SteamOS machine, too. Just turn on your existing computer and run Steam as you always have - then your SteamOS machine can stream those games over your home network straight to your TV!" http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamOS/ http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamOS/
philliphaydon 13y ago
Based on Valves inability to update DOTA2 without 3-5 days of no server accesss, every time they update... I have absolutely NO hope for SteamOS...
- philliphaydon 13y ago
  Clearly theres no gamers posting in this thread then.
  - TsiCClawOfLight 13y ago
    Valve is doing a pretty good job in my experience. I don't play DOTA, but I was pretty hardcore CS gamer for a time.
    - philliphaydon 13y ago
      The last 4 major updates to DOTA 2, have been unplayable for about 2-5 days. They did an update earlier today, my friend in Australia hasn't played all day because servers are down. I can't play in Singapore at 2-10am, servers are still down... http://steamcommunity.com/app/570/discussions/0/648814395709439676/ http://steamcommunity.com/app/570/discussions/0/648814395709...
    - StavrosK 13y ago
      Unfortunately, he's right. I applaud Valve's focus to Linux, but DOTA Linux has had major bugs for months now (the most severe of which is the game taking 1-2 minutes to load and timing out, whereas Windows on the same machine loads in a few seconds). They don't seem to really want to fix the errors, as all my friends are having the same problem, so it's not exactly hard to reproduce.
- kyrra 13y ago
  Dota2 is Valve's first multiplayer game where they run all the servers themselves. It's also their most popular game (by a factor of 10x) [0]. Scaling to that number of players takes a lot of work, and from what I've seen (comments from Valve devs), their devops team is only 2 people [1]. The current server instability has to do with a large patch (550MB) sent out yesterday that added a new game mode that is actually an addon[2]. This addon system looks fairly new and may be taking its toll on the servers. [0] http://store.steampowered.com/stats/ http://store.steampowered.com/stats/ [1] http://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=83787&page=24&p=777194&viewfull=1#post777194 http://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=83787&page=24&p=777194... [2] http://www.ongamers.com/articles/dota-2-12th-december-patch-content-analysis/1100-353/ http://www.ongamers.com/articles/dota-2-12th-december-patch-... (search for "custom addon")
galapago 13y ago
SteamOS will be available here: http://steampowered.com/steamosbeta http://steampowered.com/steamosbeta (now it's 404)
paigosa 13y ago
Are the steam-specific parts open or closed source? If closed is there any chance of them providing a blob for other distros?
fit2rule 13y ago
I'm totally ready to buy a Steam box. As soon as I possibly can, here in Austria, Europe, I will. Hurry up, because the only thing stopping me from doing it is the Valve Inc.'s inability to navigate all the regulatory/cultural nonsense from: DELIVERING. Steam delivers, so far. When it manifests in the hardware sense, it has got to be global. The perception of locality is a real drag.

91 points by galapago 13y ago

I'm seriously curious about their sound and graphics framework more than the actual games (unless it is HL3). I am betting (and hoping) that they are going to start using Wayland as well as a custom sound framework. I also wonder if they are using a custom packaging format based on top of .deb .

viraptor 13y ago
Why do you think they wouldn't go for straight deb-s? (apart for game data - I assume that will be downloaded the same way it is in typical steam application)
- sandGorgon 13y ago
  Because it is not based on Ubuntu and nobody knows for sure what the base distro is - earlier they had claimed Ubuntu 12.04 but that was refuted by an Engadget team recently [1] As promised, the OS is built on Linux (not based on Ubuntu, we're told, but entirely custom), though you'd never know it as the only interactive layer is all Steam [1] http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/04/valve-steam-machine-hands-on/?ncid=rss_truncated http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/04/valve-steam-machine-hands...
  - TsiCClawOfLight 13y ago
    They will probably base of Debian testing with custom backports.
    - thomasknowles 13y ago
      Description: Beta build of SteamOS 1.0 distribution based on Debian 7.1 Wheezy
  - mackal 13y ago
    Its Ubuntu, the Engadget guy interpreted the Dev wrong. Or I should say for most of its history its been Ubuntu based but it is still entirely possible they changed it, but I think its more likely the reporter is wrong.
    - Arelius 13y ago
      Do you have any evidence to back this up? We've never seen SteamOS so we can't say what it's been for any of it's history. This sounds like pure speculation to me, and if I had to speculate I think it's more likely that the reporter is correct, and it is unlikely Ubuntu.
      - TsiCClawOfLight 13y ago
        What makes you think that? Valve has been focusing on Ubuntu up to now, and they have an APT repo. If they don't base SteamOS on Ubuntu, they will probably base directly of Debian testing. Debian makes up most of desktop linux anyway...
        Arelius 13y ago
        > Debian makes up most of desktop linux anyway Actually, I'm pretty sure that spot belongs to Ubuntu, which is why: > Valve has been focusing on Ubuntu up to now They focus on Ubuntu release because that is where their target players are. SteamOS, being it's own release, doesn't have the same restriction. > If they don't base SteamOS on Ubuntu, they will probably base directly of Debian testing Nice save, anyways, the argument is moot now: http://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown http://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown Debian being, indeed, The most obvious choice.
        TsiCClawOfLight 13y ago
        what save? I thought it was probable, so I wrote it.
dubcanada 13y ago
No they will most likely use .deb that's what they use now for everything. Games will be downloaded and installed the way they currently are in Steam, a giant pile of files with random game data stuff.
jcastro 13y ago
From what they've said publicly they're pushing OpenGL and SDL, I don't see why they would make up another sound framework.
- sandGorgon 13y ago
  This is taken from their website - I dont know what they intended, but it sure looks like a possibility. In SteamOS, we have achieved significant performance increases in graphics processing, and we’re now targeting audio performance and reductions in input latency at the operating system level.
  - jcastro 13y ago
    They have a guy working on SDL directly, and they've been doing a bunch of work around GL and working with driver manufacturers: - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btNVfUygvio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btNVfUygvio - http://www.paranormal-entertainment.com/idr/blog/posts/2012-07-19T18:54:37Z-The_zombies_cometh/ http://www.paranormal-entertainment.com/idr/blog/posts/2012-... You could take the statement on the site to seem that they could be working on their own stuff, but if you watch their video it seems that they are keen on working on existing things like SDL and participating in the Khronos group than building things from scratch.
    - cheald 13y ago
      They don't just have "a guy", they have Sam Lantinga, the guy who created SDL. I don't know if he's working on it or not, but the fact that they have him at the company speaks volumes about where they're headed.
hansjorg 13y ago
Wayland is missing the driver support right now. It's also one abstraction down from what game developers should worry about. I imagine Valve are going to focus on SDL. Sam Latinga, the original SDL dev, is employed by them now (was with Blizzard before).

timc3 13y ago

My serious hope for this is XBMC/Plex integrated and not some homegrown TV/Video playback mechanism (Or the APIs for me to do it). XBMC has many of the problems of video/movie/TV playback and library support sorted and they can't hope to match it in the early days.

cbhl 13y ago
Would codec patents would prevent them from bundling XBMC wholesale into SteamOS?
- Nikker 13y ago
  If it has a repo it could be easily installed via a meta package or a GUI element. Integration of 'apt' and the Steam Store would be cool. I may be incorrect but I believe most codec patents revolve around the hardware implementations which would be covered through the hardware acceleration components that exist in most modern CPU/GPUs.
- nitrogen 13y ago
  For video they can just offload decoding of common formats to the GPU, which most likely already has a decoder license. They should also be able to send raw DTS and AC3 over Toslink, S/PDIF, or HDMI.

je_bailey 13y ago

Understanding that this is conjecture, I'm wondering if the list of games that have steam controller configurations are indicators of games that they are planning on running directly on the steam box itself. i.e. running native on linux

valarauca1 13y ago
I'll just go down the list and try to hit each item. Counter-Strike: All versions are already linux supported. Half-Life 2: Most are ported, the game engine is ported to linux. Team Fortress 2: Ported to linux. Left 4 Dead 2: Used as the original test bed of steam for linux [1], I'm unware of if it has been ported. Portal 2: Game Engine Ported, unaware of game's state. Natural Selection 2: Developer has plans too, but game engine needs Direct3D layer. Claims it can be over come. [2] Bioshock Infinite: Has no plans to be ported to linux, but has been ported to mac [3]. Civ V: Apparently supports PC/Mac/Linux/Unix according to its amazon page. Serious Same BFE: Ported. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: Can run in linux via wine [4] if you trust that source, seems sketchy. But the publisher isn't linux friendly. [5] or maybe it is [6]. We don't know for sure, this is a developping story. Metro LL: Is ported. DiRT3: Uses Games for Windows Live. There's a few non-legal hacks to get it working but nothing offical. BoardLands 2: Unreal Supports Linux [7], but there are no developer statements A:tDD: Ported Skyrim: Is actually Unsupported by their Developers (they've moved on to other projects). So porting it now seems unlikely. [8] At this point we can say Controller =/= Linux Support. [1] http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/ http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/ [2] http://unknownworlds.com/ns2/spark-engine-questions-and-answers-1-2/ http://unknownworlds.com/ns2/spark-engine-questions-and-answ... [3] http://forums.2k.com/showthread.php?221791-Please-port-Bioshock-Infinite-to-Linux!&p=3056926#post3056926 http://forums.2k.com/showthread.php?221791-Please-port-Biosh... [4] http://community.callofduty.com/thread/200382760#.UqstR7TyRHY http://community.callofduty.com/thread/200382760#.UqstR7TyRH... [5] http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU0MTA http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU0MTA [6] http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU0MjE http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU0MjE [7] http://www.unrealengine.com/licensing/faq/ http://www.unrealengine.com/licensing/faq/ [8] http://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/846962627045969760/ http://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/8469626270...

Shorel 13y ago

Yes, they have to make a custom distro. Currently Ubuntu's Unity in Saucy has big drawbacks for gaming. I just tried last night to play Brutal Legend, to test my new gamepad. Unity makes the game unable to fully be fullscreen. The same happens with any Windows game via Wine. I love Ubuntu for developing stuff, but they need to fix a lot of stuff to compete with Windows in gaming.

jcastro 13y ago
I've been running Brutal Legend fullscreen with Unity and a gamepad since it came out, no issues here.
wavefunction 13y ago
I don't see why Ubuntu would want to go head to head with Valve. Seems like a losing proposition...
k_bx 13y ago
Removing Unity is completely different from removing whole Ubuntu, really. p.s.: I hope Unity gets these sorted out, since it's really the best DE I know.
- TsiCClawOfLight 13y ago
  try awesome, it's awesome. :P

thenomad 13y ago

Hmm, I wonder if they'll manage to find some way to include Netflix support? I know it's tricky for any Linux-based distribution to do, but if they did, I know I'd be looking seriously at a Steam Box as my next media center, replacing the PS3 that currently gently warms my TV stand.

sliverstorm 13y ago

I'm surprised more people aren't talking about in-home streaming. To me, this is something I've wanted for years. I've got a state-of-the-art machine I like to keep in my basement (cooling), and with this I'll (hopefully) be able to play hardware-intense games on my media center PC upstairs. Just crossing my fingers that my 5-10Mbit powerline network is good enough.

dcu 13y ago
I have this one and it's very very good. And it's just 22.99 http://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Powerline-Ethernet-Adapter-TL-PA4010/dp/B00CUD1M66/ http://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Powerline-Ethernet-Adapter-TL-...
- sliverstorm 13y ago
  Wow, they've come down in price! I actually wound up with 200Mbps TP-Link adapters, because the 500Mbps adapters fall off to fast with distance in my house. AV2 adapters are supposed to sustain performance better over distance, so I'm biding my time and waiting for those to mature a bit.
nwh 13y ago
Not something I've ever desired. Either in the home or externally rendered. In the home there's absolutely no way my consumer hardware is going to to keep up with 1080p or 2160p streaming over a network (heck HDMI barely manages), and externally there's no way you can possibly play a game with the sort of latency (400ms+) you get on Australian internet connections. I can see why it would be attractive if you had a basement, but why not just run a DisplayPort cable and USB?
- jcastro 13y ago
  Consumer hardware handles 1080p streaming over a network just fine, have you ever seen an Nvidia shield? It streams PC games in 1080p to the mobile device and the control is then sent back to the PC game. It works surprisingly well.

jljljl 13y ago

I'm sure this has already been described somewhere, but if I install SteamOS, do they provide a compatibility layer so that I can play games without Linux support? Or will I need to dual boot Windows?

TsiCClawOfLight 13y ago
You will probably be able to run wine.
Narishma 13y ago
You will need to dual-boot. Or stream from another PC running Windows.
fluffyllemon 13y ago
Well, there's this: "In-home Streaming You can play all your Windows and Mac games on your SteamOS machine, too. Just turn on your existing computer and run Steam as you always have - then your SteamOS machine can stream those games over your home network straight to your TV!" http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamOS/ http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamOS/

philliphaydon 13y ago

Based on Valves inability to update DOTA2 without 3-5 days of no server accesss, every time they update... I have absolutely NO hope for SteamOS...

philliphaydon 13y ago
Clearly theres no gamers posting in this thread then.
- TsiCClawOfLight 13y ago
  Valve is doing a pretty good job in my experience. I don't play DOTA, but I was pretty hardcore CS gamer for a time.
  - philliphaydon 13y ago
    The last 4 major updates to DOTA 2, have been unplayable for about 2-5 days. They did an update earlier today, my friend in Australia hasn't played all day because servers are down. I can't play in Singapore at 2-10am, servers are still down... http://steamcommunity.com/app/570/discussions/0/648814395709439676/ http://steamcommunity.com/app/570/discussions/0/648814395709...
  - StavrosK 13y ago
    Unfortunately, he's right. I applaud Valve's focus to Linux, but DOTA Linux has had major bugs for months now (the most severe of which is the game taking 1-2 minutes to load and timing out, whereas Windows on the same machine loads in a few seconds). They don't seem to really want to fix the errors, as all my friends are having the same problem, so it's not exactly hard to reproduce.
kyrra 13y ago
Dota2 is Valve's first multiplayer game where they run all the servers themselves. It's also their most popular game (by a factor of 10x) [0]. Scaling to that number of players takes a lot of work, and from what I've seen (comments from Valve devs), their devops team is only 2 people [1]. The current server instability has to do with a large patch (550MB) sent out yesterday that added a new game mode that is actually an addon[2]. This addon system looks fairly new and may be taking its toll on the servers. [0] http://store.steampowered.com/stats/ http://store.steampowered.com/stats/ [1] http://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=83787&page=24&p=777194&viewfull=1#post777194 http://dev.dota2.com/showthread.php?t=83787&page=24&p=777194... [2] http://www.ongamers.com/articles/dota-2-12th-december-patch-content-analysis/1100-353/ http://www.ongamers.com/articles/dota-2-12th-december-patch-... (search for "custom addon")

galapago 13y ago

SteamOS will be available here: http://steampowered.com/steamosbeta http://steampowered.com/steamosbeta (now it's 404)

paigosa 13y ago

Are the steam-specific parts open or closed source? If closed is there any chance of them providing a blob for other distros?

fit2rule 13y ago

I'm totally ready to buy a Steam box. As soon as I possibly can, here in Austria, Europe, I will. Hurry up, because the only thing stopping me from doing it is the Valve Inc.'s inability to navigate all the regulatory/cultural nonsense from: DELIVERING. Steam delivers, so far. When it manifests in the hardware sense, it has got to be global. The perception of locality is a real drag.