The future of Steam OS

[seawind]

I am excited about the Deck, because I think Steam OS with an upgraded proton that can run most windows software and all of Linux software would be much better than windows. A lot of PC users are going to think the same. Also Steam OS and presumably proton, will be open and other versions of Linux may port it so you can use it with any version. This is going to place Linux on the same level as Windows, which could be a big game changer.

[Styromaniac]

Quite possibly. I hope Linux gains traction, because I don't like Bill Gates being a large shareholder of Microsoft, plus Windows breaks games upon updating the system.

There's a lot of good things in Linux and people need to see that.

[PoorPocketsMcNewHold]

Note that proton is already open, the updated SteamOS Arch version would very likely be too.
Only the Steam component, and UI especially would surely not be. Hopefully it does, even if other Controllers game UI's exists.

[seawind]

Linux is much better OS and it is open and you can control EVERYTHING and most of the net and servers run Linux, Windows is just for the client systems. Windows is a very nice packaging, but linux is so much nicer to work with and make it do what you want.

[[Bouncy]-|Henky‼|-[TTC]]

There won't be any ports of most of these features to other distro's, especially not Proton.

For a very good reason, it won't need to be ported :D
The latest proton actually runs on Debian 10, the moment you install a game based on this proton version it automatically downloads a minimal runtime based on Debian 10 called Soldier. It patches this runtime to work smoothly on your distro and then it runs Proton on top of that. So the porting of Proton is automated and its already inside Steam. Linux players just need to turn on Proton Experimental in the settings and it will become availible for all games.

Then there is the UI, this won't be ported either. Its replacing Big Picture so both windows and linux players automatically get this.

You should be able to just run steam with the -steamos launch option and then your good to go as far as porting most of it.

[seawind]

That is very cool, I thought it might be a wait for Steamos. I use windows now but I ran Ubuntu with Steam Play, and then used the Proton beta to run my favorite game. It worked great, but was dx9 and windows was dx11 and much better. I want to go back to Linux, maybe sooner rather than later.

[PoorPocketsMcNewHold]

Originally posted by Bouncy-|Henky‼|-TTC:

Then there is the UI, this won't be ported either. Its replacing Big Picture so both windows and linux players automatically get this.

You should be able to just run steam with the -steamos launch option and then your good to go as far as porting most of it.

Indeed, forgot to precise that.
The Steam Big picture interface won't surely be opened, but you would still be able to use it, and port it. That's actually what GamerOS did, and surely, even inspired the current announced Arch version of SteamOS.

[Guybrush]

Steam Deck if its a success could lay the foundation for Steam OS 3 to become a viable windows substitute for PC gaming.

There are still some rough spots with Linux OS that need smoothening before Windows users will make the jump, I'm hoping SteamOS can do this.

A number of things people take for granted in windows are not present, things like GUI control panels for gaming accessories mice/keyboards/GPU etc.

Easy backup/repair/restore functions built into the OS,

If your resorting to the command line you've failed, Win/OSX banished command line use to IT pros long ago, average PC gamers do not use command line tools, heck the number of high profile Twitch streamers I've seen can barely maintain a windows PC.

These aren't difficult things to do just hopefully valve realizes they need to fill in the gaps. Then if more users make the move, hardware companies may start to support SteamOS.

[Videatur]

Unfortunately, the world is not the dream we want. The new pre-assembled products ship with Windows and only a few specialized models have the consumer's choice to purchase a version with Linux (Ubuntu). To date many things do not work with Linux and emulating certainly does not help performance. While proteon is very promising, to date we do not have very heavy gaming experiences that give an experience comparable to that of Windows. There are drivers and libraries at stake as well as the need for full Vulkan support instead of just DirectX.
In recent years there have already been steps forward for gaming in the Linux world but to reach completeness the road is really very long.

[andy]

i'd second @Videatur here, but would make an addition: it doesn't matter how many of us "fanboys" wish for the best, there's one BIG obstacle to keep Linux in the backwaters: the end-user & self responsibillity. Point is, if something doesn't work in a Windows-installation, you can blame the vendor, while in Linux you'll almost always find a work-around if you dig into it. Now about 95% of users are just that: users. You don't need to preach over and over again what the benefits of any given technology are, but in the end accept, that those 95% will dictate the market out of pure lazyness. If that means i can't get something to work, so be it. One sale less won't hurt the company selling stuff and almost certainly is not worth MY time complaining about it.
If SteamDeck is a success, it might mean you'll find labels "compatible with SteamDeck 90%" in the future, just like you had indicators about Linux-compatibility before. Will a 2-hrs runtime-device change the world ? NO
Will "serious" gamers still look for a "real" gaming PC or console ? YES