Dual-booting Windows and Steam OS - Sharing Steam install

[Awkward Birb]

If someone were to have Windows and Steam OS installed on their computer, is it known if they could share the same Steam folder/install? I'm hoping I wouldn't have to download a game twice, but instead just download the compatibility files for the OS.

[rukiyasu9]

It might be possible, and it might be not.
For shared game files, like savestates, models, maps and etc, it's actually a very good thing.
But keep in mind that Windows and Linux binaries are not compiled the same way.

[MeltDown]

I can say from experience with dual-booting Ubuntu (a Linux based operating system) and Windows 7 that you can at least access your Windows 7 partition while running Ubuntu. So at very least you could access those files but like luksamuk said that doesn't mean the game file format will be the same.

[CeybJüR]

I'm looking forward the stamOS hardware requirements to know if it's possible to use steamOS like streaming receiver for my TV.
Maybe on a Ouya or on rapsberry pi ?? :p

I don't thnik dual-boot is the answer to keep win games list :/
Maybe i'm wrong ..

[Sullen Secret]

The Linux versions of the games would be fundamentally different from the Windows versions. Sorry.

[robaG]

Yeah, different binaries... won't work. (it could with a compatibility layer, but wine is not that reliable)

[Ricey]

The games are binary incompatible, but as I have done, You can use the same install directory to run Windows only games from (dual boot to Win). Once they have been ported you can re-configure them in Linux with minimal downloads needed.

[UnkendTech]

you can't share installs Atm

[Lynx]

I had a dual-boot system for a while with Windows and Linux versions of Steam on both but the way the binaries are compiled meant I had to have a separate library folder for my Linux versions of games (even though they were on the same partition of the same hard drive)

[Toasty]

Chances are you'll need to download a lot more than "compatibility files". SteamOS is based on Linux, and has an entirely different system architecture to Windows. The only components of a game that would be compatible between the two would be art and sound assets (which, granted, constitute the majority of the data in games these days). At the very least you'd need to re-download the OS-specific binaries for any given game.

To be honest, this really depends on how each game was developed. If the game developers were smart, it should be as simple as downloading the Linux binary for the game (which shouldn't be too large), but like I said, it really depends on how the game was developed.

I don't think it's impossible, but I don't think it would be easy to implement either.

[Pastor Bolognese]

Probably not due to the difference in executables and even file system (Windows is NTFS, SteamOS will probably be some form of FAT) etc..

[barry]

I have a Windows desktop, on it there are lots of Windows games, some of them can run within Steam for Windows. If I get a living room Steambox it will run Steam on Linux. I assume that I will have to have both machines powered up, with Steam actively running on both, and the livingroom Steam box talking to the Windows machine across my network, and streaming the game to my TV. As long as I have ownership of a game, and it's able to be run within a Steam client, then I will be able to play it through the Steambox, albeit it may be running on another OS box on my network.

If the above is true, then that's good. ... But long term I'd like to get away from Windows, the versions of the Windows OS's that these games use won't be supported forever. I wouldn't want to buy all these games outright again ( if there were Linux ported versions ). But I would consider paying a sum of money for a bundle of my games to be 'shifted' to Steam on Linux.

[tuxisagamer]

You should be able to access your Windows partition from SteamOS. There are even 3rd party drivers to access Linux partitions from Windows. However, because the binary incomaptibilities between the Windows and Linux versions Steam downloads the full package including all textures etc.

I have both the Windows and Linux versions on my Linux box and they do not talk to each other except for SteamCloud.

[rukiyasu9]

Windows binaries can actually run on Linux using Wine, but Linux binaries have a series of incompatibility.
I'm not really sure, but I think even the partition type (normally EXT2) on Linux have influence on how the Linux binaries run.

Fortunately, SteamOS is Valve actually saying what everyone refuses to admit: you can't have control of Windows like you have of Linux; therefore, Windows cannot be optimised for games in legal ways i.e. by modding the kernel to run less unecessary processes.

[robaG]

normally EXT2? Its a bit old, don't you think?

[robaG]

I think most distro uses EXT3 and EXT4 by default...