Originally posted by blackout24:

Originally posted by Shark:

It's Debian, we'll figure out how to make a desktop os out of SteamOS.

It comes with the Gnome Desktop already but probably only until it's out of Beta. I don't think commercial versions on Steam Machines will have this features in the future.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTU0MzY

I think it will still be an option for Vanilla SteamOS. However, I can see specific manufacturers not putting a desktop in at all or putting a different one in.

Originally posted by ZuluPilot:

I'll give it a shot on my old piece of crap AMD powered notebook that can't even manage Big Picture Mode without lag. That should give me some wonderful results ;).

I will be doing the same tomorrow. Hopefully I can install the propietery AMD driver and be alright.

I will be installing it tomorrow.

Originally posted by mr. crono:

http://i.imgur.com/FTHtUfo.jpg

First real email?

Possibly.

Originally posted by Papua New Guinea:

Originally posted by tuxisagamer:

That's 2 pm Papa New Guinea Standard Time.

what do you mean?

Its a joke. Saying the P was not for Pacific.

Originally posted by Dekes:

It must be 2pm pst + valve time.

That's 2 pm Papa New Guinea Standard Time.

Scumbag Activision!

There are regulatory hurdles both in the exporting country and the importing country. When you are shipping thousands of units the cost is not prohibitive but to ship less than 300 units could be.

Originally posted by Zerik:

Originally posted by Kye:

I doubt that the steam client will be open source

i think it might be open source because i saw a video stating that the os and the steam controller a were going to be modder friendly

The OS will be open source but I doubt that the client will be.

I'm betting that it will lack considerable polish especially during the installation step. I remember what it was like to install Redhat 5. Not RHEL 5 but Redhat 5.

Crosses fingers, strokes rabbits foot, kisses wife and daughter. Let it be me let it be me.

Originally posted by StevenRaith:

Yellow is correct. As are the pops and crackles on the overrun...

Anyway, back to the OS stuff, as ReBoot noted, it's utterly imperative that for the average home user (who, if this is to take off, would have to buy these systems - they wouldn't install it themselves, period) SteamOS is utterly simple to use. Having a windowing system included and other boggo OS things just doesn't fit with the whole underTV concept - if it kept accidentally going into a windowed system, they'd just go back to their PS3/Xbox/etc. If it's meant to be a games machine, leave it as a games machine.

Which isn't to say it won't have a non BigPicture windowing system (bits of the Steam commit code thing as found by Fork on these forums suggest there is a command to 'go to desktop') but it's probably best to keep that hidden away from most users.

Those of us who want to fiddle, or fork off the FLOSS bits of SteamOS to include a windowing system to make it an all round, if perhaps basic, desktop OS (assuming that the scheduler used etc are OK with that) can likely do it. Everyone else just doesn't need to know.

Think the 'other OS' feature on the PS3 - before they pulled it, natch. Ignored by 99% of users, but an interesting aside for the 1% of us who find that sort of thing fun.

I remember OtherOS and how pissed I was at Sony over FW 4.21.

Originally posted by StevenRaith:

Originally posted by ReBoot:

Nice analogy :p2chell:

I'm a petrolhead, I like car analogies.

Ironically, for all this talk of dropping in V8s, etc, I drive this:
https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/s720x720/971575_10200957762403311_532950968_n.jpg

Which is a hilarious little hot hatch. 1.7 litre, 85% of it's torque from near idle, revs to 6750rpm (making it's peak power at 6500 - all, cough, 125hp of it) and it's in the most stupid yellow colour ever.

If I could find a good excuse to talk cars on here, I'd never stop. Ever. ;)

I understood tha the car was yellow.

Bear in mind thought that the SteamOS build shown off was unfinished. What was available at the demonstration and what will be in the initial public release are not necessarily the same thing.