I would expect at very least a recovery image for the Deck to be available on Monday. Whether it will be made to work on other hardware from day 1 I don't know.

Originally posted by alkazar:

SteamOS 3.0 will not support Nvidia because of gamescope.
gamescope requires certain Vulkan extensions which Nvidia does not have in their drivers.

This is the biggest point. The default configuration for SteamOS doesn't work right on Nvidia drivers, so even if the SteamOS system images include Nvidia drivers, they won't work properly until at least Nvidia 515 series in late March or April (at best, Nvidia hasn't given a timeline on adding the extensions Gamescope requires, could be longer or never).

I much prefer Gnome myself and it's definitely faster and *much* more stable, but both are fine for how the Deck uses it. It's basically just for users who want to use it as a desktop or laptop system and I think most people will have the best experience just sticking to the default Steam interface and never going to the desktop. I'd rather get my phone out or something if I need to check something online than deal with navigating either KDE or Gnome on the Steam Deck touchpad and controls.

Originally posted by Zeikos13:

Originally posted by gibblets:

Just because it's Arch based doesn't mean it's rolling release. For a game console you need stability, they are using Arch tooling and such but are likely going to use their own repositories, similar to how SteamOS 1 & 2 did not pull directly from Debian updates.

You must think differently, this will never be like a game console, since there are always new games where the graphics drivers must always be relatively recent, therefore rolling releases are better that fixed versions like debian has. This is still more like a PC than a console. Still, of course it can be that i'm wrong and you are right, but i think that's the case why they switched to arch, to get better driver support, which in the end counts for games.

Game consoles also get frequent updates. Just because it's going to be like a console doesn't mean it's like a PS2 or something before updates were a thing. Valve heavily supports and funds the mesa/RADV graphics stack so you can be assured it will always have the latest (stable) drivers, probably with new features and hardware specific tweaks ported early.

Originally posted by King Dude:

I think that the rolling releases would benefit Steam OS.

Just because it's Arch based doesn't mean it's rolling release. For a game console you need stability, they are using Arch tooling and such but are likely going to use their own repositories, similar to how SteamOS 1 & 2 did not pull directly from Debian updates.

Since SteamOS basically *is* Big Picture Mode, it basically just toggles the overlay when in game. When you aren't in a game you're already in BP mode so there's nothing for it to do.

There's some rumors that a SteamOS 3 will come out at some point (with some key Valve-developed projects like Gamescope being very useful for SteamOS), but as it is SteamOS 2 isn't updated much anymore. I would probably try out that GamerOS thing if you want a TV-connected machine at least until SteamOS 3 comes out.

Do you have secure boot enabled on your motherboard?

Make sure your motherboard is set to boot to EFI/UEFI and that Secure Boot is disabled. If both of those are true then there may be something wrong with how you made the flash drive.

Originally posted by SireDragonChester:

Sorry I know this bit of old topic now, and as Window 7 users (Slowly learning Linux) and love that devs are pushing more for Path tracing/RT.. Its possible on almost any OS (Windows/Linux or even Mac) Dev just need support it and strong enough hardware to do it..

Ray Tracing/Path tracing (Global illumination) is possible even on GTX/AMD RX 580+ gpus. its more less up-to the dev and game company if they wish to do it or not.

CryTek proved that while back with they Neon Noir Ray Tracing Benchmark one while back on Vega 56. I remember seeing same video showing it was running on Vega 56/Vulkan api, but cant find it.. Maybe mis-read it.

https://www.techspot.com/news/79221-much-rtx-crytek-reveals-real-time-ray-tracing.html

you can download the demo yourself ( you need Register with email (Its free) and it download its own launcher (Yes pita but its small)

https://www.cryengine.com/marketplace/product/neon-noir
(please note this for windows only, No idea if work under Linux/Steam Os)

Test it myself and got very good results on new Built R7 2700x, x470 Mobo, 16 GB GDDR4 3200 mhz, GTX 1080ti, Windows 7. 1 TB SSD

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/495731816662171658/656403505434853396/Sire-Crytek-RT1.jpg

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/495731816662171658/656403603476578305/Sire-Crytek-RT-4-2700x-16gb-GTX1080ti-win7-64.jpg

and here screenshot Minecraft Java running one Path tracing modes on same system
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/495731816662171658/643313592711512085/Sire-Java-MC-1.14-4-R-2700x-GTX-1080ti-.jpg

Would Love see somebody try run some game with Path tracing/Ray tracing under Linux and see how well it works.. What we need is see what AMD does for next RDNA gpus and hopefully AMD will (I suspect they will) at some point officially add driver that offers hopefully better RT/Path tracing options for DX 11/12/Vulkan api and even openGl

so YES, Un-officially, Its devs who supporting more now.. Then Nvidia jump on board and tried trick consumer they need to buy over priced RTX/Super RTX gpus, When in fact its possible on older hardware. Just devs didn't push it on older vega/Polaris (AMD) or on pascal GTX cards.
We could have seen a few games on older AMD/Nvida GTX with Path tracing.. But no dev bother to optimizes for it.. Thus why its sucks most, cuz Nvida want you buy over priced RTX.

Nvida wants you think its ONLY possible on RTX.

Lets hope in 2020, We see more dev push for vulkan api/Path tracing and more games for Linux.. but that wishful hoping..

-Sire
Ps I'm slowly wanting move over Linux too, Dual booting windows 7/Pop OS (Linux) atm..

Nvidia has never said it was only possible on RTX, even their official demonstration was comparing it to decades old ray tracing as used in films. They didn't invent it or act like they did. They were just the first to build dedicated hardware that can do it at realtime framerates. It's not even new technology. They're just doing it faster than previous hardware could, that's all there is to it.