Steam Universe RSS Feed

SteamOS: Unresponsive Steam Controller after recent Beta update

Pierre-Loup — Thu, 24 Nov 2016 05:28:31 +0000

If you have been experiencing issues with the Steam Controller after the 11/22 Steam client Beta update, please follow these steps to install the latest SteamOS hotfix:

If using the controller wirelessly, make sure to connect it to your SteamOS system using a micro-USB cable; if the controller was powered on, you might need to disconnect and reconnect the USB cable once to switch to wired operation
Sign in to your Steam account
Navigate to Settings -> System using the analog stick and press the "Check for SteamOS updates" button
Wait until the update icon stops spinning
Navigate back to the home screen with the B button
Find the SteamOS update message in the Inbox envelope, and apply the update

Problems can include total loss of input (if wireless) or inability to configure the controller (if wired). The update can also be installed with a keyboard or another type of controller.

Please note: Restarting your Steam Machine does not automatically apply updates.

Introducing SteamOS "brewmaster"

jvert — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 23:07:26 +0000

Valve is pleased to announce the preview of the next SteamOS release, codenamed "brewmaster" and based on the latest Debian 8.1 stable release.

Please note that this is a very early preview release and we have done only limited hardware compatibility and functional testing. We are releasing this early to get feedback from the community. You should not install brewmaster on any machine containing data you are not prepared to lose completely.

Although there are a lot of changes under the covers, the overall functionality and experience of brewmaster is the same as alchemist and most of the SteamOS FAQ applies to both releases.

FAQ

Q. Where can I download the brewmaster installer?
A. ISO (for legacy systems) ZIP (for UEFI systems)

Q. How do I install brewmaster?
A. See "How do I install SteamOS?" in the SteamOS FAQ. The process is the same for both brewmaster and alchemist releases.

Q. How do I upgrade alchemist to brewmaster?
A. Upgrade is not supported. You will need to completely reinstall.

Q. How does this affect my existing SteamOS alchemist installation?
A. There is no change to alchemist support yet. For now, we will continue updating alchemist with the relevant security updates and Steam will continue to support alchemist. At some point we will drop support for alchemist and only support brewmaster.

Q. What version of the Linux kernel does brewmaster use?
A. The brewmaster kernel is based on the 3.18 LTS kernel with additional SteamOS patches. The kernel sources can be found in the steamos_kernel[github.com] repository.

Q. How do I give feedback or report bugs in brewmaster?
A. Please post on the SteamOS Discussion Forum, or file an issue in the SteamOS issue tracker[github.com].

Q. What kind of issues should I report?
A. We are especially interested in any regressions in hardware compatibility or Steam games. If it worked in alchemist and doesn't work in brewmaster, let us know!

Steam Hardware is now available for pre-purchase with early delivery

Christen — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 17:22:55 +0000

PC gaming is all about customer choice, and it’s with that spirit in mind that we’re happy to announce that Steam Machines, the Steam Controller, and the Steam Link will not only be sold as bundles, but separately as well. This means you can buy a Steam Controller now and grab a Steam Machine later, or a Steam Link now and a Steam Controller later. As always, you choose how you want to play.

Starting today, in the US, Canada, and most of the EU, you can now pre-order the Steam Controller, Steam Link, and select Steam Machines. If you pre-order now (either on Steam or at your friendly neighborhood game store), we’ll deliver your Steam products in mid-October – weeks before our official launch.

One last thing: Until you can hold the controller in your hands and experience it for yourself, we hope you’ll have a look at our new controller demo video for more detail about everything the Steam Controller can do.

SteamOS update 159 released

jvert — Wed, 06 May 2015 20:43:44 +0000

We have just updated the released alchemist repository. This is the same content that was pushed to alchemist_beta last week.

The changes include an updated NVIDIA driver, updated branding, and the latest security updates.

Note that older NVIDIA video cards (G8x, G9x, and GT2xx GPUs, and motherboard chipsets based on them) are no longer supported by this NVIDIA driver, and therefore will NOT work with SteamOS

Updated SteamOS installers and and updated image are available at http://repo.steampowered.com/download with the following MD5 signatures:
66ab128367e03e49548bb5b20f475eb2 SteamOSDVD.iso
45fd66bb1c2281fa9874bb5a32111f09 SteamOSImage.zip
722a4cafc7f3eac54ffb7523f47e9612 SteamOSInstaller.zip

PC gaming is expanding

Christen — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 19:51:00 +0000

This November, we're bringing everything that makes the PC great—the best games, the biggest communities, and the most exciting technologies—to new destinations.

For more information, visit http://store.steampowered.com/universe

SteamOS update 153 released

jvert — Wed, 14 Jan 2015 23:24:33 +0000

We have just updated the released alchemist repository. This is the same content that was pushed to alchemist_beta last week.

Updated NVIDIA drivers to 343.22
Updated AMD graphics driver to 14.9
Linux kernel rebased against 3.10.60
Improved performance of timing system calls for 32-bit applications by backporting i386 VDSO changes from upstream kernel and adding eglibc support for them
Fixed "XCOM: Enemy Unknown" not focusing on startup

Security fixes and upstream updates:

axis - Debian 7.7 update
base-files - Debian 7.7 update
bind9 - CVE-2014-8500
ca-certificates - Debian 7.7 update
curl - CVE-2014-3707
dbus - CVE-2014-7824
debian-archive-keyring - Debian 7.7 update
debootstrap - latest upstream release
elfutils - Debian 7.7 update
exim4 - Debian 7.7 update
file - CVE-2014-3710
flac - CVE-2014-8962, CVE-2014-9028
hawtjni - Debian 7.7 update
iceweasel - latest upstream version, fixes CVE-2014-1587, CVE-2014-1590, CVE-2014-1592, CVE-2014-1593, CVE-2014-1594
iso-scan - Debian 7.7 update
jasper - CVE-2014-8137, CVE-2014-8138, CVE-2014-9029
keyutils - Debian 7.7 update
libdrm - Debian 7.7 update
libevent - CVE-2014-6272
libgcrypt11 - CVE-2014-5270
libtasn1-3 - Debian 7.7 update
libvdpau - Debian 7.7 update
libxml2 - CVE-2014-3660
mime-support - CVE-2014-7209
mysql-5.5 - CVE-2012-5615 CVE-2014-4274 CVE-2014-4287 CVE-2014-6463 CVE-2014-6464 CVE-2014-6469 CVE-2014-6478 CVE-2014-6484 CVE-2014-6491 CVE-2014-6494 CVE-2014-6495 CVE-2014-6496 CVE-2014-6500 CVE-2014-6505 CVE-2014-6507 CVE-2014-6520 CVE-2014-6530 CVE-2014-6551 CVE-2014-6555 CVE-2014-6559
net-snmp - Debian 7.7 update
netcfg - Debian 7.7 update
nss - CVE-2014-1568, CVE-2014-1569
ntp - CVE-2014-9293, CVE-2014-9294, CVE-2014-9295, CVE-2014-9296
perl - Debian 7.7 update
postgresql-9.1 - Debian 7.7 update
tzdata - Debian 7.7 update
unzip - CVE-2014-8139, CVE-2014-8140, CVE-2014-8141
xdg-utils - Debian 7.7 update

New packages (based on requests from this thread http://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamuniverse/discussions/1/619568793815429172/)

cifs-utils
gksu
libgksu
libmng
nas
qtwebkit
screen
tig

Updated installers are also available at http://repo.steampowered.com/download with the following MD5 signatures:

223022db23d66070f959e464ad2da376 /var/www/download/SteamOSDVD.iso
7f926c3ef959316e13b4ef21ab7bab23 /var/www/download/SteamOSInstaller.zip

SteamOS Update: Easily discover the games you can play

Christen — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 19:19:00 +0000

We’ve heard some feedback from users about shopping for and playing games on SteamOS. It can be tricky to determine which Steam games are best-suited to your setup, and the matrix of elements which contribute to this equation is ever-expanding. What OS am I running? What type of input am I using? Do I have an active In-Home Streaming connection?

Each of these details can be used to help guide you to the content that’s most relevant to you right now. So we’ve updated the Big Picture Store and Library interfaces in our most recent SteamOS and Steam Client Betas to take advantage of this information. The system detects your current OS, input devices, and the OS of your remote Streaming host, if one exists, and it uses the information to dynamically present you with the content you want to see.

When navigating Big Picture mode with a traditional gamepad, the Steam Store is now optimized to showcase controller-friendly games. When browsing the Store in Big Picture mode on SteamOS, Linux, or OS X, the Store displays content designed for your OS. When you have an active In-Home Streaming connection to another machine, the content designed for its OS is also displayed.

Our playtests have shown us that this guided shopping experience works best for most users when browsing our catalog from a device that can’t always run everything available on Steam. Steam has thousands of titles on offer, so it stands to reason that users would prefer an interface which helps them easily find the ones they can play “right here, right now.”

For those SteamOS and Big Picture users who want to keep a broader eye on all New Releases, Specials, and the like, we’ve got you covered too. We know many Steam customers play games on multiple machines, often with different operating systems and input devices. So we’ve also created an advanced option that lets these users quickly swap between viewing all content and locally playable content while shopping. You’ll find this under the new Store Settings in Big Picture mode and SteamOS.

Fig 1. When navigating the Store with a Steam Controller, featured items are limited to Steam Machine-friendly content. A new Store setting allows advanced users to easily switch between viewing these items and everything available on Steam.

Either way, you’ll find we’ve added tips to the Store, letting you know when a game requires an additional keyboard and mouse, or a streaming connection, in order to play it on your current machine.

In the Big Picture Library, the default view now shows you the collection of games you can play locally. But don’t worry - you can still easily view everything else in your Steam Library here, too.

Give the changes a try after you opt into our Beta and let us know what you think of the new simplified shopping experience. If you’re a user who wants to keep an eye on All Things Steam, give the advanced option a try. We’d love to hear what you think of being able to quickly swap between locally playable and all content available on Steam.

SteamOS update 145 released

jvert — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 19:33:21 +0000

We have just updated the released alchemist repository. This is the same content that was pushed to alchemist_beta last week.

SteamOS Updates

e2fsprogs - latest upstream version
geoclue - latest upstream changes
libdrm - latest upstream release
linux - Improved out-of-the-box support for DualShock 3 and 4
nspr, nss - update to latest from jessie to support chrome
plymouth - merge latest upstream and add script support for system update notifications
plymouth-themes-steamos - implement progress bar while applying updates at shutdown
steamos-autoupdate - handle multiple steam PIDs
steamos-compositor - Fix Planetary Annihilation freezing on startup. Fix cursor
unattended-upgrades - notify plymouth about system update progress

Security Updates from Debian

acpi-support - CVE-2014-0484
apt - CVE-2014-0487, CVE-2014-0488, CVE-2014-7206, CVE-2014-6273
bash - CVE-2014-6271 ("shellshock" bug)
bind9 - CVE-2014-0591
curl - CVE-2014-3613
dbus - CVE-2014-3635,CVE-2014-3636,
file - CVE-2014-0207, CVE-2014-0237,
gnupg - CVE-2014-5270
iceweasel - CVE-2014-1562, CVE-2014-1567, CVE-2014-1568/mfsa2014-73
lua5.1 - CVE-2014-5461
nss - CVE-2014-1568
openssl - CVE-2014-3513, CVE-2014-3567, CVE-2014-3568
python-imaging - CVE-2014-3589
rsyslog - CVE-2014-3634
wpa - CVE-2014-3686

Added new packages to repo.steampowered.com/steamos repository

libappindicator, libdbusmenu, libindicate, libindicator, xdg-utils - new packages to support chrome
python2.6 - added to support python-pip
strace - added to support debugging
bash-completion
file-roller
gedit
htop
iotop
lsof
nautilus-open-terminal
pastebinit
python-pip
zip

Updated installers are also available at http://repo.steampowered.com/download with the following MD5 signatures:

e0583f17ea8f6d5307b74a0d28a99a5e /var/www/download/SteamOSDVD.iso
a43ce5a25cde80096782ef01230be6f8 /var/www/download/SteamOSInstaller.zip

Steam Machines Update

Axiom — Tue, 27 May 2014 23:14:19 +0000

We've been getting emails from the Steam community asking us how our in-development Steam Machines are coming along. It's great that you're excited about it, and we know you appreciate it when we keep you in the loop on stuff like this, so we wanted to give you all a quick update.

We’re now using wireless prototype controllers to conduct live playtests, with everyone from industry professionals to die-hard gamers to casual gamers. It's generating a ton of useful feedback, and it means we'll be able to make the controller a lot better. Of course, it's also keeping us pretty busy making all those improvements. Realistically, we're now looking at a release window of 2015, not 2014.

Obviously we're just as eager as you are to get a Steam Machine in your hands. But our number one priority is making sure that when you do, you'll be getting the best gaming experience possible. We hope you'll be patient with us while we get there. Until then, we’ll continue to post updates as we have more stories to share.

As always, we love getting feedback on the Steam Machine and Steam controller from the community. After all, you're the people we want to be happiest when we release them.

Feel free to continue posting your thoughts and suggestions to the Steam Universe discussion group.

SteamOS update 105 released

jvert — Thu, 08 May 2014 16:20:36 +0000

We have just updated the released alchemist repository. This is the same content that was pushed to alchemist_beta last week.

upstream iceweasel browser security updates
AMD driver update to match latest released driver (14.4)
Added script to retrieve system serial number to enable hardware promo scenarios
Upstream (Debian 7.5) updates for base-files, debian-installer, lcms2, libquvi-scripts, libsoup2.4, libxml2, samba, dpkg
Added unzip, git, cgdb and rsync to the repository
Added missing SSL certificate authorities package.
Added Realtek r8168 driver.
Added support for more Intel WiFi adapters.

Updated installers are also available at http://repo.steampowered.com/download with the following MD5 signatures:

SteamOSDVD.iso b2454c66d765341ebe3b442ab6c730ae
SteamOSInstaller.zip b61f52738ef543e5cf3ab76eca30775a