A mention in this week's Steam Deck firmware patch notes has some observers speculating that Valve is preparing to release its well-regarded Linux build for third-party hardware....

One of the Steam Deck’s primary advantages over more powerful handheld gaming PCs is its operating system, which is designed to mimic a game console interface within a Linux PC environment. Valve has long planned to bring the OS to other devices, but a recent Steam Deck software update includes the first mention of a rival handheld.

  • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
    46·
    4 months ago

    Im excited for something like this as I would like to see more form factors. tv sticks, tablets, workstations, gaming laptops. I know anyone can do the last two but having a hardware vendor cover the software officialy is sorta a big thing

    • Blxter@lemmy.zipEnglish
      201·
      4 months ago

      Actually a steam tv stick would go crazy never thought of that. Extreme low latency PC streaming to tv.

        • teawrecks@sopuli.xyz
          14·
          4 months ago

          The Steam Link tried and succeeded at this. My guess is only technical people understood its use-case at the time. For hardware to do well on a large scale it needs to be standalone. You turn it on and immediately see the benefit of it. Can’t be dependent on the customer’s other hardware.

          • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
            3·
            4 months ago

            well it will help if you can get many of the same internet streaming apps you have with firetv stick and such. so people might just buy it to steam netflix and be part of the market outside of the ones using the game streaming.

        • fjordbasa@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          4 months ago

          It is, but Steam has a habit of iterating, maybe we’ll see an updated Steam Link- like device in the future?

            • InputZero
              7·
              4 months ago

              They didn’t abandon it, they opened it up to anything running at least Andriod 8.0 or newer. So basically every Andriod device made since 2015 can run Steam Link, maybe not at a quality seen as appropriate but it’ll run.

              • toastal
                5·
                4 months ago

                I wish we could stop with smart TVs. I want a dumb TV with a nice screen & my own hardware without worrying about the data collection

              • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
                2·
                4 months ago

                Steam link hardware was junk too.

                Just get something with android and you’ll have a better experience for all the rest of your TV stuff too.

        • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
          2·
          4 months ago

          Yes, but it really only works at low latency over a wired connection. It’s great for video or games where input lag isn’t a big deal.

        • Gamma@beehaw.orgEnglish
          1·
          4 months ago

          Loved that thing, I could play party games from downstairs with our 5ghz network. Made college weekends so much fun!

        • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
          1·
          4 months ago

          yeah and steam had a desktop I think but Im hoping it just sorta being cheaply licensed will work out better for that kind of thing.

        • Blxter@lemmy.zipEnglish
          1·
          4 months ago

          I believe so yes (tbh forgot it was a thing) but for example my smart TV does not have a steam link app available for some reason (LGC3) and I would definitely stream to it given the chance. Not sure why the steam app is not available.

  • passepartout@feddit.org
    26·
    4 months ago

    Oh yes please. I’d still buy a steam deck bc of their hardware support but nonetheless, this is great news for all those other released handhelds that are held back by windows.

  • MashedTech@lemmy.world
    12·
    4 months ago

    I want to see all of the handhelds that have poor performance because of Windows bloat move to SteamOS and see an improvement. This will be such a huge blow to microsoft, SteamOS will get a bigger market share, because for that form factor it is the best OS! And I hope that developers will make Linux more important in their list because of this. Gaming is slowly going to become even less important on Windows. I want fucking Microsoft to be forced to offer a better Windows experience. I want competition again! Right now, Microsoft can fuck everyone over because they can, I hope that won’t be the case anymore.

    • MashedTech@lemmy.world
      9·
      4 months ago

      And Valve because it doesn’t have investors that yell “More PROFIT RIGHT NOW”, they can play in the long game, which other companies cannot do, because of investor pressure. Investor pressure for quick profits is what causes companies to cannibalize themselves and their future success.

    • MashedTech@lemmy.world
      2·
      4 months ago

      Yes, but ideally it’s not just up to the enthusiasts. I feel like ideally this will become officially supported by the hardware vendor and in the future the default os on the device! That’s how you get market share and people to adopt it.

  • EvilBit@lemmy.world
    61·
    4 months ago

    I think they need to do this now before Microsoft does it first. Xbox is flailing and the daylight they can see from there is the Xbox/PC ecosystem. Turning Xbox from a box to a brand that merges PC and console into a fluid system would be the best way to pivot the market and put Sony on the back foot.