http://store.steampowered.com/livingroom/SteamOS/
Basically Linux with bundled Steam. Also will support streaming games from a Windows machine.
Valve announces SteamOS
_Bruce_ on 24/09/2013 - 07:31
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They have two more announcements over the next two weeks. As for streaming, gigabit home networks are pretty standard which should have no trouble at all (lossless at 1080p 60Hz). If you want to stream over wifi you can expect more loss.
This is all pretty much a solved problem, I can't see Valve doing anything that hasn't already been done.
It does suggest that the steam box could just be this (or similar):
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&p…Given that it doesn't have to do local rendering.
One has to hope that Valve are pumping NVidia and AMD for proper Linux driver support.
It's all very well to claim that users can upgrade hardware whenever they feel like, but NVidia and AMD need to come to the party with continuous improvement to their drivers for that dream to become a reality. The current state of sporadic updates from NVidia and virtual blindness to Linux from AMD wont provide the right experience.Valve directly probably don't need to do a lot, just having more people use it will have an effect.
Looks like Valve are trying to dodge the issue for now with streaming though. Also, intel has very good Linux support and I am very excited about the future of Iris Pro.
Dont worry, NVidia is kissing Linux's butt now, since both PS4 and XONE uses AMD GPU.
Very cool! They must be releasing their so called ' Steam box' very shortly then. Hopefully before the end of the year. I'd like to see some tests on the streaming of games from a windows pc with steam to the steam os box.