SteamOS 3.6 Preview Released With Linux 6.5, Updated Arch Linux & Mesa 24.1

[chocolate]

I just checked Bazzite and imo it just makes Valve's Steam OS unexciting.

Tried it not long ago, and it comes with a first boot experience thingie that proposes to "bow to capitalism" when suggesting some productivity programs.
No thanks, others are free to have their distro managed by unemployed, capricious kids; I want my gaming machine to be decent. Looking forward to SteamOS hitting general availability. If I have to put up with a mix of FOSS and proprietary, I want official support from the guys I'm already giving hundreds of euros a year to.

[user1]

Tried it not long ago, and it comes with a first boot experience thingie that proposes to "bow to capitalism" when suggesting some productivity programs.

Wdym? Do they promote proprietary software for productivity?

My only complain about it is that it ships with some "not very sane defaults" like Ptyxis terminal on the KDE variant - it's a GTK terminal which isn't even officialy released yet.

Personally, I myself don't need these kinds of distros (currently using Aeon), but to me, Bazzite overally looks more exciting than SteamOS.

[chocolate]

Wdym? Do they promote proprietary software for productivity?

My only complain about it is that it ships with some "not very sane defaults" like Ptyxis terminal on the KDE variant - it's a GTK terminal which isn't even officialy released yet.

Personally, I myself don't need these kinds of distros (currently using Aeon), but to me, Bazzite overally looks more exciting than SteamOS.

Upon booting into a Bazzite system for the first time, a wizard they seemingly built proposes some popular programs to complete the installation: "bow to capitalism" is the description above the productivity section. This doesn't have to do with suggested software being proprietary; I don't mind, it's the distro's nature to make proprietary software such as Steam, as well as games, work fine.
Rather, the implication is that, for you to do any productive work, you're bowing to capitalism. Suddenly, the whole system screams "put together by cretins".

[user1]

Upon booting into a Bazzite system for the first time, a wizard they seemingly built proposes some popular programs to complete the installation: "bow to capitalism" is the description above the productivity section.".

Oh, I see now. That's really stupid. Why would they think office and productivity only equates to capitalism? What if someone does productivity as a freelancer or something? Or not even for profit?
It also makes the distro look unprofessional.

It took me literally half an hour to understand what you mean and go to YouTube to see how the wizard looks like, because I couldn't imagine someone would equate office and productivity to capitalism.

[bple2137]

6.5 is not LTS, 6.6 is...

So wasn’t 5.13 that they kept for like 2 years long after its EOL, and it was the kernel version that could be spotted in early reviews months before SD shipped. They probably avoid any upstream patches anyway or apply/backport them manually.

I like how everyone was thinking that SteamOS will get rapid updates quickly since it’s based of rolling release, meanwhile it’s just as conservative as some LTS distros if not more.

[scratchi]

So wasn’t 5.13 that they kept for like 2 years long after its EOL, and it was the kernel version that could be spotted in early reviews months before SD shipped. They probably avoid any upstream patches anyway or apply/backport them manually.

I like how everyone was thinking that SteamOS will get rapid updates quickly since it’s based of rolling release, meanwhile it’s just as conservative as some LTS distros if not more.

Right, I'm not saying they should use LTS kernel, my post was just highlighting error in the article that said 6.5 LTS kernel as per the quote, but that's been corrected in the article now so my post no longer has context. Carry on

[Luke_Wolf]

I just checked Bazzite and imo it just makes Valve's Steam OS unexciting. First, many components in Steam OS are outdated, like kernel 6.5, Bazzite comes with Nvidia drivers preinstalled, it also offers 2 iso - one with Gnome and another with KDE and has other stuff that doesn't come with SteamOS.
After checking their front page, I don't understand how can anyone still be excited about SteamOS becoming generally available for everyone.

The real excitement for SteamOS general availability has nothing to do with personal usage but with companies like ASUS, Razor, etc being able to partner with Valve and create further building momentum for Linux as a gaming platform rather than building platforms like the Ally that undermine it.

[dylanmtaylor]

I just checked Bazzite and imo it just makes Valve's Steam OS unexciting. First, many components in Steam OS are outdated, like kernel 6.5, Bazzite comes with Nvidia drivers preinstalled, it also offers 2 iso - one with Gnome and another with KDE and has other stuff that doesn't come with SteamOS.
After checking their front page, I don't understand how can anyone still be excited about SteamOS becoming generally available for everyone.

Yeah, I've been running the Bazzite GNOME deck image and it's extremely impressive. Valve's Linux efforts are still very appreciated, of course

[mdedetrich]

I also don't understand how they could pick 6.5 when it doesn't get any support at all from upstream.

Because its irrelevant, the Steam Deck is a vertically integrated device (i.e. Value controls the OS/kernel with a specific hardware configuration) which means that if Valve needs and support from newer kernel versions they just hot patch it (which they have done many times, particularly when it comes to graphics/driver fixes) and any kind of support Valve handles directly.

[mdedetrich]

I like how everyone was thinking that SteamOS will get rapid updates quickly since it’s based of rolling release, meanwhile it’s just as conservative as some LTS distros if not more.

The kernel version is more conservative which makes complete sense given how somewhat common regressions are in the linux kernel, especially for fast moving parts such as the graphics stack,

The packages are still very much rolling release