This is what i think SteamOS will be...
For me, SteamOS will be something like this:
1) Steam will be Gaming centered....but don't be afraid...read on...
2) Installation process in already existing machines will use the Big Picture concept...
The user also will be very limited in the number of options and info needed to be provided that its needed to install it...this is a very good thing in special for Win Users / Linux Newbies (notice i don't call them Noobs... people sometimes confuse both thinking are the same, they aren't...a Newbie is someone new to a thing but that wants to learn about it....a Noob is someone new to a thing and that refuses/discards/makes_a_mockery_about learning about it)
3) Boot will go straight to Big Picture mode...
In this mode it WON'T use X, Mir, Wayland , WHATEVER...its all about gaming maybe with some special new app from Valve/3rd party for Music, Movies (i'm thinking Amazon (possibly), iTunes(don't think so) , NetFlix or similar here)...
4) ...but in that Big Picture mode will be there an option to shutdown BPM and go to regular X (for now) plus Gnome/XFCE/whatever to work ALMOST as a standard Linux machine...in this mode it probably will use FLOSS graphic drivers...it will HOWEVER, have limited "command line" (i use this expression because Window$ users ) capacity if any at all to prevent newbies / noobs from screw up installation ...or maybe it will...
This is the mode for you install/use things like LibreOffice and the like
5) As for Web browsing, email, etc. i dunno if it will be in part of regular Linux session or if it will be integrated in Big Picture...possibly the later and as it will possibly be also DVD playback
6) Talking about video drivers...i wonder if is possible AMD/NVIDIA blobs in big Picture mode and then switch to FLOSS for Linux Regular Mode...
As for distribution of blobs...they could be installed from a 2nd (ISO) disk (image) or directly from the Net avoiding any GPL problems...
Or... maybe by launch time FLOSS drivers are in a adequate state of performance ? i doubt....but they sure had improve lately and because console will only ship next year or so it seems, it might be possible...
AMD seemed to be hiring new blood in their official Linux driver team or so i think i understood about sometime ago news...
As for SteamBox machines...
Yes, it will use an APU from AMD or APU-like from Intel (Intel kinda have now also APUs).
I pretty much doubt it will have a regular GPU...
In any case, there should be some *clearly recommended minimum* hardware guide lines to any one interested to build (their own) SteamBox hardware...
For me, SteamOS will be something like this:
1) Steam will be Gaming centered....but don't be afraid...read on...
2) Installation process in already existing machines will use the Big Picture concept...
The user also will be very limited in the number of options and info needed to be provided that its needed to install it...this is a very good thing in special for Win Users / Linux Newbies (notice i don't call them Noobs... people sometimes confuse both thinking are the same, they aren't...a Newbie is someone new to a thing but that wants to learn about it....a Noob is someone new to a thing and that refuses/discards/makes_a_mockery_about learning about it)
3) Boot will go straight to Big Picture mode...
In this mode it WON'T use X, Mir, Wayland , WHATEVER...its all about gaming maybe with some special new app from Valve/3rd party for Music, Movies (i'm thinking Amazon (possibly), iTunes(don't think so) , NetFlix or similar here)...
4) ...but in that Big Picture mode will be there an option to shutdown BPM and go to regular X (for now) plus Gnome/XFCE/whatever to work ALMOST as a standard Linux machine...in this mode it probably will use FLOSS graphic drivers...it will HOWEVER, have limited "command line" (i use this expression because Window$ users ) capacity if any at all to prevent newbies / noobs from screw up installation ...or maybe it will...
This is the mode for you install/use things like LibreOffice and the like
5) As for Web browsing, email, etc. i dunno if it will be in part of regular Linux session or if it will be integrated in Big Picture...possibly the later and as it will possibly be also DVD playback
6) Talking about video drivers...i wonder if is possible AMD/NVIDIA blobs in big Picture mode and then switch to FLOSS for Linux Regular Mode...
As for distribution of blobs...they could be installed from a 2nd (ISO) disk (image) or directly from the Net avoiding any GPL problems...
Or... maybe by launch time FLOSS drivers are in a adequate state of performance ? i doubt....but they sure had improve lately and because console will only ship next year or so it seems, it might be possible...
AMD seemed to be hiring new blood in their official Linux driver team or so i think i understood about sometime ago news...
As for SteamBox machines...
Yes, it will use an APU from AMD or APU-like from Intel (Intel kinda have now also APUs).
I pretty much doubt it will have a regular GPU...
In any case, there should be some *clearly recommended minimum* hardware guide lines to any one interested to build (their own) SteamBox hardware...
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