The "SMACH Z" AMD + Linux Gaming Handheld Just Got Canned, For Now

[theriddick]

I do wish AMD's marketshare was higher. This is just one more example of a person that obviously never tried the OSS drivers for himself and has no clue at all.Too bad. Ignorance doesn't sound like bliss at all.

Thats an incredibly selfish and bias viewpoint mate. I have used OSS drivers and when they aren't FREEZING my system they perform worse or NOT at all in the games I play. Please go take the OSS drivers and play ARMA3 for example, or warthunder, now come back and tell me how amazing it went......... Geezz....

[duby229]

Thats an incredibly selfish and bias viewpoint mate. I have used OSS drivers and when they aren't FREEZING my system they perform worse or NOT at all in the games I play. Please go take the OSS drivers and play ARMA3 for example, or warthunder, now come back and tell me how amazing it went......... Geezz....

That is exactly why Steam needs some kind of minimum requirement enforcement. There are tons of games that they do play just fine. In addition the experience of using them on a day to day basis for desktop usage is way the -f- better.

[theriddick]

The OSS drivers have a problem with DPM for the 290x and 390x which causes desktop freezing/crashing (this was true last time I tried them, last month). You can disable DPM but it appears to affect performance.

[ruthan]

Sorry guys but few hard facts:
1) Why Windows?
Because of 5x more games and even in your wildest dream Linux ports cant have similar performance, except few realy polished ones. It could boot also on Windows directly into Big Picture.
2) Android
- yes there are cheap Android handhelds with weak HW - best is GPD XL now, and one bulky 600g not mobile brick from Nvidia, there is room to conquer. There already x86 ports of all major android games - multi architecture building is easy on android.
3) Multiboot lots of partition - well its relative easy, partition per system and one big for all games. What would be nice from Steam is not copy same files for every OS, but reuse same files. I have installed zillion games for that one OS and 95 percent of data are same, its waste of storage.
4) Storage - i would be nicer if storage would be in some mSata, m2 upgradable format, because inevitable that price of SSD types of storage would fall down quickly, imagine such device with 512GB SSD for just 70,80 bucks extra.

[theriddick]

I use Windows 10 atm (MS security hacks disabled) because the Linux AMD drivers are crap for me and my 390x. I have put allot of effort into getting them working also, the biggest issue is I run everything at 4k which needs good drivers. When I had my 980GTX I was getting pretty good performance in Linux (but no vsync which was sad due to 30fps limit issue)

[Adarion]

And thread revival. I recently rediscovered some communication about the Smach Z I had on Kickstarter and thought to check what had become after they submarined. And lo and behold, there was still activity. Today I discovered news on the media that they're trying to get back on track, found an investor, show a prototype at an exhibition and then try additional crowdfunding again. There are also a few tech specs available on

http://smachz.com/

German readers might be interested in

http://www.golem.de/news/smach-z-steam-handheld-mit-1080p-display-und-amd-chip-erscheint-2017-1608-122449.html