Valve's SteamOS available for download Friday 13th December

[Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp]

Valve’s SteamOS should be available for download later today (Friday 13th December 2013)

You’ll be able to get it here:
http://www.getsteamos.com/

Valve say it’s only for “seasoned Linux hackers” and is still a little rough around the edges … people wanting the polished finished item should probably wait till 2014 … but if you want a looksee…

[Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp]

Hmm … still waiting.

[system]

Hmm .. still waiting.

So am I, I’m kinda curious

[Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp]

OK it’s available now, but not at the place they said it would be :

Interesting bit of info from OMG! Ubuntu:-

@OMG! Ubuntu

Though there was early speculation that SteamOS would be based on Ubuntu given Valve’s heavy testing of the Steam client on the Ubuntu desktop and the existence of apt repositories, the OS appears to be Debian-based – specifically on the Wheezy 7.1 release from June. In the SteamOS FAQ Valve say that Debian allowed them “to deliver a fully custom SteamOS experience” that Ubuntu ostensibly couldn’t, despite recommending it for desktop Linux users otherwise.

First READ THE FAQ:

SteamOS FAQ :: Steam Universe

As it’s still in Beta, and isn’t an ISO image.

Then you can download either version at these links:-

SteamOS System Restore Image:
http://repo.steampowered.com/download/SYSRESTORE.zip
(2.4GB)

SteamOS Debian Installer:
http://repo.steampowered.com/download/SteamOSInstaller.zip
(960MB)

Repository here:
http://repo.steampowered.com/download/

@SteamOS FAQ

Q: How do I install SteamOS?

There are two different install methods for SteamOS. ‘’‘WARNING: BOTH METHODS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON THE MACHINE’‘’

The easiest method is an image-based install using CloneZilla. You will need to create a SteamOS System Restore USB stick to perform this install. The image provided here requires at least a 1TB disk.

• Format a 4GB or larger USB stick with the FAT32 filesystem. Use "SYSRESTORE" as the partition name
  

• Unzip the contents of SYSRESTORE.zip to this USB stick to create the System Restore USB stick
  

• Put the System Restore USB stick in your target machine. Boot your machine and tell the BIOS to boot off the stick. (usually      something like F8, F11 or F12 will bring up the BIOS boot menu).
  

• Make sure you select the UEFI entry, it may look something like "UEFI: Patriot Memory PMAP"
  

• Select "Restore Entire Disk" from the GRUB menu.
  

• System Restore will proceed automatically. When it is complete it will reboot into your freshly re-imaged SteamOS
  

The second method is based on the Debian Installer. It requires multiple configuration steps:

• Unzip the SteamOSInstaller.zip file to a blank, FAT32-formatted USB stick.
  

• Put the USB stick in your target machine. Boot your machine and tell the BIOS to boot off the stick. (usually something like F8, F11, or F12 will bring up the BIOS boot menu).
  

• Make sure you select the UEFI entry, it may look something like "UEFI: Patriot Memory PMAP"
  

• Pick "Automated Install" from the next menu.
  

• The rest of the installation is unattended and will repartition the drive and install SteamOS.
  

• After installation is complete, log onto the resulting system (using the Gnome session) with the predefined "steam" account. The password is "steam". Run steam, accept the EULA, and let it bootstrap. Logoff the steam account
  

• Log on with the "desktop" account. The password is "desktop"
  

• From a terminal window, run ~/post_logon.sh. This will prompt for a password - enter "desktop". This script will perform the post-install customizations, delete itself, then reboot into the recovery partition capture utility.
  

• Confirm "y" to continue and the recovery partition will be created. When it is finished, reboot into your freshly installed SteamOS
  

Official system requirements are:

64-bit processor
4GB or more of memory
500GB disk
NVIDIA graphics card (AMD and Intel coming soon)
UEFI boot support

–

[galaxytdm]

Holy crap did I read that correctly?
This os requires 1tb of disc space.
Surely that’s a typo and should be 1gb.

SGS 2 and Tapatalk are awesome.

[Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp]

As the official spec says 500GB I’m guessing that’s a requirement for the hardware OEM’s for manufacturing a SteamBox … so there’s plenty of room for games … not the requirements for the OS

[chemicalfan]

I’m not too impressed with this “beta” affair, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. What we’re looking at here, is the OS that will run on a Steambox, not a new Linux distro. It may be heavily based on Linux, but so is Android and DD-WRT (ok, it’s closer to a desktop Linux than those, but my point stands). The required specs are those of a Steambox, not specifically “any old PC”. And it makes sense (except the GPU, but that is due to change according to the presence of the AMD & Intel drivers on the install), as it’s new hardware. Big HDD to store the games, UEFI as it’s modern, RAM & processor are a given (although 64bit is welcome, as it suggests games will be pushed towards native x64).

Anyway, only thing I’m disappointed about is the lack of VM support - makes testing the OS a nightmare, as you actually need Steambox hardware (or a PC that happens to match the spec) to test it. It wouldn’t have been that much of a stretch to include the required Virtualbox/VMWare/etc drivers in the build

[Mark_Greaves_PCNetSp]

Apparently it CAN be tested in a VirtualBox VM…
(but obviously don’t expect to be gaming on it)

Instructions here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=204085700

http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/glTxRlT1RpM

[chemicalfan]

Interesting…
Of course, it’s only been a couple of days since release, and I never heard anything back from people attempting a VM install. Can’t view that at work; will check it out tonight at home.