Community FAQ
List of community submitted, discovered, and unofficial information around SteamOS, and Steam hardware.
Yes this can be done under the SteamOS expert installation option. As @directhex notes:
First, check whether your PC boots using UEFI or BIOS - you need to make sure you install SteamOS using the same method. [In Windows] Hold Start & press R, type "msinfo32" and hit enter. Look at the row "BIOS Mode".
You'll need to prepare your install media. If you want to use a USB stick and have UEFI, then download the .zip from repo.steampowered.com/download and extract it onto a clean FAT32-formatted USB stick. If you want to use optical media, or BIOS, download the .iso. The .iso is also a valid USB disk image, so you can use a tool like Rufus or Win32 Disk Imager to copy it onto a USB stick. When booting optical media, on a UEFI system, you might see the CD drive listed twice, e.g. "SATA Lite-on" and "UEFI Life-on". Pick the one that corresponds to step 1 above.
You'll need to resize your Windows partition, to free up some space. You can't do this within the regular SteamOS installer (you'll have to use another tool). You can from my fork, Stephenson's Rocket. Go to stephensonsrocket.horse, watch the video tutorials, it covers the whole thing.
If you still have trouble with this, make sure you correct your locales:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -plow locales
Choose only the locale you wish to generate, such as en_US.UTF-8 for English. On the next screen, select your generated locale that you placed the * asterisk next to. Reboot your installation with:
sudo reboot
Please reference this Reddit post. It contains some well written points about SteamOS.
Please the Multimedia services wiki page.
Are upgrades from SteamOS 1.0 (Alchemist) to SteamOS 2.0 (Brewmaster) supported?
As DirectHex notes:
There are two key issues:
- Apt will not remove old packages, and add new packages, to reflect the state of packages that are install-time. SO you might have a different set of packages to someone who installed 100% from Brewmaster media. Key example: SysV will not be replaced by systemd, even though systemd is the correct init system for Brewmaster
- All configuration and system tweaks that are part of the "post_login" and "post_install" scripts will be as they were after your Alchemist install, not updated for Brewmaster, as they're on the install DVD but not part of apt
Furthermore, Pierre-Loup (Of Valve) notes:
You definitely cannot upgrade from 1.0 to 2.0; when 3.0 comes out (in a long time) it might make more sense for an upgrade path to exist as machines will have shipped with 2.0. However 1.0 was phased out before the first machines shipped, so working on an upgrade path didn't make sense.
The best way to "get to know" the Steam Controller, is to dive into the configuration menu in-game, or in the Steam settings menu. Here, each area and function is detailed in full on what it does. Aside from this, you can reference the main Steam Controller page and support page. Join the dicussion and more, over at the main landing page.
ProfessorKaos made a video detailing some of the common complaints and what he feels about them. Keep in mind this is merely his opinion from usage, since the Steam Controller was released to preorder purchasers.
Additionally, a comment on that video by 8BitCerberus sums things up well:
Valve actually described precisely this thought process for the ergonomics back in late 2013 or early 2014 (will have to see if I can dig up the interview or article I saw it in), because it tended to more natural positioning of your thumbs over the pads, but also so they can take a rest without actually touching the pads all the time (and thus constantly sending input). You also might notice with typical controllers, that your hands tend to "roll" inward for proper grip, but with the Steam Controller it encourages them to roll outward. Imagine sitting cross-legged and letting your hands fall palm-up on your knees, that's kind of the position the Steam Controller is going for (though not quite so completely relaxed :) ), the curve of the controller seems to be suggesting this, too.
It's something I noticed immediately with the prototype, how natural and comfortable it felt to hold it, even for extended gaming sessions. And that's carried over to the final build, even if the handles are slightly narrower. With my Xbox 360 and Sixaxis/Dualshock 3 I have to take breaks every few hours because my hands get crampy, and don't even get me started on older NES/SNES controllers... how on earth did we make it past our youth without crippling ourselves with those unergonomic beasts?
Video: Picking the Right Steam Machine (Click to play)
