Gamers Nexus might start including Linux gaming tests in their hardware reviews
Pretty exciting times ahead as Valve might finally release SteamOS to more hardware. This amount of Linux desktop coverage would be unimaginable few years ago.
Man hopefully they just mercilessly rake companies that don’t support Linux because of kernel level anticheat over the fires as well. We need more advocacy in this space I think (and honestly I’d like it if kernel level anticheat was banned from steam on account of security).
They should bring some attention to what happened with Apex Legends. It was removed from Linux with cheats being the reason cited.
It will be great to see more PC hardware reviews with Linux in mind.
Does SteamOS offer something significant over other GNU+Linux distributions? Waiting for it to release as a catalyst to start including Linux seems a bit odd. I hope it won't be like waiting for Half Life 3.
GN could pick any Linux distro and get metrics but they'll want to be consistent and pick what will be most relevant.
For most people SteamOS will be the pick when moving away from windows pretty much entirely because it's "Valve's" OS, who are a known entity compared to "whoever makes this Bazzite thing" (or whatever other distro). This will give them more confidence to switch as they are familiar with/trust Valve to some extent and know that they're going to make sure their os works and can play games as well as can be expected on Linux. Obviously we know you can do it on other distros but switching your OS is a big change and people will want more assurance.
GN could cover performance on other distros but I think that would probably just be noise to people who are on the fence/not that interested compared to "here's how things work on Valve's SteamOS". (Also probably just provides a clear starting point and direction for GN)
Exactly this. When my brother has a problem with Windows, I just tell him this.
He doesn't let me install linux on his PC, but when I told him that Valve is coming with their own Linux distro, he said that he will try that one when it comes out.
*Of course I try to fix his windows problem when I can.
Bazzite basically is steam OS for the most part. You get generally the same experience. The only reason there is a Bazzite at all is because steam OS itself has t come to any other handhelds besides the steam deck.
They're likely to get the same kind of benchmarks from games using steam OS or Bazzite on the same hardware.
Honestly, the only outstanding thing about it is that it boots directly into Steam Big Picture with tight integration into the Stem Deck controls. Everything else is more or less standard Linux. (apart from some Deck-specific drivers that haven't been upstreamed yet)
But the standard Linux parts are great because it means that it can (and is) easily copied into other distros and that you can also use a standard Linux distro on the Deck.
So I'd say it's only suited for consoles where you don't need a full fledged desktop.
Level1techs already does on a separate channel, they're friends with Gamer's Nexus, and met up in person recently. I'd bet that's the inspiration haha.
SteamOS is fantastic for someone like me who wants a pc gaming rig that just plays games. I want it to be functionally a jacked up console. I don’t have time to sit around tinkering and dealing with drivers and all that. I want to set it to auto update, leave it in gaming mode (big picture mode on desktop I guess?), and just enjoy it.
Consistent support by a quality, professional, largely well-behaved company. Less bullshit, less tweaking, more of a “it just works” experience. The moment an updated steamOS properly drops for desktops I’m building a PC for it.
Does SteamOS offer something significant over other GNU+Linux distributions?
It's pre-installed on the device and pre-configured. If you can configure and troubleshoot a GNU+Linux system I don't think it has anything unique to offer to you. The thing where it boots directly into Steam big picture mode should be implementable on other distros as well. But most people can't or don't want to learn how to set up a Linux distro so it's actually a big deal for the average gamer. It's also made by a big corporation that people already trust, which might be something Gamers Nexus feels more comfortable implicitly endorsing by including it as a platform for their benchmarks.
Thank you for linking directly to the relevant segment of the video. Steve and his team do good work; I just wish they would make more of their findings available in text format.
Aside from GN Steve's site and HUB Steve's techspot articles do any other PC hardware channels do any text content at all?
Text, photos, CT scans, stats, testing, graphs, etc. Still a work in progress, but it’s come a long way.
I think they do a pretty good job of that, here's recent B580 review, for example. I'm guessing they'll post something once they figure out how they'll do Linux testing.
Why wouldn't they? It's an important metric.
I would love this.
I feel like that's good for the wrong reasons.
I hope GN complains about how certain things that should have been fixed years ago are still broken because of bike shedding.
It is a weird decision to me though, because as much as I like Linux, the Linux desktop isn't at all a stable platform. Your experience can be vastly different depending on what distro, mesa version, display server, driver, etc you use. So in a way, I wonder if they'll bother to show "the best case scenario" or just go with what's most popular.
Hot take: If they are doing it, they should use what's most popular and if it's bad, sh!t on it, as that seems to be the only way to get long standing issues fixed...(look at pop!os and KDE as an example)
I mean, Steve said they were looking into it specifically if SteamOS comes to the desktop market. So that is the benchmark they would use, and they use consistent sets of test hardware across their product category benchmarks. It's not a secret what their methodology is/would look like. And they have a reputation for calling out shit when they see it. No offense, but your hot take seems pretty ice cold to me
Show me a stable windows desktop.(The same applies to Windows.)
Are you serious? Fuck windows I’ve been off it for over a decade but nothing compares to windows and Mac OS for stability. That’s a cornerstone issue with Linux adoption. People don’t have time to hunt down drivers and tweak shit all the time when they need to do their jobs.
I like Linux man but this is another example of Linux users forgetting that the vast majority of people are not even close to as computer literate as we are. If you can’t pop it out of a box/download it, install it with a few clicks, and immediately get to work, it will not be mass-adopted. Period. All the external drives/USB/etcher shit makes people run for the door, let alone explaining to them about downloading and checking drivers and such.
Hell how many distro‘s start without Wi-Fi even working?
Frankly, it's about time!
Linux or bust!
They should of have been doing this from a start