Good to see someone using Linux for their platform on these handhelds. The big reason I don’t want to try the Ally or whatever the others are doing is I can’t imagine Windows is making the experience better.
I don’t really have evidence to support that, but more Linux investment is better overall.
Windows is a multi-layered abstraction hell that is the opposite of good, portable, performant software.
heck yeah
Competition always is good to have! Glad to see someone finally adopting this awesome OS. It’ll be interesting to see if they implement any new features that are specific to their device.
Dual USB type C is freaking sweet to see!!! More handheld PCs need that.
Honestly if it runs steamOS, I don’t even think it could be considered competition. They’re on the same team.
Because of how good Proton has become, I’m considering dropping Windows and switching to Arch for gaming at my next upgrade.
Two players developing improvements to Steam OS and Proton can only make things better.
Good call :3
Not a PC gamer myself but if you’re new to Linux arch is prolly a bad idea
I took a class regarding Linux administration, and I’ve dabbled here and there, but most importantly, I spun up a VM to practice the initial installation process.
The wiki is super helpful, but it’s a bit spaghettified at times. 😅
Though now I’m wondering if I might prefer NixOS. I have Bazzite on a laptop and my Deck, and I like its atomic behavior a lot, but Nix is kind of a unique take on atomic distros.
I made the switch around a year ago and only have a handful of games that don’t work.
I’ve played with Linux for the last 15-20 years, so I knew what I was getting into, but also things are in a way better state now than they used to be.
If you want to switch I really recommend looking up what apps you need and if there’s a cross-platform alternative try using it before switching OS. It makes it so much easier if you’re used to the applications.
Competition between devices, is what I mean.
But I do see your point and there is another point of this being a cheaper alternative. Either way, I’m just glad to see more choices for SteamOS than one handheld, no matter how solid of a device it is.
None of the other handhelds were competition either. Ultimately they’ll all be used to sell games on Steam.
That’s partially true, but Valve’s long term goal with SteamOS is to break their reliance on windows.
Windows previously had plans to require all new software to be installed through their Windows store, which would have destroyed Steam. Thankfully Windows backed off from this plan, but they are instead pushing windows S mode for new computers. If you buy a budget PC it will probably come locked down where it can only install Windows apps. This can be disabled, but requires you to have administrative privileges on the computer (which many kids/etc won’t have). It also requires you to log into the windows store with a Microsoft account to disable it, so they require you to take all the steps to install windows store content before you can choose to not use their store.
It’s not going to happen overnight, but I suspect the long term windows plan is to force more people (especially kids) into getting software and games through the Microsoft store. People like to buy games from the same place, so if you get kids started building their PC gaming library in the Windows store they’ll be more likely to stick with it even once they have other options.
So companies selling windows handhelds will still help valve out short term, but their long term goal (and the reason they invest so much into Linux) is to no longer be dependent on Microsoft windows to sell games. It’s also why they’re pushing for Steam on Chromebooks, to both get young users invested in steam and as another windows alternative.
Yes and I’m sure they’ll add a 30% tax for the privilege of installing software from their repository. Fucking shmucks just been letting people install whatever software they want for decades when they could have been exploiting them for money.
Finally a Deck rival I might actually be interested in.
https://ayaneo.com/article/806
Here is from their website which also says “AYANEO NEXT LITE comes pre-installed with the SteamOS gaming system for the first time”.
Any word on what the hardware specs are? Someone there used their brain and loaded up SteamOS, but the hardware needs to be worth the jump or it’s just a steam deck clone.
They specifically said “it’s not a powerhouse”. It’s supposed to be a lower power device with a big battery, capable of playing less demanding games for a long time. SteamOS also makes a lot of sense for this goal, since windows handhelds get pretty terrible battery life in low power games. The price is supposed to be low as well, although it’s not clear yet if that’s just low by Ayaneo’s standards or if it will actually be cheaper than the deck.
That fits the kind of use case I would want from something in addition to the Deck. That said, I don’t know this is the form factor I’d want; what I’d love is something that could actually fit in my pocket like a Gameboy. This seems like it’d be a bit big for that.
I love my steamdeck, but I would hardly call it a powerhouse. You have to make pretty serious compromises on your visuals for AAA games with a few notable exceptions. Anything not well optimized can also struggle.
So yeah I’m down for a device that isn’t as powerful but if the gap is too wide it really is only going to strictly be a little indie game machine. Which is cool and but important to note.
Battery tech and x86 chip tech doesn’t really make a “powerhouse” handheld possible, unless you completely abandon the idea of it having any acceptable battery life.
There’s talk about the next few years being when arm and risc-v will start to replace x86 for windows/Linux, and that could possibly make a big difference. But I also imagine game compatibility and performance will be pretty poor starting out, so it’ll be quite a while I imagine.
I’m just using the language they’re using haha but yes I agree
Probably they are going to reveal specs tomorrow (subscriptions open at 9:30 PM 1/11/2014 EST) maybe on indiegogo
indiegogo
That’s still a thing?
for suckers.
Yeah? I mean AyaNeo does release them there like if not all the time most of the time.
It’s interestingly an 800p display also.
Someone is actually paying attention LOL
Of all the things I would upgrade on the deck, resolution isn’t one of them. I have never seen a game look blury on that tiny screen. That said, a lot of them are using higher res panels probably because it is what they can find in bulk.
Great news and I’m sure that more will follow.
Note: There is currently no confirmation that Valve is involved with supplying the SteamOS image to Ayaneo.
Probably running modified Chimera, is my guess.
Interesting choice to include Aperture Desk Job onscreen in this shot
Why do you say that? It works on PCs. All you need is a controller. The game adapts to the controls you have and the ones you lack.
For example, on my Steam Controller, when it asks you to press the four buttons on the back, pressing the two paddles on the SC emulates the Deck’s two on one side and two on the other.
What happens to AyaneoOS then?
From what I heard, they decided to use SteamOS instead. They wanted to avoid “fragmentation”, although I’m not sure that would really be a concern for Linux.
I imagine steamOS is going to be a more polished experience than AyaneoOS would have been, and hopefully have better support/updates.
what likely happened is they l9oked at the work they would need to do, then looked at the outcome they would get, compared that against SteamOS and concluded that slightly rebranding it would be the better option (think custom boot splash, maybe more launchers pre-installed)
