May it rattle the Microsoft nest so they rethink the Windows prices

Valve will produce as many as they can, similar to the Deck.

3rd party Machines can be made, yes. They must follow Valve's branding guidelines, just like the Deck and controller.

Oprindeligt skrevet af cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Valve will produce as many as they can, similar to the Deck.

Yes, but what does that mean?I received my Steam Deck in mid-April (2022). I had ordered it on July 16, 2021. So, a 9-month wait.

Oprindeligt skrevet af ToysRsus:

• Will there also be Steam Machines from third-party manufacturers?

We already have those. They are called computers.

Oprindeligt skrevet af ToysRsus:

Oprindeligt skrevet af cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Valve will produce as many as they can, similar to the Deck.

Yes, but what does that mean?I received my Steam Deck in mid-April (2022). I had ordered it on July 16, 2021. So, a 9-month wait.

It means exactly that. Valve is usually conservative when it comes to producing harware.

Oprindeligt skrevet af smallcat:

May it rattle the Microsoft nest so they rethink the Windows prices

At this point, they could be giving W11 for free that I would not want it.

Oprindeligt skrevet af ToysRsus:

Oprindeligt skrevet af cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Valve will produce as many as they can, similar to the Deck.

Yes, but what does that mean?I received my Steam Deck in mid-April (2022). I had ordered it on July 16, 2021. So, a 9-month wait.

That wasn't an order. It was a hold/reservation to let you be in line to purchase one when it became available.

Oprindeligt skrevet af cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

That wasn't an order. It was a hold/reservation to let you be in line to purchase one when it became available.

Release was February 25, 2022 in my region. Still almost two months to wait. I'm just wondering if it will be the same with the Steam Machine or if it was because of COVID.

RAM shortages = COVID . Not saying there ll be delays just a PC market tension

Oprindeligt skrevet af ToysRsus:

Oprindeligt skrevet af cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

That wasn't an order. It was a hold/reservation to let you be in line to purchase one when it became available.

Release was February 25, 2022 in my region. Still almost two months to wait. I'm just wondering if it will be the same with the Steam Machine or if it was because of COVID.

There will probably be a wait. Covid and scalpers made things worse.

But scalpers are still doing their thing and they now have accounts with purchases over a year old that would fulfill Valve's requirements if they do reservations again.

There definitely won't be enough of any device the first round.

Oprindeligt skrevet af x:

We already have those. They are called computers.

I think it's one of the goals for Valve to popularize gaming PCs with SteamOS.
They will be very happy if other companies make their own gaming PCs with SteamOS. like with SteamDeck clones.

And No, we don't have them yet.
Nobody yet is making gaming PCs with SteamOS (mainly because SteamOS is not ready for that)

Oprindeligt skrevet af ToysRsus:

General:

• The coolest device since Steam Deck.
  
• The overall ecosystem is very promising and it could already running on ARM.
  
• Valve comes so far but who cares?

Anti Cheat:

• Would you accept Secure Boot (possibly as an optional mode) with further restrictions if necessary? SteamOS is immutable. You could turn it into a (temporary) jail with a system setting. No Kernel-Level-Snake-Oil needed. Set secure, reboot, play.
  
• Current status: GTA Online is blocked on Steam Deck.

That is interesting point.
I also think that some kind of locked bootloader and signed by Valve kernel has to come to enable linux on competitive online games.
Open source purists will cry, but I don't see other option. It's still much better that "kernel level malware" installed by games.

I am super excited about the steam machine release, I have been waiting to buy a new computer for over a year, but I refuse to spend one single penny on microsofts bloated junk ware. This is exactly what I was waiting for. A bare bones, pure gaming machine that doesn't try to rule your life by forcing their overpriced rubbish on you.

Oprindeligt skrevet af BurakZG:

Open source purists will cry, but I don't see other option. It's still much better that "kernel level malware" installed by games.

Definitely much better. The current system is so broken. Anyone can mess around in kernel space. I also think that Microsoft will be forced to shut this down at some point. Just think of the CrowdStrike disaster last year.

If you are interested in this point, here are some further thoughts on the matter:

My idea is an optional "jail mode" for SteamOS, not a permanent lock-down of the open system.

It would just be a simple toggle in SteamOS: turn jail mode on for competitive online games, turn it off when you want the normal open system again. Reboot.

In this "jail"-mode, the system could:

• boot only via Secure Boot with a Valve-signed bootloader and kernel,
  
• have no desktop environment and no admin/root access for the user,
  
• only run games and components that are signed and approved (like a console) by Valve.

Visually speaking: you lock the user in a cell, but you give them the key. If they reboot out of jail mode into the normal, open SteamOS/Linux environment, they can do whatever they want again - but then they simply can’t connect to ranked/competitive games like Battlefield 6.

Cheats would then require real jailbreaks and 0-days against a tightly controlled stack, which is much harder and more expensive than today’s “inject a cheat into a random Windows install”. The point isn’t to kill openness in general, but to offer a console-like, verifiable mode next to the open PC mode, which you can enable or disable with a simple option, instead of shipping kernel-level malware with every competitive shooter.

Oprindeligt skrevet af ToysRsus:

Anti Cheat:

• Would you accept Secure Boot (possibly as an optional mode) with further restrictions if necessary? SteamOS is immutable. You could turn it into a (temporary) jail with a system setting. No Kernel-Level-Snake-Oil needed. Set secure, reboot, play.

They would basically have to make so users cannot unlock it or put another OS on it. The issue is that Valve is explicitly trying to keep it open. I'd rather take an open system, but that's me. I guess maybe users could be allowed to choose a locked down or an open version.

An alternative is make so the Steam Machine marks itself as "insecure" whenever secure boot is turned off without a way to make it "secure" again. Or have some other method to ensure that while users are allowed to modify their machine, doing so permanently marks it as being possibly insecure for anti cheat. Of course, users should be warned by this.

The reason for making it permanent is because then anti-cheat games know that it's a system no one has tampered with.