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Valve launches SteamOS

Valve launches SteamOS

Posted Sep 25, 2013 14:23 UTC (Wed) by Otus (guest, #67685)
In reply to: Valve launches SteamOS by AndreiG
Parent article: Valve launches SteamOS

> Everybody with some random Radeon card for which the fglrx happens to
> work for Phoronix tests, desktop management and youtube is reporting that
> there are no problems with AMD's drivers :

What's the alternative? No one can test what they don't have.

Since I reported that mine (Radeon HD 7770) works fine with fglrx, here's what that means:

All Steam games I've tried work, including e.g. Dota 2, CK2, TF2 and BrĂ¼tal Legend (the last is a console port with the highest recommended HW). I use 1920x1080 resolution, whatever settings the game recommends (although I sometimes turn on AA if it wasn't) and can usually get 60FPS, always over 30.

Bitcoin mining using OpenCL works and performs as others report it to. I've done some other things with OpenCL, but nothing particularly demanding or benchmarkable.

Video acceleration using xvmc works.


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Valve launches SteamOS

Posted Sep 26, 2013 9:20 UTC (Thu) by AndreiG (guest, #90359) [Link]

Yes, I also tested an 7750 dGPU, with the APU's iGPU disabled and it works ( quite good from what I came to expect from AMD ) TF2 works, Cave works ... etc. Pull it out, enable the iGPU ( re-install fglrx ) and it all goes out the window.

The alternative would be ...
... wait for it ...
... wait for it ...
... for AMD to release functional drivers for their products. I didn't download their APU, I payed for it.

AMD's APUs would be the perfect core for a 'Steam Machine' running SteamOS. Unfortunately, as we've seen last night, AMD shoot themselfs in the foot :

While Valve announced an open, Linux-based OS and an open hardware 'console', AMD, in alliance with two of the worst offenders to anything related to standards and openness ( M$ and EfA ) announces a completly new 'standard' that is suppose to replace DX and OpenGL for which there will be only one 'reference implementation' : AMD's proprietary, closed-source driver for Windows. Give their track record with fglrx, one can only imagine how this will end up... Goodbye OpenGL and OpenCL, it was nice while it lasted.

Really, a sad day for AMD/Linux users ... :(

Valve launches SteamOS

Posted Sep 26, 2013 11:58 UTC (Thu) by Otus (guest, #67685) [Link]

> While Valve announced an open, Linux-based OS and an open hardware
> 'console', AMD, in alliance with two of the worst offenders to anything
> related to standards and openness ( M$ and EfA ) announces a completly new
> 'standard' that is suppose to replace DX and OpenGL for which there will
> be only one 'reference implementation' : AMD's proprietary, closed-source
> driver for Windows.

Actually, they said the API would be multi-platform, only the initial release is limited to Windows PCs.

My guess is that they'll make it available on Xbox, PS4 and Linux as well. That gives them the most advantage with console ported games. (Not necessarily good for competition, but possibly good for AMD owning Linux gamers.)

Anyway, we'll have to wait until November for details.

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