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SteamOS out now (beta)

N

Nibel

Member
EatChildren said:
To install do I need to extract the data to a DVD, boot the disk during startup, and go from there?
Click to expand...

Q: How do I install SteamOS?
There are two different install methods for SteamOS. '''WARNING: BOTH METHODS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON THE MACHINE'''

The easiest method is an image-based install using CloneZilla. You will need to create a SteamOS System Restore USB stick to perform this install. The image provided here requires at least a 1TB disk.

- Format a 4GB or larger USB stick with the FAT32 filesystem. Use "SYSRESTORE" as the partition name
- Unzip the contents of SYSRESTORE.zip to this USB stick to create the System
- Restore USB stick
- Put the System Restore USB stick in your target machine. Boot your machine and tell the BIOS to boot off the stick. (usually something like F8, F11 or F12 will bring up the BIOS boot menu).
- Make sure you select the UEFI entry, it may look something like "UEFI: Patriot Memory PMAP"
- Select "Restore Entire Disk" from the GRUB menu.
- System Restore will proceed automatically. When it is complete it will reboot into your freshly re-imaged SteamOS

The second method is based on the Debian Installer. It requires multiple configuration steps:
- Unzip the SteamOSInstaller.zip file to a blank, FAT32-formatted USB stick.
- Put the USB stick in your target machine. Boot your machine and tell the BIOS to boot off the stick. (usually something like F8, F11, or F12 will bring up the BIOS boot menu).
Make sure you select the UEFI entry, it may look something like "UEFI: Patriot Memory PMAP"
- Pick "Automated Install" from the next menu.
- The rest of the installation is unattended and will repartition the drive and install SteamOS.
- After installation is complete, log onto the resulting system (using the Gnome session) with the predefined "steam" account. The password is "steam". Run steam, accept the EULA, and let it bootstrap. Logoff the steam account
- Log on with the "desktop" account. The password is "desktop"
- From a terminal window, run ~/post_logon.sh. This will prompt for a password - enter "desktop". This script will perform the post-install customizations, delete itself, then reboot into the recovery partition capture utility.
- Confirm "y" to continue and the recovery partition will be created. When it is finished, reboot into your freshly installed SteamOS
Click to expand...

.
 
M

Mohasus

Member
From the FAQ:

"Q: How do I install SteamOS?
There are two different install methods for SteamOS. '''WARNING: BOTH METHODS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON THE MACHINE'''

The easiest method is an image-based install using CloneZilla. You will need to create a SteamOS System Restore USB stick to perform this install. The image provided here requires at least a 1TB disk."

1TB is a typo, right?
 
P

phrizek

Member
500 GB hard drive requirement? I want to try this on my 320 GB laptop, kind of a bizarre requirement for a linux distro.
 
J

jabuseika

Member
Mohasus said:
From the FAQ:

"Q: How do I install SteamOS?
There are two different install methods for SteamOS. '''WARNING: BOTH METHODS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON THE MACHINE'''

The easiest method is an image-based install using CloneZilla. You will need to create a SteamOS System Restore USB stick to perform this install. The image provided here requires at least a 1TB disk."

1TB is a typo, right?
Click to expand...

It is.

Or Valve just invented something insane.
 
M

M4shy

Neo Member
This download is going to go painfully slow.
I also do not see the server that's serving this download speeding up anytime soon.
 
Gangxxter

Gangxxter

Member
Mohasus said:
From the FAQ:

"Q: How do I install SteamOS?
There are two different install methods for SteamOS. '''WARNING: BOTH METHODS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON THE MACHINE'''

The easiest method is an image-based install using CloneZilla. You will need to create a SteamOS System Restore USB stick to perform this install. The image provided here requires at least a 1TB disk."

1TB is a typo, right?
Click to expand...
It comes pre-installed with
Half-Life 3
 
T

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
BY2K said:
Installing it will erase everything from my PC...

Guess I'll wait.
Click to expand...
As was mentioned, Virtual Machine should work as it creates a blank virtual PC to install onto. At least you can test it out there.


I'm looking forward to impressions, but am more looking forward to SteamBoxes being shown off at CES and being able to install Windows onto it so I can get all my games. (I looked at the Linux list and man, it's mostly stuff I will never consider playing ever.)

I assume the UI for SteamOS will basically be what Big Picture mode is.
 
E

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Cheers guys.

Can't install if the "ERASE EVERYTHING GOD HELP YOU" disclaimer is accurate. I've got around 50GB blank space I can partition for a SteamOS drive, just to test some shit out. But I can't smoke Windows entirely.
 
Gangxxter

Gangxxter

Member
Reading in the FAQ that only NVIDIA chips are currently supported I guess it's impossible to try SteamOS out in a VirtualBox, huh?
 
T

TouchMyBox

Member
jabuseika said:
It is.

Or Valve just invented something insane.
Click to expand...

It's a clone disk image.

Use the installer if you have a smaller drive.

EatChildren said:
Cheers guys.

Can't install if the "ERASE EVERYTHING GOD HELP YOU" disclaimer is accurate. I've got around 50GB blank space I can partition for a SteamOS drive, just to test some shit out. But I can't smoke Windows entirely.
Click to expand...

atttach a USB hard drive or something and install it to that. Unplug the sata cable on your windows drive just in-case.
 
J

Je5usPiece

Banned
smith1.gif
 
D

Delusibeta

Banned
EatChildren said:
To install do I need to extract the data to a DVD, boot the disk during startup, and go from there?
Click to expand...

If you downloaded a .iso file, yes. If you downloaded a .exe file, no (in this case, just run it like a normal program). In either case, if you have the file, throw it up on a mirror somewhere first.

[Edit] Official FAQ response:
There are two different install methods for SteamOS. '''WARNING: BOTH METHODS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON THE MACHINE'''

The easiest method is an image-based install using CloneZilla. You will need to create a SteamOS System Restore USB stick to perform this install. The image provided here requires at least a 1TB disk.

Format a 4GB or larger USB stick with the FAT32 filesystem. Use "SYSRESTORE" as the partition name
Unzip the contents of SYSRESTORE.zip to this USB stick to create the System Restore USB stick
Put the System Restore USB stick in your target machine. Boot your machine and tell the BIOS to boot off the stick. (usually something like F8, F11 or F12 will bring up the BIOS boot menu).
Make sure you select the UEFI entry, it may look something like "UEFI: Patriot Memory PMAP"
Select "Restore Entire Disk" from the GRUB menu.
System Restore will proceed automatically. When it is complete it will reboot into your freshly re-imaged SteamOS

The second method is based on the Debian Installer. It requires multiple configuration steps:

Unzip the SteamOSInstaller.zip file to a blank, FAT32-formatted USB stick.
Put the USB stick in your target machine. Boot your machine and tell the BIOS to boot off the stick. (usually something like F8, F11, or F12 will bring up the BIOS boot menu).
Make sure you select the UEFI entry, it may look something like "UEFI: Patriot Memory PMAP"
Pick "Automated Install" from the next menu.
The rest of the installation is unattended and will repartition the drive and install SteamOS.
After installation is complete, log onto the resulting system (using the Gnome session) with the predefined "steam" account. The password is "steam". Run steam, accept the EULA, and let it bootstrap. Logoff the steam account
Log on with the "desktop" account. The password is "desktop"
From a terminal window, run ~/post_logon.sh. This will prompt for a password - enter "desktop". This script will perform the post-install customizations, delete itself, then reboot into the recovery partition capture utility.
Confirm "y" to continue and the recovery partition will be created. When it is finished, reboot into your freshly installed SteamOS
Click to expand...
 
T

TheSeks

Blinded by the luminous glory that is David Bowie's physical manifestation.
Hopefully someone makes a LiveCD of it quickly. I don't want to reformat a 1TB drive just to mess with it.
 
Z

Zinthar

Member
Massa said:
Be warned: if they're claiming it doesn't even support AMD or Intel graphics yet I really doubt their compositor will work on a VM.
Click to expand...

Even if it does, wouldn't the game performance be shit compared to running the same game in Windows or SteamOS natively?
 
A

abtom

Banned
What is the point of this OS right now? It's unfinished, runs only a handful of games, doesn't support a wide range of hardware (yet), and erases everything on your computer (supposedly).

Love Steam and PC gaming, but this thing is pretty useless in its current state from what I've read so far.
 
B

BY2K

Membero Americo
Does the no AMD card support thing means I just won't be able to use it or does it mean it will be a lot more unstable?
 
A

ashecitism

Member
abtom said:
What is the point of this OS right now? It's unfinished, runs only a handful of games, doesn't support a wide range of hardware (yet), and erases everything on your computer (supposedly).

Love Steam and PC gaming, but this thing is pretty useless in its current state from what I've read so far.
Click to expand...

It's mostly for the 300 harware beta testers and linux enthusiasts to tinker with, they don't really recommend it otherwise
 
S

Shambles

Member
unofficial torrent here chumps: http://steamdb.info/blog/35/

abtom said:
What is the point of this OS right now? It's unfinished, runs only a handful of games, doesn't support a wide range of hardware (yet), and erases everything on your computer (supposedly).

Love Steam and PC gaming, but this thing is pretty useless in its current state from what I've read so far.
Click to expand...

Surely this must be a joke post.
 
N

Ninja Kn1ght

Member
abtom said:
What is the point of this OS right now? It's unfinished, runs only a handful of games, doesn't support a wide range of hardware (yet), and erases everything on your computer (supposedly).

Love Steam and PC gaming, but this thing is pretty useless in its current state from what I've read so far.
Click to expand...

Well, this is just a Beta. There's not much reason to install it now other than curiosity.
 
D

Dicer

Banned
BY2K said:
Does the no AMD card support thing means I just won't be able to use it or does it mean it will be a lot more unstable?
Click to expand...

I imagine only Nvidia drivers, you might be able to force feed it amd ones, but I wouldn't be t on it running well or at all
 
K

Kocolino67

Member
abtom said:
What is the point of this OS right now? It's unfinished, runs only a handful of games, doesn't support a wide range of hardware (yet), and erases everything on your computer (supposedly).

Love Steam and PC gaming, but this thing is pretty useless in its current state from what I've read so far.
Click to expand...

Oh, so, it's just a beta and only online since 45 minutes?
 
E

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
TouchMyBox said:
atttach a USB hard drive or something and install it to that. Unplug the sata cable on your windows drive just in-case.
Click to expand...

No spare USB drives, unfortunately.

Delusibeta said:
If you downloaded a .iso file, yes. If you downloaded a .exe file, no (in this case, just run it like a normal program). In either case, if you have the file, throw it up on a mirror somewhere first.
Click to expand...

Can't get it it to finish. I don't think I'll bother today, unless it turns out that you can install it to a separate partition. If you cant even if I have it I won't be able to use it.
 
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