After a while of no updates to the actual ISO download of HoloISO, the creator of this SteamOS-like Linux distribution has announced the original is now dead. As it's being replaced by the newer immutable HoloISO.
If that was their intention I wouldn’t blame them either but Valve said it would become available for other manufacturers to use when the steam deck was first announced
From listening to Gabe’s early interviews about the Deck, I actually think they sell the hardware at a loss, with the intent of bringing in new customers.
Isn’t the secret sauce already available, with the issue being that it’s not adapted to run on a wider range of devices? I had the impression HoloISO was just that, but as a community project - putting in all the work to make it installable on various devices (and work correctly)
Right, but are the sources all available? You probably wouldn’t want to be using the same build for your one device with different hardware, so the question is, do you have what it takes to put the system together yourself?
I would imagine they would want a smooth experience on steam. That is the point of all of this work after all , so releasing the image gets more devices shipped with steam and more users into their ecosystem.
“We’re hoping soon, though, it is very high on our list, and we want to make SteamOS more widely available. We’ll probably start with making it more available to other handhelds with a similar gamepad style controller. And then further beyond that, to more arbitrary devices. I think that the biggest thing is just, you know, driver support and making sure that it can work on whatever PC it happens to land on. Because right now, it’s very, very tuned for Steam Deck.”
What we really need is for valve to put out an official steamOS image so other manufacturers can actually put it on their machines
Can’t really blame them for not giving up the secret sauce competitive advantage 🤷
Other companies are free to put together their own thing with steam and proton
If that was their intention I wouldn’t blame them either but Valve said it would become available for other manufacturers to use when the steam deck was first announced
They might lose out on hardware sales but they’ll gain from Store sales.
From listening to Gabe’s early interviews about the Deck, I actually think they sell the hardware at a loss, with the intent of bringing in new customers.
Isn’t the secret sauce already available, with the issue being that it’s not adapted to run on a wider range of devices? I had the impression HoloISO was just that, but as a community project - putting in all the work to make it installable on various devices (and work correctly)
AFAIK, the only publicly available build is an outdated image based on debian instead of arch and not really worth running due to its state.
Right, but are the sources all available? You probably wouldn’t want to be using the same build for your one device with different hardware, so the question is, do you have what it takes to put the system together yourself?
I would imagine they would want a smooth experience on steam. That is the point of all of this work after all , so releasing the image gets more devices shipped with steam and more users into their ecosystem.
“We’re hoping soon, though, it is very high on our list, and we want to make SteamOS more widely available. We’ll probably start with making it more available to other handhelds with a similar gamepad style controller. And then further beyond that, to more arbitrary devices. I think that the biggest thing is just, you know, driver support and making sure that it can work on whatever PC it happens to land on. Because right now, it’s very, very tuned for Steam Deck.”
https://www.pcgamer.com/steamos-on-handheld-pcs/