Would love to see Valve do a SteamOS Linux Phone next.

With it coming with an optional phone gaming accessory to use your phone as a controller (with same design/gaming usage as Steam Deck/Steam Controller)

For use with any Valve hardware/software through the connected accessory (Bluetooth/Dongle/Wired)

Don’t have an extra controller? Use your phone with the add-on.

Sidenote: Wonder if PostmarketOS will add support for Steam Frame overtime. Sadly it does not have call support I think but otherwise it would technically be a different kind of device that could function as a phone tok

When I look at this announcement, the hardware is very exciting, for sure. But it is Valve’s dedication to Linux that really has me smiling. I don’t see three hardware devices to buy. I see two big proclamations for which the hardware is the message:

1. SteamOS on desktop! It seemed inevitable but it’s still great to see.

2. STEAM VR USING LINUX AS ITS TARGET PLATFORM?!?!?

I will grant that it’s very possible I buy all three pieces of the hardware, even though I like building my own PCs. I will also grant that Valve’s support for linux probably would not be what it is without the enshittification of Microsoft’s ecosystem. But in this world I’m gonna go ahead and accept the imperfect good news.

I’ve been saying for years that VR can get off my lawn until I can buy Linux native hardware. I guess I’m interested in VR, now.

“I may never financially recover from this.”

is well said.

I need to buy all of these.

It’s interesting that the VR headset is ARM based. Maybe that’s a sign that 2027 will be the year of the ARM desktop

why is this thing not called Steam Engine?

If Valve makes ARM Linux work properly as a gaming/desktop OS, I will uhh hmm.

I will buy this thing.

I wonder if they’re still using Arch. Its ARM version is kinda not so great, although not terrible either.

Uh-oh…my wallet is in trouble.

Where steamphone

The VR looks interesting. I had bought the HP reverb G2, but Microsoft pulled the plug on windows mixed reality, and I’ve since moved to Linux, so this might be a good replacement.

Doubt I would ever do the VR headset. I simply don’t play the kind of games that work well with (or even need) VR. Although come to think of it, a VR Civilization VI game would be wild.

But the Steam Machine would be interesting to replace the old laptop I currently have running as my multimedia box on my television (streaming, retro gaming, steam mirroring, etc…) It would be more powerful than the well worn old dude I’m currently using.

I wish we had a pricing-point for the VR headset. I’m still considering getting a Quest III and break it open a bit, since the hardware is so damn good. This seems marginally under it (monochrome instead of full-color etc) but running SteamOS instead of Android sounds amazing.

But I’d need more information on it first - and granted, knowing if ever it releases over here. 😅

I’ll definitely get the new controller if possible though. Still rocking my original, and it’s still the best way to play mouse-centric games on the couch, I prefer it over a lapboard with an actual mouse.

I wonder if the steam machine supports hdmi cec.

I’ll buy the VR headset if, as well as streaming games, you can also play video/mirror your desktop. I know that’s not the market they’re going for, but it seems to me that those are the main use-cases of VR headsets aside from gaming and to my non-tech way of thinking it doesn’t seem harder than streaming a game.

Yes but …

no hand tracking
no color passthrough
no hardware upgrade
no WebXR
no new VR proper content

Still, it’s good obviously, not having to rely on BigTech. This was also possible before though as I pointed out in https://lemmy.ml/post/38899489/22202786 with e.g. Lynx XR1, as a rooted Android standalone HMD with no account required.

Anyway IMHO the big questions for VR on Linux more broadly is what changes upstream on KDE in terms of immersive UX? Is KDE Plasma becoming a VR graphical shell? Does it have 3D widgets? Does it impact freedesktop in any way?

(copy of https://lemmy.ml/post/38899489/22202838 as I posted there first)

Been waiting for this vr headset to release for years, only to find they’ve used lcd’s instead of OLED screens. I’m so disappointed and pissed.