Valve Slowly Expands SteamOS Support On Non-Valve Hardware

Valve is continuing to broaden SteamOS support beyond its own hardware, with the latest beta adding "initial gamepad support" for a few recent gaming handhelds and improving compatibility for a few others. Ars Technica reports: Those newly supported handhelds include MSI's Claw 8 EX AI+, the extremely expensive, extremely powerful handheld built around Intel's Arc G3 processor that launched this summer. While SteamOS has long included beta support for "other AMD powered handhelds," Valve has only recently been working on offering compatibility with Intel-based handhelds like the MSI Claw line. This weekend's update suggests the company hasn't abandoned those efforts and that Intel chips aren't being left out of the SteamOS conversation.

SteamOS 3.8.25 also newly supports the controllers built into Ayaneo's Android-focused Pocket S2 and the more recently released Windows-based Konkr Fit. Valve also says the new OS offers "improved support" for older MSI Claw devices and the OneXPlayer line of portable gaming PCs. This weekend's update follows June's SteamOS 3.8 update, which stressed "improved compatibility with recent Intel and AMD platforms." That update specifically called out improved controller support on handhelds from the likes of GPD Win, Anbernic, and OrangePi, as well as improvements for various Lenovo Legion Go, MSI Claw, and OneXPlayer devices. The report notes that the new SteamOS update also updates the Linux driver powering the new Steam Controller, "allowing it to work with 'native controller applications' even when Steam is not running."

Gabe knows what's what

[rsilvergun]

He works for Microsoft and he saw firsthand just how terrible they can be and how the complete lack of antitrust law enforcement means Microsoft can get away with it.

Steamos is and always has been a hedge against Microsoft finally tightening the screws. They tried with Windows 8 but every single software publisher on the planet saw that coming and refused to publish their software on the Microsoft store. It was a wasteland and fortunately for the few games Microsoft just bought they were eventually forc

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[thegarbz]

Steamos is and always has been a hedge against Microsoft finally tightening the screws.

Or maybe Windows just wasn't a suitable OS for a small underpowered portable gaming device. *shrugs*

They tried with Windows 8 but every single software publisher on the planet saw that coming and refused to publish their software on the Microsoft store.

Not sure what you think you're talking about but the reality was that there simply isn't a barrier to market to install things on Windows and thus zero reason to use the Microsoft Store which charges a commission for anything. Especially when Microsoft provides a 100% free package manager for Windows which is open for any publisher to upload a manifest into. Simply run"winget install -e --id Valve.Steam"

It was a wasteland

It s

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[rsilvergun]

The steam deck runs Windows just fine. Lots of people dual boot for games that don't play under Linux because of DRM or anti-cheat.

The reason there isn't a barrier to entry is because Microsoft is still a little afraid of antitrust law enforcement. With Windows 8 they were very clearly trying to create a apple style walled garden where they could get 30% of all software sales in exchange for doing basically fuck all.

Steam at least gives you a lot of useful apis for multiplayer and streaming games an

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[thegarbz]

The steam deck runs Windows just fine. Lots of people dual boot for games that don't play under Linux because of DRM or anti-cheat.

It does not. It runs Windows poorly, and games just as poorly. There's plenty of benchmarks online for you to confirm this for yourself.

With Windows 8

Windows 8S is not Windows 8. Be specific. There's nothing locked down about Windows 8 that would create any walled garden.

Steam at least gives you a lot of useful apis

Yes, absolutely. Forget the Windows Store and their 30% cut. There's a reason even the Epic Games store has largely failed despite in theory taking a far far smaller cut. For the end user there is a big difference in capabilities, and it's quite fun seei

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[UnknowingFool]

Or maybe Windows just wasn't a suitable OS for a small underpowered portable gaming device. *shrugs*

Based on the Steam machine's hardware, if you mean Windows is not suitable for some Windows machines, then you would be correct. Windows has become so bloated that some Windows users cannot use it.

Not sure what you think you're talking about but the reality was that there simply isn't a barrier to market to install things on Windows and thus zero reason to use the Microsoft Store which charges a commission for anything.

You of all people know the "embrace, extend, extinguish" strategy. Software publishers foresaw the "embrace" part of leveraging the Windows Store and avoided it.

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[thegarbz]

I know EEE very well, and yet publishing something in a store is very much not EEE. The Microsoft store provides no APIs to extend functionality, and has no capability in itself to extinguish any competition.

Virtually everyone who uses the phrase Embrace Extend Extinguish fails to understand there are very specific market conditions that need to exist for that strategy to work. For one, you can't do it on an open ecosystem, you can only do it on a closed one. That's why it worked against Novell, but wouldn'

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[Gilgaron]

I too wonder if Steam will continue gracefully past GabeN or if it'll enshittify. There are plenty of family owned businesses I enjoy for hobbies but I doubt they are worth as much as Valve so it'll be up to his will and the desire to sell out what will be vultured to hell and back in months.

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[sabbede]

What? SteamOS as a hedge against Windows? Anti-trust? No. Just, no. I realize you aren't satisfied with how things work and are looking for reasons why they are how they are, but you won't find answers in anti-trust enforcement.

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[UnknowingFool]

Here is the real world scenario that is happening right now. Windows 11 required some users to update hardware. RAM, SSD, HDD, GPU prices are forcing many PC users to delay upgrading their hardware. Windows 11 is becoming more difficult to use with their cycle of broken updates. Windows 11 forced some PC users to either switch to Linux or stay on Windows 10 which is no longer receiving critical updates. The vast majority of Steam users are PCs. Thus many of Steam's customers face a situation where the OS t