All I want from Microsoft nowadays is Halowars 2 on Steam. I’ll gladly pay the $50 again.
Dude, I hope GoatSynagogue gets paid to be a kernel level anti cheat shill. They’re ALL over this comment section defending it and windows and toxic community slop multiplayer games. Maybe they work on anti-cheat software and drink the koolaid?
My rog ally x came with windows. Steamos was a game changer for it
Say more. I need to convince my friend to do this. I just bought a Steam deck after seeing his garbage os (for a handheld at least). Love to hear more about how it’s working for ya? Especially if you have any frame of reference between it and Steam deck performance first hand.
Well. As an example, no man’s sky ran worse in windows. I also hated their armoury application
it was supported on the first week, what is this trash article
It was never supported, ever, it has drivers but they won’t offer you any support and before making a warranty claim they will ask you to restore steamos and see if you still have issues
yes, it has official drivers, so it has support.
Microsoft has done the same thing for years. They provide software, drivers and workarounds for unsupported scenarios while making it clear they won’t provide full support. Seems fair.
After working with Microsoft at the enterprise level I can say with confidence they do not offer full support on anything.
Good luck getting 1-on-1 support from a representative at Microsoft, their support now is either articles or an LLM.
Contact Us? “Yeah first we need step 1 of 42069 completed before we can be any help”
It blows me away that EVERY machine I have worked on in manufacturing runs on Windows or some fuckin one-off HMI thing that has no documentation and can never be upgraded.
Unless you purchase a
slopbooksurface. Even then, good luck.
If I see someone installing windows on a steam machine, I’m losing it.
I did it for a few months to play gamepass games direct on hardware. If it’s any consultation, I used windows 10 IOT and eventually switched back to SteamOS.
It works, but windows is so clunky for actual gaming right now.
It wasn’t terrible but it was NOT good. It was useable and I got through a couple of smaller gamepass games.
I wouldn’t recommend it unless a lot has changed for windows portable gaming since 2024.
It’s the only way to play any of the most played and most popular games on a Steam machine.
Of the top 10 best selling games of all time, 9 of them run perfectly fine on Linux and the one that doesn’t, requires you installing a rootkit, which only windows is stupid enough to allow.
so I’m not sure what your talking about?
Im all for linux but damn your comment is just incorrect and argumentative.
Youre telling me linux doesnt allow you to install programs that act as a rootkit?
Im not sure what your talking about.
Idk what specific game they are talking about, but usually, when the game runs through proton, said rootkit cannot work as intended due to containerization or whatever (sorry, my knowledge of the intricacies of Linux/proton is pretty poor) so it’s either not doing its job properly because it can’t really detect stuff like DMA, or the devs just prevent Linux users from playing to make their job easier.
They’re not the most played and most popular now.
People want to play online shooters, and those generally don’t work on Linux. Fortnite, COD, Warzone, battlefield, apex, gta, pubg, etc. None of them work on Linux.
Sounds like Valve is catering to its veterans rather than uh younger generations. Aren’t those games notorious for cheats anyway, despite kernel level anti-cheat?
Yet they’re still the most popular and most played games.
If valve wants steam machines to ever be more than a niche, they need to fix this problem - and it IS a problem.
They sold out man. Less niche please.
Of the top 10 games currently on Steam, 9 of them run perfectly fine on Linux, and the tenth is Apex.
And apex used to run fine under proton till they decided that it shouldn’t.
Precisely because the “rootkit” (whatever anti cheat solution it uses) couldn’t actually do its job when running the game through proton iirc
Yeah, and those top 10 numbers pale in comparison to the games I named in terms of player counts. Most of these games aren’t played through Steam.
Fortnite is the only one of those with a higher player count than CS:GO, though admittedly PUBG would slip in around the middle. The rest aren’t particularly popular games, maybe you should have named League of Legends instead.
But then you would just play dota or deadlock
I’ve played warzone, battlefield, and apex on Linux in the past. I don’t anymore because I don’t find them fun, but they definitely worked fine. These days I mostly play Overwatch and Marvel Rivals, which are also some very popular online shooters, and they work as well on Linux. Kinda weird to be making claims like that in such absolutes.
gta does actually, if you and people in yout session block punkbuster
btw anyone wants to do a heist with me at 2am (in gta)
League of Legends and stuff like that, I think Velorant, these games.
This hasn’t been true for years
the only way
Look at this guy who never heard of Proton gaming
Proton doesn’t support Kernel Level Anti Cheat
Proton doesn’t support malware.
Sounds like a win to me.
Oh when did proton let you play GTA Online? Call of Duty? Warzone? Battlefield 6? Fortnite? Apex? PUBG?
Did I miss proton getting kernel level anti-cheat? Do you even know what proton is? The difference between proton and steamOS?
Maybe delete this comment of yours too and try again. Third times the charm maybe? The first time you misread what I said, the second time you’ve misunderstood why these games don’t work on steamOS. Maybe next time you’ll get it.
Oh when did proton let you play GTA Online? Call of Duty? Warzone? Battlefield 6? Fortnite? Apex? PUBG?
The funny thing is that this is nearly an exhaustive list of games that don’t work.
GTA Online? Call of Duty? Warzone? Battlefield 6? Fortnite? Apex? PUBG?
Ironically, those are all games that I did not want to play when using windows either.
Every new game that came out in 2026 that I actually wanted to play does work on Linux with Proton.
The age of Windows is a PC gaming monopoly is definately coming to an end.
Kernel level anti cheat is not the solution, it is the problem: https://nooneshappy.com/article/kernel-anti-cheat-is-an-overreach/
I am glad that my computer is free of that shit.
We’re sorry that youve only had experience with games that run micro transactions and brain rot. You could try better games and don’t just fall in with the 16 year olds playing cod 74. Unless you are 16…
Where did I say I play them?
Good try to gatekeep and try and feel superior though.
It’s insane how much the hardcore Linux community seems to be Linux adoption rates worst enemy. Should we want Linux to get features that will remove the single biggest reason why hundreds of millions of people will never switch to Linux for gaming? No, because we need to pretend we’re superior by only playing unpopular games.
I’m not hardcore Linux, I’m anti privacy invasive software. Privacy is already at war, why are we feeding all our data to AI bullshit?
Did I miss proton getting kernel level anti-cheat?
Let me get this straight, you want to install windows on steam machine to install malware on it? Windows users have really weird kinks.
Calling anti-cheat software “malware” shows you’re not arguing in good faith.
Posting this link here as well: https://nooneshappy.com/article/kernel-anti-cheat-is-an-overreach/
It isn’t malware by design, but too much power and corruption and even the idea someone could access it from something like this is bizarre. Why you’re defending it, I don’t know.
Look at flock cameras. The idea to find a missing child or someone in trouble instantly is great, until police start using access to stalk women and their exes.
Monroe County, Florida: Deputy Lamar Roman used an ALPR system to track and pull over a woman he met while working security on a TV set.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Former Officer Josue Ayala was criminally charged and resigned after he illegally tracked his ex-girlfriend and her new partner’s vehicles nearly 180 times. Another Milwaukee officer, Detective Chapman, was also criminally charged for using the Flock system to track a woman and placing a GPS device on her vehicle.
Software having kernel-level (Ring 0) access presents significant security and privacy risks, as it bypasses the operating system’s built-in memory isolation. This level of access grants applications unfettered control over the system, meaning any vulnerability can be exploited to compromise credentials, hijack hardware, or cause system-wide crashes.
Woah, careful there, you might overload their brain. Extending your thinking and following logic to its endpoint?
Nooo, most popular game fortnite me play fortnite, me need unlock skins with credit card.
Proton? (And games that don’t work with Proton are usually bad and their players wouldn’t buy an Steam Machine)
Proton doesn’t play Fortnite, CoD, Warzone, Battlefield, Apex, GTA Online, PUBG, etc.
If valve want the steam machine to be anything other than niche, they need to figure out a way to get these games working in Linux. For all the “success” of the steam deck, even the abysmal selling Xbox series sells more in a year than the steam deck has sold in its lifetime.
Crazy people are trying to drown out your comments with down votes when you are just stating facts.
The stream machine is unfortunately a failure for the price. It should have been 600ish tops for the hardware. You can get a much better system for similar or slightly more which makes it’s price to perf horrible.
Yes I know it’s because of datacenter and price fixing but it doesn’t make the steam machine a good system compared to others
You maybe could have gotten a much better system for a similar price a year or two ago but I’m not sure you could at today’s prices. Especially if you price out a small form factor one. I wouldn’t be surprised if the original price of steam machine was in the 6-700 range before the current ram/storage/gpu crisis
You can get a sff machine with a dedicated gpu and better processor though
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GLDVNNFG
One example that has a much better processor and gpu and smaller form factor too. Plus you can upgrade it so its not a giant paper weight.
Way better but limited to microcenter.
Many DIY options too
https://www.pcmag.com/news/i-configured-four-small-pcs-to-beat-the-steam-machine-at-its-own-game
Those first 2 you posted are roughly 10x the volume of the steam machine, which is one of the big draws for me
16.6" x 10.2" x 14.4" = 40 L
8.5" x 15.75" x 16.50” = 36L
vs
6.1 x 6.0 x 6.4 = 3.7 L
And even the DIY page the cheapest config they came up with is $920. I think Valve pretty much cannot sell their machine less than comparable PC, because if they did, people would just start buying them as general purpose small PCs, so they need to make at least a small profit on them, unlike the dedicated console makers who can take a loss on the machines since the only way to get software on them is through them
Gross
You mean ew
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There were people doing that with their Steam Decks day 1
Unfortunately some games don’t run on Linux, my fav apex legends doesn’t. If I had the disposable income to grab one of these I’d at least be dual booting…
Why support it? Their specialty is Linux.
Per the article:
But because many anti-cheat apps still aren’t compatible with Linux (hence, SteamOS), installing Windows on Steam hardware is currently the only way that gamers can enjoy titles that require them.
So it looks like Valve is at least giving tools for running Windows on their hardware for those that really really want that kernel level malware, I mean anti-cheat, to play a certain game.
easy don’t play those games
If I had to give up everything that doesn’t work on Linux, I wouldn’t bother having a computer. FOSS is commie garbage.
Are you a shitty bot or just a shitty troll? Every webservice you use is based on free/open software, without it you would be getting all the speed an reliability of Windows ME from your doom scrolling.
I’ve done exactly that recently and it’s been fun honestly. I’ve learned about so many projects and so many passionate people who just want to build things to help people. I’ve yet to have any crashes too, unlike windows, and I’ve seen a performance uplift of about 10-15%, mostly from all the background services no longer running and hogging resources. I’m even setting up a homelab to self host/provide my community with a way to replace other corporatized spyware like google’s suite, discord, etc.
But yeah man, enjoy your capitalist slop, innovating the best ways to create problems and sell you solutions. Pay that subscription fee, buy another skin. I feel like I own my hardware again.
You do realize that Linux is intended to be run on ECC memory, while Windows has been built with many features to compensate and is therefore more resilient for almost all home users. Your anecdotes are funny because they lack all technical merit (typical Linux propaganda).
Even Linus Torvalds would shake his head at the nonsense LiGNUts put out there.
Your anecdotes are funny because they lack all technical merit (typical Linux propaganda).
While calling Linux commie garbage. Dafuq?
You want technical? Let’s go.
You do realize that Linux is intended to be run on ECC memory
This is technically confused. ECC memory is error-correcting memory used in servers and workstations to detect and correct bit-flip errors. It’s not a Linux requirement and Linux runs fine on non-ECC consumer hardware, the same hardware Windows runs on. It sounds like you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what ECC is and/or what Linux is. Having worked at the architectural level in RAM addressing utilizing Hamming code to protect against sais bit flips, I’ve experience in this area. Linux runs on everything from Raspberry Pis to supercomputers to Android phones. Windows also supports ECC memory on compatible hardware. This isn’t a Windows vs Linux distinction at all.
Windows has been built with many features to compensate and is therefore more resilient for almost all home users
This is vague enough to be unfalsifiable. Features to compensate for what exactly? It certainly isn’t memory usage or performance, that’s for sure. Memory errors on non-ECC hardware affect both operating systems equally since that’s a hardware limitation, not an OS one.
Even Linus Torvalds would shake his head at the nonsense LiGNUts put out there.
This is an appeal to authority but backfires. Linus Torvalds famously uses Linux exclusively (he prefers Fedora and is happy not being at the bleeding edge), advocates for it constantly, and has been publicly critical of proprietary software and Nvidia drivers. Invoking him as someone who would disapprove of Linux advocacy is an interesting choice, or an entirely uninformed one.
FOSS is commie garbage
Someone who opens with that framing and then produces technically confused claims about ECC memory is not making a good faith technical argument. Linux, as a technology, is not political. You’re working backwards from your own ideology using mental gymnastics to make uninformed claims in an attempt to support said ideology.
Here’s a question for you, now that we’ve exposed your lack of technical knowledge. Why are you on Lemmy, “FOSS commie garbage” software, same as Linux?
Just fyi, you are talking to a nutter. That person created the linuxsucks community and seems to spend all waking (probably sleeping too) hours thinking about linux and how to get mad at linux. Don Quixote has nothing on this guy
Data integrity is a hardware problem, not an OS problem.
The myth that Linux is stable enough that you don’t need ECC unless you’re running ZFS or a database is wrong. A flipped bit corrupts memory before the OS sees it.
-ECC protects the OS. The OS cannot protect itself.
Windows has the most aggressive consumer‑grade fault‑tolerance stack with WHEA, bad‑page retirement, PCIe AER recovery, GPU/driver subsystem restart, VBS integrity enforcement, core offlining, and memory poisoning.
-These features dramatically reduce crashes on unreliable hardware.
ECC is the only one to detect single‑bit errors, correct single‑bit errors, detect multi‑bit errors, and prevent silent corruption from propagating. It’s not ‘Linux stability’ - it’s literally ECC (which most consumer desktops and laptops don’t have)!
-Servers need ECC because server workloads demand correctness (and Linux doesn’t even try to deliver that because they don’t have to).
Cosmic rays, electrical noise, and manufacturing defects literally hit hardware, not software. -That famous blue screen in front of an audience during a Windows presentation? -Nothing to be ashamed about (but they could’ve used ECC)!
If the hardware lies, the OS has no way to know. Even Windows Server requires ECC. Enterprise Linux distros recommend ECC. It’s about physics: not the OS.
I was talking to a couple of people about my positive experience faming on Linux since I switched recently, and one of them seemed really interested since he hates Windows.
The other guy mentioned “But some games still don’t work. Certain multiplayer games have kernel-level anti-cheat that doesn’t work on linux.” and I saw the first guy visibly lose interest even though I would have bet money he was going to actually try linux before. So I asked him “Do you play competitive multiplayer games?” “No, not really.”
The fact that linux can’t run every game is apparently a turn-off for some people, even if they aren’t games they want to play.
Honestly, the kind of games that don’t run on Linux, I usually don’t want to play them anyway. Like League of Legends (shudders)
I say leave those toxic users on windows. If that’s the community they want to foster, be my guest. We’ll be here building and providing simply because we’re passionate and want to help.
Exactly where I’m at. It’s not like we’re low on options.
The thing is that people don’t want to get that new game that that seems so fun to find out that it doesn’t actually work. Other games not working is seen as a sign of potential future trouble.
The same people will generally accept that a ps4 game won’t play on an xbox etc. So it is a bit odd.
That’s a bad analogy because 99% of the games that people play on steam machines will be Windows games, not Linux games. It’s an issue when you don’t know if a steam game will work on a steam machines, or any other PC game won’t work on your pc.
I mean, it’s pretty easy to know. They have an icon directly next to the game that says what it works on.
You have just as much knowledge about if it’ll work as you do based on hardware requirements. Which is to say “none, unless you look at the place where they tell you”.By this metric, 99% of games don’t work on Linux. How is this helping?
This is a genuine concern. Kernel level applications being required is not.
It is when the reason they don’t work on Linux is because it doesn’t support kernel level anti-cheat.
Yeah, it’s not unreasonable, I had to bail on Forza Horizon 6 at launch, due to severe issues at launch, and the recent DOOM DLC has some visual bugs too (there’s a PR in Mesa already!).
It’s amazing it works this well, and the maintainers of these tools are incredible for getting fixes out so quickly when a new game launches with issues, but there are some unavoidable realities to not being the target platform.
I think the advantages are worth it, and completely deleted my Windows install earlier this year to fully commit, but it’s naive to say that the experience is flawless and you won’t ever have problems gaming. I can definitely be sympathetic to more casual players being put off by that.
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really really want that kernel level malware
gold
Just think of using Windows as being a cuck who is fine with your kernel getting a train run on it, every day, every night, all the time.
You literally don’t even know by how many, who they specifically are.
But also, I’m sure its fine, no need for regular STD testing.
… not that it would even be possible.
That bullshit never stopped anyone from cheating. Why is this even a thing?
Ironically, this is the way to do that. If you want to be more secure you only use Windows for those particular games and nothing else.
they are probably just providing the windows drivers that their vendors already have for the components inside the hardware they’re selling.
A big part of PCs is flexibility. I can run Fedora, Sally can run Mint, and Fred can run Windows. Contrast that with an Apple where you are stuck running Mac or some of the more proprietary software oriented vendors where the only way to use half your RGB and even display features is to run in Windows.
Personally? I run Linux. I am happy. But I also remember when we were happy that Google was focusing on “the open source” project “Android”. And… we see how that went down. And with how many people think SteamOS is something unique and magical? I am happy now but I am definitely thinking about what 2030 will be (… if there is a 2030 but that is a different fear).
a lot of manufacturers are realizing that the OS is not profitable, just merely a vehicle to shove their products
the difference between Android and SteamOS is that SteamOS is funding FOSS devs who were already a part of the linux ecosystem and are contributing back to it
in contrast android built a walled garden while keeping the open source bits for theirselves
but yeah, its slightly possible that valve could become like google, but i heavily doubt it at the moment
Those plucky Windows users love to hack hardware to get their niche software running. Good for them.
Hey, thirty years ago this was true!
Seems like Microsoft is who should be supporting Windows. It isn’t like Valve can fix Windows issues as Windows isn’t open source.
Valve offering drivers and notes is what they are able to offer for someone else’s proprietary product.
Microsoft support one of their own products? Crazy talk.
The dumbest part of the article is that the author seems to be blaming Valve for games that chose a kernel level anticheat that only works with Windows and consoles.
But because many anti-cheat apps still aren’t compatible with Linux (hence, SteamOS), installing Windows on Steam hardware is currently the only way that gamers can enjoy titles that require them.
That isn’t even a Windows issue. That is a publisher choosing an anticheat that has stupid limitations.
Well valve chose to release their product that runs their OS that doesn’t support what developers/publishers want, so yeah, that’s on valve.
You think developers WANT to work with Windows?
Good luck personalizing Windows as much as Linux and then distribute it
Happy cake day!
🥳
Why is this headline so awful to read?
Valve releases drivers and notes to make Windows work on Steam hardware, however, they refuse to officially support it though. They won’t offer support for “Windows on Steam Hardware,” and provide resources “as is”.
More readable version.
I absolutely hate how articles always omit the “and” from titles. Instead of “Bob and Steve run for office” they just say “Bob, Steve, run for office”.
Right, but it’s a really loaded way to say it.
They have no obligation to release Windows drivers at all.
No shit, Valve releases tools to help users that are taking a bite out of Valve’s pie, for free, and that makes Valve the bad guy.
The last thing Microsoft gave you for free was Cortana and ads in your start menu.
Other than the broad “Microsoft hate” people is thinking about, there are two reason I can think about; and none about Gaben being a Microsoft’s scorned ex-employer.
- conflict of interest: Microsoft’s EEE. Look it up. If they rule the OS on which majority of Steam Hardware work on, Microsoft rules on a competitors against it’s “Xbox experience”.
- Microsoft doesn’t allow open source drivers to officially run on Windows. Any hardware driver must be done, paid, by close doors at Valve and no extra help as the whole community around mesa and affiliated. There’s a reason why Valve is skipping Nvidia on basically everything.
It’s not the OS they planned on working with for the Steam Deck. It’s nice they supplied drivers at all for those who chose to do so.
To me it makes sense. Windows is finicky to begin with. And through the lens of Valve and SteamOS, Windows is basically 3rd party, and many software companies don’t support 3rd party “add-ons”.
Refuses? “Here’s a thing you might like.” But I want more.
I mean the hardware was not designed around Windows so I can understand not offering official support for it, even if you can actually get it working.
