Valve Debuts Open Source Linux OS for Cloud Gaming

Will 2014 be the Year of the Linux Gaming Console? Probably not quite, but with the beta version of SteamOS, the Linux-based, open source operating system for Valve‘s living-room Steam Machine gaming boxes, already out, it may come close. But non-geeks be warned: the new OS won’t be ready for prime time till well after the start of the new year.

On Dec. 13, Valve issued the first beta release of SteamOS, which is based on Debian Linux. (So too, by the way, is Canonical‘s Ubuntu, probably the most popular Linux distribution among home users.) The new platform will become the operating system for Valve’s Steam Machine gaming consoles, which the company plans to begin selling in 2014. It can also run on a range of other home PC hardware, with the only major requirement being an Nvidia graphics device, since Intel and AMD cards are not supported).

Valve is warning, however, that the OS in its current form is not for the faint-of-heart. Unlike most other Linux distributions, it is not available as a handy ISO image that users can burn to a CD, and some other complex hacking is required to turn a PC into a SteamOS-powered console—although Valve has provided instructions for building your own Steam Machine for those users who feel up to the task.

For the channel, though, the real significance of SteamOS isn’t the Do-It-Yourself adventures it will provide to enterprising hackers, but its potential to bring open source gaming—or games delivered via an open source platform, at least—into living rooms everywhere. While Linux is in many respects the least obvious candidate for building a gaming platform, Valve’s cloud-based distribution of gaming content works around the traditional hurdles to gaming on Linux, providing open source the chance to play a big role in a niche where traditionally it has barely existed at all.

And since SteamOS is open source, it also lends itself to partnership and integration opportunities within the channel. Valve hasn’t said anything about such deals yet, but it did recently become a member of the Linux Foundation consortium, suggesting that it is interested in working more closely with open source partners.