This is the first console I've ever been interested in actually buying. I've always refused to buy devices that don't allow you to write and install your own software (I don't count hacks on them, so this is the first console that's actually open enough to meet my criteria. The nice thing is that this makes a pretty good off the shelf home theater PC even if I never actually use it for gaming.
I always laugh when I see 'PC' because I take it at is literal meaning - 'Personal Computer' - which always makes me wonder what about apple products, consoles, or even mobile phones makes them not either personal or computers. They all seem to be computers, they all seem pretty personal to me...
PC is a holdover from the popular IBM Personal Computer running Microsoft's PC DOS (later MS-DOS). IBM made PC a brand name in direct competition with Apple. When other companies started copying IBM, they made IBM PC Compatible devices and peripherals, generally with an x86 processor. By the 90's, "IBM PC Compatible" meant "an x86 processor running Windows", still in direct competition with Apple.
So even though Apple uses x86 processors and technically it is a personal computer, "PC" still refers to the old brand name that is synonymous with Wintel. Apple has personal computers, Microsoft has Personal Computers.
"PC is a holdover from the popular IBM Personal Computer running Microsoft's PC DOS ..."
Of course it is, and much of what is sold with that moniker today is really more of an entertainment appliance than "computer." When my daughter was 5 or 6 and being told to "dial 9-1-1 for emergencies" she asked me "Why do they call it dialing?"
So the interesting thing from the perspective of the Steam box is this is an entertainment console with a bunch of details about how the insides work. I'm sure that 95% of the people who buy it will have the exact same experience they would have had if they bought and Xbox One or PS4, and the other 5% will have a lot of fun making it do amazing things and not have to worry about getting sued or arrested for it [1].
Well, even Apple computers are IBM PC compatible nowadays, and today outside of a few exceptions it is difficult to make x86 computers that are not IBM PC compatible at the hardware level.
I have read a line (it might have been Steve Wozniak, or perhaps even Paul Graham, I forget) but it said that, when the idea of 'Personal Computer' was mentioned, it was audacious, like saying 'Personal Satellite' now.
When the term PC was coined, computers were fridge sized horrifically expensive things that ran in research institutions and very large companies. The idea of having your own was...crazy.
It is weird how the name has come to mean something based on the Wintel nexus, but that's marketing and differentiation for you.
To me it seems that the PC distinction comes more from the AT motherboard format used by IBM PC. It's the standard format that triggered the replaceable/upgradeable parts that made IBM PC popular, and really explain the PC naming for (non-apple) desktop computers.
I'm not sure what the distinction is. A Playstation 4 has AMD integrated CPU/GPUs, and runs BSD. An Xbox One also uses AMD CPU/GPUs, and runs a Hyper-V hypervisor which runs both the Xbox OS and Windows.
Those sound an awful lot like PCs to me. Sure, they have a bit of custom hardware design, but for the most part are basically just PCs; except that they're locked down and you can't write your own software for them without going through an intermediary (and if you try to, you may get sued or arrested for hacking).
If we talk "gaming" and PC and "traditional consoles", I fear the Ouya is a little underpowered. Doesn't it run on a chip that is normally found in smartphones? Some type pf snapdragon?
A lot of people are perfectly happy with the games that their phones and cheap tablets play, and the Ouya will be capable of handling everything they can. It will be less powerful than the higher end phones and tablets, but most game producers target the larger market so, aside from maybe turning some visual sparkle off on less powerful targets, almost everything should work well enough on the Ouya's design.
I see the Ouya mainly being appealing to gamers who are mostly interested in casual and retro titles, which it is no doubt more than capable of handling. The point is that they are not trying to be a traditional powerful console, they are trying to be what a large group of people (who have traditionally been interested but not interested enough to shell out for a traditional console and its expensive games) are wanting. The fact it also doubles up as a media centre machine, aims to work out of the box (the cheap devices imported from out east are sold as basic Android units with little care for polishing the software install so the user needs a little technical knowlege to get things like XMBC and its ilk to work), and is fairly cheap, makes it quite an attractive package unless you need/want more power (in which case there are better solutions for you out there already).
EDIT: I've just checked and the Ouya runs off the Tegra3 and has 1Gb RAM, so it has oumpf than I thought when writing the above. That is essentially the same chipset choice made for the G1 Nexus 7 so noticeably more powerful than any cheap tablets and phones. It won't match the high power shiny now consoles and play their graphically demanding titles of course, but again I don't think that is the aim and it should be be able to deal with some relatively demanding games (and they'll be very inexpensive compared to the AAA console/PC titles).
Android fits the bill for what he's described. It's doubtful that everything in a SteamBox is completely open source (including graphics drivers and firmware on various hardware), so even though Android isn't 100% open source, it's roughly on par with the openness of a common Linux desktop.
Android may be roughly on par with the openness of SteamOS. But you'd be hard pressed to argue that Android is roughly on par with the openness of the common Linux desktop.
Open source Linux core where installed software may or may not be open source, with an increasing reliance on closed-source cloud applications? Closed source graphics drivers, network firmware, etc? I don't have any statistics obviously, but I would be willing to wager at least 50% of Linux desktops have some closed source installed or some reliance on a cloud provider. Even if it's Flash for watching YouTube videos.
That's still not even close. How easy is it to side-load on Android? Browse the file system? Obtain root access? Recompile and update the kernel? Replace the window manager? Android may be a lot more open than iOS but it's not even close to a Linux desktop.
How easy is it to side-load on Android?: Very Easy out of the box. Just open the apk and the installer will install it.
Browse the file system? Very easy. There are many free and paid file managers. You can also use a terminal emulator.
Obtain root access? OEM unlock bootloader, throw su on the phone and you are set.
Recompile and update the kernel? I has never built my own kernel, but there are many custom kernels popping up all the time.
Replace the window manager? To change the desktop environment, most people just install a different "launcher". That changes how the desktop, windowing, and general interface operate. If you really wanted to have the full freedom of Linux, you can install something like Debian on an android device with a dual boot setup or run it on top of android through a VNC client.
A Nexus 4. As I said, my criteria are that I can run my own software on it without having to go through some intermediary, and I am able to replace the operating system if I would like.
I would prefer a fully free software stack, but I realize that that's not always possible, so I like to support the next best thing. Traditional consoles have always been so hacking unfriendly that I have refused to buy them.
Just so you know, a Nexus One was the first cell phone I ever bought; it was the first that I considered free enough (and capable enough; the Dream/G1 was just a little too clunky for me to consider it particularly useful).
The Phantom was taking the same approach pretty much. Off the shelf PC parts and digital copies of games. Just interesting to see how much and how little changes in a decade.
Until next year when AMD releases the same APU technology in a single dye, with granted 4 instead of 8 cores. It will also have HSA, which I believe the Xbox lacks.
No, you wouldn't. There aren't even PC emulators that include 3d graphics, only emulators that provide graphics card passthrough or provide software to install inside the emulator to pass high-level graphics commands to the host's OpenGL implementation. Nobody has a binary-compatible GeForce (or Radeon) emulator.
The unified memory enabled developers to practically start using the GPU for things other than rendering. This in turn places higher requirements on an emulator.
None of the emulators you see today existed before someone sat down and started writing them. Your point about PC emulators is irrelevant since if you control the guest OS, it's just much more practical to install a pass-through driver.
I remember going to E3 some ten years ago with friends and we couldn't stop laughing at the Phantom. IIRC, they were either going to charge per minute played or the games were going to be rent-only or something of that nature. It just seemed more like "how can we possibly exploit more money from players" versus Steam's idea of changing the way we do gaming. So I would personally argue that Steam is significantly different.
Aren't games on Steam pretty much "rent-only"?
Considering your don't own them in a sense that you are not able to use them without your Steam account.
With Steam at least you only pay once (and FYI some Steam games don't have any DRM but they are a minority). I'd have to dig but the impression that is in my memory is that you would get a game for a time period for a price and then pay again if you wanted to play again. I could be remembering completely wrong here though, I just don't recall the idea of "pay once, play until we go out of business".
Steam is a pay-once indefinite rental, the same as any other software that is sold with fine print that disclaims first-sale rights with the excuse that it's only a license, not a sale. This is very different from a fixed-term renewable rental.
In searching old articles, I can't confirm the "rent-only" stigma in my mind. However, it does appear that you would be forced to pay the $30/mo fee to do anything.
I'm more reminded of the Indrema (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indrema). I was so ready for an open console back in 2001. We only had to wait 12 years for someone to sort-of do it for real.
The big difference is that the new console is made and marketed by a multi billion dollar gaming company with the largest games marketplace for desktop operating systems. I kinda hope they succeed in turning Linux into the goto OS for gaming...
Basically just a small form PC. Pretty much every component that will be messed with is just an off-the-shelf part. Not really any surprises here, but it's nice that it's all confirmed.
Over the years, I've tried a few times to design a gaming capable PC that would easily fit in a suitcase and not make as much noise as a 747. I never found cases with a form factor like that with internal power supplies, and which will fit, power and cool a mid-to-high range (~€180) graphics card.
The other components are easy of course.
I'd be happy to be proven wrong, because I'm definitely in the market for something like this. More than 50% of my gaming time happens when I take time off - which usually means I'm visiting family for a few weeks, and taking anything bigger than this on a plane or train is not realistic. I was hoping Thunderbolt might solve the problem with external GPUs, but right now that seems more trouble than it's worth.
You could try building a custom PC into a hard-shell travel case. I believe there are also ITX or micro ATX cases that can accommodate a 400+ watt PSU for powering a GPU in that range.
You could try building a custom PC into a hard-shell travel case.
I tried that, many years ago. I'll be the first to admit I'm not especially good at working metal, so it was somewhat crude. Keeping everything safely in place inside, and ensuring sufficient thermal flow ended up too much of a challenge for me. The thing only ran stably when I left it open, and eventually a heatsink came loose during travel. Might be easier with today's more efficient/better designed components, and with a bit of hindsight. Still, very much a major project.
I believe there are also ITX or micro ATX cases that can accommodate a 400+ watt PSU for powering a GPU in that range.
Every 6-12 months I review the market on these. You can indeed get ITX cases which will take a graphics card. Generally, the form factor is the "cube" kind (well, square-ish front face), around 20x22x35cm. (~15 litres) I find this much harder to transport safely (e.g. by packing clothes around it in a suitcase) than the flat, "VCR-shaped" arrangement, with the graphics card on a 90° riser. The ones on the market also tend to waste space on optical drives, multiple hard drive bays, etc. and often have external PSUs (not necessarily a bad thing, but often they don't make the case any smaller).
The Steam Machine prototypes are apparently only around 7.5x31x31cm. That's less than 8 litres, including the PSU.
Last time I looked into this was in Spring, so maybe things have improved since then. Specific suggestions welcome.
It sounds like you're far ahead of me on research into and attempted implementations of small form factor PCs. My limited experience came from tangential, coincidental exposure while researching ARM-based single-board computers.
Although we're joking, I wonder if Bitcoin would be far more successful if it originated within a platform like Steam. Let's say Steam replaced their wallet with Hatcoins. They allow users to add Hatcoins from their bank account, send Hatcoins to other users, purchase hats, and Steam games at a 2% discount if using Hatcoins during 2014. Valve runs the main Hatcoin exchange, and you'll have millions of people using the currency within a year. If I run a gaming site, I could start accepting Hatcoin donations or subscriptions, since they're already popular with gamers. Or, I could pay for servers using Hatcoins, buy Minecraft items with Hatcoins, Humble Bundles, games from GreenManGaming and GamersGate, etc.
It seems like they would have something that Bitcoin doesn't, a lively economy and marketplace to add stability.
This reminds me of Microsoft Points et al which I find incredibly annoying. It's much friendlier to ask me to pay for things in the currency I use for everything else in my life.
That was my thought. Pushing a new electronic currency in a locked-in environment such as steam comes across as a bit too company town and company store for my tastes.
I would definitely sell off my TF2 hat collection if I could legitimately buy something else with the proceeds (even if it was only other Steam games.)
$500 video card, huh? After complaining that $500 for the XBone was a little pricey (I bought one anyway), building my own got just a tad less appealing. I will be interested to see how much volume pricing brings down the final price at release.
Valve released a large variety of steamboxes for this beta test, so they could test different hardware. Some of the boxes had 1k cards in them, some had cards on the lower end of the range. Don't get too attached to the 500$
Ah, thanks for clarifying. I have not been following all that closely, despite having an interest, and took the iFixIt build to be the blessed standard to be followed by all others.
That GPU is 3x faster than the one in Xbox One. Also, if you cared so much about performance/price, you should've gotten a PS4, which has a performance to price ratio of 1.8:1 compared to the Xbox One (1.8 Gflops/$400 vs 1.2 Gflops/$500), and you can play all games at 1080p.
I never mentioned price/performance at all. I also don't know anyone at Sony that can get me PS4 games at half price, so there's TCO and more than just the initial price. And my TV is 720p, so 1080p doesn't matter right now. Other than that, you were spot-on with your assumptions.
Anyway, this is just one config for the SteamBox. Each beta tester has a different hardware config I'm pretty sure, from real cheap, up to an absolute beast. They did that because that's the plan with the OEMs too
From my research, you'll be able to get or build an SB yourself cheaper than a next gen console with the same power at least. I'm excited by that!
and "from time to time" does not mean every other year in case somebody still thinks that.
Nowadays you can go a very long time with even just a medium spec'd gpu and still compare favorably to consoles. But unlike consoles you have the option to upgrade it if you want to.
Might as well be the "standard" spec for a good 5+ years (see how long the xbox360 & ps3 stayed in production: 7-8 years), and prices for pc hardware drop quickly.
Some gamers still prefer PS/2 if given the choice, even though there's little technical advantage. Although their most cited reason (key rollover) isn't valid; the keyboard determines how many simultaneous key presses it will transmit over USB.
PS/2 keyboards observationally are known to have a bit less latency. Since there are a ton of variables at play (keyboard controller, USB poll rate, PS/2 interrupt queuing, etc.) it's hard to evaluate just how much the difference will be with any given setup.
My understanding of how n-key rollover was finally implemented in USB keyboards was by putting a USB hub in the keyboard and having the keyboard pretend to be several keyboards all at once.
a coworker got into the beta and I got to play with the controller for a little bit yesterday. I really like the concept of the touch pads, especially as a big FPS person. Analog sticks just can't compare to a mouse, but the touch pad will make me consider switching some gaming to the living room. http://twitpic.com/dp50dp
It's not just the tight fit, it's that without knowing/remembering the proper cable routing you might not be able to get everything to fit back in the case after taking it apart.
If you do a small form factor PC yourself you will have extra lengths in your cables to make perfect cable routing not necessary. They provide shorter cables and thus require figuring out how to get it back together.
The cabling, cowling, and RAM were mentioned as being a little difficult. To me, 'a little difficult' would suggest that it can't actually get perfect marks for 'easy to do'.
They're dirt fucking cheap, is why. Last I looked, $0.80 a piece. Why screw around with an 8-bit AVR when it's more expensive and you're plugged into the wall and don't care about power?
(Oh, and I'll add a tradeoff: the chips are cheap, but they are not as easy to get up and running as an AVR. Programmers and a bunch of Windows software seems to be required; I've given up every time I've tried to use one :)
Sure, but it's meant to prototype a machine that will be produced in millions - it adds up in volume, and it's not really a drop-in replacement, you have to engineer the whole subsystem with the cheaper parts in mind.
I'm a bit late here but just as a heads up ARM have an officially developed Cortex-M* GCC target which hosts just fine on Linux: https://launchpad.net/gcc-arm-embedded
With OpenOCD and STLink the STM32 family of Cortex processors are easy to use with Linux (arguably easier than in Windows, actually, because the toolchain isn't as shitty).
I do agree that using them from Windows in the often-documented "beginner's path" way really sucks.
It's a $1.50 MCU at low volume which probably has off the shelf USB drivers. Why would you build-cost-optimize a prototype for a product you never plan to mass produce? Choosing the path with lowest engineering cost is almost always the correct solution in such a situation.
Hard to say, since each beta box comes with different goodies:
"The 300 prototype units will ship with the following components:
GPU: some units with NVidia Titan, some GTX780, some GTX760, and some GTX660
CPU: some boxes with Intel i7-4770, some i5-4570, and some i3
RAM: 16GB DDR3-1600 (CPU), 3GB GDDR5 (GPU)
Storage: 1TB/8GB Hybrid SSHD
Power Supply: Internal 450w 80Plus Gold
Dimensions: approx. 12 x 12.4 x 2.9 in high"
This is a very important question. I routinely build gaming PCs for friends and relatives and all this stuff is pretty hard to come by for less than 1000$. Especially this huge GTX 780 which is pretty high end.
If Valve really wants to compete with consoles, they need a wireless controller. I go back and play the old PS1/2 and Gamecube occasionally, and the toughest adjustment is going back to a wired controller.
There is an ISP switch on the board and the pins for programming may be on the header labeled "debug", although it's likely that those are JTAG. Either way, it should be easy to reprogram it. Not sure what you would do with 12 LEDs and a power button, but it's certainly possible.
The LPC11U37F in the controller could be worth a look too.
Almost certainly; that's the same processor as used in one model of the mbed, all you have to do is find the JTAG/SWD on the board. The default firmware may be code-protected, but there are ways round that.
