as with all things linux, i was pretty excited to test out valve's new SteamOS and make ShiVa games run on it. For everyone else who wants to join in the fun, here's a quick installation guide.
- read the valve instructions: http://store.steampowered.com/steamos/buildyourown
- make sure you have a testrig that meets all requirements
- deactivate secureboot in your UEFI settings
- get the steamOS distro from valve, choose the "installer" or "custom", not "sysrestore"
- follow their installation as indicated on the website up to point 7. now it gets complicated.
---
- log into "desktop"/"desktop"
- open a terminal
- run "passwd" to get yourself a new admin password
if you have a wifi usb stick or some sort of more exotic wifi card, first thing you will probably have a problem with is wifi.
1. learn about the chipset you have, for instance by running "lsusb" from the terminal
2. download the required .deb firmware/driver files from the debian wheezy repository with another computer, put the file(s) on a usb drive and put that drive into your steambox
- install the wireless driver: "sudo dpkg install /path/to/the/firmware.deb"
- reboot
---
- log into "steam"/"steam"
- connect to the internet
- open a terminal
- run "steam"
- reboot when finished
---
- log into "desktop"/"desktop"
- open a terminal
- run the post-login.sh shell script from the terminal, which is located in your home folder
- reboot
---
- finally, it looks like a steambox!
- in steam big picture, go to settings>interface and activate "enable access to the linux desktop"
- log out of steam big picture onto the desktop ("exit>return to desktop")
we now need to enable steamOS to get packages from its mother distribution debian in order to install some packages that are required for shiva games.
- open a terminal
- "sudo editor /etc/apt/sources.list"
- append the following to this file: "deb http://http.debian.net/debian wheezy main contrib non-free" and save it
- run "sudo apt-get update" to refresh the available package list
- run "sudo apt-get install synaptic" to load the proper debian GUI package manager
- run "sudo synaptic" to get into the GUI package manager
- install "libopenal1" and its dependencies
- sound only works over hdmi. i have not yet figured out which packages are required for "standard" sound, and pulseaudio seems to be broken
- while you are at it, i recommend to install the "mesa-utils" as well to have some easy to read/access output about your graphics hardware and software
---
you are now set to run shiva games on the steamOS from its desktop. you will need the 64bit linux engine that comes with the latest ShiVa 1.9.2 release client. controllers are fully supported. enjoy!
here's a test video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AKXAyQPUyI
regards
