Help me trying to install SteamOS

MaxiBash · May 6, 2019

(I don't want to start endless discussions about OS'es or any other bulls##t people started talking about in a thread about Dell drivers. I have a question and I need an answer.)

So, I wanted to give SteamOS a try on my old PC. It doesn't meet the requirements, but my Steam library doesn't have any games that require beasts of PC's. Apparently it's a common issue where SteamOS will not regonice the inserted installation disc. I've been using a DVD+RW for this process, and for anyone wondering, yes, Ubuntu Desktop works, but 'nomodeset' needs to be turned on (but is fully operational after that), yes I did update this PC to the latest BIOS (no UEFI support sadly) and no, for whatever reason, I cannot continue this installation with a USB stick because it always searches for my DVD drive, even after uninstalling-reinstalling.

Anyway, here are some specs...
ASUS P5VD1-X Motherboard
2GB of RAM installed
TSSTcorpDVD-ROM SH-D162C (Samsung) (Yes, it is compatible with DVD+RW's)
nVidea GeForce 6200 TurboCache
160GB of free space
Intel Pentium 4 Processor (3GHz) (64-bit compatible as well)
...and now I'm stuck in a pit. Any help is appreciated.

Joom · May 6, 2019

What are you using to make the bootable USB, and are you manually booting from it? Also, SteamOS is just Ubuntu with Steam's Big Picture mode used as the desktop manager. You can achieve this with any distribution, and would probably be better off using one more geared toward old hardware. Also, if you install your proprietary video driver, you shouldn't have to use the nomodeset flag.

MaxiBash · May 7, 2019

Joom said:
What are you using to make the bootable USB, and are you manually booting from it? Also, SteamOS is just Ubuntu with Steam's Big Picture mode used as the desktop manager. You can achieve this with any distribution, and would probably be better off using one more geared toward old hardware. Also, if you install your proprietary video driver, you shouldn't have to use the nomodeset flag.

Nomodereset was the only way to even get remotely to the desktop interface. I can install those drivers later. This PC is also too old to start from USB, but by launching the .exe, it still asks for an installation CD.
I also couldn't even get a proper screenshot of SteamOS when I Googled it. Some of them just show Big Picture, some of them show a Debian-looking interface, and some of them just blindly show Ubuntu.

So, in terms of performance, Ubuntu 18.04 is better than SteamOS?

Joom · May 7, 2019

EXE? You shouldn't be using the WUBI installer. This installs the OS inside of Windows, which is not what you want. There's no way to change the boot order in the BIOS?

Trash_Bandatcoot said:
So, in terms of performance, Ubuntu 18.04 is better than SteamOS?

They're both the same. SteamOS is Ubuntu.

MaxiBash · May 7, 2019

Joom said:
They're both the same. SteamOS is Ubuntu.

SteamOS is Linux Debian 8, Ubuntu Desktop 18.04 speaks for itself.
I guess I shouldn't waste any more time on SteamOS, I've been getting a lot of DM's from people asking me why I'm doing it in the first place when I can use Ubuntu.

tech3475 · May 7, 2019

For the record, I found I could use this in the past to boot USB drives on systems which couldn't otherwise:
https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagers.html

MaxiBash · May 7, 2019

tech3475 said:
For the record, I found I could use this in the past to boot USB drives on systems which couldn't otherwise:
https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagers.html

Didn't work for this PC for whatever reason. Most CD end in a "CD Error" (while booting from disc via the BIOS works fine) and no USB stick ever starts up, and my keyboard stops working as well after a 'No startup media found'.

Joom · May 7, 2019

Have you tried using dd to create a USB drive?

MaxiBash · May 7, 2019

Joom said:
Have you tried using dd to create a USB drive?

Yep, and now I'm done. I'm now on Ubuntu, threw SteamOS in the corner and I was presented with a new issue: The screen resolution which I'm already talking about in another thread. (this s##t will never end will it)

Joom · May 7, 2019

sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall

Run that and see if it helps.

Help me trying to install SteamOS

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