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Valve has finally opened up Steam's in-home streaming feature to everyone. Currently it allows you to Stream Windows games to different operating systems.

Soon though it will allow Linux hosts to Stream games to other computers. Odd that they took out the Linux-hosted Streaming for the official release, as our Samsai made a video on it and it worked.

This feature is awesome and will really set Steam apart from their competitors I think. I plan on getting a Steam Machine, but probably a low powered unit which means I will use my beefy computer to stream to a little box by my big TV to kick-back with friends on my sofa. This i imagine is something a lot of people will be doing.

Something very interesting is this:
QuoteCurrently Mac OS X, Linux, and SteamOS, with support for more systems coming soon.

It makes me wonder what other systems you will be able to Stream onto, possibly an Android tablet or an ipad? Imagine sitting in bed with a tablet playing some big PC game streamed from your Linux box, crazy.

See the full announcement here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Pinguino May 22, 2014
Have they even given anyone a hint on how soon is "soon"? I can't wait to be able to use my Macbook as a host so I can play a few non-Linux games on my "Steam Machine".

Another thing I couldn't figure out is how the processing power is distributed. I mean, the performance cap will be set by the slower machine or are the specs of the host machine practically the only thing that matter?
Half-Shot May 22, 2014
Quoting: wleoncioHave they even given anyone a hint on how soon is "soon"? I can't wait to be able to use my Macbook as a host so I can play a few non-Linux games on my "Steam Machine".

It used to work on all 3 platforms but due to stability only Windows was kept on. I don't think its going to be a long wait.

Quoting: wleoncioAnother thing I couldn't figure out is how the processing power is distributed. I mean, the performance cap will be set by the slower machine or are the specs of the host machine practically the only thing that matter?

None of the power is distrobuted in the way that a data center distrobutes if that's what you mean. The host will be using and have avaliable the same amount of power as if you were in front of it. The client only needs enough to be able to hardware decode a stream at the desired resolutuion and framerate while transmitting controls.
fabertawe May 22, 2014
I'm looking forward to trying this. We only have Linux machines in our house and I'd like to get the wife into a bit of light gaming on her laptop.

I'll also be getting a low profile Steam machine for the TV.
c00kie55 May 22, 2014
low latency network and gpu horsepower on the streaming server will be the most importent factors

so other than network the specs of the host machine is practically the only thing that matter?

but offcourse client needs to be able to stream the picture and send back input from controller whitout lagging

iam so slow Half-Shot somehow beat me ...
Half-Shot May 22, 2014
Quoting: c00kie55low latency network and gpu horsepower on the streaming server will be the most importent factors

so other than network the specs of the host machine is practically the only thing that matter?

but offcourse client needs to be able to stream the picture and send back input from controller whitout lagging

iam so slow Half-Shot somehow beat me ...

I have a low latency connection :P

It's important to also stress the client needs to be fairly ok too though. I have a AMD A4 APU in my laptop, 4GB ram and Arch Linux but it still has a slow hardware decode.
c00kie55 May 22, 2014
I have been playing alittle with inhome streaming while in beta and my old centrino2 laptop with onboard nvidia 9650m gt 1gb as client. Streaming from my ivry-bridege i7, 32gb with a AMD r9280 gpu.

With the client Connectet wirelessly, graphis demanding games like GRID 2 or Rise of the triad had to many red spikes but on gigabit i cut enjoy Grid2 without notisable lag.

The fact that you cant stream without having the game showing on both client and server is a big turnoff for me

Installing streaming server on a windows 7 virtual KVM machine with 16gb ram and the AMD r9280 gpu passed throug with newest virtio drivers for both ssddisk and network card instaled the game Rise of the triad had big lags when using host as client. I havent tryed passing throug a dedicated network card to the streaming server or using bridged network so i can use the laptop as clint to the virtual streaming server yet.

A virtual streaming server makes it possible to hide the signal through a diffrent monitor or monitor input source.
Thijxx May 22, 2014
This is the good stuff. I play Mass Effect 2 on my million years old laptop running Arch :D
(ThinkPad duo-core)
yourpain May 22, 2014
Since I only run Linux and BSD, this isn't useful to me yet. I do look forward to being able to stream games from my main Desktop Linux machine to my lower spec media box connected to my entertainment system though.
OZSeaford May 22, 2014
Wait for it, maybe this is much bigger than we think!

Imagine that the host machine is not at your house, but somewhere in Gabeland?

That would mean you would not have to even own a Windows machine, and that all 3500 games would be available to play on your SteamOS box. Your SteamOS box need not be a beast as well, modest specs will enable you to play well with a thin-client.

Onlive did not work out that great, but this is 3 years later.

Then you will say, what is the incentive for the development of Native SteamOS games? well, let's face it, there would always be some discernable lag between input and what happens on the screen, even with the mighty Steam Controller. So people would still buy the native versions when available.
SC May 22, 2014
Been playing about with this for the last two hours.

I am truly, truly stunned as to how well this works.

My main gaming rig, i7, 16 gigs, gtx 670. Linux box under my telly, 4 year dual core zotac mini pc with integrated graphics.

I've been able to play all games at 1920x1080 resolution and fairly smooth mouse movement. The wireless connection on the zotac is actually pretty poor and kept getting "slow connection" messages with the streams, but overall, it was definitely playable.

I haven't upgraded that zotac box in years, but thinking a wireless dongle might be in order.

I can't believe how well this is working - I've got a linux games console under my telly! It kicks the ps4 and xbox arse!

Gabe and Valve - I love you guys.
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