Finally we're seeing another handheld vendor jump in with Linux. The AYANEO NEXT LITE was announced today and much like the Steam Deck, they plan to ship it with SteamOS!
UPDATE: Despite saying they were using SteamOS on the homepage, they've since clarified that it's actually "an optimized version based on HoloISO". HoloISO seems to be a community compiled version of SteamOS. It's very similar but it's not officially SteamOS.
Yes! I've been waiting for more devices to ship with SteamOS. I am tired of these unpolished handheld experiences on Windows. It always ends up being a mishmash of random vendor apps and lengthy Windows updates.
Windows is a sinking ship, it just makes less and less sense to let the person controlling your operating system be microsoft when Linux keeps getting better.
Windows is going to continue to own the PC market. It’s not sinking anywhere.
Linux is what, 1% of PC OSs and never really changing?
But totally man, this is the year of Linux. Microsoft is totally gonna fall over and die and finally for once all the never ending predictions about Linux being the most popular will finally come true this year!
Linux is great, but it’s going to stay irrelevant and nerdy. Don’t go pretending that’s gonna change any time soon.
I run a dual boot on my Deck and have managed to make the experience alright. There are some good debloating scripts online. It's nice to have access to GP games.
I love what I'm seeing but I'm too blind to use a handheld. I've been gaming for 44 years and I'll probably never get to experience it, at least not well. Still glad to see it though!
This is huge. I wonder if they saw poor sales for their previous windows devices and were like.. well what if we put linux on it? I am tempted to preorder..
Judging from their history of rapid releases, I'd say this is more a matter of just throwing it out there to see if it sticks because "why not?"
Worst case, it fails, they're out a little bit of capital, but can just as easily swap it over to Windows and keep selling it that way. Best case, they've opened the market up that little bit more for themselves.
Ayaneo (and GPD) have been doing pretty well for the past few years. Well before Valve dipped their toe into the PC handheld market.
It is mostly that Valve have demonstrated the viability of linux for gaming (in large part to preserve their de facto monopoly on PC gaming as MS find ways to convince people to put up with GFWL...). Which means Ayaneo (and GPD) potentially have a way to not have to factor in windows licenses with all of their SKUs.
Games for Windows Live hasn't been a thing in years. You talking about Xbox Game Pass?
I think of Valve's Linux efforts as more opening up the PC market than anything else. A ton of their efforts end up being upstreamed, which gives other vendors a chance to develop their own OSes based on Linux and have it actually be viable. More Linux and less Windows is a plus in my book.
Moreover, AYANEO NEXT LITE will debut with unexpected and exciting surprises for players. The all-new cost-effective choice with flagship experiences, AYANEO NEXT LITE, subscriptions open at 9:30 PM 1/11/2014 EST
I'm not familiar with these devices. Do the existing models have subscriptions?
Ayaneo has a pretty good track record making portable gaming devices, mostly running Windows. I'm guessing "subscriptions" here is a mistranslation for pre-orders.
Yeah. I was looking into a handheld well before the steam deck was announced. GPD probably have the best hardware, but ayaneo the best overall "package" and form factor. My issue was always that they require their proprietary software to be run on top and... I don't trust them with shit like steam credentials.
But yeah. The company is REALLY Chinese and tend to (presumably) run most of their stuff through a translator. You get used to it.
I love that tech companies were willing to invest hundreds of billions into VR with no clear understanding of where the huge adoption of users is going to come from and what even the killer experience is going to be using them and yet here we clearly have the future of gaming just waiting for other companies to invest further into the relatively assured long term and short term success of it.
The usecases are clear for the steam deck, the user base is clear, the focus effect on indie games prioritizing working well on the steam deck is clear and is a sign of how much momentum is really shifting even though it isn’t reflected in big numbers yet. This is the most obvious tectonic shift in electronics and entertainment that has come along probably in my lifetime.
In the future you know what gaming computer kids are going to get first (if it isn’t a console)? It is super obvious to me is going to be something like a steam deck. Parents are going to figure a steamdeck device is far more portable, practical and cheap and they will think ok they can get a pc down the road and play the same games I buy them if they want.
Really nice news, both from the perspective of making new non-SteamDeck portable devices more appealing as well as from the perspective of standardizing Linux-based gaming setups further
Currently it's not clear how they're using SteamOS. As Valve have not announced any kind of partnership, and there's no official public SteamOS 3 release yet.
The article doesn't contradict the headline, Ayaneo officially announced that their handheld will use SteamOS. The comment is saying that Valve hasn't made any announcements regarding partnerships or allowing other companies to use it.