It's Time to Bring Back the Steam Machine
It's Time to Bring Back the Steam Machine
With all the layoffs and industry volatility, I think now is a great time to consider bringing back the Steam Machine, with a few changes.
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What ever happened to SteamOS? I want to be rid of Microsoft now more than ever.
It became what it is currently the Steam Deck OS or at least the lessons learned were applied to create it. That being said you have distros like Bazzite and Pop OS focused on gaming, you could try those.
I recently deleted my Windows partition and went full Linux for my personal devices. I use Windows for work and it reminds me that I made the right decision.
I use Arch btw
Now that TunnelVision has been disclosed to the general public, I'm just trying to finish up my modded games, then I'm going to switch over to Linux and run Windows in a VM as needed.
Even with my pro license, I'm still at the whims of capitalist decision-making; tired of not really being in control of my own computer.
Now that TunnelVision has been disclosed to the general public
That vulnerability affected every OS except Android.
Yes, but you can relegate your network interface to a namespace in Linux, which is a remedy the researchers recommend. You have to use your internet-facing programs in a VM in Windows to achieve the same effect, and that's a lot of overhead just to protect yourself.
Edit: typo
You have to use your internet-facing programs in a VM in Windows to achieve the same effect
Eh, there's 20 different ways to detect DHCP Option 121 fuckery and once you know it's happening its fairly trivial to stop. Any VPN client worth its salt will be updated in 60 days or less to fix this and existing VPN clients can be hardened against TunnelVision with some fairly simple scripting.
It's a serious vulnerability but it's hardly the unfixable world ender that the media has made it out to be.
Good to know. Got any specific sources for the scripting, or should I just search for something like "option 121 mitigation?"
I don't know if there's any pre-built scripting out there (yet) for this but it's relatively straight forward in Windows to use powershell and either look in the registry for the assigned dhcp options ( HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dhcp\Parameters\Options) or check the routing table for illogical routes.
Assuming that you aren't using split tunneling you could also have powershell check your external IP address for the expected result.
Another possibility is to grab the dhcp test tool from Github, run it in non-interactive mode and then parse it's output. Something I find VERY interesting is that Andrey Baranov specifically added Option 121 to that tool in March of 2023!
With any of those it's a matter of what you want to have happen when you detect the problem such as warning the user and disconnecting the vpn or attempting to mitigate the problem by reconfiguring the routing table.
I should point out that Option 121 is a legit thing and it does have valid uses so you can't assume something nefarious just because it's being used.
I'll probably be scripting up a remediation over the next few days, I'll try and remember to come back and share what I did.
I'd appreciate it! It's interesting, if nothing else.
I'll have to read more about Option 121, because multiple sources said that Option 121 is used for "legitimate things," and yet Android doesn't implement it. Makes me wonder why Android doesn't have it, but other implementations do.
Interesting, thanks.
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What ever happened to SteamOS?
It's still going strong! https://store.steampowered.com/steamos
Personally, I just like to install Debian or Ubuntu as the OS, and then install the Steam launcher:
https://www.linuxcapable.com/how-to-install-steam-on-debian-linux/
I think the outcomes are pretty similar, for an average user. But I find it a bit easier to search for help about other things I want to do with Debian/Ubuntu.
I say Debian/Ubuntu a bunch of times here because, while I like Debian a bit better, there's tons of help articles out there for Ubuntu, and 99% of them work perfectly on Debian.
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You can set up the boot directly into Big Picture, there are a couple of ways depending on your needs/expectations.
Gamescope did not work for me, I have been gaming exclusively in Linux since proton was published but any time I try to get gamescope working it behaves strangely. I blame my Nvidia card but it's hard to say.
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Good points!
I use my current one as a PC as much as for gaming.
I'll keep that in mind when I build my next dedicated game rig, though!
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Yeah. That's why I run the Steam client on Ubuntu. Which works a treat, thanks to the popularity of the SteamDeck.
@helenslunch @MajorHavoc whats gamescope and how does big picture help on a desktop, at least if i have more than one screen and wanna do desktop stuff on the ones that dont have the game on them?
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@helenslunch didnt they work on a desktop version for steam os? Wouldnt it help with getting people to switch from windows to linux?
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I'm not sure about GameScope,I didn't even realize I was missing out on it.
Big picture is the full screen controller friendly interface, in case you don't want to connect a mouse and keyboard.
I don't think it's still going strong. SteamOS 2.0, the Debian based one that was on the old steam machines has been discontinued and is no longer supported. SteamOS 3.0, on the deck, is Arch based and is not yet officially supported on anything other than a Steam Deck.
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It went to the Deck. I did read an article from someone who forked SteamOS and customized it for their own hardware, but it isn't a simple process.
Bazzite is probably the closest you can get to a Deck-like experience (and it's supposed to work for HTPCs), but there's several other distros that are gaming focused as well, such as Nobara, Garuda, and Chimera.