What is the hype about SteamMachine? How to count dots? I reading it something like tvbox and playstation. Isn't Zorin is more funcionality?
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The Steam Machine is adressed to Gaming - so the System that it uses. Zorin is a common OS. I wouldn't compare both too much.
The Hype about it was big because it uses Linux and come from Valve. But after the Announcement of the Prices, it cools down.
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Yeah but everyone now have hype with movies DIY PC building similar to the Steam Machine. I don't get it. It is company VALVE - for me it is because it is one product from Linux for gaming but System76 could be the same. I don't get this but in Japan,India and China it is sold out. In Europe there exists preorders. In my country they don't selling that and count tax and etc. if I order I must be Insane. Propably this is box for people who can buying that. Ferrari also Volksvagen also are a car but have a diffrents price and experience and exclusive.
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Because of the Price. So, People want demonstrate that You can have the Power (or more) for a similar Price when buying Parts and building by Yourself.
System76 sells PC's. That is their Business. Valve's Buisness is not Hardware. The Hardware - Steam Machine and Steam Deck plus Stuff to it - is only secondary. And it targets their Main Focus: Games. They only offer an own Machine Interface for their Stuff if You want so.
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Here my last ever bought console, a XBox One S died by trying to reset if for sale. My Acer Nitro N5 is also dying, so i will build a DIY Steam Machine good enough to handle the FHD television screen. Valve started a tsunami against the console companies, that sell planned obsolescence and rental games you never own. This tsunami will also hit Windows, we can play with hardware that does not fullfill Windows hardware requirements.
For me the idea counts, i buy games at GOG sale below 10€ that will run forever in their wine bottle. I played on Linuxmint, Fedora, Ubuntu and Zorin. My DIY Steam Machine will run Zorin with few PPA's. Steam Big Picture mode and Zorin desktop 3 in the list are nice to handle.
Hanselinux
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I think I mentioned somewhere else in this forum that I was converting my old 2008 Mac Pro 3,1 into a modern mATX gaming machine.
At the time, I was single, working many hours in construction, and had few bills. I bought the Mac Pro for video editing and 3D (Lightwave, MODO, Maya). Fast forward 18 years and I couldn't even install Zorin on this thing. I tried.
So, I researched how to convert it and I'm quite happy with it. I wish I would have done this two years ago when prices weren't stupid. That said, I bought my CPU on ebay for $150 and everything else on sale. I don't have a GPU yet and will probably add another 16Gb ram by Christmas (unless the market goes even more stupid).
My desire to do this wasn't based off the Steam Machine. I wanted to preserve the legacy of this Mac Pro. Most of the inside had to be stripped, but I was able to keep the fans. I'm currently only using two if the original fans, but will keep the other two. It's not finished, but it's good enough for now.
(I was given the trashcan mac pro seen in the pictures. I installed ZimaOS on it with Jellyfin.)
Here's my build (All prices are after taxes and shipping):
-Mac Pro 3,1 mATX converted case (all the parts to do this)
$105.81
-ASRock B850M PRO RS WIFI AM5 AMD B850 Micro ATX Motherboard
$151.77
-ASRock Steel Legend SL-1000G 1000W 80 PLUS GOLD & Cybenetics PLATINUM Full Modular Power Supply, ATX3.1 & PCIe5.1 Ready
$108.41
-G.SKILL Flare X5 16GB 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6000 (PC5 48000) Desktop Memory Model F5-6000J3636F16GX1-FX5
$222.24
-Ryzen 7 7700X
$163.03 (Purchased on eBay used)
-Cooler Master V4 Alpha 3DHP CPU Air Cooler
$46.12
-PCCOOLER CPS F9 R120 High-Speed 120mm Industrial Case Fan used in rear
$38.09
-fanxiang 1TB PCIe 5.0 NVMe M.2 SSD,Up to 14000 MB/s
$195.14
-XFX Mercury AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT OC Gaming Edition with 16GB GDDR6 HDMI 2xDP, AMD RDNA 4
$509.55 (-$40 PayPal Promo = $469.55)
-Bazzite OS
-Logitech K400 Plus Wireless Touch TV Keyboard
$29.86
-8BitDo Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller with TMR Joysticks, Hall/Tactile Triggers, Motion Control, RGB Fire Ring, 1000 Hz Polling
$53.12
-Along with the two original fans on the front. I got the PC Cooler case fan mounted to the back exhaust vent. I drilled holes on the original vent cover and it mounted perfectly.
Most people cut out the entire back of the case, or a lot of it. I didn't want to do that, so I figured out a way to use as much of the original as possible.
I used WoldoClean Metal Super Glue 25g Extra Strong Adhesive to glue the motherboat table mount. This glue is no joke!
Motherboard mount: HOMSFOU Open Air Pc Case Bracket Micro ATX Motherboard Stand Open Frame. It worked for my needs and even came with a powerbutton which I needed because the powerbutton on the case is proprietary to Apple. The case is awesome, but the Apple being Apple made this quite the challenge to convert.
I'm waiting on my brother in law to 3d print the rear IO and power cord hole. There's no rush on it though. I'm going to pause and enjoy the build for a while before doing some other modifications, such as a front IO.
Total cost at the moment is $1583.14. I could have made it slightly cheaper, but considering I bought almost everything on sale, maybe not. I sure picked a heck of a time to do this!
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I must sayed gaming is expensive this days. Also must sayed a games are not high up with some fireworks. Expensive gpu a monitor for gaming.
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Too true about big Console names. SONY are now pushing everything towards PS5 while there is absolutely nothing wrong with a PS4/PS4 Pro. Future game releases are now going to be PS5 only and I have noticed that PSN where I have an annual subscription (I won't be renewing at end of October) on their monthly game giveaways are now reduced to one decent game and others are at reduced price.
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I have given up on all consoles, decades ago, XBOX 360 was my last one, till Microslop bricked it with an update. (Which I believe was intentional, to force people to buy Xbox Ones) Everything I've been hearing about the modern console market, is that its all garbage.
Due to the tech shortage, anyone who buys a Steam machine now, you won't get it till summer of 2027. IMO, consoles have become another monopoly of their own type, they haven't gotten any better, only worse. Even Nintendo don't even know what they are doing with the Switch, they are far behind the technology times.
The only people buying them, are rich kids, who think Mario is the best thing in the universe, riding Yoshi into the clouds. The problem with Valve, they came too late with the Steam machine. You know, I really wish they would get back to their roots, and actually make games, is Half Life 3 too much to ask?
All Valve are now, is hardware pushers. Sure, if they bring more popularity to Linux, thats a good thing, but most people won't know their using Linux, while gaming on their Steam machines anyways. I say this cause people own cars, but don't know how to check their oil, or what the weather rating is on their tires.
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Very true i can accept with two hands that all console are useless for only games with paying.
Im with @StarTreker on this i havnt done a console since final fantasy 3...lol (hmm dating myself some here) i play honkai star rail on here with its launcher and rest is stuff on steam which works flawless using the .deb version of steam..concoles just did games for 1 console then as they advanced in order example part 1 then 2 then 3, once part 4 came out ya had to get the next generation of console to play it and on an on so after the genisis console became obsolete i just stated playing games on windows till win 11 got ads and recall...thats what lead me here. i still play on steam and honkai and no ads!!! no recall!!! no forced restarts.. i can make this look like whatever i want...pure heaven while here on earth....lol
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I have a very different perspective.
I prefer console.
- Ergonomic controllers being standard allowed for game controls limited to ergonmoic controllers.
On PC, the large keyboard allows game makers to add more and more game controls that do not fit on an ergonomic controller and I do not care what some people claim: Keyboard is NOT better! It is a strain on the hand, you can easily bump wrong keys, keys are far apart and, most keyboards do not have pressure sensitivity like game controllers do. - Console games can be bought, sold, traded at will by the owner, instead of some corporation owning the game with you paying to use it.
- Console games are not plagued with bugs due to developers using the playerbase as the testbase. PC Game developers are very lax, with no checklists before release, causing unending player frustration.
- Console games traditionally had a lot less worrying about updates being needed, new updates causing issues, Upselling with DLC, pay to win, extra content and more.
My experience over a lifetime was that Console Games tended to be:
Steps to use console gaming:
Turn on T.V. and Console. Choose and start game. Have fun.
Steps to use PC Gaming:
Launch the U.I. Game Launcher. Select game.
Game won't load.
Vague error.
Spend variant amounts of time troubleshooting. Finally get it solved.
Get it launched.
It demands you upgrade your GPU.
Bypass that.
It launches, but cannot see your disk drive.
Stop, shut it down... Troubleshoot the drive.
Solve that, launch again, it works, but is missing a file.
Stop.
Shut it down.
Locate the file, download it, read murky instructions, try to figure out where the hell the file goes.
Finally get it sorted.
Launch again... STOP. It's been three hours. Go to bed.
Next Day, try again.
Update pending.
Wait an hour on that. Update completes, launch - File mismatch.
Verify integrity of files.
Launch.
The game loads. Everything is working. FINALLY.
have fun playi... Wait. Now, my character keeps running into walls...
Spend an hour reading Reddit, Steam community... narrow it down to Proton Version Bug.
Try Proton Experiemental. No good.
Proton hotfix.
Now that you changed that, Steam demands you must redownload the game.
Wait some odd hours for that to finish.
It's done, Launch.
Demands you upgrade your GPU. Bypass that again, Start.
It works. The character now stops running when you release the key...
And you have fun. 
Until... You find the game is bugged by the developer. Hit F8. File bug report.
Resume play, avoiding that bug... No. Wait. Stop.
It's bedtime already.
Man, seriously. Console!
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Another major thing Consoles do is CEC support. I know it's not a big deal to have to turn on thing after thing but... man when I'm sitting on the couch after a long day and it's 9pm, the kids are finally asleep and I just wanna game? It feels like I need to move mountains.
Obviously over-dramatic, but your part about the steps on pc... haunting flashbacks. I just recently went through a lot of this trying to get a "SteamOS" box running. I'm very well versed in Linux at this point, these things SHOULD have been install and done... but if I didn't have an issue with every single one, then you can call me Santa.
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I prefered Consoles, too. In the Past it was a cheap Way to have a complete standarized System where You can play on. You can adjust the Games directly for this Platform.
That is a major Point, too. Unfortunately at least Sony will change that. Which hurts me because I use the Playstation since the first one.
Unfortunately this has changed too because of the Possibility of Day-One Patches. So, it leads to prioritize the Release Date instead of having a stable Game.
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You do make some solid points for console, not having to deal with the try to get game to play on Linux fiasco, for which some games will never work, due to anti-cheat. I am mixed when it comes to controls. I prefer mouse aim for any FPS game, its far superior, but I prefer the controller for my weak left hand. Ever since the stroke, my left hand are terrible using a keyboard, its a miracle the left hand can type at all!
Console philosophy is changing though, and is being talked about on YouTube, your not going to own your games anymore, physical copy medium is going to be gone in the next year or so. It will be the same philosophy as Steam, you pay for thew right to play a game, not own a physical copy. Some of the console owners are revolting over the pending changes.
Valve should have installed higher end hardware, and they should have run 2-sticks of RAM in dual channel. The only reason their running 1-stick, is due to the RAM apocalypse, which our stupid government let happen, because profit means more then fairness. And now everything is AI, our species will be brought down by AI.
What a mess everything is. But if I had my way, I'd use a mouse in my right hand, and a controller in my left hand. I actually tried this out of curiosity last night with Half Life 2, it actually worked! Unfortunately, controllers were not meant to be operated that way, so I couldn't use the buttons lol.
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On playstation 3 store gaminf not exist. Playstation 5 you cannot using mp3 audio files only dvd. The webbrowser is non funcional. Playstation 5 only digital - they kicked cd plates. Xbox some stupid subscription with hours. Well if i missing something? Besides on PC you can connected any pad and you can playing with pad without problem. For me the corporation always cut the costs a product where virtuality is not "touched". GOG i know is one from all that where you can always installing a game without cd plate. I can be wrong long time ago not played with a console. I could be wrong because I am not using a console.
I have done this quite a bit, too.
Yes, my arguments focused on traditional console and history.
But the changing Console mentality, where they seek more ownership, more control, makes consoles look superfluous, to me.
Sony and others are short sighted to emulate what Steam is doing. Because if they are the same experience as PC, when most everyone already invests in a computer - why bother then also investing in console that does not differentiate itself from PC?
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