Valve has been Linux friendly. It says the new steam frame “is a PC” and will run Steam OS but I feel like there’s an insinuation that, like the steam deck, you can install whatever you like. I am cautiously excited at the premise of really digging in and having a Linux box strapped to my face.
Another friend has already referred to it as the Linux Vision Pro.
Edit: watching Linus tech tips review, it mentions side loading Android APKs as well
The one thing I’m worried about is if their streaming usb dongle thing will work with a Linux machine. I’m assuming that they’ll have total compatibility, but idk, lol
Apparently the headset itself is Wifi 7 and can apparently work without the dongle.
I didn’t think about that! Although, I already have a quest 2, but I can’t stream with steam link over WiFi, it always tells me “No video encode support” which gives me zero information online. Soooo I’m worried that the same thing will happen here
It would be weird if they announced a Linux console along with a VR headset, and not have the VR headset be compatible with the console. It’s most certainly going to be Linux compatible.
That’s also my thoughts about it. I’m expecting that it’ll have ootb compatibility with the steam box, but not necessarily with any arbitrary Linux system. In that case, it’ll probably work with some tinkering.
I’m definitely expecting compatibility, given that they’ve been crowing about the device working with the Steam Machine, which is SteamOS and therefore Linux and also pretty darn similar to Bazzite (my gaming PC’s OS).
I hear SteamVR is a little janky on Linux in general though, so presumably this means a lot of improvements are coming there in the next few months. My impression is that these announcements were to allow them to openly implement a lot of this stuff, such as them already having added support for the new Steam Controller to SDL3.