Pretty sure the OS is just the same old Steam-flavored Linux distro "SteamOS" with ARM support and some new graphics pipeline stuff for the VR portion, though we don't know until it's actually out.

Though Valve has put a focus on developer ease and very low software lockdown in the recent years with their hardware, so I'd say the chances on direct rendering are quite good!

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mmis1000 11 hours ago | parent [-]

Wondering what window/desktop manager will valve ship with the new steam frame. Is there even a desktop/window manager work with 3d space currently? Will that be a mod of kde or something?

	▲	zozbot234 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> Is there even a desktop/window manager work with 3d space currently? The best known is perhaps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Looking_Glass but there's many others, at varying stages of development. It will be interesting to see if custom OS/UX development is made available for this device. We'd also need quite a bit of custom development to make the OS comprehensively usable with gamepad-like controllers alone (no mouse or keyboard required). The existing work on "10-ft." media center interfaces can provide a useful starting point for this but it's far from covering all possible uses.