The Steam Link is a counterpoint to the Steam Machines that were announced previously. Unlike a Steam Machine, HTPC running Steam, or a PC running SteamOS, Steam Link will not run any games. Instead, it leverages your existing desktop through Steam In-Home Streaming. This allows the Steam Link to be small, low power, and low cost.
Now that I have Windows 8 installed on my desktop, I will be installing encrypted Arch Linux and dual booting between the two. I have added more memory to the machine and am reusing the SSD from my original encrypted install. Because I am dual booting and this machine supports UEFI I am electing to reinstall from scratch. The new specs are as follows.
Much of the install will be similar. I will clarify the differences as they come up. The first step in the process is to securely wipe the drive. My preferred tool for this is Darik’s Boot And Nuke. While DBAN does not guarantee SSD data removal, it does implement the US DoD 5220.22-M standard. According to this paper that results in less than a 4.1% chance of recovering any data. But in this case I am using dm-crypt to erase the drive by creating an encrypted container and filling it. This provides the benefit of obscuring the upcoming usage patterns of the drive. Either option is a lengthy process and best run overnight.
I recently acquired a new desktop and before I started loading Linux on it I decided to check out Windows 8 and retry Steam In-Home Streaming. The machine has the following specs. It idles around 70W at the Windows login screen.
Surprisingly, Windows recognized all of my hardware. Unfortunately, it did take several hours to download and install all of the updates. Once the updates were finished I was able to install Steam and quickly download several games.
I’ve been using Steam for some time now. While it is a form of DRM, it actually provides benefits to the end user unlike most DRM. Since I had a spare machine I decided to give SteamOS a try.
I am using the same machine that I have installed Arch on. I swapped the SSD for a 500GB hard drive.
I am unable to use the regular SteamOS installer as my machine does not support UEFI. Fortunately, Valve provides a SteamOS iso that supports BIOS. Unfortunately, the first installation did not complete. The installer gave me an error message that simply said the base system could not be installed. Upon further research, I determined that SteamOS only contained the latest video drivers. My HD 4350 was not supported.