FatherIsidore

Yes it is possible to install the SteamOS onto your PC. The pre-built machines are mostly for people who don't already have a specialized gaming rig, or who don't have the capabilities to build their own machines. It also offers a pre-configured Linux gaming machine to anyone who wants one. I think the original premise was to try and get more of the console gamers to begin gaming on PC feeling more comfortable with the machine thanks to the improvements in the Steam Big Picture mode. Sadly the main reason I've always preferred console gaming is because if I purchase a console game I know it will work as intended on my console. By offering such a huge range of different machines the Steam Box fails to offer a set standard and thus encourages more of the "can I run it?" mentality that keeps me going back to my Playstation time after time.

The confusion you seem to have is in thinking that the SteamBox is a console. The SteamBox is a computer, that will perform computer functions and run computer games. It runs an operating system based on the Linux kernel called SteamOS. Users are free to take their personal computer and turn it into a SteamBox by installing the SteamOS onto their PC. As it utilizes GNU/Linux this means it is unable to natively support Microshaft Windows specific games. This does not make it a "console" it is a fully powered PC. The confusion is understandable given that Valve has gone out of their way to market this machine as a living room console. Linux users will usually not "emulate" the Windows operating system but will instead utilize WINE. WINE is a compatibility layer that tries to offer things necessary to run a Windows program to the GNU/Linux operating system. Granted this is far from ideal and can result in numerous bugs and glitches but it in no way offers the performance degradation associated with something being emulated. In fact I've frequently experienced better performance running some games in WINE rather than natively on my Windows partition (although just as often I experience bugs and glitches that make games unplayable, usually due to the poor GPU driver support you mentioned).