this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2025
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What?
SteamOS is just an immutable version of Arch Linux, with some Valve flavor and preinstalled apps.
So you are saying SteamOS is not designed/tuned to be used primarily for games on a system without a keyboard/mouse?
No it's not it's just arch.
Go install arch right now, install steam and set big picture mode to launch in login.
Tada you have steamOS.
Yes this is an over simplification to a degree but honestly it really is just that simple really.
It's arch, so no. The hardware that utilizes the OS is fine tuned to be used with a controller, since a controller is literally built into it.
Proton is the fine tuned bit, but that runs on many distros.
https://www.makeuseof.com/key-differences-steamos-and-arch-linux/
That is not the smoking gun you think it is.
Again... SteamOS is just an immutable version of Arch Linux. That's what they are talking about in the article when they talk about turning off "read-only" mode. Being immutable makes it less likely to break/more stable, but doesn't "fine-tune" it for gaming.
Saying it's "fine-tuned" for gaming takes away from what is actually doing the heavy lifting for gaming on linux, which is Proton. One could argue Proton is "fine-tuned" WINE, but SteamOS is not "fine-tuned" for gaming.
Why do you want your windows gaming handheld (e.g. Ally) doing non gaming things?
I don't expect a steakhouse to bring me a Swiss army knife to cut my steak with because it can do more than cut steak? I don't need a can opener when eating steak. Same is true for bringing the right OS for the job of gaming.
Why do you want your windows gaming handheld (e.g. Ally) doing non gaming things?
I don't expect a steakhouse to bring me a Swiss army knife to cut my steak with because it can do more than cut steak? I don't need a can opener when eating steak. Same is true for bringing the right OS for the job of gaming.
Also...SteamOS can do a lot as a full OS. It may be tailored to handheld gaming, but it is more capable than you think.
I don't, I was saying it makes sense that bringing a steak knife to cut the steak would work better than a Swiss army knife.
It's tuned in a way: It has drivers preinstalled It auto launches to steam bigscreen at start.
Rest is just regular arch.
From what I know about it, it has a modified kernal that is smaller cutting out support for a few things . Smaller kernal, standardly more efficient and stable. Throw in that it comes in a read only setup that will wipe changes added via pacman the next time you do an update. Customizability is also limited. Flatpacks better than snap many will argue, but snap won't even run on SteamOS from what I've read even after manually dialing the read only mode and knowing you will have to reinstall all your changes after the next update.
That doesnt sound like regular arch to me.
95% of the kernel is just drivers, so ofc it makes sense to cut out what you don't need when you know exactly which hardware you will have forever.
Same with everything else. It's a video game console. The real point is that Linux with Proton, which you can install anywhere, can now beat Windows at its own game so to speak.
So everything you are saying agrees with me. People are just upset that I said the OS was designed for handheld game consoles
What you're saying is false though.
You can read about what kernel SteamOS is using. The kernel itself is only like ~150MB, there isn't really a need to slim it down. I think, if anything, Valve contributes to the mainline kernel for linux.
Proton is the "fine-tuning", the OS is just Arch Linux with a paint job.
Still an hobbyist server os that doesnt even run games created by a man who does not even give a single damn about games. And it runs games better than the os for which all games and hardware is made for.
Despite linux needing a compatability layer.
Windows is just utter dogshit no matter which way you cut it.
It has a gaming mode which is essentially the big picture steam interface and it has a desktop mode which is a fully functional Linux pc. If I wanted my deck to be my plex/immich/file server, I could do so without making a single change to the stock os.