this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2024
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I thought this had already happened?
I remember seeing ads on Steam for SteamOS years ago—wasn’t there a point at which you could download and run it on your own computer? What happened?
Old steam os was an Ubuntu derived OS. Ubuntu has issues relating to the organization that runs it. New steam os is basically a coat of paint on top of Arch which is community based. The old os is deprecated.
The version on steam deck is fantastic, but they have been polishing it for desktop use for a while now. I can’t wait to have it available.
If I recall correctly, this has never happened the way it's happening now. It was a matter of "hey, you can fork it on GitHub and make your own iso thing", hence why there was a "holoiso" or something like that that (I keep forgetting the name) where people used if they wanted to install steamOS on a device. This one is straight supported by valve. Like "hey, here is our official steam OS that we use on our steam deck. Use it and we will support you".
Iirc the original steamOS was Debian based and you really had to be an experienced Linux user to use and enjoy it.
With the new steamOS (arch based?) it's a much more streamlined experience and opens up the user base because of it
I think modern steamos is based on a different distro then it was then. Also proton is good enough now to justify switching for a lot of people
From what I recall, it wasn't something you could easily use like a normal distro, and that version was based on Debian (so stable but outdated software). It only worked on some hardware, and you had to do a full system wipe.
More likely, this is them officially partnering with handheld or gaming laptop makers, using their latest Arch-based distro and allowing them to use Valve/Steam branding as a selling point.