SteamOS may be intimidating to get into, especially if you have little to no knowledge of Linux. We’re taking info from the FAQ so you can learn the basics at a glance.
Off the top, what you need to know about SteamOS is that it is built on Debian, it only has Nvidia graphics support for now, it can be installed via USB and installing it erases any data on your computer.
These are the operating system’s hardware requirements:
· Intel or AMD 64-bit capable processor
· At least 4 GB RAM
· At least 500 GB hard drive
· Nvidia graphics card
· UEFI boot support
· USB port for installation
To be clear, Valve plans to support AMD and Intel graphics cards, but they just aren’t ready at launch. For those unfamiliar with UEFI, this simply means you can install SteamOS on a computer that does not have an operating system on it (such as a just-assembled PC).
Now, for the cool stuff. SteamOS will run regular Linux applications, aside from running Steam and its games. This is a change from what has been seen and announced before, making SteamOS a genuine viable replacement for Windows as a gaming PC OS. Examples of Linux software that can replace Windows software includes Firefox, for web browser, and LibreOffice, for office suite. Thanks to the Linux community’s tireless efforts, most popular Windows applications already have an equivalent in Linux.
There is a significance with Valve choosing Debian as well. This way, Valve did not have to partner with commercial entities making Linux OSes, such as Ubuntu or Red Hat, and they can choose to take their own path. Furthermore, Debian is known for stability and reliability.
The best news for people making the switch to SteamOS, however, is that SteamOS will get fixes and updates regularly, and automatically. Updates will come from Valve’s public repositories via the standard Debian APT package manager. In fact, Valve hints that they may be doing so weekly, even daily.
There are two ways of installing SteamOS, both of which require a FAT32 formatted USB stick. You can choose to use either the Debian installer, or an image based install with the help of Clonezilla. Again, it is important to remember that both ways will erase everything you have on your machine.
Beyond the scope of this FAQ, you can get support for SteamOS the same way many Linux users do; by logging on to their official forums and talking to fellow users, as well as the occasional dev. If you think you're ready to make the jump, you can get the installation files as well as instructions here.
