It looks like Valve is finally opening up SteamOS to more computers, and as we’re sure Steam Deck users will say, it’s about time.
EOZ employee SadlyItsBradley has been publicly sharing update notes from Steam, particularly SteamOS. Today, he shared this information on Twitter:
“SteamOS 3.7.0 Preview just released with a massive amount of changes including:
- Newer Arch Linux base
- Linux Kernel upgraded to 6.11
- Updated Mesa Graphics Driver
- Desktop Mode with KDE Plasma 6.2.5
ALSO: beginnings of support for non-Steam Deck handhelds”
We verified that this was information on Valve official SteamOS updates, but Valve did not elaborate on what this meant. Of course, we had previously reported on the Lenovo Legion S, the first non-Steam Deck PC handheld that will also be running on SteamOS.
There are certainly a lot of gamers excited at this prospect, but we suspect most of those gamers don’t use their Steam Decks that much, if they do have them.
Because real Steam Deck users have been frustrated in the past few years since Valve released the device over SteamOS. Valve promised they would make SteamOS available to the public since they announced the Steam Deck itself.
If you thought the issue was Valve held back on making SteamOS available for commercial reasons, you would be wrong. What happened was Valve didn’t update their public releases of the SteamOS ISO so that their fans could easily use or modify it.
In fact, this had gone on for so long that fans who learned to love using SteamOS for gaming over Windows embraced two SteamOS alternatives for their gaming interests.
HoloISO started out as an implementation based on the SteamOS backup image, which was modified so it could be installed on any x86 PC. Today, it works in such a way that it can update itself, instead of requiring users to reinstall a new image every time.
Unlike Valve, HoloISO’s developer put the work in to get their SteamOS fork to run on nearly every possible PC configuration. But another even more feature rich alternative emerged afterwards in Bazzite.
Bazzite is a Linux OS with Steam pre-installed, that’s been developed so it could run on even more devices. That includes not just desktops, laptops, and other PC handhelds, but even home theater PCs. Because it’s not SteamOS, it can also be made to run games from Epic Games Store, GOG, and other stores.
These features were also things that Valve talked about once, but they have also yet to implement for SteamOS. While we’re sure Valve will have a good way to implement these features when they finally make it happen themselves, we’ve put the spotlight on how the community took it upon themselves to meet those expectations that Valve created but took too long to deliver on.
Of course, most gamers will be just happy using the OS their device will be running on, whether its Windows, SteamOS, the Switch OS or opening up the Backbone app after snapping the controller in onto an iPad. Valve could enable SteamOS mass adoption best when they make it easy for any OEMs, including small players like GPD, to just pick up SteamOS and use it for their devices. Hopefully they don’t have to wait for when Microsoft actually gets their act together on a Windows layer for PC handhelds themselves.
