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Games run faster on SteamOS than Windows 11, Ars testing finds
(arstechnica.com)
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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 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.