This tutorial on how to install SteamOS on Ubuntu is for game enthusiast, and someone that loves playing games on Steam. Following the release of Ubuntu 17.04, it was time for us to test run how well Uduntu 17.04 would handle SteamOS. Before we proceed, lets take a quick look at what SteamOS is.
SteamOS is a free debian based operating system, forked from Debian 8 Debian Jessie by Valve hence optimized for better gaming experiemce. In addition to this, it is built on top of the solid Debian core and optimizes it for a living room experience.
SteamOS Features
- Its designed primarily for gaming with a console-like experience
- Furthermore, it can run games developed for Linux platform
- Games can be streamed from Windows, Mac as well as Linux computers to PC running steam
- Since its mainly for gaming, it mostly comes with a web browser without many built-in functions
- There is support for movies, TV shows, and music, however the video contents are only made available from Steam’s store
The most recent update is SteamOS brewmaster update 2.110 and its a large update. Notably it includes updates to Mesa 13.0.3, NVIDIA driver 375.26 as well as Debian 8.7. Also the WiFi on Zotac NEN Steam Machines firmware were fixed.
How to install SteamOS on Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04
- First lets install steamos package from repository
sudo apt-get install steam
- Launch steam and wait for it to check, download and install the most recent release if any
- Next to use the SteamOS session in Ubuntu, we need to install two packages “SteamOS Compositor” & “SteamOS Modeswitch Inhibitor“
For 32 bit OS
wget http://repo.steamstatic.com/steamos/pool/main/s/steamos-compositor/steamos-compositor_1.34+bsos1_i386.deb http://repo.steamstatic.com/steamos/pool/main/s/steamos-modeswitch-inhibitor/steamos-modeswitch-inhibitor_1.10+bsos1_i386.deb wget ftp.fit.vutbr.cz/pub/systems/ubuntu/ubuntu/pool/universe/u/udev/libudev0_175-0ubuntu19_i386.deb sudo gdebi *.deb
For 64 bit OS
wget http://repo.steamstatic.com/steamos/pool/main/s/steamos-compositor/steamos-compositor_1.34+bsos1_amd64.deb http://repo.steamstatic.com/steamos/pool/main/s/steamos-modeswitch-inhibitor/steamos-modeswitch-inhibitor_1.10+bsos1_amd64.deb wget ftp.fit.vutbr.cz/pub/systems/ubuntu/ubuntu/pool/universe/u/udev/libudev0_175-0ubuntu19_amd64.deb sudo gdebi steamos-*.deb libudev0_175-0ubuntu19_amd64.deb
- Now reboot your machine and select “SteamOS” from the login screen
How to uninstall SteamOS from Ubuntu
