Overview
- Valve released SteamOS 3.8 and says users can now install the OS on ordinary PCs, with official support currently limited to AMD graphics cards.
- The 3.8.x updates add desktop-focused changes such as KDE Plasma on Wayland, improved video memory handling, and compatibility fixes for Intel and AMD platforms.
- Pierre-Loup Griffais of Valve confirmed the company is working closely with Nvidia on driver support but warned that usable Nvidia compatibility is being developed in the background and likely will not arrive this year.
- Valve is building a guided installer and has signaled possible future dual-boot or partitioning tools to make it easier for people to replace or run Steam alongside Windows.
- Because AMD’s open-source driver stack is already well supported on Linux while Nvidia’s drivers are more proprietary, wider SteamOS adoption depends on Nvidia cooperation and further firmware, driver, and anti-cheat work before many desktop gamers will switch from Windows.