Bazzite fills a SteamOS-sized hole with a decent level of hardware support. Unclear how long that'll be the case - I don't see it surviving the release of a GA SteamOS.

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tapoxi 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'm not convinced there will be a GA SteamOS.

Bazzite also has a much more frequent release cadence which is important for the kernel and Mesa. SteamOS only ships a major version every year.

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galleywest200 6 hours ago | parent [-]

Steam OS is a rolling release (Arch based) with constant small updates. My Steamdeck has had updates several times this year.

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tapoxi 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's snapshotted from Arch, once a year they bump the kernel and include "updated Arch Linux base" as a release note.

SteamOS 3.7 is still on Kernel 6.11 and KDE Plasma 6.2, for example. Bazzite is 6.17 and Plasma 6.5.

This matters if you're using more recent hardware or want the latest driver optimizations. My 9070 XT is supported by Bazzite, SteamOS won't even boot.

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UK-Al05 4 hours ago | parent [-]

I think that's changed recently. Recent release notes state it's added support for RDNA4

	▲	tapoxi 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		VKD3D-Proton gained FSR4 support and will ship in a future release of Proton, but RDNA4 requires a newer kernel. SteamOS release notes are public at https://www.steamdeck.com/en/news, it still uses a 6.11 kernel from September 2024.

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opan 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Especially on the Beta branch, I'm getting several system updates per week. I check for one every time I wake it up, along with checking for any available game update downloads. Originally moved to the Beta branch to get the new 8BitDo controller features (Mid-July maybe), but it's worked well enough I've never gone back to Stable.

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throawayonthe 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

i'm still not sure why anyone wants a GA steamos, the value is in the vertical integration, no? the "console experience" are mostly the bigscreen mode and other things already available in things like bazzite, while being a more general distro...