14 DAY TRIAL // As promised, Valve unleashed on December 13 the first ever version of the SteamOS Linux operating system for its upcoming Steam Machines, a gaming console powered by the amazing Steam gaming distribution platform.
Dubbed Alchemist, SteamOS is an Open Source Linux distribution based on the Debian GNU/Linux 7.1 (Wheezy) operating system. It includes a backported eglibc 2.17, a variant of the GNU C Library for embedded systems, from Debian Testing.
Being powered by Linux kernel 3.10 (3.10.11), SteamOS includes several third-party graphics drivers that mostly support Nvidia graphics cards, as support for AMD and Intel graphics is still experimental.
Moreover, SteamOS also features a regular desktop mode powered by GNOME 3 with GNOME Shell, where users can run Linux applications, but its main purpose is to run Steam and Steam games. The system is updated automatically from Valve’s SteamOS repositories.
Download SteamOS 1.0 right now from Softpedia.