14 DAY TRIAL // Valve has just released today a new Beta update of the SteamOS 2.0 gaming-oriented Linux kernel-based operating system the company uses on its Steam Machines.
SteamOS 2.88 has been pushed earlier to the brewmaster_beta channel with an updated kernel from the Linux 4.1 LTS series, version 4.1.30, an updated AMDGPU-PRO graphics driver for AMD Radeon GPUs, the ttf-dejavu-core package to fix a font-related crash in the Steam update user interface, and all the latest security updates from the Debian Stable repos.
The firmware-nonfree package has been updated as well in SteamOS 2.88 Beta to add firmware support for the Killer 1535 wireless module. Among the updated core components, we can mention the cURL data transfer tool, devscripts collection of scripts for Debian developers, and libgd2 GD graphics library.
Other than the above, it looks like the NTP networking protocol for clock synchronization has received a major update with numerous security fixes, and the Perl support has been updated. Some other minor issues reported by users since SteamOS 2.87 stable release might have been resolved as well.
SteamOS 2.88 now available in the brewmaster_beta channel
As mentioned before, the SteamOS 2.88 update has been pushed earlier to the brewmaster_beta channel, which means that if you're using a previous Beta of the operating system on your machine(s), you can now update to this latest and most advanced version. Those of you who are using the stable SteamOS branch might also be able to switch to the Beta channel and install SteamOS 2.88.
Of course, you can also download the SteamOS 2.88 Beta ISO images right now via our website and install the Debian-based distribution on your PC if you want to get an early taste of what's coming in SteamOS. However, please try to keep in mind that this is beta quality software, and some bugs might still be present. In related news, Valve also pushed a major Steam Client stable update for Linux, Mac, and Windows platforms.