14 DAY TRIAL // The Valve developers have released a new SteamOS stable version of their operating system and they have made numerous updates, especially to the drivers and core files.
Valve has two different branches for SteamOS, a stable and a development one. The stable branch doesn't have a name, but the Beta is called "Alchemist." All the changes and improvements that are made to the operating system are implemented first in the "Alchemist," and only after a short period of testing do those changes eventually land in the stable release.
From time to time, the stable and the development versions become identical, but that only lasts until the first update for the "Alchemist" is made available. For now, SteamOS update 135 is the most advanced version of this Debian-based operating system.
SteamOS update gets multiple updated packages and new drivers
The bulk of this particular update is made up of new packages and libraries, like e2fsprogs, iptables, libvdpau, libxfont, apache2, iceweasel, cups, libxml2, elfutils, apt, dpkg, openssl, samba, and vdpau-video. These are just a few of the updates, but the number is much greater.
Another interesting upgrade that will be immediately noticed is the switch to a newer version of Debian, 7.6, for the base. This is the latest stable Debian available right now and the Steam devs have been quick to integrate it.
The gaming performance is probably among the top concerns for players, and there is good news in this latest SteamOS. The latest drivers are now being used. According to the developers, the Intel graphics driver has been updated to version Mesa 10.1.6+, the AMD graphics driver is now at version 14.10.1006, and the NVIDIA graphics driver is now at version 340.32.
Also, an occasional flash of corruption that occurred the first time the overlay or a notification was shown has been fixed, the minimal-steps flag for the steamos-autoupdate package has been removed, the latest Steam client has been implemented, users can now install updates at shutdown, and an unnecessary 5-second delay on shutdown/reboot has been removed.
The system requirements for Steam OS are pretty much the same as in the beginning: an Intel or AMD 64-bit capable processor, 4GB or more memory, a 250GB or larger disk, NVIDIA, Intel, or AMD graphics card, and a USB port or DVD drive for installation.
You can download the latest SteamOS version from Softpedia and you can check the official announcement for more details about this release. It's recommended that you do not try to install SteamOS on the same partition with other OSes.