14 DAY TRIAL // Valve is kicking off 2018 with a new beta update of its Debian-based SteamOS gaming operating system that adds some of the latest GNU/Linux technologies.
Powered by the Linux 4.14.3 kernel and using the Mesa 17.2.4 graphics stack for Intel and AMD Radeon GPUs, as well as the Nvidia 387.22 proprietary graphics driver for Nvidia GPUs, the SteamOS 2.141 Beta update is apparently a massive and complex one that updates numerous components like libdrm, libglvnd, and glx-alternatives to support new graphics drivers.
"Happy New Year, SteamOS fans! We are kicking off 2018 with a massive SteamOS beta update. This includes a new 4.14 Linux kernel, Nvidia 387.22 graphics driver, and Mesa 17.2.4 for AMD and Intel," says John Vert. "This is a very large and complex update. Please let us know if you find any problems updating or any regressions, particularly around hardware support or graphics."
LightDM login manager now processes /etc/environment for automatic logins
SteamOS 2.141 Beta also comes with an updated X.Org Server display server component that now supports the OpenGL Vendor Neutral Dispatch Library (GLVND), and the llvm-toolchain package was bumped to version 5.0 to support the new Mesa graphics stacks. Other than that, Valve's engineers added some video driver updates in steamos-packages.
Another interesting change included in the SteamOS 2.142 Beta update is that the LightDM login manager will now process the /etc/environment directory when the automatic login option is enabled. Of course, the update includes new versions of other important packages like cURL, Samba, jQuery, and the broadcom-sta proprietary Broadcom wireless LAN driver.
SteamOS 2.141 Beta is available for download right now for adventurous users that want to take it for a test drive on their gaming rigs, and Valve urges them to report any bugs they might encounter, especially if they are related to graphics cards. If everything goes well, Valve might promote SteamOS 2.141 to stable channel soon.