Valve released their first beta of SteamOS a month ago for people to try. The warning about the suitability only for people who know Linux well had a good reason – it was not the most user friendly installation. There was an oversized HDD requirement, no dual-boot support and only Nvidia GPUs were supported out of the box. The latest update makes things a little better by adding Intel’s GPU drivers into the mix, while latest AMD Beta drivers for Linux include SteamOS support. There are also some bug fixes and updates to match the updated Debian kernel.

Meanwhile, some technically minded people are creating alternative SteamOS installers that offer wider support for different hardware configurations. Ye Olde SteamOSe is a modified version of SteamOS that supports more hardware out of the box together with a lighter and more powerful installer. Unless you are building your own Steam Machine similar to Valve’s prototypes, the alternative installer should be a better choice.