Software Alternatives & Reviews

ChimeraOS VS SteamOS

Compare ChimeraOS VS SteamOS and see what are their differences

ChimeraOS logo ChimeraOS

Steam, Epic, GOG, retro consoles, and more... all from your couch

SteamOS logo SteamOS

We've been hard at work to deliver on our promise of a new kind of living room entertainment environment - one that is accessible, powerful and open. In making SteamOS available to you, we're excited to take the next major step towards that goal.
  • ChimeraOS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-08
  • SteamOS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-18

ChimeraOS videos

Turn Your PC Into A Gaming Console With ChimeraOS! An Edge Over Steam Deck OS?

More videos:

  • Review - ChimeraOS 33 Future Of Linux Gaming Operating System ???
  • Review - Steam Deck UI in ChimeraOS

SteamOS videos

SteamOS Revisit - Valve Strikes Back!!!

More videos:

  • Review - What is SteamOS Explained ft Linus' Steam Machine

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to ChimeraOS and SteamOS)
Gaming
77 77%
23% 23
Linux
35 35%
65% 65
Operating Systems
0 0%
100% 100
Gaming Tools
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using ChimeraOS and SteamOS. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare ChimeraOS and SteamOS

ChimeraOS Reviews

Best Linux Distro for Gaming
ChimeraOS is a gaming distro based on Arch Linux. It boots directly in Steam Big Picture Mode, which makes this a great alternative to SteamOS. It comes with a lot of games pre-installed, as well as options to use other launchers and game stores, like Epic, Flathub, and GOG. The best feature of ChimeraOS is that it has seamless updates – they don’t require any interaction...
Source: linuxstans.com

SteamOS Reviews

9 Best Linux Gaming Distributions in 2021
SteamOS is not your usual desktop operating system. It is tailored for playing games via Steam on your machine. You may choose to run common Linux applications as well – but I’d suggest you to test it out only if you want to use Steam as your preferred platform for gaming.
Source: itsfoss.com

Social recommendations and mentions

ChimeraOS might be a bit more popular than SteamOS. We know about 57 links to it since March 2021 and only 56 links to SteamOS. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

ChimeraOS mentions (57)

  • Bazzite – a Steam0S-like OCI image for desktop, living room, and handheld PCs
    Https://chimeraos.org/ I've been using this one, it updates the system atomically. - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Specs, Best Distro?
    I think you want something like https://chimeraos.org/. Source: 5 months ago
  • When will STEAM OS become public distro?
    I’ve read about Chimera OS which seems to have the same goals as Steam OS https://chimeraos.org/. Source: 5 months ago
  • Is it possible for a PC to only run steam and steam games and nothing else?
    Noone said it but the direct answer to your question is chimeraos. It's barebones Steam Big Picture mode with an empty desktop that doesn't have a browser only to do some emergency terminal modifications. It's Linux but it's designed to not involve the Linux part of it. Source: 5 months ago
  • Requesting comprehensive advice for getting off Windows
    So I have a bit of experience with current gaming on Linux - I have a living-room box running ChimeraOS and my wife is currently happily playing Starfield on it - but I am now faced with the prospect of either buying a Windows key to keep my main/gaming rig chugging along on Windows 10, or just finally biting the bullet and moving my rig to Linux. Source: 7 months ago
View more

SteamOS mentions (56)

  • Is it possible for a PC to only run steam and steam games and nothing else?
    SteamOS exists but may limit the games that could be played since it's a Linux based OS. Steam itself also has a web browser so no matter the way you do it have to research how or if you can disable that. There's also ways you could clamp windows down a lot but that's a lot of work. Source: 5 months ago
  • So about SteamOS and ChimeraOS...
    I'm a bit confused about SteamOS. Is this the offical version for desktop devices? If so, why do people use ChimeraOS if there is already an offical version of it? Or is it not complete. Source: 6 months ago
  • An L bois
    Closest you'll get is with SteamOS which can be run on a PC: https://store.steampowered.com/steamos. Source: 11 months ago
  • Install on Steam Deck?
    I know I could install Dungeondraft on my Steam Deck when running Windows, but is it possible to install Dungeondraft on my Steam Deck when in "Desktop Mode" of the SteamOS? I know Dungeondraft specifically says "Ubuntu" as one of the OSes it supports, but SteamOS is based on Debian Jessie. I've tried to research how much different Jessie is from Ubuntu, but I'm not having much luck. Source: 12 months ago
  • Why do reviewers still say that the Steam Deck can't run Windows?
    It’s literally a Debian distro…. https://store.steampowered.com/steamos. Source: 12 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing ChimeraOS and SteamOS, you can also consider the following products

Drauger OS - Drauger OS is an Ubuntu-based Linux desktop gaming distribution that ships with many modifications and optimizations over stock Ubuntu that are intended to improve gaming performance and the gaming experience.

Ubuntu - Ubuntu is a Debian Linux-based open source operating system for desktop computers.

Ubuntu GamePack - UALinux / Technology of the future - already today

Pop!_OS - A developer-focused minimalist Linux distro from System 76

Lakka - Lakka is the official Linux distribution of RetroArch and the libretro ecosystem.

Arch Linux - You've reached the website for Arch Linux, a lightweight and flexible Linux® distribution that tries to Keep It Simple. Currently we have official packages optimized for the x86-64 architecture.