Seems like they won’t release it before it’s in a state where it’ll “just work” on about machine, which makes sense, since that’s the thing that helped the Steam Deck to success.
To that end it’ll probably be a while before they can get there, particularly for machines with NVIDIA GPUs, assuming stuff like multi-monitor VRR and bug-free Wayland support is on the list of requirements.
big picture works great on any linux distro, why would i want anything more?
A gaming-focused, curated experience that just works™️
With a little know how you can get 99% of the way there with any arch based distro, but installing a new OS for non techies can be pretty intimidating. Having Valve’s assurance that it works with all common hardware would help more people take the plunge, I think.
I guess this is a different SteamOS than the one that has been freely available for years?
I think you’re talking about the really old version from the steam machines. The OS the Steam Deck uses (version 3.0+) is completely rebuilt and uses a different OS as a base (now using Arch instead of Debian)