GamerOS Renamed to ChimeraOS

Valve revealed the Steam Deck on July 15. They highlighted titles such as "Control," "Doom Eternal," and "Hades" to demonstrate SteamOS 3.0 + Proton. Like ChimeraOS, SteamOS 3.0 is now based upon Arch Linux. The initial versions of SteamOS, versions 1.0 and 2.0, were based on the Debian distribution of GNU+Linux.

Over the past few months I've had a lot of time to look over the ends and outs of GamerOS (now ChimeraOS). In fact I have played through its various updates. I started out on version 17 and now it has been upgraded to the latest version 21. All the drivers and operating system files were updated in the background automatically. ChimeraOS includes emulators for Steam buddy, a web-based interface for managing non-Steam software. With additional platforms such as Neo Geo, GameCube, and Arcade.


The hardware requirements for ChimeraOS 25:

-A dedicated physical computer (dual booting not supported, virtual machines not supported)
-4GB or more RAM
-A single 20GB or larger storage device
-A single connected TV or monitor with a resolution of 720p, 1080p, or 2160p


For those who don't know ChimeraOS (famerly GamerOS) is an Arch based operating system that provides an out of the box couch gaming experience. It runs SOME windows exclusive games. This is possible due to the Proton compatibility layer that helps translate Direct-X windows-only games to Vulcan on Linux. Many Windows exclusive games that don’t work are due to various anti-cheat software built into them. To know how well a Windows exclusive game will run under proton you need to go over to the website ProtonDB. They hosts an extensive database of user-submitted reports on the compatibility of various games and hardware that you can use to check beforehand. So depending on your system setup your mileage may vary.

Here's all the main changes for what's now ChimeraOS 25

Key components:

- Linux Kernel 5.12.12
- Mesa 21.1.3
- NVIDIA 465.31
- steamos-compositor-plus 1.8.3
- Steam Buddy 0.11.2
- Proton 6.8 GE-2, 6.9 GE-2, 6.10 GE-1


Test system..

CPU: Ryzen™ 7 2700
GPU: Powercolor Red Dragon RX 5700
RAM: 16GB (2 x 8GB) (PC4 19200)
MOTHERBOARD: ASRock AB350M Pro4 (BIOS 5.90 2019/7/5)
STORAGE: Intel 545s Series 2.5" 256GB +WB Blue 1TB 7200 RPM

HORI Fighting Commander for Xbox One wired USB controller.
Microsoft Xbox One wired USB controller.
Black Web wireless keyboard.
Zelotes T-90 USB wired Gaming Mouse.

 

I've been looking at various games the past few years in the Steam catalog, but the real test for ChimeraOS 25 was games that come out last year. I highlighted titles such as "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice", "Streets of Rage 4", "Doom Eternal", "Control", "Metro Exodus", "Desperados III" "Resident Evil Village" and "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" 

"Streets of Rage 4" "Metro Exodus" and "Desperados III" work well because they are native GNU games.

"Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice" "Doom Eternal" and "Control" work well with proton.

"Resident Evil Village" and "Assassin's Creed did not work for me.

So can you play every game out there on a ChimeraOS 25 based PC? No.

Other games that will work...

-Warframe (proton)
-STAR WARS: The Old Republic (proton)
-Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (proton)
-Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara (proton)
-DEATH STRANDING (proton)
-Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
-Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
-LIMBO Hollow Knight
-Left4Dead 2
  

Note: Both ChimeraOS and SteamOS  contains proprietary software, including the Steam client it self and many proprietary drivers. Steam uses the evil Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) to impose restrictions on the software it distributes via the Steam store.