Valve Enables Early Nvidia Driver Support on SteamOS
Valve has made significant strides in supporting Nvidia graphics cards on SteamOS, a major milestone for users of the Linux-based operating system. According to Pierre-Loup Griffais, some generations of GeForce GPUs can now run directly on SteamOS, but performance is still not optimal.
The move is crucial as Nvidia GPUs power 72% of Steam-surveyed machines, making proper support essential for driving SteamOS and Linux adoption.
Valve relies on Arch Linux as the base layer for SteamOS, allowing it to push out the latest graphics drivers and game optimizations instantly. Supporting Nvidia GPUs could benefit many users, but Valve still needs to convince anti-cheat makers to better support Linux.
The company's goal is to expand SteamOS to more PC hardware, including Nvidia GPUs. Griffais emphasized that while some progress has been made, there is still a 'rift' between the current driver and the state-of-the-art, but it's getting better day-to-day.