Hello Linux Geeksters. As you may know, SteamOS is an open-source Debian Wheezy fork created by Valve, which gets gaming optimizations very often. Unlike Debian 7, it uses the Xcompmgr graphics compositor, a personalized version of GNOME 3.14 as the DE for the Big Picture Mode and SysVinit as the default init system.
In this article I will show you how to install the SteamOS Session on Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr, Linux Mint 17 Qiana, Pinguy OS 14.04, LXLE 14.04, Elementary OS 0.3 Freya and other Ubuntu 14.04 derivative systems, in order to enable the users to start the Steam Big Picture Mode directly from the LightDM GTK Greeter.
Follow the instructions for your system’s architecture exactly, in order to get a successful installation.
How to install the SteamOS Session on your 32 bit Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr and derivative systems:
First, install the Steam client, from the default repositories:
$ sudo apt-get install steam
Download SteamOS Compositor, SteamOS Modeswitch Inhibitor and the libudev0 library:
$ wget repo.steampowered.com/steamos/pool/main/s/steamos-compositor/steamos-compositor_1.19+bsos1_i386.deb
$ wget repo.steampowered.com/steamos/pool/main/s/steamos-modeswitch-inhibitor/steamos-modeswitch-inhibitor_1.9.1+bsos1_i386.deb
$ wget ftp://ftp.fit.vutbr.cz/pub/systems/ubuntu/ubuntu/pool/universe/u/udev/libudev0_175-0ubuntu19_i386.deb
Install the downloaded packages:
$ sudo apt-get install gdebi
$ sudo gdebi *.deb
How to install the SteamOS Session on your 64 bit Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr and derivative systems:
First, install the Steam client, from the default repositories:
$ sudo apt-get install steam
Download SteamOS Compositor, SteamOS Modeswitch Inhibitor and the libudev0 library:
$ wget repo.steampowered.com/steamos/pool/main/s/steamos-compositor/steamos-compositor_1.19+bsos1_amd64.deb
$ wget repo.steampowered.com/steamos/pool/main/s/steamos-modeswitch-inhibitor/steamos-modeswitch-inhibitor_1.9.1+bsos1_amd64.deb
$ wget ftp://ftp.fit.vutbr.cz/pub/systems/ubuntu/ubuntu/pool/universe/u/udev/libudev0_175-0ubuntu19_amd64.deb
Install the needed packages:
$ sudo apt-get install gdebi
$ sudo gdebi *.deb
To exit the Steam OS session and switch to your normal session, press CTRL + ALT + F7 to return to the login screen and choose your Ubuntu session.
Optional, to remove the SteamOS Session, do:
$ sudo apt-get remove steamos-compositor steamos-modeswitch-inhibitor