You might be vaguely aware of SteamOS and the now-retired Steam Box initiative that spawned from it. Designed to replace Windows as the de-facto PC gaming OS, SteamOS is Valve’s spin on “Linux” with better gaming support out of the box. Of course, that includes bundling Steam and offering a full collection of SteamOS-compatible games. It’s actually gone through a silent renaissance, as Valve’s Proton compatibility software has made hundreds of games go from incompatible to perfectly enjoyable.
Still, Valve depends on the major Linux-based OS vendors to provide the base. Previously it was Debian and more recently Ubuntu, but will have to change again. Ubuntu developer Canonical has announced 32-bit software support will be removed in the upcoming 19.10 release, which spells trouble for gaming in particular. Many older PC games were built and run on 32-bit architecture, some of them not working properly on Windows 10 without additional fixes. SteamOS provides a compatibility between Windows programs and the Linux-based operating system, ensuring the software doesn’t run into hitches from newer software.
With this change coming later this year 32-bit compatibility layers will not run on Ubuntu. Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais had this to say:
Ubuntu 19.10 and future releases will not be officially supported by Steam or recommended to our users. We will evaluate ways to minimize breakage for existing users, but will also switch our focus to a different distribution, currently TBD.
— Pierre-Loup Griffais (@Plagman2) June 22, 2019
Canonical’s decision to end support for 32-bit software has been unpopular. So far, none of the Ubuntu-derived variants such as Linux Mint or System76’s Pop!OS have announced plans to follow suit. System76 has gone as far as ensuring 32-bit will be supported for their userbase. Now, Valve will be seeking other Linux-based options to continue to host their SteamOS offering on. I bet Valve wouldn’t mind shipping Steam on those neat System76 computers.
