SteamOS updated to support AMD and Intel graphics

Written by Edward Chester

January 10, 2014 | 12:57

Tags: #steam-machines #steamos

Companies: #amd #intel #valve

Valve has released an update to SteamOS that provides support for AMD and Intel graphics.

SteamOS originally launched with support only for Nvidia graphics cards but the company has quickly turned round an update that now allows most mainstream graphics cards and APUs to power a Steam Machine.

These alchemist_beta features have been incorporated into the latest OS release which should be downloaded and installed automatically on existing Steam Machines. Or you can download the new installation image separately.

The update brings support for the following AMD products: all desktop graphics cards from Radeon HD 5000 and newer, all AMD APUs containing HD 6000 graphics or better and all Mobility Radeon 5000 or higher graphics. The full list is available on the AMD Catalyst 13.11 LINUX Beta V9.95 Driver support page.

As for Intel, no list of compatible hardware has yet been published with Valve simply stating "Intel graphics are now supported out of the box".

Other features in the new SteamOS update include improvements to the process of updating the Steam Controller firmware, removing graphics tearing and getting rid of some audio glitches. The full list of fixes is below:

  • Fixed Steam controller firmware upgrade process
  • Updated AMD Catalyst driver to preview release 13.11 Beta 9.9
  • Fixed crashes on Intel graphics by merging Keith Packard's dri2-xlib branch
  • Fixed an fbcon kernel panic with Intel graphics
  • Fixed a problem where SteamOS session screenshots taken by the Valve bug reporter would be incorrect
  • Enabled full repaints in the GNOME compositor for reliable tear-free rendering
  • Removed startup and shutdown hooks from the pulseaudio package, fixing the transition to system-wide mode on upgrade
  • Updated firmware packages to match the Debian Jessie kernel
  • Updated Intel graphics stack to Mesa 10.0.1
  • Applied an Intel kernel fix to re-enable KMS support
  • Fixed a problem where Trine 2 could cause audio to stop working by restricting direct audio access to the sound server
  • Enabled audio from the desktop session; the default audio device is still hardcoded to discrete graphics HDMI audio for now
  • Enabled 3D passthrough in the VMWare driver
  • Fixed Steam controller firmware upgrade by adding USB auto-mounting
  • Added NTP time support
  • Added XDG directory helpers
  • Added text feedback when building kernel drivers during first boot

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