SteamOS Ubuntu

SteamOS Ubuntu is a set of scripts to create an Ubuntu-based Steam machine.

WARNING: It only installs in 18.04 based ubuntu devices, since it lacks cross-arch libraries of 20.04, finding a temp solution now, then switch to something permanent.

It will do the following:

• Create the steam user account if it does not exist.
• Install steam, if it is not installed.
• Install the Steam Compositor, Steam Mode Switch, and boot splash themes.
• Configure autologin for the steam user account.
• Configure the default session to the Steam Compositor.
• Create reboot-to-[steamos,desktop]-mode scripts to switch between sessions.
• Create steamos-fg script for games that won't run in the foreground on the SteamOS Compositor.
• Optionally install the latest graphics drivers for AMD, Nvidia, and Intel GPUs.
• Optionally install proton fixes.

For best results, this should be run on a fresh installation of Ubuntu 18.04 desktop.

Requirements

In order to install SteamOS Ubuntu, you should have a fresh installation of Ubuntu 18.04 Desktop installed. Other versions may work, but have not been tested.

Installation

Installation is very simple. Follow these steps to install SteamOS Ubuntu:

1. Install git:
   sudo apt install git -y

2. Clone or download this repository:
   git clone https://github.com/ribhutheincompetent/steamos-ubuntu.git

3. Run the installation script:
   cd steamos-ubuntu
sudo ./install.sh

Advanced Options

The installation script has several options that you can specify upon installation in the form of environment variables. You can specify these options by prefixing running the install script with the options you want.

For example, if you want to disable installing OpenSSH and run the script non- interactively, you can run this command:

INCLUDE_OPENSSH=false NON_INTERACTIVE=true sudo ./install.sh

Here is the list of all the available installation options:

Option Name	Default	Description
INCLUDE_OPENSSH	true	Whether or not OpenSSH server should be installed
INCLUDE_SAKURA	true	Whether or not to install a terminal emulator
INCLUDE_PROTONFIX	true	Whether or not to install Protonfix
INCLUDE_GPU_DRIVERS	true	Whether or not to install the latest GPU drivers
GPU_TYPE	auto	GPU drivers to install. Can be: auto, nvidia, amd, intel
NON_INTERACTIVE	false	Whether or not to prompt the user during install
STEAM_USER	steam	The username of the account to autologin as

FAQ

How can I switch between desktop mode and SteamOS mode?

After installation, there will not be an easy way to switch between a regular Gnome desktop session and Steam. In order to make it easier to switch between the two, there are two commands that are installed that will let you switch between the two:

• reboot-to-desktop-mode - sets gnome as the default session and reboots
• reboot-to-steamos-mode - sets steam as the default session and reboots

You can access the terminal from Steam by adding a local shortcut for Sakura.

Some games aren't launching correctly in SteamOS mode

When using the SteamOS compositor, some games start behind the big picture UI and no graphics are displayed. The steamos-fg script forces such games to be shown in the foreground.

Affected games this script fixes include:

Dead Cells
Dirt Rally
Civilization VI
The Count Lucanor
Mad Max

To fix this, add steamos-fg %command% to the launch options for each game you wish to use this script with.

Attributions

• Alkazar for steamos-fg

Legal

The Steam logo and Ubuntu logo are registered trademarks of Valve Corporation and Canonical respectively. This project is in no way officially affiliated with Valve or Canonical.