This week there has been movement related to Steam deck. On Thursday, Valve broke bad news: the console will not be able to start shipping until February 2022 due to supply problems. A few hours ago we found out, via GamingOnLinux, that Valve is preparing its SteamOS 3, the operating system that the future console will use. As we already knew, it will be based on Arch Linux, and at the moment there is nothing available that can be used. Still, they will release something soon.
And it is that the Valve console is not a normal one. It is not because of what it carries inside, which is actually like a computer, and because of what it has on the outside, among which we see touch panels. For that reason, Valve expects things like gamepad input and resolution support to be worked on, something that recommend doing in Manjaro KDE. The reason is that Manjaro is based on Arch, and the desktop that SteamOS 3 will use in its desktop mode is also Plasma.
SteamOS 3 from the Steam Deck can be used on any computer
Valve has created two tools to help developers test their work. With these tools, developers will be able to develop games from a development machine for the Steam Deck or another Linux machine. And it is expected that SteamOS 3 is also available for computers. In fact, Valve has recommended a mini-computer NUC for those developers who want to test their work in the field more similar to the console.
Although it may also offer a desktop experience, SteamOS 3, like previous versions, will focus on the video game experience. SteamOS 2.x was available for computers, although it was not very successful. The third version may seduce some gamers, since Arch Linux + Plasma it's a good bet. What remains to be known is when it will be available, although it is believed that it will be after the launch of the Steam Deck.