A couch-gaming OS based on Big Picture streaming Game Master

Play Steam, GoG, and Epic games with one steamy and epic OS.

- BY DANIEL LASALLE

Since our tender youth, my buddies and I have been huge fans of local coop games. We still are, however - even though independent game options have greatly improved - the problem of how to get all the hardware to work on a regular laptop running Linux remains. And as customers have seen ever-expanding options for games and consoles, a need has arisen for a common starting ground. ChimeraOS is an atomic Linux distribution built on Arch and released under the MIT license. The goal of ChimeraOS is to provide an open and extendable foundation for launching and playing games. ChimeraOS also implements a gamepad input system that allows you to remap gamepad input to mouse and keyboard inputs.

Visually speaking, ChimeraOS is similar to SteamOS. Both systems use the sweet and beautiful OpenGamepadUI (Figure 1), which defines itself as "... a free and open source game launcher and overlay written using the Godot Game Engine 4 and designed with a gamepad native experience in mind" [1].

But ChimeraOS differs from SteamOS in important ways. The installation process is handled by the frzr deployment and update tool, which ensures maximum simplicity and stability for critical system updates. Btrfs subvolumes act as baseground in read-only mode, so the system is immutable.

ChimeraOS, unlike SteamOS, supports GoG and Epic games in addition to the Steam collection. You'll also find support for emulation, a commitment to vendor neutrality, and a strong community of supporters and experienced gamers. The developers also offer support for fan-powered initiatives, such as cheats and mods. ChimeraOS allows you to launch games remotely and share content with others. For more on how ChimeraOS stacks up, see Figure 2.

Here I will introduce you to ChimeraOS and the splendid OpenGamepadUI. I will also look at how to troubleshoot and integrate ChimeraOS with other systems. In addition, I will explore the Chimera web app and address the topic of emulation.