I saw that Steam is already on version 3.6 in the preview/beta channel, what features does 3.6 have that 3.5 doesn’t? Can’t find any info on what 3.6 adds.
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3.6 is in Main, 3.5.1 is in Beta.
from what it seems, there is now 3.5.1 in the beta/rc and 3.6 in the main.
I think normally, all new latest updates goes first to main channel (3.6), then after some days or weeks, they port it back to the 3.5.1 beta/rc channel. I don’t think there are many new changes, there might be some stuff under the hood, like for example the linux kernel is mostly a bit more updated in the main channel, also I think there is a new bios 119. I think Valve plan to release 3.5 soon, so the point of 3.6 in main is to “differentiate” it from the normal 3.5 release, this is also why beta/rc is now 3.5.1 instead of 3.5.0, so that stable will be 3.5.0 at first, and then with time it will get updates. so the chain is 1- main branch(alpha) , 2- beta/rc , 3- stable
Main channel is a true rolling release so it’s a work-in-progress. Basically, everything that happens in Main will eventually become SteamOS 3.6.
Once it hits Preview, that’s when you reach the “hey, this is what we’ve got so far for SteamOS 3.6”.
Beta is the point where Valve is basically saying “Ok, this is SteamOS 3.6 and now we’re going to iron out all the bugs and make sure it’s ready for everyone”.
And finally, Stable, where all the i’s are theoretically dotted and the t’s are theoretically crossed.
Long story short, until 3.6 hits the Preview channel, there really is no SteamOS 3.6. The versioning on the Main channel is basically there as a checkpoint to mark where new feature development on 3.5 ended and where 3.6 begins.
Which is the best version to be on right now?
Personally, I live on preview. I haven’t encountered anything too broken in the year I’ve had mine, and the extra performance improvements and features that come way earlier are well worth it to me even if I have any wonkiness. The only major thing that happened that I can think of is one update broke WiFi, but it was a pretty simple fix.
With 3.6 you can undervolt directly from the BIOS. No smokless needed, not that it even works from 3.5 onwards anyway
The preview channel contains SteamOS 3.5. The 3.6 version is the one currently under development and it’s not finished. You can run the version under development but unless you are a Linux advanced users, it’s a very bad idea. And even then I wouldn’t recommend it as you may have to debug issues instead of playing your games. Leave it to the nerds.
As for what the 3.6 contains currently (as I said it’s still under development), the merge of the refresh rate and frame limiter into one slider for simplicity. And some improvements to the driver, but I don’t know if this help performances.
0.1
Something about HDR.
The most prominent I’ve seen is that the refresh rate and frame limiter has been turned into one slider/setting and now you can set specific values, such as, say, 45 FPS/Hz, or 24 FPS/Hz, or 55 FPS/Hz, etc. Also, you can now turn off the frame limiter and (I believe) set the refresh rate to default (60Hz) by the press of a button.
Can I finally set frame limiter to 40fps on a 120hz screen?
wait, 3.5 released already? I’m still on 3.4
3.5 is in beta I think. I’m excited for it