It looks like Ubuntu is still being used for comparison

Jun 5, 2015 09:14 GMT  ·  By

Valve has revealed some details about the upcoming Steam Link, the small device that will let you play your favorite PC games on the TV with the help of streaming technology. And, from the looks of it, one of the recommendations is to have at least Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.

Some of the Steam for Linux users might remember that Valve and Canonical has a very close partnership when the project was first announced, but then Valve chose Debian for SteamOS, and things cooled down a little bit. Steam is no longer advertised as "available in Ubuntu Software Center," although Valve does provide a DEB binary installation file.

From the looks of it, Valve is still using Ubuntu as a "tape measure" for the Linux community, and that is pretty obvious from what the company recommends a good experience with Steam Link. It's probably safe to assume that other Linux distributions will work, but there is no mention of this.

Some Steam Link hardware and software requirements are now public

The principle behind the workings of Steam Link is not a secret, but now users can see precisely what Valve has in mind and what the device will ultimately include and require, although only some of the hardware has been revealed. It's still a mystery what processor and how much memory will be used.

"A host computer running SteamOS, or Steam Big Picture Mode on Windows Vista or newer, Mac OS X 10.10 (Yosemite) or newer, Linux Ubuntu 12.04 or newer," reads the official announcement.

The device itself will be able to output 1080p resolution at 60FPS, will have 100 Mbit/s Fast Ethernet and Wireless 802.11ac 2x2 (MIMO) networking abilities, 3 USB 2.0 ports, Bluetooth 4.0, and HDMI out. From what Valve has shared until now, controllers like the one from Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Logitech Wireless Gamepad F710 are supported.