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Getting Started

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Alesh Slovak edited this page Aug 9, 2024 · 43 revisions

Download & Installation

See our download page for system requirements, installation instructions, and to download installation media.

First boot

Once installation is complete and the computer is restarted, you will be presented with some basic setup screens after which you will need to log in to Steam.

Once logged in to Steam, you should be presented with Gamepad/Deck UI. Some hardware will fail to initialize gamescope or Steam. If multiple failures are detected the system will drop into the Gnome desktop environment. If that happens additional troubleshooting will be required. You can submit an issue on GitHub or contact us in the #help channel on Discord.

OS updates

When an operating system update is available, Steam will display an orange notification icon. You can also manually check for updates at any time by navigating to the System screen in the Settings.

After an update is completed, you must restart the system to apply the changes.

Note that Steam does not distinguish between Steam client updates and OS updates unless you enable Developer mode. Steam will also show SteamOS release notes which have no bearing on ChimeraOS.

Steam games

You can install any Steam game, but not all games will work. You can check out our compatibility page for a limited set of games tested specifically on ChimeraOS. For more general Linux game compatibility information, see ProtonDB.

Non-Steam software

Out of the box, ChimeraOS supports installing software from Epic Games Store, GOG, Flathub, and even allows you to install ROMs for many retro console platforms. Also, uploading AppImages is supported, though we can't guarantee compatibility of any single AppImage with the ChimeraOS environment.

This is all done through a web app that allows you to remotely connect and install software onto your ChimeraOS computer.

You can connect to the Chimera web app via any browser on a phone or another computer.

Navigate to the Library screen and select the platform for which you want to install software.

All games installed through the Chimera web app will be automatically added to Steam. However, Steam needs to be restarted before the new software will appear. The easiest way to do that is to restart the computer.

Epic Games Store & GOG

Epic Games Store and GOG require you to first log in to their respective stores. Follow the instructions presented on-screen to do so.

After logging in, you can install any game in your Epic Games Store or GOG library. Not all games will work. Consult our compatibility page for details on how well specific games are expected to work.

Please note that security-focused browsers like Brave and Vivaldi may block the necessary functionality for the Epic and GOG stores to work. If you're having issues please try to use Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.

App store (Flathub)

Flathub is the app store used by ChimeraOS and many other Linux-based operating systems. There are nearly 2000 free applications and games available for installation.

Consult our compatibility page for details on how well specific software is expected to work.

Remote Launch

The remote launch feature allows you to launch any game, including Steam, GOG, Epic, and Emulated games via a URL. This enables some fun use cases, such as writing the URL to an NFC tag/card or a QR code.

The feature is disabled by default since to launch a game, no authentication is required.

Enable remote launch

  1. Open the Chimera web app on the device you wish to launch games from.
  2. Open the main menu and select "System".
  3. Scroll down and check the "Enable Remote Launch" check box.
  4. Click the Save button.

Launching games remotely

  1. Open the Chimera web app on the device you wish to launch games from.
  2. Open the main menu and select "Library".
  3. Click on the platform for which you want to launch a game.
  4. Click on the game you wish to launch.
  5. Click on the "Launch" button

Once you click the "Launch" button, the browser will open a URL which triggers launching the game. You can copy-paste that URL for reference or bookmark it.

Launching Steam games remotely

Steam games are not listed in the Chimera web app, but you can still launch them remotely through the following URL: http://chimeraos.local:8844/launch/<steam app id>

Replace <steam app id> with the app id of the game you wish to launch. You can easily obtain the app id, by searching for the game on this site.

If your device has a different host name, replace chimeraos.local with myhostname.local. You can also use the IP address of the device instead of chimeraos.local.

Terminal Access

There are multiple ways to access a terminal in ChimeraOS. You can use a TTY, SSH, or the Chimera app. Use of the CLI will require you to log in. The default username is gamer and the password is gamer.

TTY

Plug in a keyboard and press ctrl+alt+f3. To switch back to the UI, press ctrl+alt+f7 or reboot.

SSH

Windows/Mac/Linux

  1. Open up the terminal (Use Powershell on Windows) application on the host you want to use to connect.
  2. If you have not generated a public SSH key before this, you can do so with the below command. Using a password is optional. 
    ssh-keygen
  3. Now, display the key by using the path from the above command, typically: 
    cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
  4. Next, go to http://chimeraos.local:8844 and after logging in, go to system and paste this output in, click save.
  5. On the terminal application you used, connect with 
    ssh gamer@chimeraos.local

Android with JuiceSSH

  1. Create an identity with the following:
    1. Nickname: gamer
    2. Username: gamer
    3. Password: "gamer" (no quotes, this is the default password)
    4. Private key: Click set, then OK.
    5. Click "Generate snippet" and click the checkmark to save the entire identity.
    6. Press and hold on the name of the identity back on the list of them and choose "Export public key".
  2. Next, go to http://chimeraos.local:8844 and after logging in, go to system and paste this output in, click save.
  3. Back in JuiceSSH, create a connection with the following:
    1. Nickname: anything (e.g. ChimeraOS)
    2. Type: SSH
    3. Address: chimeraos.local
    4. Identity: choose the gamer identity

You should now be able to connect via JuiceSSH on Android.

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