When comparing Recalbox vs SteamOS, the Slant community recommends Recalbox for most people. In the question“What is the best Linux Distribution for gaming?” Recalbox is ranked 1st while SteamOS is ranked 13th. The most important reason people chose Recalbox is:
It has a simple and easy to use UI.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Easy user interface
It has a simple and easy to use UI.
Pro PLUG & PLAY - if you boot on it, it works
- It can be portable and ready to use.
- You can dual boot (wiki support for dual booting.)
- Updates and support by the community.
Pro Easy to configure
Almost all configuration are done via user interface.
Pro Faster
Build on top of buildroot, the system only have the necessary services to run.
Pro Custom EmulationStation built for Recalbox
EmulationStation is customized to fit Recalbox features, making the configuration a lot easier.
Pro Native graphics processor support
The OS natively supports Nvidia, Intel, and AMD graphics processors.
Pro Streaming service integration (under development)
Valve is in talks with streaming companies such as Spotify and Netflix to bring their features to SteamOS.
Pro For entertainment, it just works
What media center software do for videos, it does for games (and later videos).
Cons
Con Toxic community
If you're not French, they will make zero effort to help you. Switch to Batocera, their community is miles ahead from Recalbox.
Con Needs the whole disk
There is no option to install the system in dual-boot with another OS on one hard disk drive.
Con Hard to install
If you've installed Arch you're probably fine, but for those used to simple installs like (Ubuntu to name just one) you should prepare some patience, determination, and painkillers. Good news is, it's getting better (it's very young).
Con Not built around the desktop experience
SteamOS is, first and foremost, meant to act as a gaming console - it doesn't ship with even some of the most basic applications, such as a file manager or image viewer. As a result, using SteamOS as your primary operating system would require a fair bit of work.