When comparing Lakka vs SteamOS, the Slant community recommends Lakka for most people. In the question“What is the best Linux Distribution for gaming?” Lakka is ranked 9th while SteamOS is ranked 13th. The most important reason people chose Lakka is:
Most controllers are configured automatically.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Good support for controllers
Most controllers are configured automatically.
Pro Built on top of RetroArch
It's based on RetroArch OS
Pro Cores (emulator support) can be downloaded via interface
It's easy to add new emulators, even if you compile them yourself.
Pro First to get new Retroarch features implemented directly
Because they're part of the RA team, of course. :)
Pro Highly configurable
A lot of customizations and advanced options available.
Pro Supports different frontends
Lakka has different frontends in case your IoT is too slow for the default one.
Pro Different interfaces for different scenarios
Some interfaces like rgui makes the OS possible to run fine even in the Raspberry Pi 1st gen.
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 Terrible User-Interface
The interface includes various submenus which makes it very hard to use
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 Adding new games and scans can be difficult if you don't have some knowledge
You need some knowledge if you want to add a different rom (lakka, like retroarch, supports only no-intro naming, there's no generic scan like emulationstation).
Con No built-in GUI to manage Bluetooth devices
It needs to be done over the CLI.
Con Uses RetroArch
A multi-emulator needs to make compromises.
Con No persistent BlueTooth pairing
Every time you restart Lakka it will lose all of its BlueTooth devices.
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.