Latest Linux kernal is 7.1, SteamOS uses 6.16

[HNIC]

Mainline Linux kernal is 7.1, stable Linux kernal is 7.0

But yet the latest SteamOS update is on kernal 6.16... which isn't even LTS

I don't understand why this is, Valve switched from Debian to arch as Debian is normally very slow to upgrade packages and they are doing releases with much older Linux and Plasma than what is available in the 'Testing' repo of Debian - WTF?!

Plasma 6.4 is now 3 versions behind as well

[class101 [ѕtеαмdеcκ]]

I don’t think, from their perspective, that being on the latest kernel is a priority. They likely used the latest stable release available at the time SteamOS 3.8 branched off, which was Linux 6.16. SteamOS 3.9 might use a 7.0 kernel that will itself be considered outdated by the time it ships, and so on.

They’re building an OS tied to specific hardware. You don’t risk making everything unstable just for the satisfaction of always being on the absolute latest update.

[Broseph Joseph]

Bleeding edge kernels are fine for your testing box at home but when you are a company and youve sold millions of boxes into the market and youre responsible for keeping them working, you want to deploy software thats been out in the wild a little bit longer.

Not to mention valve doesnt use generic, they use their own patches.