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Getting Started

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alkazar edited this page Oct 7, 2022 · 45 revisions

Download & Installation

See our download page for system requirements, installation instructions, and to download the 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 login to Steam.

Once logged in to Steam, you will be presented with Big Picture Mode.

Switching to Gamepad/Deck UI

For those who have an AMD GPU and want to have the Steam Deck experience instead of the default Big Picture Mode, you will have to get to a console and run chimera-session gamepadui. Once this is done, the Gamepad UI will be used even after a reboot.

Gamepad UI is currently very buggy on Nvidia and Intel GPUs and is not recommended for use. Once this situation improves, Gamepad UI will become the default user interface in 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 that have been tested specifically on ChimeraOS. For more general Linux game compatibility information, see ProtonDB.

Non-Steam software

ChimeraOS supports installing software from Epic Games Store, GOG, Flathub and even allows you to install ROMs for many retro console platforms out of the box.

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

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 login 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.

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.

Note that many desktop applications will only work in Desktop mode or with Gamepad/Deck UI. Big Picture Mode has some severe limitations and bugs when it comes to handling multiple windows and using the mouse in non-fullscreen applications.

Emulation

Emulation is handled by RetroArch.

The Chimera web app makes it easy to add your retro games collection. Simply upload your ROM files and restart your computer. The games will appear in Steam automatically.

Emulators for the following retro consoles are included and supported out of the box:

  • 32X
  • 3DO
  • Arcade
  • Atari 2600
  • Dreamcast
  • Game Boy
  • Game Boy Advance
  • Game Boy Color
  • GameCube
  • Game Gear
  • Genesis/Mega Drive
  • Jaguar
  • Master System
  • Neo Geo
  • Nintendo
  • Nintendo 64
  • PlayStation
  • PlayStation 2
  • PlayStation Portable
  • Saturn
  • Sega/Mega CD
  • Super Nintendo
  • TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine

ROMs can be uploaded from the platform specific section of the Chimera web app's Library page. Click the large blue '+' button to add a new game. Fill out the game name, upload your ROM file, and select your preferred artwork.

ROM files should be in the correct format as expected by the respective emulator. Zip files are supported transparently as long as the ROM file is the only file inside the zip file.

For Dreamcast, PlayStation, Saturn, and Sega/Mega CD ROMs, the CHD format is highly recommended. It is a single-file format which allows easy uploading of ROMs through the Chimera web interface. Cue/Bin formatted ROMs are not supported.

Emulation BIOS files

The following retro console platforms require BIOS files to function. Follow the links for details on the required BIOS files:

BIOS files must be uploaded under their respective platforms just as if they were games. However, when entering the name, you must omit the file extension.

The final filename of the BIOS file is a combination of the name entered when uploading the file, plus the extension of the uploaded file itself. This combined file name must match what the emulator is expecting.

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