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Getting Started
See our download page for system requirements, installation instructions, and to download installation media.
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 failsafe 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.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
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 (MAME-Current)
- Atari 2600
- Atari 7800
- Dreamcast
- Game Boy
- Game Boy Advance
- Game Boy Color
- GameCube
- Game Gear
- Genesis/Mega Drive
- Jaguar
- Master System
- Neo Geo
- Nintendo
- Nintendo 64
- Nintendo DS
- PlayStation
- PlayStation 2
- PlayStation Portable
- Saturn
- Sega/Mega CD
- Super Game Boy
- Super Nintendo
- Super Nintendo MSU1
- 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.
Super Nintendo MSU1 ROMs are a special case as they involve a number of PCM files. In order to upload to Chimera, all of the pcm files, the msu file, and the ROM file need to be zipped together in a single-level zip file (no subfolders) named .zip, and the romname must include the extension.
Example:
gamerom.sfc.zip |- gamerom.sfc |- gamerom.msu |- gamerom-1.pcm |- gamerom-2.pcm ... |- gamerom-999.pcm
The following retro console platforms require BIOS files to function. Follow the links for details on the required BIOS files:
- 32X
- 3DO
- Neo Geo
- PlayStation
- Playstation 2
- Saturn
- Sega/Mega CD
- Super Game Boy - Only SGB2.sfc is needed
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.
Some BIOSes are region-specific, in which case you must upload the BIOS for each region you will be using ROMs for.