Not Just Proton: Getting to Know Valve's New SteamOS Compatibility Layers Valve's dominance in the PC gaming market is well established, but beneath the surface lies a complex web of compatibility layers that enable it all.
The recent announcement about two new additions to the Steam architecture – FEX and another mysterious layer dubbed "the other new compatibility layer" (let's call it OL for now) – has generated excitement among gamers and tech enthusiasts.
Proton, Valve's compatibility layer, allows Windows games to run seamlessly on Linux based SteamOS. It's a significant achievement, but FEX takes it further by emulating x86 processor instructions on Arm chipsets.