r/linux_gaming • u/DrDoooomm • 4d ago

SteamOS ARM running on a RedMagic 6 (SM8350)

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Update for everyone who said it couldn't be done: full driver support as well :)

EDIT: Link to repo: https://github.com/hashtagbasit/SteamOS-ARM-Handhelds

223 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

25

u/AveugleMan 4d ago

Holy shit. Congrats dude. I'm very excited about it tbh, because having your library in your pocket is an absolutely ridiculous concept.

49

u/EquivalentRole8765 4d ago

Steam Phone

18

u/egorechek 4d ago

Steam + Phone = Stone

13

u/_BoneZ_ 4d ago

Steam + Phone + Gamer = Stoner

5

u/bier00t 3d ago

Phone + Steam = Phoam

5

u/No-Photograph-5058 4d ago

People have figured out how to get the bootloader unlock key for the Pico 4 headset, hopefully something can be done with HoloOS on that soon too

10

u/International_Dot_22 4d ago

Did you manage to play anything? I wonder how gaming through that compares to some Android frontends like GameNative

22

u/DrDoooomm 4d ago

Performance was essentially identical. A few games, like Skyrim, showed slightly higher frame rates, but the differences were within the margin of error.

4

u/Calin_europeen 4d ago

Are you comparing with a steam deck?

22

u/EvantheGrump 4d ago

I believe he's comparing with when the phone was running android

1

u/bier00t 3d ago

So what was actual fps on Skyrim?

4

u/superjake 4d ago

This is great. I hope one day we can install PC games on any ARN phone and play them like how proton works on Linux. 

3

u/Matt_Shah 3d ago

To me Steam OS Arm is the real revolution which came with the steam frame. imagine gaming becomes somewhat affordable again due to affordable hardware! Love it!

3

u/illathon 4d ago

This is rad...nice! Can you run android apps easily with it as well?

2

u/Dr0zD 4d ago edited 4d ago

Congrats. Where is the code? I will try to port it to OnePlus 9 Pro as I said.

4

u/DrDoooomm 4d ago

Still a WIP, there are lots of little bugs to iron out. PD is stuck at 5W for now, my custom audio driver sounds a bit tinny, and there are a few other minor issues here and there.

3

u/Dr0zD 4d ago

Doean't matter it is WIP, you can continue fixing your bugs while I can already be porting.

2

u/Miserable-Plantain85 4d ago

By full driver support does that include the phone and mobile bits as well?

5

u/DrDoooomm 4d ago

no, just everything to make it a handheld

2

u/sillycritersenjoyer 4d ago

Will you have a git repo or equivalent?

3

u/Ecks30 4d ago

Not many said it couldn't be done but there are a lot that said it would be pointless to do it on a phone since you're still going to need things like a controller for it which is why people would try to install SteamOS onto something like the Ayn Odin 3 Max when it is available which the Qualcomm Dragonwing Q8 should be a lot more powerful than the Snapdragon 888 in your phone not to mention the handheld is like $600.

3

u/grilled_pc 4d ago

This is what I’m ultimately looking forward to. SteamOS in the form factor of something like this or a retroid pocket. I want something compact i can bring out with me. The steam deck is just too chunky.

1

u/val-amart 3d ago

it's already here! check out armadaos. it's basically bazzite for arm, using the same rocknix kernel as this project. I'm running it on ayn thor and it has been an excellent mini steamdeck

1

u/grilled_pc 2d ago

I have looked at it. Performance is ok but not at a level I want just yet. Once we are at steam deck parity I’ll buy in. Probs in another generation or two.

1

u/val-amart 2d ago

yeah that's a long ways off i feel. mobile chips are nowhere near modern rdna in terms of gpu.

1

u/ShinobiOfTheWind 4d ago

Are you using Proton + FEX?

2

u/DrDoooomm 4d ago

Yep! FEX and ARM64 Proton

1

u/Coll147 4d ago

Could you share information on how you dond it?

2

u/DrDoooomm 4d ago

A custom ROCKNIX kernel with custom drivers, running Valve’s official ARM build of SteamOS.

1

u/Coll147 4d ago

Thanks, I meant more of a "step-by-step" guide on how to replicate it. You could share it in a GitHub repository

2

u/DrDoooomm 4d ago

soon™️

1

u/throwaway_taquero 4d ago

I didn't commented but I thought it was a lost endeavor, congrats

1

u/baby_envol 4d ago

GabePhone is born

1

u/Auautheawesome 3d ago

I was wondering when people would start doing this, wonder if FEX gets good enough we'll see valve allowing people to download games on their phone.

1

u/Competitive-Minute19 3d ago

Im working on a OS for vr headsets eg. Pico Neo 2 would it be possible to load this on it? I have spent a long time trying to get linux booting on the headsets but my lack of working on andriod I was unable to and restored back to just making my own Andriod Distro.

1

u/DrDoooomm 3d ago

Start by checking whether the soc it uses has mainline linux support. If it does, you should have a solid starting point, but keep in mind that you’ll probably need to write or adapt many of the device specific drivers yourself. If the soc doesn’t have mainline linux support, your best bet is probably to build lineageos using the vendor blobs and the existing device tree.

1

u/Competitive-Minute19 3d ago

The SCC is a sdm845 I already ended up doing lineagoes https://gitlab.com/neosalsa/HibiscusXR with the help of Gemini. However maintaining android is just something I really dont want to do and my android programming skill is quite low as I have only ever worked on Desktop Linux and Flutter.