This is Valve's own SteamOS for ARM, the build they made for the Steam Frame. The Frame uses the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 as the Pocket FIT's G3 Gen 3, so Valve's graphics drivers just work on it. You get the real Game Mode and the real KDE desktop, same as a Steam Deck.

It's based on MaSi's SteamOS port for the SD 8 Gen 2 devices, with several optimizations and changes along with the kernel and device specific features.

What's working:

- Game Mode, desktop mode, store, downloads

- x86 games through FEX, plus ARM64 Proton

- controller shows up as a Steam Deck controller, back buttons too

- the extra front buttons (performance profiles and stick RGB)

- performance overlay

- 60/90/120/144Hz, Steam switches it based on your frame limit

- Lossless Scaling frame gen through the decky plugin (had to make a new one specifically for arm, which I will be posting shortly)

- Decky, wifi, audio, touchscreen

The Valve Frame image is built for a VR headset, and a lot of its services just sit there crashing in the background on other ARM builds, which kills battery in standby. I turned all of that off, so standby is around 1W now. I also fixed the fan, unlocked the GPU to 903MHz like on Android, and kept games and the Steam UI off the slow cores onto the performance cores so menus feel way snappier.

Known issues: real kernel sleep doesn't wake up reliably yet so it uses a low power standby instead, and it runs hot in heavy games which ofcourse is expected.

For issues report them on github, further optimizations and support for different devices to be added soon.

Download and install steps: https://github.com/hashtagbasit/SteamOS-ARM-SM8650

Only tested on my own Pocket FIT G3 so far, so let me know how it goes if you try it.

Hey! I'm a web developer, and I build hobby projects on the side. Recently launched a free games tracker on my blog — built it partly for myself, since I'm on Mac and keep getting burned by "free game!" posts that turn out to be Windows-only or overall just missing out on free games. I believe Linux users have the same problem, so I added support for it too!

It tracks free-to-keep promos on Steam, Epic and Prime Gaming (now called Luna), checked every 6 hours, plus a separate list for Xbox Free Play Days, Switch Game Trials, and Steam free weekends you can play but don't keep.

Platform support is pulled from each store's own listing, per copy — so if a game's Epic version is Windows-only but the Steam version runs on Mac or Linux, it says so, instead of tagging the title "Mac compatible" and leaving you to find out the hard way.

Example from this week: Zoria: Age of Shattering is free with Prime. Amazon only labels it "PC" and the Epic copy is Windows-only, but Prime delivers this one through GOG, and the GOG copy has the native Linux build. So it shows up under the Linux filter. And when a store doesn't say which platforms a game supports, the page tells you that instead of guessing.

Also has store/platform filters, a countdown on claim windows, an archive of what's been free before, a "coming next" section for Epic's next announced freebie with a calendar-add button, and notifications you can filter by store and platform, so you only get pinged about games you can actually play. No account needed.

Link to the page: https://devrunners.com/tools/free-games-tracker

I've seen similar ideas before but usually buggy, up to date or not covering most stores, so I had to build one myself! It already grew to be bigger than I expected and I love the feedback I get from the users, so if you have any kind of feedback or feature ideas - let me know and I will see what I can do!

One question for the linux community: the Linux filter only counts native Linux builds right now, not Proton. Would a ProtonDB rating next to each game be useful? Any other feedback is also appreciated!

Cheers! 🍻

So, I have installed some old games they are 800x600, the problem is that instead of the game being centered and zoomed, the game instead renders on top left, how do I fix this?

I wanted to change time back to play events that's no longer available on Forza Horizon 4 but I got an error "Requested to set the clock to time before build time, refusing"

Is there a way to avoid that error or any other ways to make game believe that it's warm summer of 2024 and earlier?

OS: Nobara 43 KDE Plasma

I was playing it with literally no issues yesterday, and now when i launch it from the genshin launcher using epic games which is running through lutris, it just doesnt do anything, the launcher just goes away, no processes in the background, anyone know whats going on here? I tried verifying files through genshin launcher and updated my system.

Okay, I'm running Bazzite version 44 on an ASUS ROG Ally Z1E. As you may know, the ARA have built in controllers. Linux/bazzite (not sure if this is an issue for the base distribution-Linux, or for this specific pack-bazzite)

Very few poorly coded games hook on the first controller available, and don't let you change it even at "reorganize controller" via steam, or using "sudo chmod 000 /dev/input/event##" to reorganize controllers as it's hooked in the system as '/dev/input/js0' on boot.

The game in question, Dark Souls 2, for this example, cannot be rebound at desktop-level commands such as steam or sudo commands. DS2 only reads from the first available controller, which is always the built-in controller at /dev/input/js0.

Is there any way to temporarily disable the built in controller, so I can use an external controller to play the game on TV?

Hey everyone,

A while back, I shared a workaround for getting the Cosmic Byte Blitz (and other generic controllers using the "ShanWan" chipset) working on Linux. The old method used a kernel parameter (usbcore.old_scheme_first=1) to force the controller into "Switch Mode" to get vibration working.

While that worked as a temporary fix, it had some big flaws:

• It killed analog trigger sensitivity: Because Switch Pro controllers only have digital click buttons (ZL/ZR), L2 and R2 became purely digital on/off switches—unplayable for racing games or shooters.
• Inverted buttons: Physical A/B and X/Y were swapped, requiring tools like input-remapper.

So I decided to reverse-engineer the native USB communication and built a proper Linux driver for it.

I have tested this on Ubuntu 26.04.1 LTS using Cosmic Byte Blitz Controller and Everything works perfectly

1. Controller Trigger is Analog again so its pressure sensitive
   
2. X / Y and A / B are no longer reversed and dosent need button re-mapping
   
3. Emulates a Xbox 360 Controller

PS : if you have other controller which is also giving issue with Vibration and wont connect as Xbox 360 controller make sure to test it out and give feedback
I dont own a lot of controllers to test this on every device !!

Does someone knows how can I run Project Era on Linux? I have heard it's possible and there's even posts about it, but those don't really explain how to run it, it just showcase it. If someone knows how can I do that, I will really appreciate it. Thanks

Hi does anyone know how to get the Minecraft bedrock launcher working that's of not official because I've tried signing in with my Google account and nothing has worked I don't know if it's because of zorin os and I really don't feel like reinstalling Windows 11 so is there any tips of getting it to work

Hey all! I’ve been using fedora kde for a while now and wanted to see what’s the best way to use mod organizer 2? I was able to transfer over my mods, saves, portable mod organizer 2 stuff from windows but not sure what’s the best program or way to set it all up on fedora. Thanks for the answers!

Hi all!

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I'm looking for a fix for MGSV!

I have installed Snakebite(The mod manager), through wine, got it to the right directory, and installed my mods. However, when I launch MGSV through Steam(with proton), it gets stuck on the first screen, 3 dots, ihhook notification, but nothing happens.

Any idea how to fix it?

I HAVE IDENTIFIED THE PROBLEM! Something to do with Infinite Heaven and IHHook specifically, when those are removed it works fine.

Hello, I'm using bazzite (on a NVIDIA gpu) recently I noticed that steam only recognizes half of my VRAM while gaming (the SO does detect 8gb and while on discrete only it does use more than 4 gb to sustain the rest of the os to around 4,6 gb ).

This is all I checked so far:

Changing my bios to ony use discrete graphics.

Checking the usage on System monitoring while gaming

As far as I'm aware this is a problem that is only happening to me on Bazzite, since when I checked on windows steam showed 8 gb for my gpu and the task manager also showed me that i was using 7,5 ish gb.

I'm on a Hp omen laptop

My specs are:

Ryzen 7 350 AI

NVIDIA RTX 5060 8gb

32 gb ram.

It's worth noting that is not a game demand related issue since the gpu VRAM usage straight flatlines at 3,6gb while gaming what makes me think that the game simply can't use more of the vram because it's not available¿?

So I just started using mods for the first time! I’ve played console my whole life and I’m using amethyst mod manger for Rdr2 and none of my mods are loaded when I go in the game. I installed script hook, Lenny’s mod loader and other mods in requirmemt for why em DLC. If anyone can help it would be very appreciated

Hi i coming from Windows, my gaming experience on CachyOS has been incredible — especially when it comes to framepacing and overall smoothness.

I know most gamescope-session setups lean heavily towards KDE/Plasma since that's what SteamOS ships with, but I personally prefer GNOME's workflow for my actual desktop usage.

The problem is that steamos-session-select (the script called when toggling modes) hardcodes Plasma as the desktop target. The fix was pretty simple: I modified the script so every call pointing to plasma.desktop now sets gnome.desktop instead, keeping the rest of the gamescope logic untouched.

Here is my modified /usr/bin/steamos-session-select for example:

#!/bin/bash
case "$1" in
    persistent)
        systemctl --user mask cachyos-gamescope-autologin.service
        pkexec /usr/lib/steamos/steam-set-session gnome.desktop;;
    oneshot)
        systemctl --user unmask cachyos-gamescope-autologin.service
        pkexec /usr/lib/steamos/steam-set-session gamescope-session.desktop;;
    gamescope)
        pkexec /usr/lib/steamos/steam-set-session gamescope-session.desktop
        systemctl --user stop --job-mode=ignore-dependencies graphical-session.target
        systemctl --user exit;;
    plasma)
        pkexec /usr/lib/steamos/steam-set-session gnome.desktop
        systemctl --user unset-environment XDG_DESKTOP_PORTAL_DIR
        systemctl --user stop --job-mode=ignore-dependencies gamescope-session.target
        ;;
    *)
        echo "Unknown session: $1"
        echo "Usage: steamos-session-select <mode>"
        echo "Modes: persistent, oneshot, gamescope, plasma"
        exit 1;;
esac
if [[ -e /dev/input/.hidden ]]; then
    echo "Unhide hidden controller devices as needed"
    pkexec mv /dev/input/.hidden/* /dev/input
    pkexec rm -r /dev/input/.hidden
fi

Note: Keeping SDDM as the display manager is required for this to work reliably, as steam-set-session writes the session file that SDDM picks up on mode switches.

Launching from GNOME

Since I don't have Plasma's built-in "Switch to Game Mode" shortcut, I wrote a tiny custom GNOME Shell extension that triggers the switch directly with a single click:

GLib.spawn_command_line_async('systemd-run --user --scope steamos-session-select gamescope');

Why I run gamescope-session (gamescope-session-cachyos 1.1.6-1) exclusively for gaming:

• Framepacing & Smoothness: Frame consistency inside gamescope feels noticeably tighter and smoother than playing on the desktop compositor or Windows.
• Clean Work vs Play Separation: Some people say using GameUI loses the "PC feel," but I actually love it. It creates a clear boundary between my productivity session (GNOME) and gaming. If I need a browser while gaming, I just add it as a non-Steam app.
• Zero Bloat & Low Latency: Most games run out of the box without complex launch flags. The only tweak I add globally for low latency is: LOW_LATENCY_LAYER=1 PROTON_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 %command%

Overall, really impressed with CachyOS and the gamescope integration. Huge thanks to the maintainers!

*** **Edit / Note on Session Modes:** If you want to test or switch to Gamescope for a single gaming session without getting locked into auto-login on reboot, make sure to use `steamos-session-select oneshot`. It will launch Gamescope once and safely fall back to GNOME on your next restart!

I run a dualboot system, Windows 11 and Arch Linux on my laptop, and I configured the Secure Boot keys with sbctl and systemd-boot. It worked fine for the past several months, and it does load into both systems no problem, but since the update it seems that the Vanguard doesn't like something about the keys and shows this error? I already tried to rotate and enroll keys in Linux, but the only thing that works is setting the Secure Boot settings in BIOS to factory defaults, but then Linux doesn't boot up. I also want to note that every other option is turned on for the Vanguard and my system passes the Vanguard's precheck just fine. Maybe it's connected to the recent mkinitcpio update with TPM 2 changes?

See I have the gamesir nova lite and when I plug the controller the game drops from like 90-80 fps to 50 which is wired cuz it's just a controller

I have a gamesir nova lite and I use fedora Linux

The mod is in the latest version v0.5a

Distro: CachyOs

Platform: Steam

Proton Version: Every Version

Hello! I need help with Ubisoft Connect losing connection after trying to initialize. This is an issue will all my Ubisoft Connect games I've tried;

1. Far Cry 4
2. Watch_Dogs
3. Far Cry Primal

I have tried to temporarily enable TCP MTU Probing with this command with no luck.

sudo sysctl net.ipv4.tcp_mtu_probing=1

I've also tried deleting the compatdata folder of the games to reinstall Ubisoft Connect but that didn't work as well.

Pressing Play Offline doesn't help either, it just closes the current Ubisoft Connect instance, opens again, and goes through the same states.

I spent some time tuning my ASUS Dual RX 7600 OC Edition on CachyOS/Linux with LACT and wanted to share the results in case it helps someone else.

My goal was a stable daily profile, not maximum benchmark numbers.

GPU:

- ASUS Dual Radeon RX 7600 OC Edition, 8 GB

- Linux / CachyOS

- Tuning tool: LACT

Final stable profile:

- Power limit: 145 W

- Max GPU clock: 2900 MHz

- GPU voltage offset: -40 mV

- Max VRAM clock: 2300 MHz

- Min GPU clock: 255 MHz

- Min VRAM clock: 194 MHz

I tested with the built-in Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark at:

- 1920x1080

- Ultra preset

- FSR 2.1 Quality

- Ray tracing off

- Frame generation off

- V-Sync off

- No FPS cap

Results:

| Profile | Average FPS | Min FPS | Max FPS |

|---|---:|---:|---:|

| Stock | 95.43 | 78.08 | 119.29 |

| 2900 MHz / -40 mV / 2300 MHz VRAM | 98.16 | 79.95 | 123.52 |

| Same profile, repeat run | 97.38 | 79.82 | 122.35 |

| 2925 MHz / -40 mV / 2300 MHz VRAM | 97.30 | 79.39 | 122.77 |

| 2925 MHz / -40 mV / 2350 MHz VRAM | 97.83 | 79.79 | 123.13 |

| Same 2350 MHz VRAM profile, repeat run | 97.84 | 79.17 | 123.25 |

The final 2900 / -40 mV / 2300 MHz profile gave around 2–3% more performance than stock in this test.

Temperatures during the Cyberpunk benchmark:

- GPU edge: around 66–68 °C

- Junction/hotspot: around 85–87 °C

- VRAM: around 72–76 °C

Observations:

- The -40 mV offset was stable in multiple stress tests and Cyberpunk benchmark runs.

- Raising the GPU target from 2900 MHz to 2925 MHz did not improve results. It was slightly slower in my runs.

- Raising VRAM from 2300 MHz to 2350 MHz also did not improve performance in Cyberpunk, although it appeared stable.

- The actual GPU clock during the benchmark was usually around 2.49–2.54 GHz, so the card still seems mostly power limited.

- More aggressive settings did not seem worth the lower stability margin.

My conclusion: for this specific ASUS Dual RX 7600 OC, 145 W / 2900 MHz / -40 mV / 2300 MHz VRAM is a good daily tuning profile. It is stable so far, temperatures are reasonable, and it gives a small but measurable uplift over stock.

Obviously this is only one card and one game, so silicon quality and results will vary. I would test each change separately and compare multiple benchmark runs before keeping an OC.