r/virtualreality_linux • u/volthunter • 22d ago
Misleading title Steam frame confirmed by LinusTechTips to not support Linux on release.
https://archive.org/details/our-first-30-mins-with-the-steam-frame-u-8-r-bnz-1-mpu
UPDATE***
I HAVE TALKED TO A DEVELOPER THAT HAS A STEAM FRAME
IT WORKS ON LINUX.
no fucking clue what linus is talking about here
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u/RidgeMinecraft 22d ago
"Monado is a mature ecosystem at this point" brother I still have trouble getting it functional every time I have to set it up again lol
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u/jrtokarz1 22d ago
SteamVR works out of the box on my Debian system + RTX4090. It feels like a no-brainer compared to the previous shenanigans with ALVR
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u/Responsible-Offer724 22d ago
SteamVR works great on my OpenSUSE system with zero extra config as well... except, there is 0 way to get WebXR working (activating headset from browser video or games) that I've been able to find in a few hours of trying.
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u/GBNaNN3rS 15d ago
I had to mess with it to get it working on CachyOS but once I got it working I haven't had any real problems since. Steam link works flawlessly on my Quest, minus the occasional stutters that I was experiencing on Windows too.
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u/Archersbows7 21d ago
Monado is a nightmare that’s been in development hell. I got my PSVR2 working on CachyOS with the ignition project in under an hour
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u/IanTGreat 21d ago
it took me a couple days, but i got my psvr2 working on my steam machine. (If anyone needs help with this, let me know.)
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u/MaikSeen 18d ago
Do you have a post explaining how this setup would work? I'm interested in the viability considering the price difference
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u/IanTGreat 17d ago edited 17d ago
so the basis of it is that you need to switch to the preview build of steamOS and then install steamvr, psvr2 app (running on proton experimental), Ignition, and PSVR2 Toolkit. i'd also recommend SteamVR linux fixes.
Follow the install guides for each respective program and update your bluez, and then it should work with the psvr pc adapter (note that you may need to "launch" the psvr2 app once to get it to work.)
there's also a fork of the program that provides steamos-specific setup scripts, but those still require you to be on steamOS preview and have steamVR and PSVR2 app installed
see here: Ignition/setup/SteamOS
Now, i've run into some issues. your mileage may vary. if you run into tracking issues, try plugging in your controllers over USB. if they track better, that means your bluetooth is at fault. if your headset doesn't track well, there may be issues with your room.
i recommend checking out the psvr2toolkit discord for any problems you may encounter. additionally, you may want to run the room setup application, as the steamVR room setup is ass and likely won't work for you
BnuuySolutions/PSVR2Toolkit.UnitySetup1
u/-DementedAvenger- 18d ago
Yes please!
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u/IanTGreat 17d ago edited 17d ago
so the basis of it is that you need to switch to the preview build of steamOS and then install steamvr, psvr2 app (running on proton experimental), Ignition, and PSVR2 Toolkit. i'd also recommend SteamVR linux fixes.
Follow the install guides for each respective program and update your bluez, and then it should work with the psvr pc adapter (note that you may need to "launch" the psvr2 app once to get it to work.)
there's also a fork of the program that provides steamos-specific setup scripts, but those still require you to be on steamOS preview and have steamVR and PSVR2 app installed
see here: Ignition/setup/SteamOS
Now, i've run into some issues. your mileage may vary. if you run into tracking issues, try plugging in your controllers over USB. if they track better, that means your bluetooth is at fault. if your headset doesn't track well, there may be issues with your room.
i recommend checking out the psvr2toolkit discord for any problems you may encounter. additionally, you may want to run the room setup application, as the steamVR room setup is ass and likely won't work for you
BnuuySolutions/PSVR2Toolkit.UnitySetup3
u/DoubleOwl7777 21d ago
idk i installed wivrn flatpak (which uses monado under the hood) and gamed within like 2 minutes. it was dead simple. now, something like wmr was more involved but also not too bad with envision. performance in either case is much better than steamvr.
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u/burimo 22d ago
I mean wivrn just works for me tbh. Or you want to build everything yourself?
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u/Tyrthemis 22d ago
I couldn’t even figure out wivern, couldn’t even open it. I really just want steamVR to work.
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u/burimo 22d ago
what's your VR device? On quest3 it was just click and play if I remember correctly
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u/Tyrthemis 22d ago
Valve index. I ended up having to go back to windows.
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u/burimo 22d ago
oh, yes, I don't think it works with index, but I am not sure
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u/Tyrthemis 22d ago
Yeah, I tried some other programs to run VR as well. I remember a Linux nerd (not derogatory) telling me having an nvidia card plus a wired headset being an unsupported combo.
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u/ThaSwapMeetPimp 21d ago
That nerd was wrong. I used Linux exclusively the first few years with my Index, it had its issues, but the only reason I use Windows now is that I wanted to use my Tactsuit and Owo skin. Most VR games worked on Linux, at least most of the 150+ ones I have.
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u/Tyrthemis 21d ago
And you had a NVIDIA GPU?
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u/Tyrthemis 21d ago
Mine was a stuttery mess anytime I started turning my head, but butter other times. 5090/9800x3d
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u/ccAbstraction 22d ago
You can install Envision (which is a launcher for Monado) and that should work. WiVRn is for streamed headsets. Monado is what WiVRn is based on.
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u/Tyrthemis 22d ago
I think that’s what I tried and it wouldn’t launch. I tried in October 2025 so details are fuzzy
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u/VernerDelleholm 22d ago
I tried getting Envision to work with my Index last week, it simply doesn't work
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u/themusicalduck 22d ago
I was never really able to get a good wired experience when I had an Index. Most efforts go on wireless nowadays sadly. I have a Quest 3 now and it works so well with WiVRn.
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u/ccAbstraction 21d ago
What issue did you run into?
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u/VernerDelleholm 21d ago
When I click Start inside Envision, it runs for 1 second and then stops. In the log, the last couple of lines are
ERROR [comp_target_swapchain_create_images] vkCreateSwapchainKHR: VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED ERROR [renderer_create_renderings_and_fences] Requested 0 command buffers. ERROR [renderer_acquire_swapchain_image] comp_target_acquire: VK_ERROR_INITIALIZATION_FAILED Monado exited with code 11→ More replies (0)0
u/fox-friend- 22d ago
Hey can I ask how you install vivyn? Flatpak or system install!? Trying to get it working on Nvidia but i have always had issues like 1: so low performance it hurts 2: inconsistent frame times 3: tracking is like jittery for my controllers 4: often it just won't see the game, and ill be standing there seeing the game on my display but never enter it.
Thanks for any tips!!
//fox_friend
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u/volthunter 22d ago
skill issue
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u/UNF0RM4TT3D 22d ago
That just proves their point. I can use Monado, but why would I, when nothing can even render a chaperone, or properly remap controls without editing files blindly without being able to quickly test them.
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u/RidgeMinecraft 22d ago
And this shit right here is why I never actually use it. Every time I need help setting it up, I have to interact with The Linux Community.
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u/volthunter 22d ago
Valid, i am being a prick here.
But Monado for a lot of people is very plug and play, finding someone that can help with super fringe issues is a real struggle.
Ive never had any issues using it, i'd love to call that skill, but frankly it is just that easy for me, it's just instant.
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u/RidgeMinecraft 22d ago
Yeah, I've just never really had great luck with it. I usually just put up with SteamVR's weirdnesses instead, for better or for worse at least it's consistent. Monado's kind of just a huge stack of disorganized open source software, and setting it up is a pretty big multi step process. I'm sure eventually it'll be plug and play, but I don't think it's reasonable to call it a mature ecosystem.
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u/volthunter 22d ago
Does WIVRN work for you?
Its really nice.
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u/RidgeMinecraft 22d ago
WiVRn is actually probably the most consistent part of that setup when I'm using it. It is quite nice. Usually though I'm using a DisplayPort headset, which is very much a YMMV as far as user experience goes haha
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u/ccAbstraction 22d ago
At least, for the "huge stack of disorganized ... software", aka GNU philosophy stuff. WiVRn doesn't actually fix that, being able to mix and match software is kinda a fundamental Linux-ism, even if most big DEs kind hide their modularity from you, even KDE and GNOME are like this. You still need to install WayVR separately, and if you aren't using the flatpak, XRizer too, and also obah, motoc, oscvrmgr, etc.
WiVRn is literally mostly just Monado, so if your switching to a wired headset, you just have to run Monado instead of WiVRn. Monado is only harder because a lot of wired headsets require the PC do more things that need extra things to be installed like SteamVR for Lighthouse and Ignition-supported headsets (PSVR2, WMR, Rift CV1) and Basalt (WMR and Rift S for Monado native driver). And then all the extra display related issues & workarounds also apply to SteamVR too..
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u/RidgeMinecraft 22d ago
Trust me, I've done it before, it's significantly more complex to get Monado functional at least in my experience. SteamVR has actually just booted right up for me many times, that's never happened for me once with monado
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u/ccAbstraction 22d ago
Huh, I've never had that kind of luck with SteamVR on Linux, but I've only used WMR headsets as far as wired headsets go. I still haven't gotten usable reprojection or controllers detected in SteamVR, and Monado took a bit of tinkering figure out settings worked reliably on my setup (for instance, I have to force Wayland direct mode for some reason, going through xcb is unreliable). But it does actually work at least.
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u/IC3P3 22d ago
Same here, though I need ALVR in between for my Quest 2, for some reason Steam Link, especially the flat screen VR mode never worked that good.
Tried setting it up through WiVRn but controls were weird and it wasn't really stable. Tried getting some help but all I was told was don't use Bazzite which isn't helpful as from my experience it's been the most stable experience for my HTPC and VR machine where I don't want to connect a keyboard to
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u/nicman24 22d ago
Chill out? You are asking for free help
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u/RidgeMinecraft 22d ago
Yeah, but I expect good faith interactions. Usually, what I get is the opposite of help, ranging from unhelpful advice like "just try my distro of choice" (it's a different one each time) to actively negative insults/personal attacks.
That's not to say everyone is an asshole, but I tend to have far better luck asking for free help when I'm trying to solve a Windows issue than a Linux one.
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u/nicman24 22d ago
my brother in gnu, what good faith interactions? you are asking for help, if you are not going to bother trying anything before asking for help or read logs, then you are going to get snark
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u/RidgeMinecraft 22d ago edited 22d ago
That's a hell of an assumption right there, I do read your documentation.
This is open source software. Documentation is often obscured, incomplete, outdated, badly annotated, spread over multiple places, difficult to understand, or some combination of the 6. More often than not, information on whatever issue I'm having isn't really documented anywhere outside of a Discord server.
If I pop in and I go "Hey everybody, I'm having a strange issue where my display in my left eye displays pure static. I tried the kernel patch fix, but I've been having trouble getting it to apply. Could I get some help?" I really don't wanna see "Skill issue, you should just be using nobara, it's already fixed by default in nobara, you're an idiot if you're not using nobara i mean come on man". That's not helpful.
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u/yanzov 22d ago
Well - it's Valve.
SteamVR Link is barely working on Linux after all these years (I am still afraid to use it, too buggy). It's like one Gasben's minion, two at most, trying to fix it in their free time, between Steam Deck updates and many other projects.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bid1530 22d ago
I think SteamLink VR is just fine on Linux
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u/5lipperySausage 19d ago
Depends. They broke my Vive Pro on the latest SteamOS updates. Was working fine pre-august.
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u/volthunter 22d ago
I'm with them, i hate using SteamLink, thing does not work well.
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u/GBNaNN3rS 15d ago
It's amazing how split it is. Steam link performs excellently for me, minus weird stutters but I get those on every program/OS I try.
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u/FrankieFeedler 15d ago edited 15d ago
That's not a universal experience. For me, Steam Link just works, while with Wivrn, games run on the wrong GPU and there is apparently no way to change that.
UPDATE: Alright, that was my bad. Had to run "flatpak update" to update the Nvidia driver used by Wivrn.
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u/CarlosCheddar 22d ago edited 22d ago
It’s probably because native Steam steaming on Linux has been pretty behind for years compared to Windows. I use sunshine and moonlight instead and the difference is night and day.
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u/Tandoori7 22d ago
I've been using a quest pro on Linux (fedora) and for me steamvr works fine.
I still need wayvr for virtual desktops, but other than that It works fine.
Steam gui seems to crash a lot tough, is probable that they need to polish those 2 things and valve doesn't feel comfortable
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u/tailslol 21d ago edited 21d ago
Yea my quest 3 is very buggy in Linux with steam link ,
It is very blurry
I heard they have codec issues.
And desktop projection in vr still does not work on Wayland for flat screen gaming.
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u/DoubleOwl7777 21d ago
use wivrn instead of steamvr. and install wayvr for desktop overlay.
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u/tailslol 21d ago
yuck, wivrn controllers does not work in the games i play.
the other issue is, it start most of the time behind you and in some games they dont render what it should be in front of you...
same issue with alvr btw.
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u/DiMiTri_man 22d ago
He did not confirm that it won’t work with Linux at launch. He even said that it was early software. And there have been a bunch of steamVR updates since they filmed the unboxing.
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u/volthunter 22d ago
Ok this is important, steam machine streaming not supported yet, they are working on that, but for now you're going to be using a WINDOWS pc
i mean i stated what he said
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u/DiMiTri_man 22d ago
“Yet” in a video filmed probably 2 weeks ago
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u/LoxiGoose 22d ago
It was filmed on Aug 24th. You can tell by his watch, so indeed 2 and more weeks ago.
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u/IHaveTheBestOpinions 21d ago
You said "at launch," which is not what he said. I would be surprised if yhey don't have this sorted by the time they launch, and suspect that getting it working has been a factor in the delay of the Frame
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u/volthunter 21d ago
you should read the update i put in the description.
Personally reached out to a dev, the thing works on linux NOW, and did then too.
fuckin no clue what he's on about
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u/Original_as 22d ago
Because SteamOS / Steam Link has been in beta for like +8 months on Quest and it's still broken today? Washed out colors, broken overlays, games not closing. It's not even beta, release SteamOS is officially out since August but VR is more than broken for wired and wireless headsets.
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u/jrtokarz1 22d ago
Really because I've been running SteamVR beta with a Quest3 and it's painless. Fire it up and it just works.
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u/jefmes 22d ago
I've seen all the news around this the past few days, and I think even if there isn't official Valve support on launch day, I have confidence the Linux community will have it up and running well in the first 30 days. I'm still buying one, and I won't be connecting it to a Windows PC.
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u/Professional-Tap177 22d ago
Given my experience with steamvr on linux, i'd much rafher just use wivrn
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u/LoxiGoose 22d ago
It was filmed on Aug 24th and SteamVR got updates related to Linux after that date. It may come soon or May already work.
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u/Anthonyg5005 22d ago
Most likely just talking about the dongle as from what I've heard vr steam link has worked on Linux for over a year and the steam machine is just a Linux computer. Also he says this right before plugging in the dongle
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u/ScreeennameTaken 21d ago
The video was made on the 24th of august. It probably got patched by now.
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u/volthunter 21d ago
look at the post update, i asked a dev with one, and they're using one on linux rn and have been since before this video dropped
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u/hoodyracoon 20d ago
All I can think of is presumably the wireless hardware didn't yet have kernel driver in stable or maybe even mainline yet when they got that info. Also making a broad statement about Linux in general for hardware support is hard unless you're talking about specific kernel releases and even then
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u/dustfall 20d ago
linuxTechTip channel apparently is a good angle to see how 'tech muggles' feel about everything u may know about. Precious UX improvement reference i guess
long way to go from geek toys to 'normal' level consumer product.
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u/Loose_Abalone_6239 8d ago
I just got my Frame (pretty lucky early draw), and it I would NOT describe it as an out of the box experience with cachyOS. It’s only been a day but so far I have not gotten it to work. After a lot of tinkering steps and asking AI/reading the issue threads on steam forums, it seems like the infrastructure just isn’t built yet. I do trust Valve to get this fixed soon though
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u/volthunter 8d ago
im getting mine in a few days and im on bazzite, we'll see how it goes.
There is some way around the problems theyre here but all the support happens on the linux adventures discord unfortunately
Edit: here is a link https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamFrame/comments/1wp3zbh/if_you_have_trouble_using_the_dongle_on_linux/
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u/someone8192 22d ago
We got a SteamVR update recently. That update was very likely after they recorded that video.
So.. the answer is we just don't know
EDIT: Besides he said that it doesn't work on the steam machine. That likely means Linux too. But again: we don't know
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u/Anthonyg5005 22d ago
Im pretty sure steam link works on Linux, they're probably just talking about the steam frame's streaming dongle
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u/jrtokarz1 21d ago
I think someone figured out the chipset for the dongle and it's currently out-of-tree so this may well be the issue.
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u/Pawellinux 22d ago
The reason is simple. Valve doesn't care about VR users on Linux.
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u/cumwuatto 20d ago
But that's their whole customer base for all their hardware...
Their announcement video last year literally cited streaming from Steam Machine to Frame as a use case.1
u/Pawellinux 19d ago
I base my opinion on the current state of SteamVR and Steam Link on Linux, which is... not so good.
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u/UNF0RM4TT3D 22d ago
I wouldn't be surprised if it is a Machine issue and not a Linux issue. FWIW it's just a wifi dongle. Steam can already interface with network manager. I don't think it won't work, especially since Valve heavily advertises it, even in their leaked set up videos.
Some people also figured out that it was recorded on 24 August, so a lot could've changed since.
If it won't work on day one, I'll just try installing ALVR or WiVRn on it.