Valve released SteamOS 3.7.0 to the Steam Deck’s Preview Channel back on Pi day.
After a bit of obnoxious howtodo switching the Steam Deck over to the stable branch (which you can find more of in the video below), I was abot to install 3.7.0 on both my Steam Decks (OLED and LCD).
This is a pretty big update for SteamOS with one impossible feature that had me very excited. So let’s talk about it!
Rebasing
This new update now features a more recent snapshot of Arch Linux as a base. This is handy as it upgrades many dependencies, libraries, and built-in applications. It also means a newer Linux kernel: version 6.11.11 which brings with it it’s own set of fixes and features.
This, unfortunately, doesn’t include the NTSYNC primitives that WINE/Proton will be able to take advantage of. But there’s gotta be something for us to look forward to in a future update!
Another handy upgrade is a newer Mesa graphics driver stack. This adds performance improvements and wider support for more games.
Finally, KDE Plasma was updated from version 5.27.10 to version 6.2.5 and this is a monumental upgrade.
KDE 6 was billed as the MegaRelease because it includes so many fixes, improvements, upgrades, and features. I won’t divert too long from the Steam Deck updates, but if SteamOS had only upgraded to Plasma 6.2.5, it would be a huge change in-and-of itself. Suffice it to say that Plasma 6 uses the latest Qt and Wayland. It also supports HDR, per-screen ICC profile support, and color blindness features (and so much more).
This release of SteamOS also brings with it KDE Filelight. A disk usage analyzer tool which I’m quite keen on!
Bluetooth Features
The latest update includes loads of new features regarding bluetooth.
HFP/HSP profiles for microphone-enabled headsets is exiting, but this is currently only supported in Desktop mode.
They also enabled battery level indicators for supported bluetooth devices.
But the biggest change was the fact that Valve’s been able to add “Wake on Bluetooth” support for controllers to the Steam Deck LCD.
You read that right. The LCD model of the Deck now has one of the features that seemed locked behind the OLED model’s upgraded Bluetooth module.
This is exciting as it was probably a combination of firmware upgrades and system-level drivers that made this a reality. The fact that Valve has that tight level of integration between on both fronts (hardware and software) gives them the capability most OEMs could only dream of.
It also proves that the hardware industry’s model of planned obsolescence and minuscule, incremental, annual hardware updates is both so wrongheaded and obscenely wasteful.
The Beginnings of Support for Other Handhelds
Speaking of hardware upgrades… Valve also mentioned in their release notes that they’re preparing SteamOS for “non-Steam Deck handhelds.”
This is very exciting as it means that we’ll soon be getting the Lenovo Legion Go S Powered by SteamOS (but hopefully others, as well!)
What can we expect from these (future) devices? How deeply will the Legion Go S be supported? Might we see similar software upgrades that unlock new features?
Will the Quick Access Menu be able to control the RGB lighting of the Go S? Will there be Wake on Bluetooth support?
Realistically, SteamOS 3.7.0 gives me so much hope for the future. It’s just a question of how much work Valve is willing to do to support third party devices.
Will Valve allow vendors to ship modules that add bespoke hardware controls to the QAM? I feel like that will be an important thing for them to add. Especially if they want to prevent bloated crapware companion apps from being shipped on these devices to do the heavy lifting of managing custom hardware.
Only time will tell! Let me know your thoughts by responding to this post on Mastodon or with a Webmention!