SteamOS works on Desktop!

Framework Desktop
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21

Except if Valve don’t subsidize lower console prices with game sales revenue, no one will buy it because the price will be unattractive compared to the competition. Why do you think the PlayStation 5 has the price it has? They make the profit margin to pay for the price on the games. Same for Nintendo. And people already complain about the price of both.

Remember–Steam and Valve is competing with Playstation and Nintendo with this product.

Odds are, given the economic situation…a big old price “adjustment” on Steam is coming.

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I could confirm that SteamOS works fine on Framework Desktop.

Important notices:

  1. The SteamOS installer will wipe the disk nvme0n1. There is no easy way to specify a disk manually. If you are installing SteamOS on the second NVMe disk, physically remove the first NVMe disk (which typically has your main OS), or you risk accidentally wiping it. After SteamOS is installed, it’s safe to insert the first disk back.

  2. After installation and the first reboot, the initial setup flow runs (set time zone, configure internet connection, etc.). In my case, the wired connection using the built-in Ethernet can’t reach the internet. But you can connect to Wi-Fi or use any common USB dongle with an Ethernet adapter. After SteamOS connects to the internet, it will download updates, and the built-in Ethernet will work properly.

  3. Framework Desktop, by default, runs in “balanced” power mode. To automatically switch it to “performance“ (which makes more sense for plugged-in game console-type usage), I have added a simple systemd service that runs after the system starts to set power mode to “performance“ and GPU performance to “high“ (so it will keep 2900MHz freq all the time).

    • Launch SteamOS, “Power” → “Switch to Desktop Mode”.
    • Open “Konsole“.
    • You may need to set a password for the deck user once (type passwd and input some password).
    • Then copy and paste into Konsole:
    sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/performance-mode.service << ‘EOF’
[Unit]
Description=Set performance mode on boot
After=local-fs.target systemd-modules-load.service
Wants=systemd-modules-load.service

[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=yes
ExecStartPre=/bin/sleep 10

ExecStart=/bin/bash -c ‘echo performance > /sys/firmware/acpi/platform_profile’
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c ‘echo performance | tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor > /dev/null’
ExecStart=/bin/bash -c ‘echo high > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_dpm_force_performance_level’

ExecStop=/bin/bash -c ‘echo balanced > /sys/firmware/acpi/platform_profile’
ExecStop=/bin/bash -c ‘echo powersave | tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor > /dev/null’
ExecStop=/bin/bash -c ‘echo auto > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_dpm_force_performance_level’

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl restart performance-mode.service
systemctl status performance-mode.service

Direct link to SteamOS image: https://steamdeck-images.steamos.cloud/steamdeck/20251027.1000/steamdeck-repair-main-20251027.1000-3.8.0.img.zip

1 Like
23

Hi, thanks a lot for your tips, did you do anything special to begin the installation process?

I used the same steamdeck-repair-main-20251027.1000-3.8.0.img you posted but the installation doesn’t start, I have a bunch of errors, white text on black background, I will try to write them down and post them here in the next few days. Maybe I’m missing some steps?

Framework Desktop 395+ with 64GB RAM and BIOS 3.04 (latest one) and Secure Boot disabled, all the rest is stock BIOS settings.

No problems installing other Linux distros.

24

Double-check you have enough RAM dedicated to the GPU. I would recommend at least 16GB for the 64GB model.

By default, it can be set to a 512MB GPU (which is very low), and the Steam OS UI may fail if you connect Framework Desktop to a 4K/5k monitor.

1 Like
25

If you have stock BIOS settings (stock settings is 512MB) it’s probably the problem. Try to set GPU RAM “Manual“ → “16GB”.

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26

I’ve been using SteamOS since I got my FD in December.

My GPU RAM is set to the default 512MB.

The only bios setting I changed was to disable secure boot. To my knowledge, SteamOS 3.9 and earlier don’t natively support secure boot.

Try disabling secure boot in bios before booting your install USB and see if that helps.

There’s a video that covers secure boot and SteamOS, but I haven’t tried it yet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8rHMx1n9R8

2 Likes
27

OK, thank you guys for the answers, here’s how I solved the problem, in case it can help someone else in the future: the problem was that I was using a Ventoy USB flash drive to install the OS instead of a “native” flash drive. I made the new dedicated one with Balena Etcher and it’s all good. It’s the first time a Ventoy installation fails on me. I’m installing succesfully right now, and I have to say that by my first impressions this OS runs even faster than Bazzite. So happy right now, thanks!!

3 Likes