Holy crap. And here I thought Valve was never going to update the Arch base. Turns out I was wrong. You might recall back in the summer I wrote about the outdated packages on SteamOS and the security risk that brought. Well, I guess you can finally use Desktop Mode with more peace of mind, now that most everything has been updated. Per Steam’s post, this update “pulls in the latest performance, security and stability fixes for the underlying packages that are the foundation for SteamOS.

There are quite a few ways in which you can free up storage on your Deck. Besides cleaning up shaders, you can also convert the default ext4 file system the Deck uses into btrfs. A few benefits that come from converting to btrfs include: disk space saved (a little over 50 GB in my case) with the compression method that it uses cross-compatibility with Windows, should you use that OS (ex.

SteamOS and the Steam Deck client have both been updated on the Stable branch. SteamOS 3.3.2 adds external display output resolution and refresh rate selection options in the Display Settings, as well as tons of bug fixes, ranging from the crash in Red Dead Redemption 2, in-game camera control issues when using a mouse, and SD card formatting failing erratically. As for the Steam Deck client, well, there’s just way too much to list here.

A new Steam Deck client update has been pushed to the stable branch, with the simultaneous release of a new SteamOS beta update. To start, let’s go over the changes for the client. The page that make up the patch notes is quite big. Slider controls are more precise when it comes to large ranges. Fixes have been added for scrolling on the home recommended screen and the What’s New section not properly being populated.

A little over a week ago Valve pushed an update to the Preview branch that reverted a VRAM workaround for Red Dead Redemption 2 and fixed some issues regarding random stutter and performance drops if the performance HUD was enabled. Well, that update is now available in the Stable branch, starting today. There’s also improved performance for Forza Horizon 5 from a beta update that shipped a couple of days later.

Seems like the voices of outdated packages on SteamOS have finally been reaching Valve’s ears. Firefox was replaced with the Flatpak version a few weeks ago, and now, my acquaintence Luke Short – the creator of WinesapOS – noticed that Valve has been at work rebasing their Neptune kernel from the current 5.13 to 5.19. On Twitter he mentions: #Valve #SteamOS #SteamDeck is currently working on rebasing their #Linux kernel from 5.

UPDATE: the SteamOS beta update is now official. As confirmed, Firefox is now Flatpak-based. There’s also a new theme for the Plasma desktop, network connections are shared between Desktop and Game Mode, a small update for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean keyboards, the controller firmware has been updated, and the Xbox login window should now render characters that were previously hidden. Looks like a new update has shipped to SteamOS on the “Main” OS update channel, but don’t get your hopes up – almost everything that I mentioned in my SteamOS piece, those packages have not been upgraded.

If you thought I was critical enough of Valve in my Steam Deck review, well, you might want to strap on your seat belt, because I’m not done yet. (That being said, I did make a few clarifications earlier this week about some wrong assumptions that I had made, so please give that a read if you haven’t already.) The Steam Deck UI is tightly integrated into SteamOS, giving the Deck a console-like experience with gamepad navigation across different menus, not only giving PC gaming a breath of fresh air, but also – thanks to Valve’s efforts – getting Linux into the hands of more and more people.

Man, it’s been hard to keep up with all the updates Valve has aggressively been pushing out for the Steam Deck. So, I hope nobody minds if I just do a quick copy & paste of the patch notes for today’s update, as both the underlying SteamOS has been updated to 3.3 (as a beta), as well as the Steam Deck client itself (also in beta). The SteamOS update adds keyboard support for additional languages, brings the adaptive brightness toggle back, updates both the graphics and wireless network drivers, adds a built-in controller driver when Steam isn’t running in Desktop Mode, and plenty of bug fixes.

YouTuber The Phawx recently uploaded a video that lowers the Steam Deck’s refresh rate to 40 Hz for smoother gameplay. However, it was done through Windows. Well, now it’s possible to lower the refresh rate on the Steam Deck than the default 60 Hz with Valve’s SteamOS. Additionally, users have better control over the device’s fan “to improve the experience in low usage scenarios.” Here’s the patch notes for SteamOS 3.