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Valve released a pretty important set of bug fixes for the Steam Deck with the new SteamOS 3.6.9 Beta, plus an interesting mention of the ASUS ROG Ally that could point to things to come.

Their release notes mention how they "Added support for extra ROG Ally keys", which could potentially (finally!) point towards a SteamOS release for more devices. However, to temper some expectations here, it's probably more likely it's just Steam Input changes rolled into the SteamOS Beta update before they arrive in the main Steam Client Beta for all platforms (which hasn't seen an update yet). Still, nice to have hope right? Worth also pointing out that Better ASUS ROG Ally X support on Linux is coming with a big kernel patch.

Here's all that's from the changelog for the update named "Megafixer" (I wonder why they picked that code-name from huh?):

General

  • Improved recovery from situations where the Steam installation could get corrupted.
  • Fixed the frame limiter not properly applying in certain situations.
  • Fixed certain specific refresh rates failing to apply on the OLED Limited Edition model.
  • Fixed an issue where block corruption could appear on screen on certain state transitions.
  • Slightly improved cold boot time.
  • Fixed an issue where updating the built-in controller firmware could result in a blank screen during boot.
  • Fixed rare situations where switching to Desktop Mode or back could result in a blank screen, or wrong colors.
  • Fixed a regression with Simplified Chinese IME.
  • Fixed a rare issue where sound output could be corrupted on certain boots.
  • Fixed Zenity dialog boxes in Desktop Mode.
  • openssh: Fix remote code execution bug (CVE-2024-6387).

External Display

  • Fixed several issues where an external display could remain blank after resuming.
  • Fixed an issue where an external display could remain blank if its mode required chroma subsampling.

Input

  • Fixed an issue where DualShock 4 and DualSense controllers would sometimes not function properly on their first connection.
  • Added support for the ASUS ROG Raikiri Pro controller.
  • Added support for the Machenike G5 Pro controller.
  • Fixed calibration on some third-party DualShock 4 controllers.
  • Added support for the Steam Deck motion sensors to the built-in non-Steam kernel driver.
  • Added support for extra ROG Ally keys.

OLED firmware 112

  • Added support for the Windows Bluetooth driver.

This update is for the Beta and Preview update channels. You can opt into this in Settings > System > System Update Channel.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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7 comments

Appart from the mention of the ROG, i find more interesting the mention of the non-Steam kernel driver for the motion sensors. Maybe they are prepering to support an upstream kernel.
The Ally 1: the update just supports the key codes two buttons emit (which I introduced in a patch a while ago). The Ally is a funky device and two buttons near the screen are on a different HID endpoint to the gamepad itself and do can't be used unless accounted for - they emit keyboard key codes. For the Ally X the gamepad is setup different and I was able to merge these two endpoints to one input device.
Corben Aug 8
Is Chimera OS or Bazzite pulling stuff from Steam OS? Maybe that's the idea behind it. What purpose do these fixes have otherwise in Steam OS?
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Quoting: CorbenIs Chimera OS or Bazzite pulling stuff from Steam OS? Maybe that's the idea behind it. What purpose do these fixes have otherwise in Steam OS?
In an overly simplified way, Bazzite is Fedora 40 Silverblue/Kinoite with a bunch of tweaks pre-applied to make it more Steam Deck friendly.

Aside from the 'game mode' most of it is basically just Fedora (thus, you can have more recent kernels and a better immutability than SteamOS).
Well, if you think about it, this was not necessary for the Steam Deck at all. Firstly, nobody connects their Ally to Deck and use it as a controller. I don't even think it's easy to do. Secondly, this is still useless without Steam Input officially supporting Ally since the extra keys are not recognised by the input configurator and you can only map them on standard Xbox layout instead of actually making them extra.
Luke_Nukem Aug 11
Quoting: satorideponWell, if you think about it, this was not necessary for the Steam Deck at all.

It's *not* for the Steam Deck...

Quoting: satorideponSecondly, this is still useless without Steam Input officially supporting Ally since the extra keys are not recognised by the input configurator and you can only map them on standard Xbox layout instead of actually making them extra.

Exactly. Which is why they are being added.

And for the Ally X it won't be required since I wrote a driver to fix all this. I'm also trying to do the same for the Ally 1 but it's proving more troublesome than I want.
Corben Aug 14
Quotefrom Lawrence Yang on The Verge

The note about ROG Ally keys is related to third-party device support for SteamOS. The team is continuing to work on adding support for additional handhelds on SteamOS

Okay! This is indeed official support for SteamOS from Valve for other devices than the Steam Deck. Awesome!
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