While Valve has yet to actually release a proper iso for SteamOS 3 used on the Steam Deck, others have been taking it into their own hands to provide, like with the new HoloISO.
This is possible, since 99% of what SteamOS uses is open source (not the Steam client though) and so people can easily hack away at it to do whatever they want. It's not exactly the same as SteamOS 3 but it's probably the closest I've seen yet, with the main packages coming direct from Valve with "zero possible edits" the developer says.
HoloISO works with quite a lot already including the first-boot experience for the Steam Deck, the main Deck UI, the KDE Plasma Desktop Mode (including Valve's Vapor theme), Global FSR, frame limiting and more. Some issues exist though, like it not really working on NVIDIA GPUs and Intel needs some package downgrades. For AMD though, it's looking golden.
Pictures credit - the HoloISO team.
Still wouldn't exactly recommend it for full desktop use, best to really wait until Valve release it properly or at least leave it until HoloISO has had time to mature more.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
mr-victory May 6, 2022
Quoting: mihalycsabaSo is there any performance improvements on an AMD machine compared to a regular arch install?I don't think so. If you really want to test, install Valve's kernel (neptune) to regular Arch.
Quoting: mr-victoryQuoting: mihalycsabaSo is there any performance improvements on an AMD machine compared to a regular arch install?I don't think so. If you really want to test, install Valve's kernel (neptune) to regular Arch.
Would that not be tuned for the SOC in the deck though ?
slaapliedje May 10, 2022
Quoting: pete910I mean is there really such a need for the kernel to be tuned for particular hardware? Generally speaking when people suggest such a thing, it isn't like there is a bunch of code changes to drivers, and such. My guess is the SoC is already in the mainline kernel, and AMD hasn't made much effort in adding drivers for it under Windows, because they consider it like an embedded system.Quoting: mr-victoryQuoting: mihalycsabaSo is there any performance improvements on an AMD machine compared to a regular arch install?I don't think so. If you really want to test, install Valve's kernel (neptune) to regular Arch.
Would that not be tuned for the SOC in the deck though ?
'Tuning' a kernel for specific hardware usually just entails not compiling a bunch of stuff in that isn't needed beyond support of the hardware on the system, which makes a lot of sense, and would also make sense why the generic SteamOS 3.0 hasn't been released yet (as you'd have to put all the hardware support back in).
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me