Steam Deck Beta gets scaling for external displays, new "Preview" testing branch

Lots of goodies have arrived in a fresh Steam Deck Client Beta, along with a small update to SteamOS 3.3 Beta too.

Valve continued to improve how the Deck handles external displays, as they work towards getting the delayed official Dock ready to release. I think it's pretty clear the software just wasn't ready, and there's not a whole lot of point in them releasing it officially when there's still so many issues when docking but this is a good step forwards. You also no longer pick a different update channel for the Client and the OS, with the options being unified now into one.

Here's what's new in the Steam Deck Client Beta released July 7th:

• Added an option to scale the Steam Deck user interface for external displays
• Added a toggle for automatic scaling of the Steam Deck user interface for external displays
• Added a scheduled night mode feature, allowing players to choose if and when they’d like night mode to automatically turn on
• Added a Japanese (Kana) keyboard option
• Added a new Steam Deck software update channel selector – there are now three option
  • Stable: Recommended experience for most users. This option will install the latest stable Steam Client and SteamOS.
  • Beta  Testing for new Steam features. Updates frequently. This option will install Steam Client Beta and the latest stable SteamOS.
  • Preview: Testing for new Steam and system-level features. Updates frequently. You may encounter issues. This option will install Steam Client Beta and the SteamOS Beta.
  • You will only see patch notes for the update channel you've selected. As this feature is in Beta, if you opt into the Stable channel, you will not see this selector anymore.
• Improved Korean keyboard user experience
• Improved Adaptive Brightness slider user experience
• Fixed flatpak Chrome closing improperly when quit through Steam
• Fixed on-screen keyboard showing up under the Steam or Quick Access menu

Additionally, Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais mentioned on Twitter that the SteamOS 3.3 Beta had a small update that reverted the new built-in controller driver, plus there's a fix for a long-standing crash for Red Dead Redemption 2 when using Vulkan. The Beta forum post mentions the controller driver is waiting on an issue with firmware updates being resolved.

Here's a quick run over what's new:

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