Confused on Steam Play and Proton? Be sure to check out our guide.
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Valve sure do love their funny code-names don't they. Steam Deck - SteamOS 3.6.15 Beta: Zoomer Edition has been released with a bug-fix.

There's only one single fix with this release noting:

  • Fixed a crash when using the magnifier tool while game recording is active

To access it you need to opt into either the Preview or Beta branches from Settings > System > System Update Channel.

We're getting really close to the stable SteamOS 3.6 release now, which has shaped up very nicely, as I've been using it constantly since the initial preview release. Once released for everyone you'll get a lot of good enhancements overall including:

  • Updated to a more recent Arch Linux base and updated KDE Plasma desktop mode.
  • Improved session recovery speed after GPU crashes.
  • Enabled support for Bluetooth A2DP and BAP profiles.
  • Improved display uniformity, under some conditions (Mura Compensation).
  • support for some HDMI CEC features in the Deck Dock.
  • BIOS overclocking controls on Steam Deck LCD.
  • + much more.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
11 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
See more from me
17 comments
Page: «2/2
  Go to:

Quoting: CybolicAnother big change in 3.6.15 is the better support for screen shaders. Currently, this version is needed in order to test full game-mode XR display support (i.e. virtual monitor, smooth follow, SBS depth support, etc.).
There's more information about it on the LinuXR Discord server.

Wow, nice catch! I'm super excited for everyone to get to try the Game Mode support.
tmtvl Sep 24
Quoting: KlaasI've switched about a month ago and experienced a partial breakage. No chance booting into game mode, due to an infinite logon spinning wheel, but switching to desktop mode worked reliably. But Steam was completely broken in desktop mode as well. I ended up renaming the Steam folder in $HOME – that fixed the problem. Later I moved back my data from the broken Steam installation to the working one piece by piece.

So the issue I had was not related to hardware at all, but to the Steam client since it is so heavily integrated into SteamOS.

I don't know what to say, I've been on the Beta channel since I got my Steam Deck late last year and I haven't experienced any breakage. Maybe Valve does region-based rollouts?
I think they misspelled "Boomer Edition" there – I doubt too many Zoomers need the magnifier tool.
DogsRNice Sep 25
I thought the version was called "beta zoomer" which made me do a triple take
Boldos Sep 25
View PC info
  • Supporter
Quoting: SimonKJones
Quoting: BoldosUnfortunately, SteamDeck betas are crippling the device for me quite often (two times within the past two months so far), making the device unbootable

Recovery through factory reset was required to make it work again...
Same here. Are you on a 64GB LCD by any chance? One of the bug fixes to beta recently was a potential corruption of the filesystem on 64GB systems. Glad they spotted that before reaching a stable release! I've never had problems with beta until the last couple of months, which was due to that specific bug, I think.
Yes, I'm on a 64GB LCD version...
QuoteImproved display uniformity, under some conditions (Mura Compensation).

Curious how much of an effect this will have. I've been waiting on this for a while. Either I'm just unlucky with my display or have the unfortunate tendency of noticing it much more than the average person, but the mura in darker games on the OLED model drives me nuts.
Zelox Sep 26
Haha the change log and that name made me giggle.🤭
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
Login / Register


Or login with...
Sign in with Steam Sign in with Google
Social logins require cookies to stay logged in.