Bazzite is a SteamOS alternative that just keeps getting better. So while Valve have yet to release the Steam Deck version of SteamOS for others, Bazzite could be one of your best choices for Linux on handhelds.
The latest release has been announced under a new versioning scheme. They're no longer doing versions like Bazzite "3.8" (which this would technically be) instead matching the upstream Fedora versioning so they say this is "Stable (F40.20241013)" and the last before they swap over to the newer Fedora 41 for the base of the system.
Anyway, what's new?
Say hello to Bazzite on OneXPlayer devices like the X1 (AMD), X1 Mini, OneXFly variants and Mini Pro. They say it includes "full RGB support, back buttons, turbo button and a lot more custom features for them such as choosing what the turbo button and keyboard button do". Although there's still "a long way to go" with features missing like "fan curves, battery capacity limits, and vibration intensity + some other minor issues".
The fun part? OneXPlayer will be helping out as they said "we are proud to state that OneXPlayer will be helping us on that journey".
Pictured - OneXPlayer X1 with the new Steam Controller emulation
They've also hooked up support for the new HORI Steam Controller too. Still haven't seen word on a release for it outside of Japan though, annoyingly!
Owners of the ROG Ally and Ally X will also be happy with this update as they've improved their "Modern Standby patch series" to eventually make it possible to allow background game downloads. As for what's updated for right now: it includes fixes for controller issues and sleeping, and hopefully it also fixed a bug where the Ally gets stuck at 6W after sleeping. Other improvements for the Ally series include "the frame limit slider to include all framerates from 12hz to 120hz AND to work while VRR is on or off" which is the code done in Gamescope I previously reported on - so it was actually for Bazzite. On top of that they said there's a fix for "the VRR toggle to work alongside the framerate limiter".
Sounds like Bazzite development is going really well.
Be sure to see more on the official website to try it.
And I’ve been working on preparing my ally kernel driver for upstreaming. Been working on this in my free time over the last year https://github.com/flukejones/linux/commits/wip/ally/
Quoting: Luke_NukemBoth the Ally 1 and Ally X have a new MCU firmware available which completely fixes the sleep issues. This is something I worked with ASUS on over the last few months to identify the root cause of. The release notes don’t mention it since Linux is “not supported”. Mario Limonciello (AMD) has also been working on an fwupd plugin for updating the MCU in Linux https://github.com/fwupd/fwupd/pull/7782#Thank you for improving Linux on the Ally!
And I’ve been working on preparing my ally kernel driver for upstreaming. Been working on this in my free time over the last year https://github.com/flukejones/linux/commits/wip/ally/
Do you know if the XG Mobile egpus are working on Linux on the Ally (2023)?
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