Title says all, is it possible to use a mainline kernel on a non-SteamOS install or do you have to use Valve’s kernel they ship with SteamOS 3.x? Is it possible to find all the the patches they use and compile a kernel yourself?
Most things should work with mainline kernel. According to archwiki the OLED models still need steams kernel patches to get wifi and bt working but older models work fine.
Mainline is also missing some OLED patches around changing the panel refresh rate and audio cutting out when switching from desktop back to game mode, last I recall. Those are the issues holding me back from installing Bazzite on my OLED.
I have Bazzite on my OLED, and the audio issue is maddening. That alone is making me consider switching back to Steam OS simply for the QoL experience.
That’s fair if you go into desktop mode a lot.
Note that I haven’t done it, yet, because I still really like Bazzite 😅. I think I’m just holding out hope that it will get corrected sooner than later.
OLED was tempting me but the idea of not having bazzite makes it easier to hold back.
It’s still usable, for sure. The Bazzite team back ported the WiFi and BT patches, so those function. But if you rely on reducing refresh rate to save battery like I do, that can be a big one.
The audio issue isn’t too big of a deal, you just have to do a full reboot to go back into game mode. Just takes a few extra seconds.
But if you already have an LCD, I see the wisdom in waiting for the team to iron out OLED support.
I really hope those patches make their way into the other distros. I’ve got a few Linux machines and the Steam Deck is the only one that wakes from sleep without locking up. It’s also the only one that allocates VRAM for the iGPU automatically when a game needs more.
