Unofficial SteamOS for Snapdragon handhelds
Valve's SteamOS for ARM, the one made for the Steam Frame, set up for handhelds and tablets: Game Mode, the KDE desktop, PC games through FEX and Proton, and Android apps.
Install it · Supported devices · Downloads · Known issues
Warning
This is a community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Valve. Installing it means flashing the ROCKNIX ABL bootloader, and getting that wrong can leave your device unable to boot or lose your data. Back up first and follow the install guide step by step.
Valve's ARM build of SteamOS is made for a VR headset, so out of the box a lot of it gets in the way on a handheld: services that keep crashing, the UI stuck on the slow cores, the GPU not clocking up, standby that drains the battery. I turned off what a handheld doesn't need and fixed the rest, the long version is in HOW-IT-WORKS.md.
What you get:
- Game Mode and Desktop Mode, with the controller showing up as a Steam Deck pad
- x86 PC games through FEX and ARM64 Proton, plus Epic, GOG and Amazon through Heroic
- Android apps with the Play Store, and Restart into Android from Handheld Control
- Updates from Settings > System, no reflashing
- Install to internal storage next to Android, or keep it on a microSD card
- Game Mode on an external monitor or dock, sound included
- Lossless Scaling frame gen (lsfg-vk 2.0 and Classic 1.x), Decky and the performance overlay
- Steam Remote Play with hardware decoding, plus optional PyroWave
- Loadout, which installs emulators and apps picked for your SoC
- Sleep that lasts, quiet fan curves, and a clean power off before the battery runs flat
- A dashboard with themes on the bottom screen of the AYN Thor and AYANEO Pocket DS
- Flash the ROCKNIX ABL bootloader for your SoC, the ABL guide walks you through it. Back up your stock ABL first.
- Download the image for your SoC from Releases, open the
.001part with 7-Zip and flash the.imginside to a microSD card (32 GB+) with balenaEtcher or Rufus. - Boot the card from the ABL menu and pick your device. First boot takes a couple of minutes.
Already on it? Go to Settings > System > Check for updates.
| SoC | Devices | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Snapdragon 8 Elite | AYN Odin 3, KONKR Pocket FIT Elite | Stable |
| Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | KONKR Pocket FIT, AYANEO Pocket S2 / S2 Pro | Stable |
| Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | AYN Odin 2 / Mini / Portal / Thor, AYANEO Pocket ACE / DMG / DS / EVO / S 1K / S 2K, Retroid Pocket 6 / Nova | Stable |
| Snapdragon 865 | Retroid Pocket 5 / Flip 2 / Mini / Mini V2, AYN Thor Lite, MANGMI Air Y Pro / Pocket Max, AYANEO Pocket MICRO 2 | Beta |
There's one image per SoC, you pick your device in the ABL menu and it sets itself up. I only own a Pocket FIT, the rest is tested by the community, so if you have one of the others please let me know how it runs.
| Device | SoC | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Lenovo Legion Y700 Gen 3 (TB321FU) | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | Beta |
| Lenovo Legion Y700 Gen 4 (TB322FC) | Snapdragon 8 Elite | Beta |
| Lenovo Legion Y700 Gen 5 (TB323FU) | Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 | Testing |
| REDMAGIC 6 (NX669J) | Snapdragon 888 | Build it yourself (guide) |
The Gen 3 and Gen 4 install to internal storage next to Android, and the Gen 4 can also run from a microSD card. The Gen 5 runs from a microSD card and is switched on from Android, it's in early testing with a few testers right now. Tablet builds go out in the Discord first, so if you have one and want to help, come say hi on Discord and see the Lenovo page.
Everything lives on the website.
| I want to… | Guide |
|---|---|
| Install it | Flash to a microSD card |
| Check my device | Supported devices |
| Move it to internal storage | Internal storage |
| Update | Updates |
| Get help | FAQ · Troubleshooting |
| Report a bug | GitHub issues |
The images are built from this repo on an ARM64 Linux machine, see docs/building.md. Issues and pull requests are welcome, and for help with installing come say hi on Discord.
Any amount raised will be used to buy devices to support and boost development, a star helps too!
Have a device you'd like to see supported? Sending one over for long term development is the fastest way to get it there, message me on Discord.
The kernels and device support build on ROCKNIX, with fixes shared back and forth with other ARM handheld projects. Thanks to everyone who contributed code, and to the testers in the Discord who send logs for devices I don't own. The full list of projects and people is in CREDITS.md.
My scripts and overlays are GPL-2.0, everything in external-and-mods/ keeps
its own license. See LICENSE.
Steam and SteamOS are trademarks of Valve Corporation, used here only to say what this is based on. Please don't ask Valve for help with it.