A new beta update is now available for the Steam Deck client. Notable features with this update are the ability to schedule when night mode should turn on and off (no need to install the plugin anymore!), and the option to scale the Steam Deck UI when the Deck is connected to an external display. There’s also a toggle to automatically scale the UI to the appropriate size when connected to said display.

Another week, another update for the fabulous Proton Experimental. Newly playable titles with this update include: Aquarist - My First Job Trove Disgaea 5 Plants Vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 Bug fixes include: Monkey Island 2 and UNO should now be playable after an experimental regression Hardspace: Shipbreaker should now connect to online services See the patch notes on GitHub. Changes in bold are the latest to be added. Cover image credit: cgmagonline.

UPDATE: Valve will reportedly be using the Flatpak version of Firefox with the next update to SteamOS 3.3, according to an update from GamingOnLinux. Well, at least the stock version of Firefox supplied with SteamOS. It’s come to my attention, thanks to Quinn from our Matrix channel, that SteamOS is using a highly outdated version of Firefox. The latest version is 102.0.1, which came out today. However, the latest build on SteamOS, even on the beta 3.

About a week ago during the Nintendo Direct Mini, Nintendo announced Portal: Companion Collection for the Nintendo Switch, and it came to the eShop the same day. Curious George (that is, me) wanted to do a comparison between running the games on the Steam Deck and on Nintendo’s current-gen console, and see how each platform fares. I couldn’t help but find it ironic that Valve would partner with Nintendo right around the time the Steam Deck embargoes were lifted earlier this year, and I had concocted some theories as to why they were doing this.

Last week I had been working on a script for Gardiner Bryant on how to get DOSBox games running on Steam Deck. I had gotten a start on it…but I struggled with getting the sound to work, as well as getting the games to run in fullscreen. Gardiner figured it out better than me, and just yesterday he posted a video on his YouTube channel (he also has the video on Odysee, if you prefer that video platform instead).

Exactly a year ago I had conducted an overview of how Xbox Game Pass fares on Linux, over on Boiling Steam. One of the critical remarks I had about it was the streaming quality being terrible. Even if you had Gigabit Ethernet, you were forced to use Microsoft Edge to get that so-called “Clarity Boost,” and while it helped a little, the overall image quality was a disappointment. Well, perhaps to no one’s surprise, it appears Microsoft deliberately throttles the video quality on Linux.

The Plugin Loader for the Steam Deck is now known as Decky Loader, and along with the new name change come a few updates. Primarily we’re looking at a React-based plugin store now, which, per the pull request, “replaces the web-based plugin store with a native-feeling one.” It’s also now possible to uninstall Decky Loader. Full patch notes are as follows: Uninstall script addition by @ggppjj in #48 Use unique ids in call_server_method by @patkub in #55 react: Add Router hook & fix typescript issues by @AAGaming00 in #68 Add contributor install script by @TrainDoctor in #69 Implement React-based plugin store by @AAGaming00 in #81 remove body property in args by @hulkrelax in #91 Uninstall functionality by @botatooo in #97 Use deckyState in uninstall menu (fixes #98) by @botatooo in #100 Fixed plugin installation ssl verification issue by @WerWolv in #101 Keep in mind this is a pre-release.

Steam Deck production is ramping up for Q3, and based off of some recent stats it looks like it indeed is new Deck client update adds several bug fixes a new SteamOS 3.3 update released simultaneously with a new Deck client update. Both are beta releases heads up if you’re in Q3 and ordered the 256 GB or 512 GB model: you might end up getting a x2 NVMe rather than 4x 73% of the top 100 games on Steam are playable or verified Linux market share is currently 1.

Wine 7.12 released earlier today. Here’s the changelog: Theming support for Qt5 applications. Bundled vkd3d upgraded to version 1.4. Improved effect support in Direct2D. QWORD support in registry tools. Various bug fixes. A total of 13 bugs were fixed, including: Star Citizen: No mic input audio (used for voip) StarCitizen launcher crashes on start with a winmm error Shogun Total War 2 crashes on start up. (Main Application.) Approach (Smart Suite) crashes when trying to print to cups-pdf Argentum 20 RPG Launcher has graphical glitches Incorrect display of selected buttons in Light theme.

Man, it’s been hard to keep up with all the updates Valve has aggressively been pushing out for the Steam Deck. So, I hope nobody minds if I just do a quick copy & paste of the patch notes for today’s update, as both the underlying SteamOS has been updated to 3.3 (as a beta), as well as the Steam Deck client itself (also in beta). The SteamOS update adds keyboard support for additional languages, brings the adaptive brightness toggle back, updates both the graphics and wireless network drivers, adds a built-in controller driver when Steam isn’t running in Desktop Mode, and plenty of bug fixes.