this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2025
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Valve today (12 November 2025) announced their new Steam Machine (x86 CPU, 6x more powerful than Steam Deck) and Steam Frame (self-contained and PCVR streaming VR headset with ARM CPU & "FEX" translation of x86 to ARM) to be released in early 2026. No prices yet.

I'm trying to speculate what effects this will have on the wider Linux ecosystem. Both devices will be running Steam OS and be open so you can run any OS.

First, I've read many people state that the Steam Deck considerably increased the number of devices running Linux, so it seems to me that these two new devices will accelerate that trend.

Second, it seems to me that the Steam Frame will significantly increase VR use and development for Linux.

Third, I wonder what the implications of Frame's x86 to arm translation layer (based on FEX, an open source project that I only learned about today) as well as Android compatibility (they state it can sideload Android APKs) will be. Could this somehow help either Linux on Apple silicon or Linux phone efforts? I'm very unfamiliar with what's going on with either of these efforts, so I may be way out on a limb here.

What do you think about all this?

Edit: this article may prompt some additional thoughts with its discussion of the openness of the Frame - https://www.uploadvr.com/valve-steam-frame-catalog-whole-compatible/

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[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago (25 children)

I'll drop what I said about this in another thread:

I think you probably need to understand the underpinnings of what Valve accomplished over the past few years to understand why the Frame is useful.

Essentially, it's a Deck strapped to your face. Same OS, same everything, just different hardware platform.

Valve spent the time to revamp SteamOS in order to make it more portable to various devices, which are now launching. Couple that with their efforts on Proton, and you have an entire ecosystem with very little in the way of preventing people from adopting these devices with their ease of use.

Steam Deck was just sort of the appetizer and test launch to gauge interest and build a fully functional hardware development and support vertical in the company, and it was wildly successful. I guarantee (if they can get the price right) that the Frame will sell WAY more units than the awful Vision Pro. I honestly think people might adopt this over buying another version of the Deck if it's comfortable.

Some things I expect to happen with the Frame launch:

  • A more expanded integration of Desktop features. If Valve doesn't do it, the community will.
  • Virtual screen management
  • Theater mode for viewing media
  • Virtualized VR input (like steam-input but VR)
  • Pairing capabilities for multiplayer
  • Half-Life 3 release (not joking)
[–] MangoCats@feddit.it 2 points 1 day ago (3 children)

But, what's the user experience playing the MYST humble bundle on it?

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Well it's not going to suddenly be all VR'd up or anything 🤣

Part of the reason I would imaging they implementing a new kind of steam-input layer for VR is for things like a theater mode and desktop. I could see them making some sort of a simple hook for view controls in games for your exact scenario, but that would be heavily dependent on the game having something like free look already be possible, and then the developers just write a quick patch of a couple lines to hook the steam-vr-input hook into their code, and BAM.

[–] MangoCats@feddit.it 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm just wondering about basic functionality - can it play through without a crash or is it still Windows only for a smooth UX?

99% of all Windows games running Proton, and most perform better than on Windows, depending othe game.

For the specific games you mentioned, they all have Platinum rating in Proton, meaning flawless. You can see here in ProtonDB.

I'm not sure what your experience was in the past, but I write tons of Proton patches for games, and the only ones I've seen that don't play well are the pre-DirectX9 games, which can't plan on Windows XP or later anyway. Proton will soon be able to play these games without issue thanks to some Vulkan patches coming up.

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