For Linux Enthusiasts Especially, The Steam Deck Is An Incredible & Fun Device

For those wanting to load an alternative operating system on the device, the BIOS/firmware and bootloader are completely open... From the Konsole using "sudo systemctl reboot --firmware-setup" is the easiest way to gain access.

When trying an Ubuntu 22.04 LTS daily live USB on the Steam Deck, it left a lot to be desired - but not unexpected. The touchscreen surprisingly worked and the screen rotation was correct, but the other Steam controls were not yet working. WiFi was also working and most importantly the Radeon RDNA2 graphics were even working with Mesa 21.2 and newer. Helping to improve the situation further will be the x86 platform driver for the Steam Deck but that is not arriving until the Linux 5.18 kernel. But long story short, modern Linux distributions can boot and run on the Steam Deck but moving forward into H2'2022 distributions should be a better out-of-the-box experience when it comes to various support additons as well as ongoing optimizations with the likes of the AMD P-State driver with Linux 5.17 and other enhancements.