SteamOS, Valve's Linux-based operating system used on the SteamDeck handheld gaming PCs, has always been touted as coming to other devices in an official capacity. While the primary focus has been on the SteamDeck and its variants to improve SteamOS's capabilities, Valve has now confirmed that adding support for a rival system is ongoing.
Keen-eyed fans noticed a mention of the ROG Ally in a recent beta update to SteamOS. Alongside a large number of bug fixes, update 3.6.9 brought "support for extra ROG Ally keys," in the input section. The sudden appearance of a rival device that runs Windows 11 out of the box was certainly a weird one.
In an interview with The Verge, designer Lawrence Yang from Valve confirmed this wasn't a random addition and that official support is incoming for third-party handhelds. "The note about ROG Ally keys is related to third-party device support for SteamOS. The team is continuing to work on adding support for additional handhelds on SteamOS," says Yang.
Unfortunately, a firm release date is not attached to the venture. While Valve is "making steady progress," the project "isn’t ready to run out of the box yet." Once support does arrive though, anyone looking for a Steam Deck-like experience on the ROG Ally, its new X variant, Lenovo Legion Go, or another handheld will be able to jump in, hopefully, without worrying about OS compatibility or controller issues.
At the same time, when asked about enabling the long-promised dual booting capability on the Steam Deck for those who want to switch between SteamOS and Windows easily, it was revealed that the feature is even further away:
"As for Windows, we’re preparing to make the remaining Windows drivers for Steam Deck OLED available (you might have seen that we are prepping firmware for the Bluetooth driver). There’s no update on the timing for dual boot support—it’s still a priority, but we haven’t been able to get to it just yet."
While Valve improves its handheld OS, Microsoft is doing the same for machines running Windows. A brand-new preview update for the Xbox Game Bar recently added a "Compact Mode" to make the overlay easier to use and more functional on small-display devices like handheld gaming PCs.
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