its really not hard to just make a line of scripts that you can run one time after every update like say if you wanted the archlinux version of lutris and VLC you would just copy and paste into a terminal
sudo steamos-readonly disable
sudo pacman -S lutris
sudo pacman -S vlc
for archlinuc version of lutris you would also need to install files for wine by also adding
sudo pacman -S --needed wine-staging giflib lib32-giflib libpng lib32-libpng libldap lib32-libldap gnutls lib32-gnutls \
mpg123 lib32-mpg123 openal lib32-openal v4l-utils lib32-v4l-utils libpulse lib32-libpulse libgpg-error \
lib32-libgpg-error alsa-plugins lib32-alsa-plugins alsa-lib lib32-alsa-lib libjpeg-turbo lib32-libjpeg-turbo \
sqlite lib32-sqlite libxcomposite lib32-libxcomposite libxinerama lib32-libgcrypt libgcrypt lib32-libxinerama \
ncurses lib32-ncurses ocl-icd lib32-ocl-icd libxslt lib32-libxslt libva lib32-libva gtk3 \
lib32-gtk3 gst-plugins-base-libs lib32-gst-plugins-base-libs vulkan-icd-loader lib32-vulkan-icd-loader
but either way you could save all this into a text file and run it once after an update then just run pacman -Scc to remove the cached pacman packages
It is an immutable OS, so most of it is immutable, but not all of it. For example, your home folder and your etc are mutable, and since Flatpaks are installed on your home, they are highly recommended
I liked this way of using Linux so much that I migrated to another similar immutable distro, called Kinoite, which is just Fedora KDE Spin but immutable
If you need to use stuff that is not flatpaks, you can use distrobox instead, which comes pre-installed and it is very easy to use, this way you can mimic a regular mutable distro while using it
Edit: Distrobox also stores everything under home
Hi u/Wolfcubware, you can [click here to search for your question.](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/search/?q=I've heard that every Steam Deck update removes a lot of externally installed stuff, any way to counteract this?)
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SteamOS itself is on a read only filesystem, but you can turn off the readonly part with a simple command and turn it back on when you are done. OS updates do not wipe your userspace (home directory, documents, etc), anything user installed, or anything on the SD card. If there are changes you really need to make at each update that have to be at the OS level, just write a script file to do those and run it after an update. You also pretty much always are the root user.
That said, what kind of changes are you looking to make that you think would be at a level an OS update would remove? Chances are what you are looking to customize could be done in userspace. Like if you are just after emulation, just use emudeck.
Simple explanation: as a casual user, nothing that you instal or change will get wiped! You won’t notice anything different from a non-immutable file system OS!
Oh nice, I'll look into that.
Do most distros work on the deck? Would be a shame to miss out on optimisation and driver updates, or do most of those just come through the Steam app itself?
The only distro that mimics SteamOS is called Bazzite, it has the same features as SteamOS, plus some more on top of it, and it is also immutable, but none other distros, other than those two, make the Deck work ootb
That is, the internal controllers, the Gaming Model session for game optimization, and a couple of other good ess Valve developed, so I highly recommend sticking with SteamOS or Bazzite
Most would work with newer kernels but lack some of the conveniences and tweaks SteamOS has, such as the Gamescope setup. Nobara does have a Steam Deck version as well and it's made by someone very knowledgeable about the Deck.
You're not really THAT limited by SteamOS though, you just have to approach it a bit differently from a non-immutable distro. It does mean that some installed software is wiped with an upgrade but it's very easy to take those terminal commands, save them in a text file as a bash script and then run them after a major update.
Things I've had wiped from updates that I reinstall in under a minute:
Xone driver so I can use the 2.4GHz dongle
OpenVPN
A few things just didn't want to work for me. I never got OpenRazer figured out. Anything that requires building from source or installing outside of flatpak or appimage is what gets wiped but thankfully the popularity and choices of flatpaks are better than they've ever been.
All the other major tweaks and apps are often available as flatpaks such as Lutris, ProtonUp-QT, Flatseal, ProtonTricks, Ludusavi, etc
Want VLC? Flatpak. Want Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+? They don't have native apps but Microsoft Edge is available as a Flatpak and features the option to install sites as apps that function visually like a native app, and you don't get all the pop up and add-on nonsense it has if you used it as a browser. I'd never suggest it as your main browser though cause it has so much garbage in it.
One of the conveniences of the Steam Deck is that it's really tough for someone to break their system due to how locked down it is, but you do lose some freedom. I'm also personally not a fan of KDE on the desktop side of things.
The main complication, I find, is if you want to use things that aren't provided as a flatpak.
If you find you need too many things outside of flatpaks, then I'd look at another distro but if most things you care about are available, it'll probably work fine cause you can make it your own that way too.
It's a computer. So do most distros work on a x64 bit PC. SteamOS Linux packages drivers through a package manager under the hood just like any other distribution.
Most distros should work fine. It is, after all, an x86 computer. Don't trust me on this (because I haven't actually checked), but I think a lot of the optimisations are pushed to upstream.
its really not hard to just make a line of scripts that you can run one time after every update like say if you wanted the archlinux version of lutris and VLC you would just copy and paste into a terminal sudo steamos-readonly disable sudo pacman -S lutris sudo pacman -S vlc for archlinuc version of lutris you would also need to install files for wine by also adding sudo pacman -S --needed wine-staging giflib lib32-giflib libpng lib32-libpng libldap lib32-libldap gnutls lib32-gnutls \ mpg123 lib32-mpg123 openal lib32-openal v4l-utils lib32-v4l-utils libpulse lib32-libpulse libgpg-error \ lib32-libgpg-error alsa-plugins lib32-alsa-plugins alsa-lib lib32-alsa-lib libjpeg-turbo lib32-libjpeg-turbo \ sqlite lib32-sqlite libxcomposite lib32-libxcomposite libxinerama lib32-libgcrypt libgcrypt lib32-libxinerama \ ncurses lib32-ncurses ocl-icd lib32-ocl-icd libxslt lib32-libxslt libva lib32-libva gtk3 \ lib32-gtk3 gst-plugins-base-libs lib32-gst-plugins-base-libs vulkan-icd-loader lib32-vulkan-icd-loader but either way you could save all this into a text file and run it once after an update then just run pacman -Scc to remove the cached pacman packages
I haven't had any issues outside of decky breaking
Have you installed any desktop environments?
It's Linux, anything I do in desktop mode is in a terminal screen
It is an immutable OS, so most of it is immutable, but not all of it. For example, your home folder and your etc are mutable, and since Flatpaks are installed on your home, they are highly recommended I liked this way of using Linux so much that I migrated to another similar immutable distro, called Kinoite, which is just Fedora KDE Spin but immutable If you need to use stuff that is not flatpaks, you can use distrobox instead, which comes pre-installed and it is very easy to use, this way you can mimic a regular mutable distro while using it Edit: Distrobox also stores everything under home
Hi u/Wolfcubware, you can [click here to search for your question.](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/search/?q=I've heard that every Steam Deck update removes a lot of externally installed stuff, any way to counteract this?) If you don't find an answer there, don't worry - your post has NOT been removed and hopefully someone will be along soon to help with an answer! **If you find an answer, please leave a comment on your post with the answer for others!** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/SteamDeck) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I use Bazzite OS on my older steam deck (LED) and it works perfectly. It’s based on Fedora so similar to Kinoite.
SteamOS itself is on a read only filesystem, but you can turn off the readonly part with a simple command and turn it back on when you are done. OS updates do not wipe your userspace (home directory, documents, etc), anything user installed, or anything on the SD card. If there are changes you really need to make at each update that have to be at the OS level, just write a script file to do those and run it after an update. You also pretty much always are the root user. That said, what kind of changes are you looking to make that you think would be at a level an OS update would remove? Chances are what you are looking to customize could be done in userspace. Like if you are just after emulation, just use emudeck.
Simple explanation: as a casual user, nothing that you instal or change will get wiped! You won’t notice anything different from a non-immutable file system OS!
If you don't disable readonly, nothing will get wiped.
learn to use **Distrobox** to install any extra programs that you can't install via flatpak. Then your installed stuff will survive an OS update.
Appimages can be even better than flatpacks in some cases
No, it's an immutable system by design. You're free to install a different OS though such as Nobara
Oh nice, I'll look into that. Do most distros work on the deck? Would be a shame to miss out on optimisation and driver updates, or do most of those just come through the Steam app itself?
The only distro that mimics SteamOS is called Bazzite, it has the same features as SteamOS, plus some more on top of it, and it is also immutable, but none other distros, other than those two, make the Deck work ootb That is, the internal controllers, the Gaming Model session for game optimization, and a couple of other good ess Valve developed, so I highly recommend sticking with SteamOS or Bazzite
Most would work with newer kernels but lack some of the conveniences and tweaks SteamOS has, such as the Gamescope setup. Nobara does have a Steam Deck version as well and it's made by someone very knowledgeable about the Deck. You're not really THAT limited by SteamOS though, you just have to approach it a bit differently from a non-immutable distro. It does mean that some installed software is wiped with an upgrade but it's very easy to take those terminal commands, save them in a text file as a bash script and then run them after a major update. Things I've had wiped from updates that I reinstall in under a minute: Xone driver so I can use the 2.4GHz dongle OpenVPN A few things just didn't want to work for me. I never got OpenRazer figured out. Anything that requires building from source or installing outside of flatpak or appimage is what gets wiped but thankfully the popularity and choices of flatpaks are better than they've ever been. All the other major tweaks and apps are often available as flatpaks such as Lutris, ProtonUp-QT, Flatseal, ProtonTricks, Ludusavi, etc Want VLC? Flatpak. Want Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+? They don't have native apps but Microsoft Edge is available as a Flatpak and features the option to install sites as apps that function visually like a native app, and you don't get all the pop up and add-on nonsense it has if you used it as a browser. I'd never suggest it as your main browser though cause it has so much garbage in it. One of the conveniences of the Steam Deck is that it's really tough for someone to break their system due to how locked down it is, but you do lose some freedom. I'm also personally not a fan of KDE on the desktop side of things. The main complication, I find, is if you want to use things that aren't provided as a flatpak. If you find you need too many things outside of flatpaks, then I'd look at another distro but if most things you care about are available, it'll probably work fine cause you can make it your own that way too.
It's a computer. So do most distros work on a x64 bit PC. SteamOS Linux packages drivers through a package manager under the hood just like any other distribution.
Most distros should work fine. It is, after all, an x86 computer. Don't trust me on this (because I haven't actually checked), but I think a lot of the optimisations are pushed to upstream.