v1.3 beta 1: 8 Gen 2 initial beta

SteamOS ARM now runs on Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 handhelds! This is the first test build for SM8550 so it's a prerelease. Everything from the Pocket FIT build is in here, and the Thor and Pocket DS get something new on top: the bottom screen actually does something in Game Mode.

Important

This image is only for 8 Gen 2 (SM8550) devices. If you have a KONKR Pocket FIT or AYANEO Pocket S2, don't flash this! Stay on v1.2 with the v1.2.1 hotfix, v1.3 for you comes later as an update.

I don't own any of these devices, so I need your help here. Flash it, play around, and tell me what works and what doesn't (open an issue and say which device you have).

Devices

Device	Status
AYN Odin 2	needs testing
AYN Odin 2 Mini	needs testing
AYN Odin 2 Portal	needs testing
AYN Thor	needs testing
AYANEO Pocket ACE	needs testing
AYANEO Pocket DMG	needs testing
AYANEO Pocket DS	needs testing
AYANEO Pocket EVO	needs testing
AYANEO Pocket S 1K / S 2K	needs testing
Retroid Pocket 6 (both versions)	needs testing
Retroid Pocket Nova	needs testing

It's one image for all of them. Pick your device in the ABL menu and it sets up the controls, audio, screen and touch for that device.

Bottom screen (AYN Thor, AYANEO Pocket DS)

As far as I know this is the first time Valve's own SteamOS uses the second screen in Game Mode. The game runs on the top screen and the bottom one gets a dashboard with:

• Steam, Quick Access, keyboard and screenshot buttons (they open on the top screen)
• performance profile (Silent, Balanced, Turbo) and fan boost
• brightness for both screens, volume and mute
• clock, battery, CPU/GPU temps, GPU clock and fan speed
• any apps you want to pin (browser, VLC, a guide, Steam ROM Manager...), they run full screen down there

Swipe up from the bottom edge to get back to the dashboard, hold a running app to close it. Touching the bottom screen won't mess with your game, and Steam's brightness slider now controls the top screen like it should. In Desktop Mode you get both screens as one desktop.

If you don't want it, put "enabled": false in ~/.config/steamos-arm/bottom-screen.json.

Everything else

• Game Mode, Desktop Mode, Steam store and downloads
• x86 games through FEX, plus ARM64 Proton
• the controller shows up as a Steam Deck controller, back buttons as L4/R4 where the device has them (Retroid Pocket 6 paddles too)
• Lossless Scaling frame gen with the decky-lsfg-vk plugin
• Decky with the Control plugin for profiles, fan and temps
• a real fan curve instead of the fan sitting at one speed
• standby that actually saves battery
• the performance overlay
• Android apps with the Google Play Store
• the desktop is rotated the right way on every device (the Retroid Pocket 6 one was upside down on other builds)
• next betas install over this one with the SteamOS Update app, so no reflashing after this

Installing

1. Flash ROCKNIX ABL 1.1.8 or newer for SM8550 (abl_signed-SM8550.elf) to abl_a and abl_b. Android still boots from its menu.
2. Download all the .7z parts, open the .001 one with 7-Zip or WinRAR (Keka or The Unarchiver on Mac) and extract it. Flash the .img to a 32GB+ microSD card with balenaEtcher or Rufus. SHA256SUMS has the checksums if you want to check your download.
3. Hold Volume Down while turning it on, go to Set device model, pick your device, set boot mode to Linux and hit START.

First boot takes a couple of minutes, don't panic.

Known issues

• since I don't own these devices, all the progress will depend on your reports.
• no internal storage installer on 8 Gen 2 yet, SD card only for now

Supporting the project

If you can't donate, starring the repo helps too!