SteamOS wasn’t supposed to run on Snapdragon-based Android handhelds, but modders got it working within days

It seems that SteamOS is slowly making its way unofficially to a broader spectrum of ARM-based processors, such as Snapdragon chipsets, just for fun. Two solo developers used Valve’s SteamOS code and got it running on Android handhelds within days of its release. Just as Valve started shipping the Steam Frame, a modder and developer got its operating system working on hardware Valve never intended it for: an AYN Odin 2, an Android-based handheld not even remotely close to the headset.

An impressively active modding scene

This relatively huge development was made possible by Masies4fun, who ported Valve’s SteamOS-ARM userspace, built specifically for the Steam Frame headset, to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered AYN Odin 2. Following suit, hashtagbasit got SteamOS running on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 build for the Konkr Pocket Fit G3 and the Ayaneo Pocket S2.

Both ARM-based SteamOS ports run Valve’s official Game Mode and the KDE Plasma desktop, but only swap in the kernel and device trees from an Arch Linux base called Rocknix. This is possible because Valve’s own kernel boots nothing outside of Steam Frame hardware.

The latest rounds of coverage have also credited Armada, an independent Fedora-based, SteamOS-themed distro covering the same hardware; however, Armada came forward and admitted that it didn’t work on the project.

Massies4Fun first published SteamOS-ARM-SM850 with Valve’s official Game Mode intact and the same silicon and UI, since the Odin 2 uses the same silicon as the Steam Frame: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 paired with an Adreno 740 GPU.

Multiple forks in play

Meanwhile, developer hashtagbasit has since forked MasieS4Fun’s tree into SteamOS-ARM-SM8650, letting owners of the Pocket Fit G3 and Pocket S2 use the port, since both devices feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. The developer also fixed what was broken instead of porting ARM-based SteamOS as-is.

The downside is that both repos are only a few days old and have relatively low star counts, and the device trees for the Pocket S2 and AYN Thor are still listed as untested by the repos’ own authors.

Interestingly, a third port, Holodor by teansentient, is already targeting a SteamOS build for the Odin 3’s Snapdragon 8 Elite.