Bazzite Buzz #9

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Preface

Bazzite is a custom image of Fedora Linux 39 utilizing Universal Blue’s custom image framework designed to bring users the best in Linux gaming for their PCs, including the Steam Deck and other handheld PCs. Bazzite’s newsletters highlight all of the work we have been doing to bring gamers the best features ready to go for their PCs, home theater setups, and handheld gaming devices.

If you are new to the project, then here’s how this technology works: Bazzite and other Universal Blue images follow the continuous delivery methodology of development, which means we’re constantly adding new features and squashing bugs to the image through updates. These updates also include anything directly from upstream (Fedora and Universal Blue) and upgrades from the packages we include.

Steam Deck OLED and DeckHD Support (Testing Branch)

The Steam Deck OLED has released and Bazzite now has support for it in the :testing branch thanks to a collaboration with GloriousEggroll! You can switch to this branch in Game Mode under system settings. Bazzite also now has HDR and color support in Game Mode which means we have reached feature parity with SteamOS.

The DeckHD screen hardware modification for the Steam Deck is also now supported by Bazzite with its own firmware is now part of Bazzite when this hardware is detected. BIOS updates for the Steam Deck are disabled when this hardware modification is detected to resolve any conflicts that those updates may have with the modded screen. DeckHD’s BIOS is supported however to compensate for this.

Game Mode Resolution Fixes

Other hardware utilizing the Steam Deck image(s) no longer need to worry about the “Auto” option in resolution settings in Game Mode being hard-coded at 1280x800 resolution. It now should display the game at the native resolution of the screen. This is beneficial for DeckHD users, HTPC users running a home theater PC to their television, and other handheld PCs that have a higher resolution than 1280x800.

WineZGUI & GOverlay Preinstalled

WineZGUI has been added to Bazzite to easily allow users to right click an .exe file and instantly launch a Windows application in WINE if there are no special considerations for the prefix. This is useful for applications that can quickly function without a WINE manager like Lutris, Bottles, or Heroic.

The prefix data for each application is located in ~/.var/app/io.github.fastrizwaan.WineZGUI/data/winezgui/Prefixes if you need to access it.

GOverlay is also now part of the image which is a GUI for MangoHud and vkBasalt. Desktop users can now easily have MangoHud running globally for Vulkan and OpenGL games using this application. Users can also easily apply Reshade post processing effects using this tool.

Other Noteworthy Changes

ASUS ROG Ally should have working audio in the :testing branch of Bazzite. However, none of the maintainers own an Ally and would like a tester to confirm this by getting in contact with us with the results. We can be reached on Universal Blue Discord or Discourse forums.

AMD/Intel Desktop images no longer use CoreCtrl in the Bazzite Portal. It has been now replaced with LACT. Users who still prefer CoreCtrl over LACT can keep it installed, and it can still be obtained with rpm-ostree install corectrl and rebooting.

There is now a “Limited Edition” Bazzite logo that follows the orange color scheme of the limited edition OLED Steam Deck.

Conclusion

During the development of this newsletter, it was mostly a housekeeping update, but since the release of the Steam Deck OLED, it became a massive project to implement support for. Luckily collaboration between other similar open source projects and the Linux community have made implementation for the OLED easier.

A recent milestone has also happened! We have passed 300,000 pulls for Bazzite! Thank you to our community for the continued support.

The current plans for the next major release are as follows:

• Prompt terminal preinstalled
• Lenovo Legion Go controls/input fixes and recommended Decky plugins for TDP control
• Nintendo Joy-Con support
• Improve Intel GPU support with -deck images
• BBR2 congestion protocol

Install the latest Bazzite here. Check out the documentation for installation instructions, troubleshooting, and frequently asked questions. Report issues on our issue tracker if you experience any major issues with Bazzite.

Features

• Steam Deck OLED support in the Testing branch.
  • With collaboration with GloriousEggroll (Thanks GE!)
• DeckHD support.
  • Support for installing DeckHD BIOS.
  • Steam Deck BIOS updates is disabled on DeckHD devices.
• HDR & Color management are now supported on Bazzite in the Testing branch.
• Improved ASUS ROG ALLY support in the Testing branch
  • We would like testers for this!
  • Audio should be supported.
• Added major Gamescope improvements.
  • “Auto” resolution should now work properly on non-Deck devices.
• Added fsync kernel which includes patches for the Steam Deck OLED.
• Added the Steam Deck OLED DSP package.
  • This means upgraded audio on both OLED and LCD Steam Decks.
• Added WineZGUI for an extremely convenient way to launch Windows applications that don’t require special considerations for their prefix.
  • Double-click the Windows application in the file manager to launch it.
  • Alternatively right click and select application to open with WineZGUI.
• Added GOverlay which is a GUI that manages Vulkan and OpenGL overlays
  • Can configure MangoHud and vkBasalt.
• Switched from CoreCtrl to LACT as the default AMD overclocking solution on Desktop images.
• Removed DisplayLink until issues with it are resolved.
• Export OpenTabletDriver GUI in ujust command.
• Bumped Greenlight to version v2.0.0-beta15 when first installed.
• Auto-disabled bios updates for 32GB RAM decks.
• Added initramfs rebuilding with support for user defined initramfs arguments.
• Added iomem=relaxed kernel argument automatically on handhelds that require RyzenAdj for TDP control on Steam Deck images.
• Steam Deck GNOME images now have the bazzite-menu extension to desktop images & modify defaults to show gamemode option.
• Added “Limited Edition” stylized Steam Deck logos of Bazzite and SteamOS.
• Added link to the forums (and documentation) for Bazzite in the Bazzite Portal.
• Added a check for just files, so broken builds never make it to production.

Fixes

• Added missing ASUS NVIDIA entries to boot menu.
• Fixed Nvidia images not installing the newer 32 bit glibc package.
• Dropped DDControl as a preinstalled application, caused unresponsive monitors for some users.
• Reinstalled Pipewire from Fedora updates.
  • Ensures pipewire packages are never mismatched.
• Always return Pipewire replacement as true.
  • Fixes rpm-ostree errors when the package version being replaced on the system matches the replacement. Given Pipewire versions are mismatched relatively frequently, it’s better we keep the fix and return true.
• Added redhat-lsb-core to resolve issue with EmuDeck depending on the lsb package.
• Set default target to graphical in hardware setup.
  • This fixes issues rebasing from the base image.
• Added Valve’s patches for bluez to fix bluetooth devices.
• Improved ujust scripts for BIOS handling.
• VFIO fixes and cleanup.
• Removed Stella and Parsec from Bazzite Portal due to End-of-Life runtimes.
• Added missing reboot on rebuild of initramfs.
• Fixed autologin/return to Game Mode not working correctly if Home directory path differs from the username.
• Fixed Emudeck installs on Steam Deck GNOME images.
• Cleaned up dconf on GNOME images.
• Updated jupiter-hw-support package.
• Fixed Steam Deck images posessing broken audio.
• Properly handle asus-nvidia images in enable-supergfxctl.

Full changelog

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