SteamOS 3.6.19 Stable Release - Root Server Hosting

SteamOS 3.6.19 has been released to the Stable channel for Deck with the following changes:

General

Updated to a more recent Arch Linux base, and updated Linux kernel to version 6.5
- These updates improve hardware compatibility, system performance, security, and overall system stability
Improved speed of subsequent OS updates
Improved reliability of certain microSD card usage scenarios
Worked around misdetection of some SanDisk microSD cards
Improved responsiveness of session restart in case of session crashes caused by certain GPU errors
Fixed an issue where certain games could crash with a ‘page allocation failure’ after a long play session
Improved recovery from situations where the Steam installation could get corrupted
Fixed some connectivity failures with access points supporting WPA3 security
Fixed a problem where Steam Deck would be unable to connect to certain Wi-Fi 7 access points
Fixed game session cursor offset alignment
Fixed an issue where a thin grey line could appear at the bottom of the screen during boot in some situations
Fixed an issue where the Performance Overlay would spuriously enable itself under certain conditions
Fixed an issue preventing sleep on some types of aftermarket SSDs
Fixed an issue preventing update checks from working properly on networks with an invalid IPv6 configuration
Fixed an issue where touching the left trackpad after sleep could result in a spurious haptic click
Fixed a general issue affecting OLED units on 3.5, causing a slow memory leak during gameplay
Fixed an issue causing a “Update Error” message when attempting to interact with the update menu on the ‘Preview’ update channel.
Fixed the frame limiter not properly applying in certain situations
Fixed an issue where block corruption could appear on screen on certain state transitions
Fixed an issue where updating the built-in controller firmware could result in a blank screen during boot
Fixed a rare issue where sound output could be corrupted on certain boots
Fixed a rare issue where 3.5mm headphones could produce elevated background noise on reconnection until next sleep/resume
Fixed an issue where updates would sometimes be applied incorrectly if the unit was powered off abruptly near the end of an OS update
Fixed an issue with copy-pasting UTF-8 text across applications
Fixed a problem where a Game Recording capture failing could cause subsequent captures to also fail
Fixed a crash when using the magnifier tool while game recording is active
Fixed colorspace for Game Recording
Fixed an issue where colors could appear washed out when using Steam Remote Play as a client
Fixed a possible crash when using Steam Deck as the Remote Play host
Fixed an issue that could cause videos to stutter in titles such as BlazBlue Centralfiction
Fixed an issue with a rare session crash during early startup of ELDEN RING
Fixed display regressions with certain titles such as Warriors All-Stars, Disgaea 5 Complete, Vampire: The Masquerade – Reckoning of New York
Worked around a bug where HDR couldn’t be selected in Halo Infinite
Fixed an issue causing temporary files to accrue when using Flatpak
Security fix for Flatpak (CVE-2024-42472)

Graphics and Performance

Updated graphics driver to Mesa 24.1, with many performance and other improvements
Improved responsiveness of the Steam UI
Improved performance and stability in memory pressure situations
Slightly improved cold boot time

Display

Improved display uniformity, under some conditions (Mura Compensation)
Improved display color balance (reduced green tint) at lower brightness levels, under some conditions
Improved gamma uniformity (yellow tint), under some conditions
Fixed certain specific refresh rates failing to apply on the OLED Limited Edition model
Fixed an issue where the internal display could remain blank after disconnecting an external display
Fixed an issue where internal display could be abnormally limited to a lower frame rate after disconnecting an external display with VRR enabled
Fixed rare situations where switching to Desktop Mode or back could result in a blank screen, or wrong colors

External Display

Fixed several issues where an external display could remain blank after resuming
Fixed an issue where an external display could remain blank if its mode required chroma subsampling
Fixed an issue where the system could crash on wakeup if an external DisplayPort monitor was connected
Fixed a system crash when hotplugging a second display in Desktop mode
Improved frame pacing with VRR on external displays

Bluetooth

Improved pairing experience with Apple AirPods
Enabled support for Bluetooth HFP and BAP profiles
Added mechanism to configure which Bluetooth device categories are allowed to wake the system from suspend
- By default, controllers are the only devices that can wake the system from sleep
- Finer-grained UI configuration options will be available as part of a future update
Improved connection speed of some Bluetooth devices
Fixed an issue where Bluetooth peripherals would disconnect on session switch

Input

Added support for extra ROG Ally keys
Added support for the ASUS ROG Raikiri Pro controller
Added support for the Machenike G5 Pro controller
Added support for the Steam Deck motion sensors to the built-in non-Steam kernel driver
Fixed an issue where scroll wheel Steam Input bindings weren’t functional
Fixed an issue where DualShock 4 and DualSense controllers would sometimes not function properly on their first connection
Fixed calibration on some third-party DualShock 4 controllers

Desktop Mode

Updated to KDE Plasma 5.27.10
Enabled thumbnail previews for videos in the file browser
Fixed an issue with desktop use that could cause subsequent microSD card auto-mount to fail
Fixed Zenity dialog boxes
Fixed nested desktop crashing on launch

BIOS / Firmware

Adjusted power LED slow charging threshold
Fixed not being able to set the SDCard as default boot device
Fixed spurious power LED blinking in S5
Steam Deck OLED only
- Added support for the Windows Bluetooth driver (LCD models already have Windows Bluetooth support)
Steam Deck LCD only
- Improved battery life by up to 10% in light load situations
- Added overclocking controls

Steam Deck Docking Station

Added support for some HDMI CEC features:
- TV remote input
- TV wake up
- TV input switching
Updated Dock firmware, with compatibility fixes for high-refresh-rate VRR displays, and fixing several issues where displays could remain blank

Development and Modding

Modified files in /etc are now migrated to new OS versions based on a whitelist
- Fixes numerous issues with incidentally touched /etc files becoming ‘sticky’ and persisting unexpectedly
- Additional whitelist entries can be added via config fragments
- See /etc/atomic-update.conf.d/example-additional-keep-list.conf
- Added /etc/previous/ containing modifications from the previous update to prevent unexpected data loss
- Up to five previous snaphots of /etc modifications will additionally be retained in /var/lib/steamos-atomupd/etc_backup/
Added support for {ssh,sshd}_config fragments
Split package reinstallation step out of `steamos-devmode` command and into new `steamos-unminimize` command. `steamos-devmode` now simply enters read-write mode and initializes the pacman keyring for use, and is much quicker.
openssh: Fix remote code execution bug (CVE-2024-6387)