--- title: Portable Linux gaming with the Steam Deck | daily.dev description: Collabora details their contributions to SteamOS 3, the Linux distribution powering Valve's Steam Deck handheld gaming PC. SteamOS 3 is based on Arch Linux... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/portable-linux-gaming-with-the-steam-deck-imcxkoobl twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Portable Linux gaming with the Steam Deck | daily.dev og:description: Collabora details their contributions to SteamOS 3, the Linux distribution powering Valve's Steam Deck handheld gaming PC. SteamOS 3 is based on Arch Linux... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/portable-linux-gaming-with-the-steam-deck-imcxkoobl og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/IMCXKoObl.png og:image:alt: Portable Linux gaming with the Steam Deck og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Portable Linux gaming with the Steam Deck **[Collabora Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/collabora)** · 3 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Collabora details their contributions to SteamOS 3, the Linux distribution powering Valve's Steam Deck handheld gaming PC. SteamOS 3 is based on Arch Linux with the latest Mesa for open-source graphics. Key highlights include an A/B partition system for seamless, rollback-capable OS updates, KDE Plasma Desktop for non-gaming use, a developer mode with pacman package manager access, and Proton (built on Wine and DXVK) for running Windows games. The pressure-vessel tool developed by Collabora enables Proton to run consistently across most desktop Linux distributions. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does the Steam Deck handle OS updates without bricking the device? Steam Deck uses an A/B partition design with two OS partitions. Updates are written to the inactive partition, and a specialized bootloader boots into the newer version. If the new version fails to boot, the bootloader automatically falls back to the previous partition. OS images are downloaded using block-based deltas so only changed parts need to be re-downloaded. _Developers shipping embedded Linux devices track rollback strategies like this on daily.dev._ ### Can Proton run Windows games on regular desktop Linux distros, not just the Steam Deck? Yes, Proton runs on most desktop Linux distributions, not just the Steam Deck. The Steam Linux Runtime provides a stable, Debian-based container environment, and the pressure-vessel tool (developed by Collabora) ensures a consistent runtime from rolling-release distros like Arch Linux to older LTS releases like Ubuntu 14.04. _Linux gaming compatibility across distros is a topic developers follow closely on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [SteamOS finally went Super Saiyan with the Steam Deck, but other handhelds proved that wasn't its final form](https://daily.dev/posts/steamos-finally-went-super-saiyan-with-the-steam-deck-but-other-handhelds-proved-that-wasn-t-its-fi-1dp5rordn) · XDA Developers · 2 upvotes · 1 comments - [SteamOS 3.9 Preview Moves To Linux 7.2, KDE Plasma 6.7 Desktop](https://daily.dev/posts/steamos-3-9-preview-moves-to-linux-7-2-kde-plasma-6-7-desktop-ux9uaabjz) · Phoronix · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Steam Deck lead reveals Valve is funding ARM compatibility of Windows games “to expand PC gaming” and release “ultraportables” in the future](https://daily.dev/posts/steam-deck-lead-reveals-valve-is-funding-arm-compatibility-of-windows-games-to-expand-pc-gaming-an-uogvxkhf3) · Hacker News · 3 upvotes · 1 comments - [The Steam Deck didn't make Linux gaming viable — it made Windows gaming look bloated](https://daily.dev/posts/the-steam-deck-didn-t-make-linux-gaming-viable-it-made-windows-gaming-look-bloated-is1ljpjvb) · XDA Developers · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#mesa](https://daily.dev/tags/mesa), [#steam-deck](https://daily.dev/tags/steam-deck), [#steamos](https://daily.dev/tags/steamos) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/portable-linux-gaming-with-the-steam-deck-imcxkoobl) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Portable Linux gaming with the Steam Deck","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/portable-linux-gaming-with-the-steam-deck-imcxkoobl","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/portable-linux-gaming-with-the-steam-deck-imcxkoobl"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T08:56:21.759Z","dateModified":"2026-08-11T09:37:07.639Z","description":"Collabora details their contributions to SteamOS 3, the Linux distribution powering Valve's Steam Deck handheld gaming PC. 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