My Steam Deck config and customization.

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Mostly, we config our Steam Deck in Desktop Mode, so I highly recommend you connect your device with a USB Hub , then connect your mouse and keyboard . Bluetooth keyboard and mouse are also good.

If you don't have external mouse and keyboard besides you, just use the buttons.

This is a part of key mappings.

By this way, you can directly control your device in Desktop Mode, but it's a little bit inconvenient.

If you feel hard to operate Deck using buttons, you may enable Remote Desktop. See: Enable Remote Desktop.

In Desktop Mode, open Konsole, and add a password to current user, for sudo use.

passwd

# New password: 
# Your input will not appear, please make sure your input is correct, then push ENTER.

# disable
sudo steamos-readonly disable

# enable(if you want to enable it again after config.)
sudo steamos-readonly enable

You can choose your language in Desktop Mode, follow the guide in KDE UserBase Wiki: https://userbase.kde.org/Tutorials/Change_Plasma_Language

For most users, you can skip this part. This part is for users who have trouble searching apps in Discover, mainly for users in China.

If your Discover searching has no response, please change the remote mirror.

# This will overwrite the official mirror link.
sudo flatpak remote-modify flathub --url=https://mirror.sjtu.edu.cn/flathub

# If you don't want to overwrite, you can add a mirror link.
sudo flatpak remote-add flathub https://mirror.sjtu.edu.cn/flathub/flathub.flatpakrepo

Some plugins may depend on browser to setup, so a browser is needed. You can install any browser you are favorite. Directly install it through Discover.

Steam Deck uses KDE Plasma desktop, we can use krfb to start a remote desktop service.

We need to install krfb on Deck, then we can use VNC protocol to remote connect our device in Desktop Mode.

sudo pacman -Sy krfb

If you can't install pacman packages because of unknown trust, please do:

# Step 1
sudo pacman-key --init

# Step 2
sudo pacman-key --populate archlinux
sudo pacman-key --populate holo

Then, re-run your command.

Now you can use your VNC Client to connect to the Deck. Default port: 5900.

For Windows users, VNC Viewer is an option.

The app in the picture below is Royal TSX.

Directly install it through Discover.

Decky Loader is a plugin store in Gaming Mode, you can press ... button to find it after installation.

Official Site: https://decky.xyz/

GitHub: https://github.com/SteamDeckHomebrew/decky-loader

Firstly, Do the following things:

1. Switch to Gaming Mode,

2. Push STEAM Button, Choose Settings, find Development Mode and enable it, Your menu has a new option: Developer now.

3. Choose Developer, find CEF Remote Debugging and enable it.

4. Restart Steam Deck (Reboot).

After reboot, Your device will enter Gaming Mode defaultly, you need to switch back to Desktop Mode.

Then, you can choose either way:

• Download decky_installer.desktop.
• Or, fast install it using Konsole.

# Official mirror
curl -L https://github.com/SteamDeckHomebrew/decky-installer/releases/latest/download/install_release.sh | sh

# China mirror
curl -L http://dl.ohmydeck.net | sh

Finally, Switch to Gaming Mode and push ... button, you can see Decky menu.

If you installed it with decky_installer.desktop, please choose uninstall decky loader in Application Menu, or search uninstall decky loader, just find it and run.

If you installed it with shell script, run:

# uninstall_release.sh
curl -L https://github.com/SteamDeckHomebrew/decky-installer/releases/latest/download/uninstall_release.sh | sh

Sometimes, Decky disappear after SteamOS update, just reinstall it using the methods above, your config of plugins will keep.

• SteamGridDB - Add artwork to your non-steam apps.
• vibrantDeck - Change saturation of your screen.

See this part in my repo: https://github.com/Vincent-the-gamer/linux-rpcs3-quickstart

Search and install it in Discover(Desktop mode).

See: https://streetpea.github.io/chiaki4deck/setup

Recommended video config:

Change the bitrate to 10000 if your connection is unstable or slow.