Handheld Edition

I have a Steam Deck that I was wanting to try Handheld Edition, so I put the ISO on a micro-SD to try it before installing, but it doesn’t look any different than Desktop Edition. Will I have to install it in order to try the modifications for the Steam Deck? I could put it on a USB stick and install it to the micro-SD, I have a dock I can use for that. Just thought trying it before installing would be good. Feel free to reach out if there’s anything I can do to help. Thanks!

Yeah. I’m pretty sure the live environment is the same across editions all round.

That’s what I was guessing. It’s now installing and I’ll see how it goes. It wouldn’t boot into the live session from a USB stick but booted fine from a micro-SD card.

I installed it a few days ago on SteamDeck. I used a USB stick with ventoy. The experience is the same as steamOS with the advantages of CachyOS. I found that the boot is a bit slower than steamOS.

Boot times aren’t something I really focus on. Protontricks failed to launch on SteamOS, so I decided to try Cachy Handheld before troubleshooting it on SteamOS. I woundn’t recommend this method of fixing things for almost anyone, but I really wanted to see performance as well, and so far it’s working out well for me. I really recommend having the handheld features fully functional before installing, because not a lot of people want to install something without trying it first. Fortuantely, it’s working out well for me. It’s “SteamOS, for power users”, IMO. Thanks!

Installed on ROG Ally Z1e with 4tb.

It’s definitely a good combo but for “advanced”(*) users. I’m a IT guy so I’m not afraid of tweaking or breaking things. Installing a random game can be challenging…

So far I wasn’t able to make NonSteamLauncher work…

And I got some scratchy audio on some games…

(*) I’m not saying IT proffessions is more advanced than other professions. I tend to think computer are useless in absolute.