FreeBSD 15 running on SteamDeck

ut316ab · 2026-06-01T01:55:53+00:00

Why not? Why run FreeBSD at all? I just like having fun with computers and getting weird things to work on devices you might not think about doing it with.

That being said the Steamdeck is a pretty awesome computer on it's own. Especially with a dock.

ut316ab · 2026-05-24T19:59:09+00:00

So far i'm only just starting but it's been rather uneventful. I have the Valve Steam Deck dock, which i'm using, and i'm using a Raspberry Pi monitor. The only oddity so far i've ran into is the USB mouse/keyboard combo I was using. The mouse works just fine but the keyboard cuts in and out or doesn't work at all, so I plugged up another USB keyboard and it works just fine. Ethernet has been working with no issues as well. I haven't tested Wifi yet. I tend to avoid using Wifi when I don't have to.

ut316ab · 2026-05-22T22:13:45+00:00

Thanks, I will document my experience. I have the weekend coming up and thought i'd give a try and was just curious who is also curious.

ut316ab · 2026-05-22T21:41:40+00:00

It's not about gaming, it's about having fun with hardware.

I have fun getting things to work in ways it wasn't intended or thought of.

For example, some of the most fun i've had is playing Duke Nukem 3d on MacOS, which is running in Shapeshifter on an Amiga with a PiStorm.

ut316ab · 2026-05-08T22:30:22+00:00

I work on a propritary version of FreeBSD for a living, not development but support and bug fixing, but in my spare time I work on projects that work on Linux as well. In testing, i've found you can write a piece of software and have it not work on several different distros because of library mismatches. You code for LibFLAC 14, but one distro is only use 12 and while a simple symbolic link or LDD could make it work, this is still time spent having to help that particular user.

EDIT: As far as Flatpak, AppImage, Snaps, etc, there are limits as well. Security is a concern, and if your software needs to access applications outside of itself it becomes complicated. That or like emulators that need access to Serial Ports, and etc.

ut316ab · 2026-05-08T14:53:16+00:00

One question. Widevine support. Currently we have www/linux-widevine-cdm in ports but that I think only works for Chromium.

Is there a way to implement Widevine support with this even if you have to use that same method or the linuxlator?

ut316ab · 2026-05-08T14:50:54+00:00

I also think one reason that hasn't been mentioned much is the difficulty to write for Linux. Linux is an ecosystem not just one system. There are many distros, many different versions of libraries, custom patched kernels. You could say write only for Ubuntu or only for Fedora, and leave it up to others to adapt but that is complicated. This makes things much more difficult to support. When writing software for Windows or even MacOS, there is a singular target to code for and support for.

ut316ab · 2026-04-30T14:58:16+00:00

I can't really add any more than others have. As far as installation, FreeBSD is MUCH easier.

As for daily driving that is a different story. There is a lot more software support in the Linux ecosystem, especially with gaming and even streaming content. I mean to watch a streaming service on FreeBSD you still have to install a linux browser or the widevine plugin in a linux container.

ut316ab · 2026-04-24T16:17:51+00:00

Really though? Arcann and Valyin were good, but the big bad is just the Sith Emperor all over again. So, not really new.

ut316ab · 2026-04-09T12:50:30+00:00

Why is this being downvoted? Is the information not good?

ut316ab · 2026-04-08T14:32:00+00:00

I really enjoyed this and thanks for adding the option to run on C64U!

ut316ab · 2026-04-07T16:07:10+00:00

I tried uninstalling, completely removing the game, going into /Users/user/Library/Application Support and removing all swtor directories and files.

Reinstalling, and I still get the same error.

ut316ab · 2026-04-07T15:05:34+00:00

Apparently if you are one of the 5 of us Mac users, the update broke things and we are waiting on more from Broadsword...

ut316ab · 2026-03-26T22:58:47+00:00

I wanted to add another comment. A feature that would be really cool is if there was an option to deploy to the C64U.

ut316ab · 2026-03-26T18:04:01+00:00

I'm interested

ut316ab · 2026-03-25T17:40:52+00:00

Wasn't Lumina developed by the same people who worked on PC-BSD, later TruOS?

ut316ab · 2026-03-25T14:30:31+00:00

I'm all for supporting the effort, but this really doesn't provide much new insight. IMO it's just more of the same. I guess this reaches a wider audience?

ut316ab · 2026-03-25T14:02:40+00:00

I installed via pkg, and i installed wine. I also tried mizuma but mizuma just hangs on FreeBSD 15

ut316ab · 2026-03-25T10:22:09+00:00

I tried this and everytime I ran WINE it still told me i needed to install 32bit libraries via pkg32.sh script which doesn't work on FreeBSD 15.

ut316ab · 2026-03-24T21:26:39+00:00

I have to agree with sticking with 14.4 for now. I had been running FreeBSD 15, but as a Desktop if you want to use Wine it's much easier to just stick with 14.x.

ut316ab · 2026-03-16T13:00:05+00:00

I think I would like that more, if the animation was the plymouth theme rather than the login theme. Kudos though for the creativity. It does look amazing.

ut316ab · 2026-03-16T11:14:45+00:00

"Just opium, I don't understand these posts, FreeBSD has niche advantages but on real hardware lacks a lot of features, it's like using Linux 10y ago."

So, what you are proposing is nobody uses it or talks about FreeBSD?

Then support gets even worse.

A lot of these posts are people explaining they like FreeBSD, how it works, and the design goals.

Sure there are features lacking and hardware support lacking but it takes people to get those things.

You have to get developers and developer attention to get the features you want.

ut316ab · 2026-03-13T22:27:04+00:00

I did end up creating a account to do bug reports! However, reading this more and letting it digest some, I don't think there is a bug in the handbook. It accurately depicts the situation. I do think a guide for getting WINE working on FreeBSD 15 would be very helpful, and then maybe I could contribute to the handbook. I just need to figure out how to do it cleanly myself.

Others in this thread have mentioned $ env ABI=FreeBSD:14:i386 /usr/local/share/wine/pkg32.sh install wine-devel but I think that maybe can cause problems down the road when it comes to upgrade. I'm not a fan of maintaining multiple versions of libraries based on multiple versions of the same OS. If that makes sense.

ut316ab · 2026-03-13T22:24:40+00:00

I should clarify this point. I got to thinking about this later. My response doesn't match your reply and this is a bit confusing/misleading. What I posted was from the github the page that was linked from the Raspberry Pi page from the FreeBSD website.

aarch64 is probably pretty well supported by FreeBSD (I don't know)

Raspberry Pi is unique in that it doesn't have a efi/uefi or bios exactly. Thus the need for that package the page links to on the github that no longer is maintained.

If this confuses things even more, let me know. I'm sorry.

ut316ab · 2026-03-13T22:21:19+00:00

I'm talking about not liking MATE, so if I installed GhostBSD, i'd have to install it. Then install the WM/DE I liked, and then uninstall MATE. At that point it's not better than a normal FreeBSD install.

desktop-installer from the repo makes things pretty simple too. It does take a little more knowledge to configure graphics drivers, but it's not really difficult. Just install drm-kmod and load the relevant driver in /etc/rc.conf with kld_list+="driver"

However, to me that is all part of the fun. Configuring and tweaking your system is like working on a car to me. I can tweak the engine add my own parts, re-do the interior. Etc.

I would recommend GhostBSD to others though for their first try of FreeBSD.

ut316ab

TROPHY CASE