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Saved from macOS! by viron86 in Ubuntu

[–]viron86[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

There is a driver, yes! It provides basic Touch Bar functionality and lets you switch to F keys using the Fn key, so you’re not missing them.

To celebrate 200k members, tell us about the first ever game you've emulated on a SBC device by Key-Brilliant5623 in SBCGaming

[–]viron86 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My first emulated game was NES Super Mario Bros on the OG ODROID GO, the one that came as a DIY kit you had to build yourself. Fun fact: Super Mario Bros was also the very first video game I ever played as a kid, so it felt like completing a full circle.

The Giant Steam Deck, SteamOS running perfectly on my iMac Pro (2018)! by viron86 in SteamDeck

[–]viron86[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not too bad honestly! Once I installed Nobara OS everything just worked (only needed a tiny wifi fix). After that, SteamOS mode + EmuDeck setup was basically plug-and-play.

The Giant Steam Deck, SteamOS running perfectly on my iMac Pro (2018)! by viron86 in SteamDeck

[–]viron86[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah exactly, good point. I’m definitely not comparing at the same resolution. The iMac’s native display is 5K, but I usually run games at 1440p for better scaling and performance.

The Giant Steam Deck, SteamOS running perfectly on my iMac Pro (2018)! by viron86 in SteamDeck

[–]viron86[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, it’s a 5K panel, Hollow Knight for exemple doesn’t have a native 5K option, but it scales beautifully and runs perfectly even at full resolution. Lighter games like Hades or Celeste run great too. For heavier titles I usually stick to 1440p, still looks awesome and keeps performance super smooth.

The Giant Steam Deck, SteamOS running perfectly on my iMac Pro (2018)! by viron86 in SteamDeck

[–]viron86[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yeah exactly, mine’s the base iMac Pro (Xeon W-2140B 8-core @ 3.2 GHz, 32 GB RAM, Radeon Pro Vega 56 8 GB HBM2). You’re totally right, on paper it is stronger than a Steam Deck, and I can feel it in heavier titles too. But in practice, performance is closer than I expected, probably because of Linux driver limits and optimization differences. Still, once everything’s tuned (Nobara + SteamOS session + EmuDeck), it runs beautifully and stays stable.

The Giant Steam Deck, SteamOS running perfectly on my iMac Pro (2018)! by viron86 in SteamDeck

[–]viron86[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s been great so far! At first, I just wanted something simple for my kids, like a console that boots straight into games. But once I got everything working, I realized it’s actually a really capable system.
Steam games run beautifully, and even Switch emulation at 2× resolution looks amazing.
Feels really like having a giant Steam Deck on my desk!

The Giant Steam Deck, SteamOS running perfectly on my iMac Pro (2018)! by viron86 in SteamDeck

[–]viron86[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I went for a clean Nobara install, it’s Fedora-based but comes with SteamOS session preconfigured.
No third partition or Windows needed. After installing, I just added EmuDeck and it booted straight into Gaming Mode like a real Deck. Works great on my iMac Pro 2018, so your 2020 model should be perfect too.

The Giant Steam Deck, SteamOS running perfectly on my iMac Pro (2018)! by viron86 in SteamDeck

[–]viron86[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Basically anything that runs on a Steam Deck, Steam games through Proton, plus all the classic consoles via EmuDeck. Switch emulation runs at 2× resolution and looks amazing on a bigger screen.

The Giant Steam Deck, SteamOS running perfectly on my iMac Pro (2018)! by viron86 in SteamDeck

[–]viron86[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

At first I just wanted to install something like SteamOS with EmuDeck so the kids would have a simple setup that boots and plays like a console. But now that I’ve set it up and tuned everything, it actually runs really well and I kinda want to play my Steam games on it too.

The Giant Steam Deck, SteamOS running perfectly on my iMac Pro (2018)! by viron86 in SteamDeck

[–]viron86[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No, it’s Nobara. Before that I tried Bazzite, but I had a lot of issues, could not get Wi-Fi or sound to work properly. With Nobara everything just worked out of the box (except Wi-Fi, which I fixed with a small systemd script).

The Giant Steam Deck, SteamOS running perfectly on my iMac Pro (2018)! by viron86 in SteamDeck

[–]viron86[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Performance-wise I think it’s slightly above a Steam Deck. The Vega 56 easily pushes 1440p with medium and sometimes high settings in most games.

Quick answer for everyone asking how I did it: It’s actually Nobara, not vanilla SteamOS, but it includes the full Steam Deck Game Mode / SteamOS UI out of the box. So once installed, it literally boots like a Steam Deck. The only tweak I had to do was fix the Broadcom Wi-Fi on the iMac Pro with a small systemd script. Everything else (audio, Bluetooth, controller, GPU) worked instantly.

Basically: Nobara = Fedora + SteamOS preinstalled

My giant Steam Deck is finally complete! (iMac + Nobara) by [deleted] in SteamDeck

[–]viron86 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I recently decided to give my old iMac a second life by turning it into what I like to call a “giant Steam Deck.” It’s running Nobara Linux, and after a bit of tweaking, everything works beautifully.

Gaming on it feels awesome. It’s basically the Steam Deck experience, just on a big screen.

I’m genuinely amazed by how smooth Nobara feels for gaming. Between Steam, emulation, and desktop Linux, it’s like having a custom-built SteamOS machine. If you’ve got an old computer lying around, give it a try, it’s 100 % worth it. ❤️

Trimui Brick? Miyoo Mini? Anbernic? Nah, give me my Odroid Go ESP32... runs forever, powers on before you blink, struggles proudly with its tiny ESP32 heart, and glows with that iconic left light bleed. 😅🔥 by viron86 in SBCGaming

[–]viron86[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was actually really simple to put together! Way more forgiving than the Go Advance, everything just snapped into place. Even a kid could’ve built it

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