Valve has submitted a patch set for the Steam Frame, aiming to include initial hardware support for this VR headset in the Linux 7.4 mainline kernel. Since its launch in September, the device has already received support in downstream SteamOS kernel versions.
This patch set, submitted by Neil Armstrong on behalf of Valve, covers system reserved memory, voltage regulators, GPIO buttons, PMIC functions and ADC channels, USB device mode, Wi‑Fi 7, Bluetooth, I2C, and basic peripherals. The device's built-in SD card slot is also supported.
Current support is not yet feature-complete and should not be considered as providing a mature plug-and-play experience for the Steam Frame across all Linux distributions. The primary purpose of this submission is to gradually integrate key hardware support into the generic mainline kernel, laying the groundwork for future driver and platform enhancements.
Mainline support is expected to reduce adaptation efforts for Linux distributions other than SteamOS, sparing maintainers from repeatedly implementing large amounts of custom code and tools. This patch set is part of several hardware support improvements in Linux 7.4; it has only been confirmed as submitted so far, with final acceptance, full feature scope, and official support timelines for various distributions still undetermined.