We're all here. In the early hours of the Spanish morning, Valve published a tweet from the account @OnDeck in which the news is given: all the drivers of Windows for the Steam Deck OLED are now available. The last to arrive is the third audio module, which makes the Deck's speakers output sound. Until now we could only hear something if it was via Bluetooth, the headphone input or HDMI.
Is it time to install Windows or create a drive with Microsoft's system? It's time to do some testing, at most. There's still one piece missing to complete the puzzle. Or at least for those who want to stay away from unstable SteamOS versions. Even though they are already All drivers available, Bluetooth connections will not work. For this to work, you need to have SteamOS BIOS 3.6.9, currently in the beta channel.
Hi all, we've just uploaded the third audio driver for Windows on Steam Deck OLED – this one enables the speakers, so audio should all be up and running. You can find drivers and instructions at the link below:https://t.co/zjU2UbJhz8 pic.twitter.com/kVDTO4w7ON
- Steam Deck (@OnDeck) September 4, 2024
UPDATED: Apparently, although Valve doesn't say so on their support page, for the OLED speaker to work it is also necessary to use SteamOS BIOS >=3.6.9.
Bluetooth still won't work on Windows
As they warn in the support page, the latest BIOS is required, which is currently at SteamOS 3.6.9 beta. If you want to use Bluetooth connections on a Steam Deck OLED running Windows 10/11, you will need to do the following:
- Go to update settings.
- Choose the beta channel and install SteamOS >=3.6.9.
- Now you can install Windows or use a To Go version. This way you can use a full version of Windows.
For those of us who prefer to leave the experiments to the soda mixes, we'll have to be patient. No information has been released on when SteamOS 3.6.x will hit the stable channel, but it could be a long time from now. There are still things to be polished, not to mention rumored features, such as waydroid. Although they could implement it later, a rumor claims that SteamOS 3.6.x has not been released because Valve wants deploy your version of WaydroidIt is also true that those on the beta channel claim that it still has a lot to improve, not to say something uglier.