A list of useful terms for the SteamDeck ecosystem for software and hardware.
A
AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) is an open source, high-quality solution for producing high resolution frames from lower resolution inputs.
AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) 2.0 is an open source, high-quality solution for producing high resolution frames from lower resolution inputs. It uses temporal data and optimized anti-aliasing to boost framerates in supported games while delivering similar or better image quality than native resolution without requiring dedicated machine learning hardware.
AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution 3 (FSR 3), is the latest version of the company’s upscaling tech. AMD claims it’ll provide 2x times increase in frame rate over FSR 2, boosted by the new AMD Fluid Motion Frames technology.
Arch Linux is an independently developed, x86-64 general purpose GNU/Linux distribution versatile enough to suit any role. Development focuses on simplicity, minimalism, and code elegance.
Arch Linux User Repository (AUR) is a software repository that contains thousands build scripts, for compiling nearly 68,000 installable packages from source using the Arch Linux makepkg application.
B
Bottles is a software tool that let's you run Windows software on Linux. It's built-in dependency installation system grants automatic software compatibility access.
bsnes is a Super Nintendo (SNES) emulator focused on performance, features, and ease of use.
Btrfs is a modern copy on write (CoW) filesystem for Linux aimed at implementing advanced features while also focusing on fault tolerance, repair and easy administration.
C
Citra is an open-source emulator for the Nintendo 3DS capable of playing many of your favorite games.
Chiaki is a Free and Open Source Software Client for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 Remote Play
D
Deck Verified is a program that reviews games in Steam's catalog verifying their compatibility with the Steam Deck.
Decky Loader is a plugin loader tool for the Steam Deck.
Discover is an software center that let's you manage software from multiple sources, including your operating system's software repository, Flatpak repos, the Snap store, or even AppImages from store.kde.org.
Discord is an application with modern voice & text chat app. It provides clear voice, multiple server and channel support, mobile apps, and more.
Dolphin is an emulator for two recent Nintendo video game consoles: the GameCube and the Wii.
DOSBox is an open-source DOS emulator which primarily focuses on running DOS Games.
DuckStation is an simulator/emulator of the Sony PlayStation 1 console, focusing on playability, speed, and long-term maintainability.
DXVK is a Vulkan-based translation layer for Direct3D 9/10/11 which allows running 3D applications on Linux using Wine.
Dynamic Cloud Sync is a tool that Steam will use to automatically upload all modified save game data to the cloud prior to the device entering sleep mode.
E
EmuDeck is a tool that takes care of everything for your retrogaming needs from RetroArch Configuration, Bezels, Gamepad Configuration for GameCube, Wii, Citra, SNES, etc.
EmulationStation Desktop Edition (ES-DE) is a frontend application for browsing and launching games from your multi-platform game collection.
Epic Games Store is a digital video game storefront for Microsoft Windows and macOS, operated by Epic Games.
F
Flathub](https://flathub.org/) is an app store and build service for hundreds of apps which can be easily installed on any Linux distribution.
Flatseal is a graphical utility to review and modify permissions from your Flatpak applications.
Flycast is a multi-platform Sega Dreamcast, Naomi and Atomiswave emulator derived from reicast.
G
Gamescope is a SteamOS session micro-compositing window manager formerly known as steamcompmgr.
GameHub is a unified library for all your games.
Geforce NOW is NVIDIA's Cloud Gaming Service.
GOG GALAXY is a fully optional client to install, play and update your games.
GOverlay is an open source project aimed to create a Graphical UI to manage Vulkan/OpenGL overlays. It is still in early development.
H
Heroic is an Open Source Game Launcher for Linux, Windows and macOS (for both Native and Windows Games using Crossover).
I
Itch.io Store is an app that lets you effortlessly download and run games and software from itch.io.
J
JSAUX Steam Deck Docking Station is a 6-in-1 Docking Station for Steam Deck.
K
KDE Connect is a tool that lets you easily link up your phone to your computer, your computer to your tablet; or your computer to your Steam Deck device.
KDE Plasma Desktop, is a beautiful Windows-like desktop that you use to surf the web, keep in touch with colleagues, friends and family, manage your files, enjoy music and videos; and get creative and productive at work.
L
Lutris is a gaming client for Linux. It gives you access to all your video games with the exception of the current console generation.
Luxtorpeda is a Steam Play compatibility tool to run games using native Linux engines.
M
MAME is a Arcade Machine Emulator.
MangoHud is a Vulkan and OpenGL overlay for monitoring FPS, temperatures, CPU/GPU load and more.
Mesa3D is a 3D graphics library with open-source implementations of OpenGL, OpenGL ES, Vulkan, OpenCL, and more. Mesa 23.1 comes with support for several new Vulkan extensions for the Radeon Vulkan driver (RADV) for AMD Radeon GPUs.
m64p is a Nintendo 64 Emulator.
mGBA is a new emulator for running Game Boy Advance games.
Moonlight Game Streaming is a program that let you stream from your PC games over the Internet with no configuration required.
N
NexDock is an accessory with a HDMI-in port and Type-C cable NexDock that turns the Steam Deck into a fully functional computer.
NixOS is a Linux distribution built on top of the Nix package manager. It has tools dedicated to DevOps and deployment tasks.
O
OSTree is an upgrade system for Linux-based operating systems that performs atomic upgrades of complete filesystem trees. It is not a package system; rather, it is intended to complement them. Checkout the OSTree GitHub.
P
Parsec is a video game streaming platform, which offers a wide variety of games and genres to choose from and provides a high-quality and smooth gameplay.
PCSX2 is a PlayStation 2 'emulator', a free program that tries to replicate the PlayStation 2 console to enable you to play PS2 games on your PC.
Pegasus is a cross platform, customizable graphical frontend for launching emulators and managing your game library (especially retro games) and launching them from one place.
Pacman is a utility which manages software packages in Arch Linux. It uses simple compressed files as a package format, and maintains a text-based package database (more of a hierarchy), just in case some hand tweaking is necessary.
PipeWire is a server and user space API to deal with multimedia pipelines.It provides a low-latency, graph based processing engine on top of audio and video devices that can be used to support the use cases currently handled by both pulseaudio and JACK.
PROJECT Killswitch is a custom protective case for the Steam Deck designed by dbrand.
Proton is a tool for use with the Steam client which allows games which are exclusive to Windows to run on the Linux operating system.
ProtonPlus a simple Wine and Proton-based compatiblity tools manager for GNOME. It works with Steam, Lutris, Heroic Games Launcher and Bottles.
Q
R
ReplaySorcery is an open-source, instant-replay solution for Linux.
RetroDECK is a tool that brings an environment to catalog and play your retro games directly from SteamOS and it's tailored specifically for the Steam Deck.
RetroPie is a frontend for emulators that allows you to turn your Raspberry Pi, ODroid C1/C2, or PC into a retro-gaming machine.
RetroArch is a frontend for emulators, game engines and media players. It enables you to run classic games on a wide range of computers and consoles through its slick graphical interface.
RPCS3 is an experimental open-source Sony PlayStation 3 emulator and debugger written in C++ for Windows and Linux.
ROM OSTree is a hybrid image/package system. It combines libostree as a base image format, and accepts RPM on both the client and server side, sharing code with the dnf project; specifically libdnf. Thus bringing many of the benefits of both projects together.
S
Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront from Valve.
Steam OS 3.0 is an immutable Operating System(OS) using the KDE Plasma desktop.
SteamGridDB is a huge database where you can download and share custom video game assets and personalize your gaming library.
SGDBoop is a tool that automatically applies assets from SteamGridDB directly to your Steam library with a click of a button, removing the need to download and set them manually.
Steam Remote Play Together is a steam service that let's you share your Steam local multi-player games with friends over the internet, for free.
Steamworks is a free suite of tools available to any developer to use in their game or software on Steam and the Steam Deck.
Steam Tinker Launch is a Linux wrapper tool for use with the Steam client which allows customizing and start tools and options for games quickly on the fly.
Sunshine is a Game stream host for Moonlight that is a self-hosted, low latency, cloud gaming solution with support for AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA GPUs.
T
U
Usermode FTP Server is a tool that let's you start an FTP server as user and transfer files with any FTP client.
V
Valve makers of the Steam, SteamOS, and Steam Deck.
vkd3d-proton is a fork of VKD3D, which aims to implement the full Direct3D 12 API on top of Vulkan. The project serves as the development effort for Direct3D 12 support in Proton.
W
Warpinator is a free, open-source tool for sending and receiving files between computers that are on the same network.
Waydroid is a container-based approach to boot a full Android system on a regular Linux system.
WirePlumber is a modular session / policy manager for PipeWire and a GObject-based high-level library that wraps PipeWire’s API, providing convenience for writing the daemon’s modules as well as external tools for managing PipeWire.
X
xemu is an original Xbox emulator.
Xenia is an Xbox 360 Emulator.
Y
yuzu is an experimental open-source emulator for the Nintendo Switch from the creators of Citra.
Z