Steam Deck Setup

The Steam Deck® is a great way to enjoy your retro game collection on the go. This guide will walk you through setting up Playback and your Operator device.

What you’ll need

• Steam Deck
• Operator device (GB Operator or SN Operator)
• USB-C cable or USB-C dock

Installing Playback

First, switch to Desktop Mode by long-pressing the power button and selecting “Switch to Desktop.”

You can use the virtual keyboard by pressing Steam + X buttons simultaneously, or connect a physical keyboard.

Download the app

1. Open Firefox (pre-installed on Steam Deck)
2. Go to epilogue.co/downloads
3. Click “Download for Linux” to download the AppImage
4. The file will be saved to your Downloads folder

Make it executable

1. Open the file manager and navigate to Downloads
2. Tap and hold the Playback AppImage file
3. Tap “More” and select “Properties”
4. Go to the “Permissions” tab
5. Enable “Is executable”
6. Click “OK”

Setting up permissions

When you first run Playback, it may not detect your Operator device. This is because SteamOS needs additional permissions to access USB devices.

Quick setup (recommended)

Open Konsole (System > Konsole from the application menu) and run:

curl -fsSL https://www.epilogue.co/linux-setup.sh | bash

The script will automatically:

• Add your user to the correct group
• Create udev rules for your Operator device
• Configure persistence through SteamOS updates

If prompted, you’ll need to set a password first by running passwd.

After the script completes, restart your Steam Deck.

Manual setup

If you prefer to set things up manually, follow these steps:

Set a password (if you haven’t already)

1. Open Konsole (System > Konsole from the application menu)
2. Type passwd and press Enter
3. Enter and confirm a new password

Grant device permissions

Add your user to the uucp group:

sudo usermod -a -G uucp deck

Create udev rules

Create a rules file for your Operator device:

sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-epilogue.rules > /dev/null << 'EOF'
# GB Operator
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="16d0", ATTR{idProduct}=="123b", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="16d0", ATTR{idProduct}=="123c", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="16d0", ATTR{idProduct}=="123d", MODE="0666"

# SN Operator
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="16d0", ATTR{idProduct}=="1416", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="16d0", ATTR{idProduct}=="1417", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="16d0", ATTR{idProduct}=="123e", MODE="0666"
EOF

Configure persistence (optional but recommended)

SteamOS updates can sometimes reset system changes. To ensure your udev rules persist through updates:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/atomic-update.conf.d
echo "/etc/udev/rules.d/99-epilogue.rules" | sudo tee /etc/atomic-update.conf.d/epilogue.conf

Apply changes and reboot

Reload the udev rules and restart your Steam Deck:

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger
sudo reboot

Using Playback on Steam Deck

After rebooting, switch back to Desktop Mode and run Playback. Your Operator device should now be detected.

Controller tips

In Desktop Mode, the Steam Deck’s buttons have predefined actions (for example, B closes windows). To use the buttons properly with Playback:

• Long-press the Menu/Start button (☰) to switch to Gamepad mode
• This allows you to use the Steam Deck controls as a game controller in Playback

Adding to Gaming Mode (optional)

To launch Playback from Gaming Mode:

1. In Desktop Mode, right-click the Playback AppImage
2. Select “Add to Steam”

3. Switch back to Gaming Mode 4. Find Playback in your library under “Non-Steam Games”

Troubleshooting

Operator not detected?

• Make sure you’ve completed the permission setup and rebooted
• Try a different USB-C port or cable
• If using a dock, try connecting directly to the Steam Deck

Operator stopped working after a SteamOS update?

• Re-run the setup script: curl -fsSL https://www.epilogue.co/linux-setup.sh | bash
• The script will reconfigure permissions and persistence settings

No audio?

• Check that the Steam Deck’s volume is turned up
• In Playback settings, verify the correct audio output is selected