So for all you people out there with a uConsole, have you managed to get Steam running on it? Yes i know it probably wont be powerful enough to play recent games on it but maybe some old or less demanding stuff. Tell us all your experiences on the subject good or bad.
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Straight forward. No
If you realy realy want it and have spare time. Maybe.
Most (all?) modules for uconsole, I know off, are ARM processor based.
So you would need something like box86 to get steam running at all.
A quick google for “box86 steam” showed some promising results, but I never tried it. I dont know if I ever receive my uconsole 
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The closest you’ll get is running steamlink on the uConsole to stream from your actual computer.
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There is the R01, which is RISC-V, but that’s even less likely to run Steam any time soon. (It is a pretty cool chip, though.)
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Not sure if it works since this was posted or what would be involved, but this post on Gaming on Linux where they talk about launching Steam through Box86 and Box64 makes me think some flavor of fuckery may be possible?
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I was just coming here to say this. USE BOX 64 IF YOU RUN 64-BIT. Compiling from source is highly recommended with DYNAREC or whatever enabled along with the relevant SoC configuration that you are using. This is the best way to do it but don’t expect more rendering power than what you have.
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If you have games that don’t have Steam DRM (so you can run just the game and not Steam) and use SDL (because Box64 will use your system SDL instead of emulating it), your chances are pretty good of being able to run those games. Performance issues will vary.
Basically, if you can avoid running Steam, you should try that instead. Getting Steam to work is a lot more trouble than the games alone.
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I’ve just found this video which seems to pretty well outline how to get Steam running on ARM, and the workarounds needed, I don’t have my uConsole as yet, but will definitely be trying some of these methods when I do.
As an update to this thread, I got Steam installed using BOX64 and PiAPPS
It works, however I am yet to get a game to launch, and the startup time each time I launch steam is ~5 minutes before the app is started up…
Will continue to try, and upload some photos in an edit.
This post took wayyyy too long to type, but it was sent from the uConsole 
So here is my journey getting it here and yh i would advise putting it in small view mode also in settings change the compatibility to force proton and then on each individual game change the compatibility to proton too. This wont work on all games but ive found on games from 2015 and before seem to work as well as low demanding games.
Also mind listing the games that work on that thread too for others to know what works.
I had it working using Box86 and Box64 on the Clockwork Pi CM4 distro. You shouldn’t expect to run many modern games, but I managed to get Dungeons of Dredmor, Into The Breach and Avernum working. The trick is to get Steam to run in Small Mode so it’s taking up fewer resources.
I followed the instructions for compiling Box86 and Box64 and configuring Steam on the github page: GitHub - ptitSeb/box86: Box86 - Linux Userspace x86 Emulator with a twist, targeted at ARM Linux devices
Here are some pics from my phone.
I did not get the Steam version of Dwarf Fortress running, unfortunately.
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Just got all the fallout games up to new vegas and terraria on sale, just installing them to see if they are playable
Was soooo close to playing fallout 3 but it kicks you out once it opens the starting menu 
(something about scanning for drivers, might be a possible fix but i dont know)
Fallout works in classic mode, a tiny bit laggy on camera pans and some cut scenes but other than that its a smooth play with the added benefit of having a hand warmer in your hands
Terraria works well, loading has some lag on loading and pretty sluggish gameplay (havent played around with settings yet) but menus are buttery smooth. First initial boot of the game didnt work but the secound one ran fine.
Fallout new vegas is the same story as 3, hopefully either there will be a patch or someone figures out a fix for these 2 games
Both fallout 2 work like the first fallout, just make sure to run in classic mode when booting the game up. Tactics… dont really know why but i get a black screen on bootup but theres still audio, if you have this issue press escape to close the game.
Windowed mode for windows 8 works for tactics
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Have you overclocked your uConsole at all? I’m still waiting for mine but I’ve over clocked my devterm and have been able to get some better performance. cant do much because of the thermals on it. The uconsole looks like it can handle some more heat dissipation. I’ve got some cooling ideas too for when I get mine.
Yup basic 2000/700/6, if you overclock yours ill recommend doing the battery fix or your uconsole will die quickly, but yh it can handle the heat, i havent seen it go above 55°c
I’ve got one of these sitting in my desk in 2mm and some thermal putty im hopping will fit. I want to max the cm4 out.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256802749172208.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2usa4itemAdapt
I also have one of these from another project for if i make a custom back plate to fit my radios.
I’m also plan on cannibalizing my devterm battery tray and doing a flat lipo battery setup to fill out the space and give me more juice.
So with the heatsink fan, you might not really need it if you dont mind the warmth, the back panel acts like a pretty good heatsink as is. Also might be hard to find a place for it inside the uconsole as well as plugging the fan in for power, maybe you could have it on the outside just to cool down the backpanel. And the battery idea seems great, theres a little gap bellow the battery too so might be able to squeeze another lipo battery.
the heatsink w/fan is only if i need to print a back with more room ill make it with room for that heatsink. i have a sdr and lora that i wanna fit inside the uconsole, i’ve got a uhub so i have a internal usb that im going to break out. hopefully i can get it to fit in with the stock back.
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Wish you luck man keep us posted on your venture
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You were not. I don’t think the CM4 or A06 even has enough RAM to actually load Box86, Box64, Steam and Fallout 3 at the same time, which is probably why it crashed after the splash screens. The original Half-Life will run well on a Pi 4. Morrowind will run decently. Unfortunately that is the upper bound of what you can expect to play on these boards.
You’ll have a good time with most DOS games from the early-to-mid 90s, and some recent indie 2D games on Steam that also happen to run well on old phone hardware. You shouldn’t expect a 3D game that was on the Xbox 360 to work at all.
Yh saying i got close was a wrong choice of wording