SteamOS

SteamOS is a Linux distribution developed by Valve which ships with Steam integration and a controller-based UI. It's the default operating system of the Steam Deck. SteamOS is an officially supported platform of the Zaparoo Core software.

Zaparoo Core on SteamOS is still in beta and requires using the command line to set up and diagnose issues.

Install

Installing Zaparoo Core is currently a manual process and assumed on a Steam Deck. Integration with Decky Loader is planned.

1. Open Desktop Mode and a web browser.
2. Download the latest SteamOS AMD64 release of Zaparoo Core from the Zaparoo.org Downloads page.
3. Extract the included tapto binary to a folder called zaparoo in the deck user's home folder. The folder location isn't actually important as long as it's somewhere accessible by the deck user.
4. Open the Konsole terminal application and go to the folder you put the binary: cd /home/deck/zaparoo
5. Run the initial Core install: sudo ./tapto -install
6. Start the Core service: sudo systemctl start zaparoo.service

From this point, Zaparoo Core will now be running on your Steam Deck and will automatically start itself each boot. Use the Zaparoo App to connect to your Steam Deck and interact with the Zaparoo service.

If you already had a PN532-based reader plugged in before running the install command, unplug and plug it back in to make it work. ACR122U readers require rebooting once before they'll work, and are subject to the exact same compatibility issues listed on the linked page as on MiSTer.

The install command:

• Creates a new systemd service file and enables the new service.
• Adds udev rules to allow the deck user to access certain serial devices.
• Blacklists some NFC-related kernel modules to fix an issue with ACR122U readers.

To revert these changes, run the command: sudo ./tapto -uninstall

Log files and other Core data files are stored in: /home/deck/.local/share/zaparoo

Known Issues

• Insert mode does not work as there's not currently a way to tell easily when a Steam game has started/stopped or a simple way to exit a Steam game.
• Related to insert mode, the current playing media is not reporting the the Zaparoo App.
• Sometimes readers can stop working after waking the Steam Deck from sleep. Workaround is to unplug and plug the reader back in.
• Keyboard and gamepad emulation commands are not currently implemented. These still need investigation to make sure they will work.
• Installing an update for Core requires the service to be stopped (sudo systemctl stop zaparoo.service) and restarted (sudo systemctl start zaparoo.service) after replacing the file as it's locked while running.

Launchers

ID	Launch Format	Scanned Files
Steam	steam://<game ID>	All installed Steam games in all libraries.
Generic	Absolute path to file	None. Requires shell file to be added to the allow_file list in the config file.