TL;DR: I read the JSAUX pixel matrix faceplate's flash chip directly. No file system, no wear leveling, every new picture, brightness change and built-in pick rewrites the same spots. Their own clock and stats screens send a new picture every second, which at a typical chip's rating is about 28 hours of use. Don't buy one until JSAUX releases the firmware or ships a fix, and if you have one, stay off those screens.

This is the third one of these, so quick recap. In my first post I was pretty stoked. I'd taken it apart, written a Decky plugin for it, and figured anything I couldn't do yet was just stuff I hadn't figured out, and that it'd all get way cooler once JSAUX posted the source like the product page kind of promises ("supports open-source code"). I bought it because like pretty much every other open hardware thing I own, I figured I'd eventually write my own firmware and make it do whatever I want. I also said whether all the flash writing wears it out "depends on firmware nobody can see yet".

In the second one I hit a wall. Controller chip with the markings sanded off, no bootloader on any pad, a command that looks a hell of a lot like a firmware loader, and support telling me they're "unable to disclose specific information at this time." JSAUX then replied on r/JSAUX that "static images and the app's built-in displays don't require flash writes", that only GIFs over 20 KB use flash, and that "the current hardware doesn't support firmware updates." A few days later they announced the app gets open-sourced once Steam approves it. Just the app.

Well my clip finally showed up from China, so last night I hooked the 2 MB flash chip up to a Raspberry Pi and dumped it before and after every single command I could send the panel. So now I've actually seen the flash. Short version, it's pretty bad.

The "static images don't write flash" thing just isn't true. Every new picture you send gets written to the flash chip, static or animated, any size, and it always erases the same few spots starting at the same addresses. Changing the brightness rewrites the settings area. Picking one of the built-in animations rewrites it too, and makes the panel forget the picture it had, so going back to it is another full write. There's no wear leveling at all, nothing spreads it around. And all of its settings live in one sector that gets rewritten on every upload, every brightness change and every switch to a built-in. When it can't read or write its settings there anymore, does it adjust? Does it just die? Who knows! (Credit where it's due, a failed or corrupted upload never touches the old picture, so they got that part right.)

To be fair, plenty of cheap gadgets rewrite the same flash sector forever and it doesn't really matter because they do it a few times a day. This one ships with official software that redraws the clock and system stats screens as a brand new picture and sends it about once a second (the clock has a blinking colon and a seconds marker, so every one of those is a new picture and the panel can't just skip it). Flash like this is typically rated around 100,000 writes. I couldn't find a datasheet for this exact chip so that's an assumption, but at 100k that's roughly 28 hours of running their clock or stats screen. Chips usually outlast their rating, so think of that as a floor more than a death date, and what wears out is where it keeps the picture and settings, not necessarily the whole panel... but it's the same few spots getting hammered every second and nothing about the design accounts for it.

The obvious fix is firmware that lets you draw on the display directly without saving every frame. I'd love to write it. I've been working with the GabeCubeAura dev for a while now (I've got a pile of PRs in there) and we've been going back and forth on what to even do about this, because right now the answer for anything live on the faceplate is basically "use it less". The guy who made OpenRGB wants it in OpenRGB too, but in his words "having it save every frame to flash is too limiting to be useful."

So I went after the firmware. I put a debug probe on every test pad on the board I could reach and nothing answers. I haven't been able to confirm a lock, but it looks exactly the way a permanently locked chip would: no debug interface answers on any test pad, and the markings were sanded off so you can't look up what it is. It's possible it's just a really cheap chip with nothing to lock. It's also possible they locked it, which is literally just a checkbox when it gets flashed at the factory. Given the sanded chip and how weird they've been about sharing source, I'd say that is very much on the table.

And "the firmware can't be updated"? I don't buy it. There's a command (0x03) the official app never sends that accepts a whole data transfer and pops up a "download failed" icon when it times out. That has every sign of a firmware upload path. If they really can't update it, the units already out there never get a fix for the wear. If they can, it's on them to ship one if they won't release the source.

So here's what I'm asking JSAUX for, and why I'm posting here instead of emailing them again:

1. Publish the serial protocol. I already reversed most of it (PROTOCOL.md), it costs them nothing.
2. Release the app source like they said they would. Steam approval has nothing to do with putting code on GitHub.
3. Release the firmware, or at the very least ship an update with a frame command that doesn't write to flash, and a way to install it before these self destruct.

If you've got one of these and want it to last, please say something to JSAUX, in their sub, through support, wherever. Until then, if you use their app I'd stay off the clock and system stats screens. Static art and the built-in animations are fine, and my Pixel Faceplate plugin only sends a new picture when you launch a game or go back to the menu.

Everything I measured, with the dumps and how to repeat it, is here: github.com/hodapp/pixel-faceplate/tree/main/flash. I invite anyone who wants to check my work or thinks I'm being dramatic to take a look.

Anyway, I'd honestly love to be wrong about any of this. If someone from JSAUX wants to tell me how it actually works, or better yet, release some source... I'm all ears.

We lost our apartment to a fire, taking the first steps without a desk and without a PC. The Steam Machine brings a lot of joy on the couch. Star Wars Galactic Racer is much more fun than CS 2 with mobile phone internet. My little companion during a tough time hahaha. Everything we have was given to us by friends and acquaintances. Enjoy your desks and office chairs, and get yourselves good insurance. The little cube brings me a lot of joy, even though you have to take some time to set it up properly so it can shine. I highly recommend the boot animation with the laughing captain—it always cheers me up

Not sure if I like it. Sure tight fit, actually put contact paper on the frame to make sure it didn’t scratch.

Steam recently added custom screensavers to SteamOS Gaming Mode and Big Picture on desktop. That gave me the idea of using animated SteamGridDB artwork to show games from my library while the Steam Machine is idle.

That’s what Steam Animated Screensaver does. You pick some games, choose artwork from SteamGridDB and install it into Steam. You can prepare a bunch of games at once, swap animations, add a cover next to the title and choose between the original framing, 16:9 or 16:10.

Steam plays the screensaver itself. Once it’s installed, you can close the app. No Decky needed, and playback works offline. You’ll need a free SteamGridDB API key to get artworks.

I’m also planning to integrate this into GabeCubeAura, including the LED bar and an artwork on the JSAUX faceplate, without needing a separate screensaver app running in the background. That part is still to come (this week-end I think).

There are builds for SteamOS Gaming Mode and for Steam’s Big Picture mode on Linux, Windows and Mac. I’ve mostly tested it on my Steam Machine and MacBook Air, so feedback from Windows and Linux users would help a lot. The video was recorded on the MacBook Air.

If anyone wants to contribute, I’d be happy to have some help. Animation smoothness in particular could use more work. Some SteamGridDB animations are already a bit choppy, and it really shows on a big screen.

GitHub and downloads

PS: the music of the clip is Song Of The Forge by Scott Buckley

I haven't seen anyone with the same issue yet and I wonder if others have that too, so here's me documenting it. My 2 Tb Steam machine shut down suddenly while I was playing a game yesterday. Nothing was on screen, no warning beforehand.

I unplugged the power cable and plugged it back in. The moment I did, there was a loud pop and magic smoke came out of the unit, from the power supply area.

The device has been used normally, on a standard wall outlet, in a ventilated space. I live in Paris, power is super stable at my home, and I've never had that issue with any device I own. It looks like the PSU may have been a dud.

I just contacted Valve's support for an RMA, they haven't replied yet.

Anyone else in that situation?

Added a decal and sticker to my 512GB Steam Machine in honor of my favorite video game (and Valve's first product).

Lambda decal and Black Mesa asset tag sticker are from eBay. The camera makes the lambda decal look better than it is; in reality it has a matte finish and more of a darker, burnt orange color. I would have preferred a glossier finish and brighter orange; maybe I'll re-do it someday.

Light bar settings are: Solid effect, Orange color, 25% Brightness. Setting the brightness lower results in a nice deep neon orange color.

I honestly don't know if it's some software update that did it or if it's the recent update of my Steam controller, but at least twice in the last 3 days I've put the Machine to sleep and It wakes up immediately. I have to invoke the Sleep command again and then it stays asleep.

Anyone else experiencing this?

The performance drop when upscaling from 1080p to 4K compared to simply outputting at native 1080p is far from ideal right now.

Is it a realistic future for upscaling methods to significantly reduce this performance overhead, making 4K output more viable on relatively modest hardware? Or are we approaching a point where the limitations are primarily hardware-related, meaning software improvements alone won’t make a substantial difference? (Thinking of 8GB vram limitation)

I’m curious whether this is a realistic possibility, or if the performance gap is something we’ll simply have to live with due to the hardware’s limitations.

Hey Fam! It's my 30th anniversary and my wife bought me a steam machine. I wanna return rhe favor. The only Videogames she likes are racing games, so I'm gonna get her Forza. But I also wanna get her a steering wheel. Looking for a wheel with pedals that costs roughly around $100. Anyone have experiences with ones that definitely work with steam? Thanks all!

Hello!
I am setting up a shipment with a post office but I don’t have the package yet.

Does anyone have the box dimensions (cm) of the 512 version with controller. And also weight in kg?

Edit: typo

What do you think people.

Steam deck for a long time didn't have unique status icon showing to your friends that you play on steam deck. But eventually we got such icon. Is there any chance for steam machine to get its own unique status icon later?

I updated to the latest beta 3.9.3 and decky 3.2.10 pre 1 is not loading. I have uninstalled decky and reinstalled it but the issue remains. I am assuming I need to wait for an update version of decky?

From what I can determine if you want to put in two RAM sticks instead of the one 16GB it comes with, you need to use two with the same frequency 5600 and same size GB, or you will actually make it worse than just the base 16GB it came with. So you can do 2x 8GB, 2x16GB, or even 2x32GB hypothetically, and any of these will get you dual channel. Does this sound right?

It did this like a couple days ago and idk how to get it to revert to normal.

EDIT: I had to re download decky and go into CSS and toggle off all the modifications I had. It's weird that Decky was not installed but kept all the modifications.

Problem solved, thanks everyone!

Updated my SM this morning (about 3 hours ago in the UK) and suddenly games are hitting much higher frames at 4K though I’m unsure if it’s just the FPS counter that’s bugged.

A few examples:

Valheim at 4k with everything on max (minus draw distance) was running at about 45-50 and it’s now 70-90.

Diablo 2R on 4K max settings was at about 45 and now around 80.

Belmont’s Curse at 4k hovered around 70-80 but now it’s 110ish.

I didn’t get time to test more demanding games but it was hard to tell whether it was the FPS counter being bugged because they all seemed to be playing at the FPS it showed rather than some weird frame gen thing.

Edit - found the issue. I feel like an idiot. Even though I don’t use it I’ve tried Decky LSFG-VK on a few games and somehow after the beta update this morning it had enabled itself on the games with the run command.

It’s pure coincidence that the games I checked this morning were ones I’d tested Decky LSFG on. The only anomaly is Belmonts curse, I’ve no idea why that seems to be performing better that when I first played it.

Was just having a little browse outside my local CeX and I was surprised to see it just sat there, I wonder what made them trade it already…

I have this living room set up. The performance boost you can get not worrying about 1440p or greater resolution is sooooo worth it. I know before I got my steam machine I was worried about how I was going to deal with having to potentially drop to 1080p (haven’t gamed on 1080p in years)

My main PC is a 4070 super build and I’ve been loving Control Resonant on it and was worried once I tried it on Steam Machine it would be vastly inferior - but steady 60fps medium settings and doesn’t dip during the insane combat moments.

Loving my first experience with the steam machine so far.

Just got my steam machine, 512 w/controller and I already had one controller. I have no problems with pairing either to the external puck when plugged in, but can't get either paired with the internal pluck. What am I missing?

Anyone else’s Steam Machine randomly turning their TV on while left running? Nobody is touching the controller. CEC is enabled, but all four power-sync options are off.

SteamOS 3.8.28, Steam client 1791918634, LG C4. Seems to have started after the October 13 update.

Filed a bug report with the logs/details: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/issues/2942

I haven't used my steam machine for like a week and now after booting it up, it just hangs at the initializing "Logging into steam" message in middle of screen. I tried to unplug it and leave it unplugged for 5 mins then retry again and it still won't get past this screen. I tried it near my wifi that it normally connects to as well as away from it trying to get it to time out or something. Still no change even after waiting like 15+ minutes. It's no longer usable, anyone have a trick or something to get past this error?

The most jarring thing about PC Gaming that I’ve realized now that I play with the Steam Machine in the living room, is the lack of split screen multiplayer games.

i’ve been gaming mostly on the switch and switch 2 for the past 7-8 years, and now that I’m PC, i realize how many games lack local multiplayer, co-op, local splitscreen + online

i think and understand that it’s probably because traditionally most pc gamers are desk bound therefor not really suitable for local multiplayer, but now that PC gaming can be accessible from the living room, I hope developers realize how important of a feature this will become in the future. (And that future is now for me)

like first of all, crazy that there are no other games in existence other than mario kart that let’s you do splitscreen online multiplayer, as in, me and my girlfriend racing against others online.

i wanted to get Halo and play splitscreen campaign, only to find out that the new halo remasters don’t feature local co-op, only the console versions?? Even Gears of War doesn’t have it!!

I wanted to get the new star wars galactic racer game, that one too, A RACING GAME, doesn’t feature local muktiplayer!??

Even slay the spire 2! It features ONLINE multiplayer, but not local??? Which is crazy because its multiplayer is based off of the board game adaptation of slay the spire 1. So I really don’t understand why they couldn’t enable local multiplayer for STS2??

i just recently got into rally racing, all of the modern rally games lack local multiplayer as well!! (EA WRC 2024, AC Rally)

i’m browsing splitscreen games category available on Steam, and the selection is absolutely abysmal. I’ve already played the big ones like split fiction and portal and overcooked and etc

anyway, I’m just trying to drum up some noise and support for more local co-op, multiplayer, and splitscreen online multiplayer please!!