Valve adds CD-ROM drive support to Steam Frame kernel, took less than ten minutes
Valve practically just flipped a switch to give gamers the ability to read optical drives directly from the Steam Frame.
A Steam Frame user requested the ability to utilize an external optical drive with their headset, and Valve added the feature just a day after a developer saw the post. The user, Aiodensghost, expressed their desire to watch a movie on the go and install abandonware from 2006 on their device. However, the Steam Frame couldn't power the player or read the disc due to lacking drivers.
Valve developer gaberowe acknowledged the request a day later and promptly added the feature in under ten minutes. The commit (b68e4a1) was pushed to the deckard-linux-no-oopsies GitHub repository, which is used in SteamOS ARM for the Steam Frame. Although this doesn't guarantee optical drive support in the next update, it demonstrates that Valve developers respond to gamers' requests.
Users who want the feature immediately can build and install the modified kernel themselves. The Steam Frame is primarily a streaming device, but it can also be used for standalone gaming. Enabling external CD-ROM drive support would let users read CDs directly from their headset, rather than needing another device to stream the disc's contents.
Written by urgent.news from Tom's Hardware's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
