Linux on ARM
What the Punktfunk app decodes in hardware on ARM Linux devices — Steam Frame, Raspberry Pi 5, Rockchip boards, Snapdragon laptops, Apple silicon — and what it decodes on the processor instead.
Find what your ARM Linux device decodes in hardware, and what to expect where it can't.
Install the app as on any Linux system. It needs no ARM-specific setup: it asks the device's video decoder what it takes and tells the host, so the host picks a codec the device decodes in hardware.
What decodes where
| Device | Decodes in hardware |
|---|---|
| Steam Frame | H.264 and HEVC; AV1 and 10-bit where the headset's system offers them |
| Snapdragon X laptops | H.264 and HEVC |
| Raspberry Pi 5 | HEVC, 8-bit |
| Rockchip RK3588 boards | HEVC, 8-bit |
| Apple silicon (Asahi Linux) | Nothing: H.264 on the processor |
Three limits come from the device's Linux drivers, not from Punktfunk:
- Raspberry Pi 5 decodes HEVC on Raspberry Pi OS's kernel only, and every frame is copied once on its way to the screen.
- Rockchip RK3588 needs kernel 7.0 or newer. Vendor kernels have no decoder the app can use.
- Snapdragon X laptops lose their decoder on installs that boot Linux as a hypervisor.
NVIDIA Jetson boards are not supported.
HDR and 10-bit need a decoder with a 10-bit output. Where the device has none, the app leaves them out of what it asks the host for, whatever the HDR setting says. Processor decoding is 8-bit only; see the Support matrix.
Check which decoder runs
The stats overlay names the decoder at its Detailed level. native-v4l2 is the
device's hardware decoder; software is the processor.
To pin the hardware decoder or name its device node, set
PUNKTFUNK_DECODER or PUNKTFUNK_V4L2_DEVICE.
Troubleshooting
The overlay says software on a device with a hardware decoder
The app found no decoder node it can open. Check that ls /dev/video* /dev/media* lists devices
and that your user may open them; on most systems that means being in the video group.
The Steam Frame's controllers do nothing
Outside Steam the headset's controllers are not a gamepad. Add Punktfunk to Steam as a non-Steam game and start it from your library; Steam then passes them on as one.