Hey everyone,

It seems like many of us are running into issues with Steam Link on the Raspberry Pi 5, so I wanted to share what I’ve found and suggest some potential fixes.

The main problem appears to be the changes in Raspberry Pi OS (Bookworm), which now uses standard Linux APIs for the VideoCore GPU instead of the old proprietary APIs. This shift is causing compatibility issues with Steam Link on the Pi 5. Unfortunately, older versions of Raspberry Pi OS aren't supported on the Pi 5, so we can’t roll back to avoid these problems.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

I managed to get Steam Link installed on Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm (32-bit) by removing the requirement for libavcodec58, since Bookworm now uses libavcodec59. Steam Link launches, but it fails to stream because it requires a deprecated shared library (libcvcsm.so).
When trying to install Steam Link on the 64-bit version of Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm, it attempts to uninstall and reinstall core components of the OS, which results in a broken system.
Given these challenges, I see two potential solutions:

Update Steam Link to support the new Linux API calls used in Raspberry Pi OS Bookworm.
Release standard Linux binaries for ARM64/ARMHF so it can run natively on the Pi 5 using the new APIs.
Another option could be adding an ARM64 version to Flatpak, as it seems much of the groundwork is already in place, but the ARM64 binaries are missing.

This issue is especially frustrating for me because I transitioned to using a Raspberry Pi 5 after Samsung discontinued Steam Link on their TVs. My wife and I used it frequently for gaming, and I strongly prefer Steam Link over other alternatives. From the various posts in the forums, I know others are facing the same issue, and I’m hoping this can gain more attention.

If anyone has found a workaround or has any suggestions, I’d love to hear them!