Ubuntu brings stable Arm64 Steam Snap to Linux users for improved hardware gaming
Ubuntu brings stable Arm64 Steam Snap to Linux users for improved hardware gaming
Publish Date: 2026-06-03 04:30:00
Source Domain: www.neowin.net
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Canonical has promoted the Arm64 Steam Snap to the stable channel, using FEX emulation to bring PC gaming to Snapdragon and Nvidia hardware.
Jun 3, 2026 04:30 EDT
Canonical, the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution, has promoted the Arm64 Steam Snap to the Stable channel, giving gaming on the platform a bit of a boost. Before today, this version of the Snap was considered a candidate release, but now anybody can use it with confidence that it will work like other versions of the Steam Snap.
The stable version’s release follows months of testing and user feedback since the initial candidate release in January. For anyone running an Arm-based Linux system, this release will help to lower the barrier to gaming.
The firm behind Ubuntu found the following pieces of hardware to work very well with the Snap during testing:
- Nvidia DGX Spark (and GB10 devices)
- Qualcomm Snapdragon laptops (eg Lenovo Thinkpad X13s/T14s and Dell XPS 9345)
- Radxa Orion O5 and O6N single-board computers
Under the hood, this Snap uses FEX, an X86/x86-64 emulator for Arm64. Users can configure FEX’s options, including its library forwarding (“thunking”) toggles. You can also manually toggle Vulkan, DRM, and GL thunking by editing Config.json. On some hardware, such as Snapdragon and DGX Spark, this can boost game compatibility. Regarding thunking, Canonical said its functionality is heavily game and…
