Plasma-Bigscreen for TV (Desktop) Mode

https://sh.itjust.works/post/50155563

Plasma-Bigscreen for TV (Desktop) Mode - sh.itjust.works

I like to keep bigscreen mode primarily for games, but I find the desktop mode is not ideal when using from the TV even with a Steam Controller to use media streaming apps (Firefox progressive web apps [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pwas-for-firefox/], x86_64 Waydroid Aurora/F-Droid apps, and native Discover Store apps), and adjust other settings. The answer to this pain-point is Plasma Bigscreen [https://plasma-bigscreen.org/]. It has a Android TV like interface, and works well with controllers and remotes (FYI, the most reliable one I’ve tested [https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0B4DMX32L/], sold under a variety of brands). It’s easy to switch between the regular Desktop Mode and Bigscreen from the sddm login screen, it’s just a dropdown. Someone recently gave it some much needed love [https://espi.dev/posts/2025/07/plasma-bigscreen/] to bring to QT6, but it could use some additional contributors to bring it to where it needs to be, hopefully in time for the Steam Machine launch. If you want the “stable” QT5 version, it is available in the AUR as: plasma-bigscreen But it does not work perfectly. I am staking my hopes in the next version. If you want try the latest, help with filing bugs (always appreciated), or contribute code, the QT6 version which I find more reliable in some ways, less in others, and associated dependencies are: plasma-bigscreen-git plasma-remotecontrollers-git qt6-virtualkeyboard - Gitlab [https://invent.kde.org/plasma/plasma-bigscreen] - Bugzilla [https://bugs.kde.org/] (select Plasma Bigscreen) One key thing that needs fixing, is since Mycroft voice control closed down, OVOS [https://www.openvoiceos.org/] has continued the voice assistant codebase and skills library, but Bigscreen needs OVOS modules placed in where previously Mycroft was used. Definitely helpful for searching shows/movies with controllers/remotes that have a microphone.

Been waiting for this to be downloadable for a long time. Are you saying this is available via the AUR? I may have to install Arch on my media raspberry pi units.
Best way is to build from source, which is what I’m doing for my Pi, as I’m using Rasbian. I would love if someone CI/CD packaged builds for Debian Sid, but yes it’s been setup here for Arch-based distros.
AUR (en) - plasma-bigscreen-git

SUSE’s Open Build System can build for basically all distros. If you’re up to the task you can use that to build packages.
Didn’t know that. Go OpenSUSE!
It will be awesome when it is released
I edited my post to clarify. The older table QT5 version is available today to use, but there are some known issues. It will be great when the QT6 version is stable though, I agree

Yeah, I hope the qt6 version comes to the Fedora repos soon. Was really disappointed when the qt5 version seemed discontinued for a long time.

Maybe this will end up on the Steam Machine as the primary non-Steam UI? Would explain why there is renewed developer interest.

From what I can tell Valve has no interest in it yet. Recent updates have been from individuals who want to ensure it doesn’t get left behind.
Couldn’t find it in a quick search for nixos. Is there some option I missed?
It looks like the QT 6 version isn’t available in nixpkgs yet, but the QT 5 version is. You’d need to explicitly install plasma 5 though, since nixos uses plasma 6 by default.
NixOS Search

I checked with Debian Sid, one of the reasons it is not there yet is they haven’t fully migrated to QT6 including Plasma, so hopefully it means there is less friction to get it in NixOS
Stumbled upon this a while ago, because I was looking for an open source alternative to Apple TV and Google TV. I’m really hoping that this will be a viable option in the near future!
I would love if it could display in-progress shows and play next right in the interface, though it would require native app integration, perhaps there’s also a way via Waydroid or Android Translation Layer (ATL) by hooking up to those existing APIs
It’s getting better!
You mentioned using Waydroid on a Linux Media Center PC. Have you tried using the Jellyfin Android app in this manner?

I have not, but that is a great idea given there are definitely more TV Optimizations in their dedicated Android TV app than switching the interface to TV on the native GNU/Linux app. I don’t see any reason why it may not at least play content, but not sure about things like HDR.

I wish they just had one standard binary that adapts better.

What would be the best way to run this on a rpi5?
Easiest way at the moment for the latest QT6 version would be install an Arch-based distro like PostmarketOS and install plasma-bigscreen-git
Maybe I’m missing something but what’s the connection to SteamOS? Did I accidentally skip a paragraph that explains how to use it on Steam Deck?