FEX-emu – Run x86 applications on ARM64 Linux devices

Post by notepad0x90 » Fri, Nov 21, 2025, 3:49 AM UTC

cultofmetatron wrote: post #4

I'n incredibly impressed by valve's commitment to playing the long game. It makes sense to have the frame by arm since the system is lighter and its clear this is just the trojan horse to get arm linux into every gamer's house. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with an arm steamdeck 1-2 version from now when the tech is ready.

Post by nialv7 » Fri, Nov 21, 2025, 3:54 AM UTC

geerlingguy wrote: post #5

open-paren wrote: post #2

> FEX allows you to run x86 applications on ARM64 Linux devices, similar to qemu-user and box64. It offers broad compatibility with both 32-bit and 64-bit binaries, and it can be used alongside Wine/Proton to play Windows games. > It supports forwarding API calls to host system libraries like OpenGL or Vulkan to reduce emulation overhead. An experimental code cache helps minimize in-game stuttering as much as possibl…

CodeWeavers' Crossover just released a Preview version for Arm that incorporates Fex and allows games like Cyberpunk 2077 to run: https://www.codeweavers.com/blog/mjohnson/2025/11/6/twist-ou... I've tested it on an Ampere workstation, and was trying it on a Pi, but it seems with Trixie, there may be some bugs with both that and box64 right now, I was having trouble with both of them.

Post by overfeed » Fri, Nov 21, 2025, 4:26 AM UTC

nullbyte808 wrote: post #19

Now we just need a decent ARM Linux laptop.

Post by scotty79 » Fri, Nov 21, 2025, 4:50 AM UTC

sitkack wrote: post #6

cultofmetatron wrote: post #4

I'n incredibly impressed by valve's commitment to playing the long game. It makes sense to have the frame by arm since the system is lighter and its clear this is just the trojan horse to get arm linux into every gamer's house. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with an arm steamdeck 1-2 version from now when the tech is ready.

Too bad Arm doesn't allow architectural licenses, because this is exactly the kind of thing Valve and the FEX developers would want to extend the ISA to support. I bet we see a RISC-V backend to FEX in the next 6 months, it probably already exists in a private repo. FEX is the shootstring, extra special discount budget (not maligning) version of Rosetta. Apple should sell Rosetta to Valve.

Post by bbminner » Fri, Nov 21, 2025, 5:03 AM UTC

notepad0x90 wrote: post #31

cultofmetatron wrote: post #4

I'n incredibly impressed by valve's commitment to playing the long game. It makes sense to have the frame by arm since the system is lighter and its clear this is just the trojan horse to get arm linux into every gamer's house. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with an arm steamdeck 1-2 version from now when the tech is ready.

Last I heard, they don't even have bosses there, a flat hierarchy. They vote on things and pick each other to work on teams and appraise performance. Perhaps that radical culture has merit to it?