THE CRUNCH
A group of developers has adapted the PS5 Linux project and Bazzite to turn the PlayStation 5 into something approximating a Steam Machine. The build uses Bazzite-deck, a variant of the Linux distribution originally made as a SteamOS alternative for x86 gaming handhelds such as the Lenovo Legion Go and ASUS ROG Ally, so it boots straight into Steam Gaming Mode on the console.
The mod inherits the limitations of the PS5 Linux loader it is built on: it only works on jailbroken consoles running firmware versions 3.00 to 13.60, with further compatibility caveats documented in the installation guide on GitHub. Beyond Steam, the handheld gaming mode and an optional KDE Plasma desktop mode give users access to other PC game libraries, including GOG and Epic Games, and could conceivably let the PS5 serve as a desktop workstation.
There is also a hardware perk. The installer can re-enable four GPU compute units that Sony disables as a binning strategy, taking the chip to its full 40-CU stack via a script from the GitHub repository. The developer says this should work on most consoles, but an unknown number will show "green dots and other artifacts", and there is no guarantee of a stable experience.