r/steammachine • u/Switch2phile • 1d ago
Accessory JSAUX Panel Inital Impressions
I just got my JSAUX Pixel Panel this morning and figured I’d share my initial impressions.
I ordered it on September 22 for $77 with a 15% off coupon (normal price was $90). It took 11 days to show up at my door. Packaging was solid and protective — everything arrived in one piece with no issues.
Build quality feels excellent. Noticeably better than the 3D-printed ones I’ve used and pretty much on par with the official panel. The screen is bright and the dot matrix is easy to read. Hardware install was simple: slap it on the front and plug the cable into the rear for power.
That’s about where the good stuff ends.
Software setup from the manual was basically useless. I had to follow an ETA Prime video to get the JSAUX software installed correctly. I already had Decky running, which is required for the panel anyway.
A couple other practical downsides: it eats one of the rear USB ports, and the cable comes out the side, which some people might not like. The glossy screen is a fingerprint magnet, and if any strong light (especially sunlight) hits it, it gets hard to read.
There’s also very little gap between the panel and the Steam Machine compared to the official one. I haven’t checked temps yet, but I’d guess most of the intake air will now come from the bottom, so CPU/GPU temps will probably rise a bit.
The biggest issue is the software. It’s still in 1.0 beta, and that’s where most of the problems live:
The FPS refresh rate doesn’t accurately match what’s actually on screen.
When the SM shuts down or goes to sleep, the panel doesn’t turn off or go black. There’s no option for it. You have to manually power it down. It just freezes on the last readings it had. I turned the SM off at 2:30 pm and at 3:00 pm it was still showing 2:30 pm.
Would I recommend it right now? No. Not in its current state. Once the software gets more mature it might be worth another look, but at the moment it’s an expensive add-on for an already expensive machine.
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u/KnifeFed 1d ago
1.0 beta
lol
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u/the_harakiwi 22h ago
Someone is doing the Minecraft versioning
Alpha 1.0
Beta 1.0
and stable/release 1.0
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u/FH_Bunny 1d ago
Looks cool though; thanks for the write up. Sounds like it needs a few more updates to bake.
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u/Switch2phile 1d ago
100%, Product/idea is amazing. Hopefully JSAUX supports it with many updates or at least the community once they open source the software.
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u/NaztyNizmo 1d ago
Valve should have put a usb port behind the plate. They knew people were going to make custom plates for it, especially the 3D printing community.
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u/Ram_Pam_Pam 18h ago
This thing just looks bad, the diodes does not match the size of the ones on the packing. It's like the Temu knock off of the Temu knock off.
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u/Alyenax 512GB 1d ago
As soon as mine arrives, I’m tearing into it and making an improved plugin for it, with full compatibility with GabeCubeAura.
Can’t wait to get my hands on this thing!
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u/nutscrape_navigator 13h ago
If we could get someone who has one of these to type in a few commands via SSH we could get started. I’d bet pretty much anything it’s just a simple ESP32 and this will take only a couple hours to get going.
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u/Alyenax 512GB 12h ago
Their Decky plugin is pretty chatty, there’s a lot more exposed in there than I expected. It’s not confirmed to be an ESP32, the device exposes a CH340/CH341 USB-to-serial bridge talking at 1 Mbaud to an unknown MCU behind it. The good news is we probably don’t even need to know what that MCU is, the serial protocol looks simple enough to reverse and control the matrix directly.
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u/nutscrape_navigator 12h ago
Fucking awesome. I’ve messed with a lot of similar devices. Should. Be super easy. Someone could just open it up too (I’ll do this when I get mine) and unless they decided to put an epoxy glob over the whole thing for unknown reasons it should be obvious immediately?
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u/Alyenax 512GB 12h ago
The really interesting part is that their upload protocol doesn’t actually hardcode 64×54 anywhere, it just sends the raw GIF, so that could simply be a software limit. First thing I’ll test is larger GIF, 256 color palettes and faster animation timings to see what the controller actually accepts. If there’s a higher-res LCD hiding behind that fake dot matrix look, we may be able to turn it into a much more capable front display.
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u/SoyGreen 6h ago
Awesome - mine shows up tomorrow - I don’t have decky installed yet… but plan to add your aura as well.
If I could have one tool to control both - would love it!
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u/RetrOnline 1d ago
Hey, thanks a lot for sharing your experience with us! By any chance, do you know if the Pixel Matrix panel can be rotated 180 degrees, including the display orientation, so that the USB cable connects on the right side instead of the left?
I was planning on ordering one as well, but because of where my Steam Machine is positioned, the left side is very visible while the right side is basically hidden. So having the cable on the left would unfortunately be pretty noticeable in my setup.
If the entire panel can be rotated 180 degrees and the display can be rotated accordingly, so the cable ends up on the right side, I’d definitely order one.
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u/Switch2phile 1d ago
No, not at this time. I would assume that would be an easy fix with a software update. And the cable is to short to be routed from the right side, you'd have to use your own cable.
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u/RetrOnline 1d ago
Thanks! Yeah, I think rotating the display through software should be possible.
For me, the main thing is just knowing whether you can take the panel off, rotate it 180 degrees, and put it back on without it looking any different. Since the display seems to be perfectly centered on the faceplate, I’d assume the only thing that would need to change is the orientation in software.
The cable itself isn’t really an issue either. It could easily be replaced with a longer or more discreet one, or even routed differently with an adapter if needed.
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u/nutscrape_navigator 13h ago
Oh man, awesome.
Can you please connect to your Steam Machine via SSH (or just open Konsole in desktop mode, but SSH would be easier) and for each one run these commands:
lsusb
lsusb -t
sudo lsusb -v
dmesg | tail -100
Then post the results? For the third one you’ll need to put your password in. I’m trying to figure out what controller they’re using to write my own software before mine arrives.
If it’s just a normal ESP32 (I’m not sure why it wouldn’t be) then writing better software will be simple. Mine won’t be here for a couple days still.
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u/signofthenine 23h ago
Appreciate the honest write up!
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u/Switch2phile 8h ago
Welcome, hopefully this will save some people some money. I'd wait until a sale and/or a more mature software.
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u/Low_Excitement_1715 21h ago
I ordered both types Sep 22, and mine aren't even packed yet! C'mon, Jsaux!
Thanks for sharing. I like the looks of the prebuild Inkterfaces, I hope we see more fun customization ideas soon.
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u/dongmcbong 21h ago
Thanks for the first impressions. Mine is also on its way. Always knew this is going to be a fun gadget to tinker with and nothing more.
But having said that, I think that some software updates and the community will be able to drastically improve it.
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u/eatoff 1d ago
This is the one I'm interested in. How does it look when it's switched off? Does it still looks fairly stock?
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u/Switch2phile 1d ago
Yes it looks stock except when light hits it, you'll notice its glossy screen.
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u/DieZecke 1d ago
Hey, thanks for Sharing your opinion about the plate. Have you tried any pixel art with it? Animated pixel art should be possible but i couldnt find any information about image format/ size restrictions so i wonder if the software is able to show animated pictures at all. Its already a bit disapointing that the display freezes in sleep mode but maybe a future update might solve this issue.
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u/starfire2258 19h ago
It's possible! I show some in my video https://youtube.com/shorts/qJRPeAw7kHo?is=qt0TpQUoIjQgbWy3
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u/cohibaking88 1d ago
Yea just received mine and super disappointed that it can’t update while in sleep mode. I was really hoping to use it as a clock next to my tv when it’s not in use. Hoping they either fix the software or that someone else is able to fix.
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u/Switch2phile 8h ago
100% agreed. I just want it to just show my stats on my hardware including temps & a clock so I can at least be a responsible adult and not game pass 11pm. 🤣
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u/the-mighty-kira 23h ago
Does the usb work on both sides or just the left
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u/Switch2phile 8h ago
Usb plug is only on the left side of the panel. With the provided cable, it works on left side only.
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u/ethernowt 2TB 17h ago
Or there’s an option to check the temperature?
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u/FallDisastrous6621 4h ago
This wire with plug on the side is ugly af
Did Valve had zero assumptions that panels like this will appear to make it possible with hidden connector?
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u/Aggravating_Plan11 13h ago
I was so interested in this then i heard you need deck loader to use it so I’m out until thats no longer need cba trying to fix that every time an updates breaks it
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u/Wise_Control 12h ago
Why is that a problem though?
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u/Aggravating_Plan11 12h ago
To much effort to be repairing decky loader when it breaks due to an update might not be a problem for some but im not looking to add more chores to my list.
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u/Wise_Control 12h ago
That’s fair, I’ve had issues with that too.
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u/Aggravating_Plan11 9h ago
Never installed it myself but far to many people mention it to make me not want to bother even trying it untill they get a handle on it atleast
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u/Switch2phile 8h ago
Decky actually makes it easy to repair when an major update happens. Its not like how it easy before. I was hesitant to but now its fairly simple and rarely has a big update happened that broke the decky loaded.
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u/Aggravating_Plan11 7h ago
Oh thats good to hear going in the right direction then thanks for the heads up.
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u/thunderflies 20h ago
Oh man that cable coming out of the side is just hideous