Your system information

• Steam client version: 1782533657
• Distribution: EndeavourOS (Arch-based)
• Opted into Steam client beta?: No
• Have you checked for system updates?: Yes
• Steam Logs: steam-logs.tar.gz
• GPU: AMD (Steam Deck)

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

Summary: On non-SteamOS Linux distributions, enabling the "Simplified Chinese" virtual keyboard shows the message "To use this keyboard, please opt into the beta channel in Settings > System." This message is misleading — the actual issue is that IBus and the ibus-pinyin engine are not installed.

Root Cause (from reverse engineering):

In chunk~2dcc5aaf7.js, the check that triggers this message is:

function I(e) {
  return (
    M(e) &&
    (j.IsIBusDaemonMissing() || j.IsEngineMissing(v[e].engineName))
  );
}

The engine name for Simplified Chinese is hardcoded as "pinyin". The message appears when either:

1. IBus daemon is not running, or
2. No engine named "pinyin" is registered.

Why this is a problem on non-SteamOS:

• The "opt into beta" message originated from when only SteamOS beta shipped ibus-pinyin. It made sense then. Now that stable SteamOS includes it, this message is never seen on SteamOS — only on other distros, where it's meaningless.
• The hardcoded engine name "pinyin" only matches the ibus-pinyin package. Most distributions ship ibus-libpinyin in their official repositories, which registers as "libpinyin" — so even users who install IBus + a pinyin engine still get the error.

Workaround: Install ibus-pinyin (available in AUR for Arch-based distros). After IBus is running with the pinyin engine registered, the Chinese virtual keyboard works correctly.

Suggestions:

1. Fix the error message: Replace with something like "IBus input method framework with a compatible engine is required for this keyboard" — or at least don't mention "beta channel" which doesn't exist on non-SteamOS.
2. Accept libpinyin as a valid engine name: This would allow users on most distros to install ibus-libpinyin from their official repos without needing AUR/third-party packages.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

1. Install any non-SteamOS Linux distribution (e.g. EndeavourOS) on Steam Deck without IBus installed.
2. Open Steam, go to Settings > Keyboard, enable "Simplified Chinese".
3. Invoke the virtual keyboard — observe the misleading "opt into beta" message.