Deck Station

Native replacement for the FTC Driver Station app, targeting primarily the Steam Deck, nominally operable in desktop environments. The full input map lives in the app, under Settings ▸ Controls.

Warning

For development/outreach/practice use only. NOT COMPETITION LEGAL. Do not attempt to use this driver station in official FTC competition.

This is the app you run on the Steam Deck to drive the robot: the on-screen interface, the gamepad and camera plumbing, and everything needed to package it for the Deck. When you move a stick or tap a button, it talks to the robot over WiFi using the robocol protocol.

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Installation

Steam Deck

The Deck runs Linux, so the Linux download is the one you want. There are three steps: put the files on the Deck, add it to Steam, then connect to the robot.

Step 1: Put the files on the Deck

Switch the Deck to Desktop Mode and open this page in a browser on the Deck itself. From the GitHub Releases page, download deck-station-<version>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz. Then open a terminal and unpack it into a new, empty folder:

mkdir -p ~/deck && tar -xzf ~/Downloads/deck-station-*-linux-x86_64.tar.gz -C ~/deck

You get one file to run, plus a folder holding everything else:

~/deck/
    deck-station.x86_64              <- this is the one you run
    bin/
        deck-station.x86_64
        librobocol_godot.so

The file at the top is a small launcher. All it does is start the real app inside bin/. Keeping the two separate is what lets the app update itself later without breaking your Steam shortcut: an update is written into a new bin.new/ folder, and the launcher swaps it into place the next time you start the app. So point your shortcut at the file at the top, and leave bin/ alone.

Step 2: Add it to Steam

Still in Desktop Mode:

1. Go to Steam ▸ Games ▸ Add a Non-Steam Game.
2. Browse to ~/deck/deck-station.x86_64. Pick the one at the top, not the copy inside bin/.
3. Select the new entry, open Controller ▸ Edit Layout, and start from the Gamepad template, which passes the sticks and buttons straight through.
4. Add the back-grip bindings below. The grips are not ordinary gamepad buttons, so Steam sends them as keyboard keys and the app reads them that way.

Deck input	Recommended binding	App meaning
L4 / L5	Key F1 / F2	Left/right pane: tap = step source, hold = radial
R4	Key F3	Tap = STOP · hold = sticks/d-pad drive the UI
R5	Key F4	Tap = swap gamepad slots · hold = slot-swap radial
Trackpads	Mouse / left click	Cursor + click

Step 3: Connect to the robot

Return to Gaming Mode and launch it from Library ▸ Play. Join the Control Hub's WiFi from the Deck, and the app connects to the robot on its own.

Updating later

Open Settings ▸ Check for Updates in the app. It downloads and installs the new version for you, and the change takes effect the next time you start the app. There is nothing to download or unpack by hand.

Updating needs internet access, so leave the robot's WiFi and join a normal network first. The app tells you if you are still connected to the robot.

Other computers (Windows, Linux, macOS)

The app also runs on an ordinary desktop, no Deck required. On Linux, unpack the release tarball and run ./deck-station.x86_64. On Windows, unpack the zip and run deck-station.exe. On macOS, see below. To run it from source on any of the three, see Development and use cd rust && cargo xtask dev.

macOS

Releases carry deck-station-<version>-macos-universal.dmg, a Universal 2 build covering both Apple Silicon and Intel. Open it and drag deck-station to Applications. There is no launcher stub and no bin/, and so no in-app updater either: Check for Updates reports the install as unmanaged and points back at the Releases page. To update, download a newer .dmg and drag it over the installed app.

The build is ad-hoc signed, not notarized (there is no Apple Developer ID behind this project), so Gatekeeper blocks it on first launch. Getting past that means deliberately granting this app an exception to macOS's protections. How you do that differs by macOS version, so running this build assumes you know how to make that exception on your own machine, and are willing to.

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Development

Build from source

Install the toolchain first:

• Rust, via rustup. The bridge pins 1.97.0 via rust/rust-toolchain.toml, so rustup installs it automatically on the first build. Linux/WSL2 also needs a C toolchain: sudo apt install build-essential.
• Godot 4.7.1 (standard, non-.NET) from godotengine.org, on PATH as godot4, plus the matching export templates (Editor -> Manage Export Templates -> Download and Install).

cargo xtask builds the bridge for the host OS (.so/.dll/.dylib), stages it under the name Godot expects, and drives Godot. The full app (UI, mock, and real robot) runs from source on Linux, Windows, and macOS. Run it from rust/:

cargo xtask dev      # build + stage bridge, connect to a real RC
cargo xtask mock     # same, but build fake_rc and connect to it on loopback

To produce a release build, and optionally copy it to the Deck:

cd rust && cargo xtask export
rsync -a build/ deck@steamdeck:~/deck/

Running

Pass switches as environment variables before the cargo xtask command, e.g. DECK_DS_PEER=192.168.43.1 cargo xtask dev. On the Deck, the same variables go in the Steam entry's launch options (Properties ▸ Shortcut, before %command%, e.g. DECK_DS_MOCK=1 %command%). DECK_DS_MOCK=1 spawns fake_rc on loopback and points the bridge at it, so mock exercises the same path as a real robot.

variable	effect
DECK_DS_MOCK=1	spawn fake_rc and connect to it (needs fake_rc built)
DECK_DS_PEER	robot address (default tries 192.168.43.1 / .49.1)
DECK_DS_PEER_PORT	robot Robocol port (default 20884)
DECK_DS_BIND_PORT	local port; 0 = ephemeral (default 20884)
DECK_LIMELIGHT_STREAM	Limelight stream URL (default: Control Hub address)
DECK_DS_PAD_DEBUG=1	log local gamepad input
DECK_VIDEO_DEBUG	log camera-stream frame traffic

Linting / CI

CI gates every push/PR on gdformat + gdlint over godot/ and cargo fmt + clippy over rust/. The gd tools come from gdtoolkit (pip install "gdtoolkit==4.*"); rustfmt/clippy ship with the pinned toolchain. Run the same checks locally before a PR:

./scripts/lint.sh            # check
./scripts/lint.sh --fix      # auto-format, then re-check