steam deck got shipped! earlier than anticipated (my order was back in February).
It’s a really cool device and it runs Linux! Steam OS for gaming. one can also start in desktop mode in KDE. I did not even know that
It also comes with Vim, and additional Linux software can be installed via discover and probably terminal. It’s Arch based.
This thread is to chat about tips and tricks on the steam deck, anything you might discover to be useful or your experience with it. Will post more later, perhaps couple of screenshots if of interest. Feel free to ask questions. Haven’t installed EOS yet
First things to do is 1) get a glass protector and 2) and SD card. The later doesn’t take more than UHS-I, max speed about 100-120 MB. Took me a while to figure out which SD to get.
Not yet. Steam OS seems pretty ok and the gaming mode is basically similar to being in the steam app. I think the first step will be to try to do it on a VM on steam OS. I didn’t even yet try connecting it to mouse and monitor but technically it should.work like a PC and Arch Linux via pacman if I am not mistaken. I think one caveat is that it prefers flatpaks, somehow to save the system. So that at each update, apps installed from AUR or arch repo are not persistent. Have to check that in more details though.
Yes looks like the game mode and drivers are proprietary, but the Linux desktop should be open source. It says it is built on Debian, would have to check why it runs pacman. But apparently the newest version on steam deck is based on Arch Linux with KDE plasma 5.
Problem is that most games are not open source neither. But technically it’s possible to install another distro and just play open source games if available but not on steam.
I don’t need no stinkin’ game mode, I can run games with Wine. I just want to know whether all hardware works properly with a free OS installed, and the user nobody wants to answer that question for me.
One can get games from many sources… Like GoG. Or… used physical copies… and well… some other third party.
Now, the question is… is it really possible to install another distro and do that? Will audio work? Will all controls work?
It’s possible to unlock it to use yay and install packages permanently. Here an article, I assume you don’t watch YouTube, but if you want to watch there is also a link there…
Yes looks like the game mode and drivers are proprietary, but the Linux desktop should be open source. It says it is built on Debian, would have to check why it runs pacman.
It’s based on arch. Older SteamOS version were based on Debian.
One friend used his own arch install script on the SD and it works fine. Windows also works pretty flawless as some other friend just installed it to play some games that won’t run on Linux.
Yeah, that’s the problem. So many people have it, yet nobody has anything useful to say about it.
What is there to talk about? It’s a normal pc. It’s a pretty decent piece of hardware and incredibly fun for gaming on the road. Valve did a great job. Drivers are available for both Linux and Windows. Works like a charm for me.
I’ve asked the question three times already in this thread, let me repeat it again:
If I install a free GNU/Linux operating system on it (like EndeavourOS ARM or vanilla Arch ARM), does all the hardware work properly? Specifically, the audio and the input controls, network, etc…
Can you get complete functionality of the hardware without SteamOS?
Is it really? If that were true, the answer to my question above would be: yes.
I am considering getting it, because I really like the concept of it, but I have no intention of ever registering a Steam account. I have… alternative… means of acquiring games. My concern is that there are defective-by-design features in Steam Deck which would interfere with this plan of mine.
I am considering getting it, because I really like the concept of it, but I have no intention of ever registering a Steam account. I have… alternative… means of acquiring games. My concern is that there are defective-by-design features in Steam Deck which would interfere with this plan of mine.
From my own experience, my friend’s and a lot of stuff I read on the internet over the last few months, it works just fine with any route you may want to take. But keep in mind it is supposed to be a portable console that runs Steam. So there might be some small things that don’t work well or worse than with using SteamOS.
Navigation through a normal DE, for example, is tedious without the SteamOS specific on-screen keyboard. The screen always works as a touch pad, though, and the mouse can be simulated by the two touch pads, but you can always just plug in a mouse and a normal keyboard. I briefly installed vanilla arch and mostly found it annoying, because the SteamOS does everything that you may want from a gaming point of view better. Especially considering stuff like EmuDeck.
For me, it’s a gaming device that benefits a lot from running the official SteamOS. So if you don’t want to use Steam, my personal recommendation would be to not bother with it. But a lot of people like to tinker, so the option is always there. But that’s just my opinion.
Today I connected it to a wide screen and dock using desktop mode. It’s quite amazing, just running Linux and seamlessly switch from a gaming console and touch screen to full desktop with mouse and keyboard. And it’s fast!
Can install any Linux apps. Next step is to unlock it, right now just installs flatpak but can easily be changed then use terminal and pacman!
bday gift for myself 
games are quite large nowadays, 30-60 Gb