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Comment on Why install other Linux ISOs on Steam Deck?

I’m a cs student rn and there’s a lot of stuff that I’m learning specifically with UNIX and Linux related things. I use my steamdeck as a daily driver (literally sit in the front of class, pull out my steamdeck with my jsaux case and Bluetooth keyboard/mouse combo)

There’s some issues with the walled garden. The way they do system updates is basically by having system stuff on its own partition and overwriting it. It functions well for a “casual” person that doesn’t care about linux that much.

The issue is that I have to install things sometimes. Even things as simple as an OpenVPN package so I can use my nordvpn. Updates sometimes will wipe things I install in package manager. Other things (like Xelatex) are simply too big to fit in this partition so I have to install lighter packages even if I want to use the whole thing (Math formulas need a LOT of symbols).

This has actually led me to see if it’s worth it to install a third party OS. Bazzite was a good contender but I like Arch with the KDE desktop so ultimately I would just want a steamOS that I could install more things on.

Currently I’m looking into how I can achieve this. I don’t know if I should just enlarge the partition holding the system files, or if there is some pacman settings that I could have packages installed elsewhere and automatically symbolically linked in /user or wherever it needs

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towerful@programming.dev ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
As someone that runs servers, having an immutable os (oe one that “wipes” on updates) is awesome.
The issue is that you are not in control of the config.

Learning to script over it might be worthwhile. Update, apply customisation script, back to normal.
It’s good to learn declarative configuration

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rklm@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I also use my steam deck as my daily driver (dockcase 10 in 1 with peripherals etc).

I had been using arch for years before I got the steam deck, and for the first 8 months or so I unlocked the btrfs partition and installed everything I needed normally (kvm/qemu, devel libraries and Linux headers for c++ development, etc)… But every update from valve would destroy my environment and I had to run custom scripts to fill my etc directory back in…

For the past many months I’ve been using distrobox (which I believe comes pre-installed on the latest steamdeck updates) with a rootless arch environment inside, and flatpaks for everything that requires systemd.

You can symlink things like xdg-open from inside the container to your host, and end up with a pretty seamlessly integrated experience (distrobox does a lot of this for you anyway, and comes with utilities which make this pretty easy.)

If you want direct control of the system, this is not going to be a convenient setup, but if you’re interested in treating it like an immutable OS, there are userspace ways of getting around it’s limitations.

SteamOS has inspired me to make future installs immutable (and atomic/declarative using containers?), because it can be kinda nice once you get used to it.

I hope this helps or was interesting!

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- supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  distrobox
  
  Yes I agree in the vast majority of cases distrobox is the way to go, I made a short post on the “List Of useful tools” post that I might as quote here.
  
  Here is a guide to installing and using distrobox on the Steam Deck. The usefulness of using distrobox is that distrobox sets up little mini environment you can install programs too that is outside the context of the immutable SteamOS operating system. Thus, after updates, software or setups you install in a distrobox environment will remain the same. Distrobox is more than just a simple bifurcation between the main SteamOS and a virtual environment, it provides tools to set up the ability to connect programs between the two for advanced setups (though you can ignore this stuff and just use the defaults).
  
  What Distrobox does (quote) Guide For Installing Distrobox On The Steam Deck
  
  github.com/89luca89/…/steamdeck_guide.md
  
  Quckstart Guide
  
  github.com/89luca89/distrobox/blob/…/README.md#qu…
  
  Distrobox Guide Homepage
  
  github.com/89luca89/distrobox/tree/main/docs#read…
  
  note because distrobox is a process that can be run by command line, you could presumably launch distrobox in a terminal window in Gaming Mode and keep everything for that session within that steam Big Picture window no problem. I am gonna have to keep experimenting with this, I will update with progress.j
  
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  - rklm@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    This is a great write-up! I’m going to save it for reference.
    
    Thank you!
    
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