Comment on I’ve already been using a “Steam Machine” for months, and I think it’s great
Cethin@lemmy.zip 2 days agoMost of that will be available with SteamOS in general I assume, and also probably, with packages, on any Linux distro. It’s really only HDMI-CEC and wake on Bluetooth that are somewhat exclusive. I don’t know how hard it is to build/add HDMI-CEC into a computer, but maybe that isn’t even exclusive. Wake on Bluetooth, I assume, requires some special hardware to support it, which I don’t think will be available or easily added to other computers.
artyom@piefed.social 2 days ago
These are all hardware features.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 2 days ago
Sleep/resume, background updates, and efficiency/noise/heat are not hardware features.
Every computer has sleep/resume.
Background updates is a software-based idle mode. It reduces what’s running to the bare minimum and only runs a check for uodates/the updater occasionally.
Efficiency/noise/heat are all the same thing and has little to do with the hardware. The hardware they’re using isn’t any more efficient than what you can buy yourself. The software is possibly more efficient (for the Deck it is at least) to reduce power draw/heat/thermal throttling/noise. However, you can get the same yourself with Arch, only installing what you need. It’s not exclusive to Valve.
artyom@piefed.social 2 days ago
Try it on your desktop in the middle of a game and let me know how that goes.
It’s not, it requires a special processor.
Uhhh it has EVERYTHING to do with the hardware?
Not in this compact size.
Cethin@lemmy.zip 2 days ago
Oh, you mean application sleep/resume. Yeah, that’s not standard. It’s not hardware-based though. It just needs to offload the data in cache and RAM into storage, then put it back when it’s needed. That’s handled by software, and I would wager on it being available on SteamOS at large, and probably all of Linux, once it’s published.
I have not heard about it having a “special processor”. It’s a AMD Zen 4 CPU. It doesn’t seem to have anything special there. Do you mean an additional processor? I haven’t heard any discussion of that. They’ve said they want to add it to the Deck too, so I’m pretty sure you’re incorrect.
Their hardware isn’t special. It’s stuff you can buy off the shelf. Sure, choosing efficient hardware is important, but it isn’t exclusive to the Steam Machine/Valve. That’s what I was discussing. Anything extra they’re getting out of it is software and/or firmware.
First, yes, you can, if you make it yourself. Sure, it’s hard, but not impossible.
Second, the size has nothing to do with the efficiency! Sure, it’s nice, but it doesn’t reduce power draw. It’s got the same amount of heat generation as any other computer with the same hardware. Yes, it has a fairly large radiator/heat-sink, but you can get the same size (or larger) yourself if you want.