Comment on Beyond Steam Machine: Why Valve's New ARM Support Shouldn't Be Overlooked
melfie@lemy.lol 15 hours agoI considered Bazzite with Steam Game Mode on a recently purchased mini PC I’m using as a HTPC to replace Android TV. In addition to not working well with a remote, the data Valve collects via Steam is a concern. Not sure I’d consider a proprietary, closed-source front-end as the main UI on a phone to be much of an improvement over Android, though I’m sure Valve’s other related efforts to get Linux working well on a phone that get open sourced would be good.
communist@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 14 hours ago
If it runs linux you’ll easily be able to run whatever you want on it
melfie@lemy.lol 14 hours ago
I guess my overall point is that DEs like KDE or Gnome don’t work well on other form factors like TVs, phones, and tablets. Just having Linux on a device without an appropriate UX isn’t that useful. Steam Game Mode acts like a DE for SteamOS that provides a good UX for a controller, but it’s not something I care to use unless it’s blocked from the internet so Valve can’t collect data and spy on me. If Valve makes a phone that isn’t private, the main value would be that the hardware can run Linux, but it would still need an appropriate DE to make it actually usable.
Laavu@sopuli.xyz 11 hours ago
There is Plasma Bigscreen that’s a modification for HTPCs. For touch screen based devices, a tiling WM is available for both Gnome and Plasma, though not baked in. IMHO bigger issue for both is a poorly working touch screen keyboard. This is something that SteamOS solves quite well.
communist@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz 14 hours ago
It’s useful because it provides a development target, part of the reasons they currently aren’t great on phones is because there isn’t a target and nobody has one.