Submitted 2 days ago by the16bitgamer@programming.dev to steamdeck@sopuli.xyz
Especially since one of the best features is basically unmentioned. Turn on your steam deck and before you sign in for the first time, you can boot straight to the desktop. Just wish there was a toggle in Plasma to boot to desktop by default.
For all intents and purposes, you don’t need to log into steam to play games on the steam deck which is honestly shocking where most new hardware basically requires you to agree to sign in to begin using your device.
Looking at you Windows 11
SteamDeck is the best Nintendo Switch Online device ever 😉
Ironic how it’s able to play more older Nintendo titles than the official console
I was floored at how easy it was to get it to run Breath of the Wild, and then I discovered the 60fps patch for the game. Pretty quickly sold my old Switch after that.
Oof. Unless that’s the only Switch game you play, you are going to have a hard time realising that Switch emulation isn’t far developed enough yet for you to play a lot of your games without issues and just throw away your real Switch. Plus, Nintendo’s takedowns of Yuzu and Ryujinx last year massively slowed down development.
I bought my Steam Deck simply to support Linux gaming and Valve’s contribution to more open hardware and software. I wasn’t actually interested in handheld gaming.
Roughly a year later, I game about 75% on my Steam Deck vs my very expensive Linux gaming desktop. I love it so much, the convenience of pausing a game, going from my couch to my bed and resuming flawlessly is awesome.
My spouse wanted one too, so now we both can game together easily anywhere.
Steam deck is great. It seemingly connects the arcane nerdy and streamlined casual. Whatever is your jam and mood in the moment there is always plethora of things you can play. Almost infinite possibilities. Modded.
Without dreaded sitting that I just hate as chairs seem to not be made for me and I always find myself in strange poses
Make sure to check out “Nested Desktop mode”, it’s a great way to have faster access while in the default Game mode
Wait what? How?
Go into desktop mode, open the menu and use the search function to look for “Nested Desktop”. Now right click and add that to Steam. When you boot into Game mode, you’ll see a new item added called Nested Desktop, which you can open to access desktop mode while still in game mode. I found out about this a week ago and so far I use it most for referencing my digital game guides or searching NMS portal codes while still gaming.
Another bonus: Many very good open source games can be added to SteamDeck by:
Some suggestions: Luanti, Empty Epsilon, Free Civ, Tux Racer, most retro emulators.
I might be slightly biased, but I can also recommend OpenMW for Deck.
Are you using the controller to play it, or a mouse and keyboard?
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
Hotkey the apocalypse game would be interesting on a steam deck. I wonder if anyone has attempted to map keys to the steam deck.
Add anything with sonic in the name. Like SRB2:Persona.
Linux has never required you to sign up with an online account, you can always just make a local account.
You can install another distribution on it and make the desktop the default boot option! It’s not how I would use it but it’s a major selling point for me. I’m not stuck with the walled garden, even in the default OS!
Could make it Bazzite, and it would probably work just a well as SteamOS
Replacing it with Bazzite is a great option if you want to do anything that SteamOS is too restrictive for without sacrificing any of the features
Would be cool if it had a hotkey you could hold while powering on that tells it to boot into desktop mode.
Sounds like OP discovered the joys of linux.
Looking at you Windows 11
Yeah, I got a new laptop recently with no intention of using the pre-installed OS, but I wanted to boot it up once just to make sure all the hardware was working.
It may have actually taken longer to figure out how to create a local account on W11 than to wipe it and install Linux.
For anyone wondering how to do this - on the first setup screen asking you to pick a language after you turn the laptop on, hit Shift + F10, which will bring up the console. Click on it and type:
oobe/bypassnro
This will restart the computer, and setup will appear unchanged. When you get to the step asking you to connect to a network, select “I don’t have Internet.” This will prompt the creation of a local account. Enjoy your Microsoft account free computer!
If you’ve already connected to the Internet but haven’t created the account, open the console and type:
ipconfig /release
Which will force the computer to disconnect from the internet. From there you can use the oobe command from before to reset and set up without a Microsoft account.
I needed this info a while back. I didn’t think it was even possible!
Live ISO FTW
I got mine a couple of months ago and I wasn’t even a Steam user. I love it.
Get a dock and attach it to your TV hours of fun as the family watch you play
I occasionally use it as a streaming device to watch series and movies. Currently going through King of the Hill which is available on archive.org. It’s pretty comfortable with Bluetooth keyboard /mouse.
It is still just another Linux distro which doesn’t seem that locked down. I don’t own a steam deck but I imagine it should be possible to set it boot to desktop with some simple tinkering. In worst case scenario, you might be able to install another distro and get all the tweaks and apps yourself. The toggle can be done with some widgets and script ig.
You can I just wish it was accessible on the GUI.
Not sure if this is what you’re looking for, but you can add Nested Desktop as a non-Steam game and access it from Gaming Mode. Makes it so you can switch between games and Desktop without having to exit the game too. You might have to tinker with controls and the dim/sleep power settings.
Just to make sure you noticed, when you’re in “gaming mode”, you can switch to desktop mode easily by going to power menu (either by pressing the power button, or gui power button) and it’ll offer you to switch.
It is competent too. I can play DBZ Kakarot and Ace Combat 7 at 1080p.
parpol@programming.dev 2 days ago
Welcome to Linux. It works great as a media center instead of your ad-ridden smart TV as well.
the16bitgamer@programming.dev 2 days ago
We both switch years ago on our laptops when Windows 11 became the default windows. Linux Mint ftw
Landless2029@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Wait… Could you put bigscreen on the desktop mode, configure it with all the fixings, plug in a dock to TV and get a USB/bluetooth remote?
… Shit that’s better than a mini ATX HTPC at $600 dollar for dollar since you can run away with it
foggenbooty@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yes you can, I do that with mine a lot. The one caveat though that is a real bummer is I haven’t been able to get surround sound working on it. Something limits it to stereo output. There should be some way around it, but I haven’t found it.
evulhotdog@lemmy.world 2 days ago
From what I’ve read, yes.
Ajzak@lemm.ee 1 day ago
There’s also a script for Android TV on the deck that’s pretty good, I didn’t test it yet but I’ll sure as hell be using that for my tv stuff
chtk@feddit.nl 1 day ago
Unless you have an abundance of Dolby Vision content on your media server. That’s the only reason I need the Jellyfin app or the Kodi port for AndroidTV
Templa@beehaw.org 2 days ago
Will you have access to all codecs as well though? This is the main reason we still keep our Nvidia Shield around from years ago
ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
My Linux PC is a media server/htpc with access to all codecs. I regularly transcode H.265 via nvenc for jellyfin.
You must ensure you’re using a client that can use the codec in question, regarding proprietary codecies like H.265 you will need either a desktop client that can handle it, or verify you have your browser properly configured.
Is there a specific codec you’re concerned about losing access to?