Grimpen
@Grimpen@lemmy.ca
- Comment on Sid Meier's Civilization VII is Steam Deck Verified with the Linux version ahead of release on February 11 1 week ago:
Pretty much the default for Steam Deck keyboard+mouse.
Works surprisingly well, just bind some keyboard shortcuts to the various other buttons and such.
Downside is that my right track pad is polished a little smooth in the middle. I blame the Master of Magic remake.
- Comment on Sid Meier's Civilization VII is Steam Deck Verified with the Linux version ahead of release on February 11 1 week ago:
HODL! (For Steam sale or Humble Bundle)
- Comment on Might as well get a laptop??? 1 week ago:
My Steam Deck has largely replaced my laptop, so there is some overlap, but I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment. If you are carrying a keyboard & external screen to work on spreadsheets with you Steam Deck, you would be happier with a laptop.
I have a 60% Bluetooth keyboard and a relatively compact mouse that I can carry with me, but by that point a compact laptop would be more portable with a larger screen.
Using the on screen keyboard and built-in screen to edit spreadsheets would constitute a crime against humanity. Don’t do it, there’s so much more to live for.
The reason it’s replaced my laptop is that I mostly use my laptop for gaming, and the Steam Deck excels at that. Most places I would use a laptop for something else, I have ready access to surplus keyboards and mice. At my parents there is an old TV with HDMI, and I stashed a basic USB mouse and keyboard there over a decade ago. My Steam Deck and a small hub is all I need.
Because of the need of external devices, I kind of consider the Steam Deck a combination of a handheld and a really portable desktop tower.
- Comment on [Discussion] Using my Steam deck as a mini PC ? 3 weeks ago:
Over two years with mine, battery aging isn’t noticeable. I’m pretty sure when plugged in and fully charged, the Deck runs off of external power. I don’t know if it shunts around the battery or not, but it certainly isn’t cycling the battery.
I mostly use my deck in a few fixed locations, so it’s mostly plugged in.
- Comment on [Discussion] Do you use any headphones with your Steam Deck? 4 weeks ago:
I’ve got some “fancy” $20 headphones right now. I used to use $10 headphones from Miniso, but they only last a year before one ear bud will go dead.
I’ve had expensive headphones, and have a nice pair of Sennheisers, but really it’s cheap in ear headphones most of the time for me.
They are small, and I keep them rolled up in a little pouch with a USB drive that’s pretty much always in my pocket. They never need to be charged. The audio quality is good enough that unless I start listening to FLACC files on my SD, I’m never going to notice. Their wired, so no lag or syncing issues ever. If something happens to them, I have another $10 pair tucked in a drawer, plus I can always buy more.
The Steam Deck is portable, can’t beat wired earbuds for portability and reliability.
- Comment on A 3D printed keyboard case for Steam Deck 4 weeks ago:
Yes, but Valve just evoked a cyberdeck, OP took it the rest of the way.
I’ve got a 60% mechanical keyboard I use with my SD a lot, some street if combined carry case would be cool.
- Comment on There's a reason we aren't as harsh on the Steam Deck. Actually, a couple. 4 months ago:
I’ve been complaining about printer support. It’s pretty much the last piece of the puzzle for a school focused SD.
- Comment on There's a reason we aren't as harsh on the Steam Deck. Actually, a couple. 4 months ago:
Thanks to KDE on the SD, I’ve switched my main DE on my desktop. Still have a soft spot for XFCE, but KDE Plasma on the SD was polished and was very “coherent”.
One thing the SD is missing for being a complete “serious” computer is printing support. I’m sure I could it installed, the SD is eminently hackable, but a Flatpak solution or a Steam default solution would really justify using a SD in Desktop mode for school and work.
- Comment on Will anything dethrone the Steam Deck? Probably not -GamingonLinux 6 months ago:
I think the Windows thing is spot on. You’re going to be using a handheld gaming device for gaming mostly (if not entirely). You don’t need to run Excel.
I think the justification for Windows on a gaming device though is kernel level anti-cheat. The problem is that you are chasing a pretty select audience. People who will play one of those games on a handheld, and will also only buy a handheld that can pay those games. Also won’t install Windows on a Deck either.
An aside, I probably use Desktop mode more than average, and I have LibreOffice installed on my deck. Jokes on Microsoft though, I’ve been using Linux primarily for ages anyways, so I don’t even need Windows for that.
- Comment on [Discussion] What kind of protective and carrying cases do you use for your Deck? 8 months ago:
Good to know!
I can’t really complain to much though, mine is around 1 1/2 years old and still works.
- Comment on [Discussion] What kind of protective and carrying cases do you use for your Deck? 8 months ago:
I’ve been using the JSAUX ModCase since the hub variant was first offered. A ModCase with a hub is pretty much a portable dock.
Coming up on two years of heavy use and I do have some observations on the ModCase.
#The kickstand is not very heavy, but I find I usually have it off and in my briefcase when I am playing on the Steam Deck. After it was broken in a bit, it could flop around a bit, and although not particularly large it is fairly heavy duty and having it off saves a bit of weight and avoids the flopping around.
#The kickstand is fairly heavy duty, but there are two small hinge pins that the foot levers out on. One of the hinge pins broke on mine a few months ago, and the other is wearing fast. I made a quick repair with a bit of wire (actually from a paper clip) but the size isn’t quite right, so the hinge is still pretty loose. This is a simple device, and is a wear part. I could order a whole replacement ModCase, but it would be nice if you could just get a replacement kickstand. Likewise, although it hasn’t happened to me (yet), when using the ModCase, you sometimes put the removable cover down somewhere ill advised. I would assume that the cover is lost or broken more often than other parts of the ModCase. The ability to buy just a replacement cover would also be good. The clippable band has been pretty useful for just attaching any random device to the ModCase, more bands would also be a useful purchase. The only extra part is adhesive pads, which I guess is a partial replacement for the attachable band.
#The hub in the hub/ultimate version is a little bulky, and not really much more useful than the cheap one I first got off of Amazon. It works mostly fine (external video cuts out briefly now and then), but the cheap Amazon one is around half the size, and the external video doesn’t cut out.
Overall, I highly recommend the ModCase.
- Comment on 11 months ago:
…and no one talks about Gen X.
- Comment on [News] SteamOS will be coming to other handhelds before you can install it on your PC 'because right now, it's very, very tuned for Steam Deck' 1 year ago:
I’m on Lemmy, downvotes assemble!
- Comment on Your favourite (offbrand) controller 1 year ago:
I’ve got two PDP X-Box controllers and a Power A X-Box controller. I got them from the Wal-Mart clearance rack, presumably returns. They all work great.
- Comment on Disneyland’s new Star Wars droids are controlled by Steam Decks 1 year ago:
I ended up looking it up. I think it was the Air Force, and it was the “Condor Cluster”. I believe it was the 33rd most powerful supercomputer at the time of it’s activation.
Sony removed the Other OS feature around the same time, so PS3 clusters needed to source older PS3s with older firmware.
- Comment on Disneyland’s new Star Wars droids are controlled by Steam Decks 1 year ago:
I remember the old PlayStation that let you install Linux. Universities were building cluster computers out of them. PlayStation 3?
- Comment on Steam Deck as a laptop replacement? 1 year ago:
I pretty much use my Steam Deck instead of my laptop so the time now. I mostly take advantage of keyboards, much, and monitors available at my destinations though, so it’s much more portable.
For you typically Café office warrior, you’re going to need to pack a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, as well as put up with a small screen. The monitors and laptop-style housings you mention can mitigate that though.
Still, it’s kind of an inferior laptop option overall. You’ll either have to make do without some laptop features or end up packing more gear than with a laptop. The Steam Deck is optimized for gaming, a laptop is optimized for… officing outside an office?
Where the Steam Deck might even though is where it can be docked. It may be large for a handheld gaming device, but it is smaller than most laptops.
You will still have to accept some limitations. SteamOS is designed to support gaming. One thing I’ve noticed is no support for printing (cups). I’m sure there are others. If you were a University student and you could only buy an inexpensive laptop or a Steam Deck, I’d get the inexpensive laptop. If you have a desktop with a mechanical keyboard and buffer big monitors, and you just need a supplemental device in a pinch, and are mostly looking to play games? Then the Steam Deck would be perfect.
For me, the Steam Deck has effectively completely replaced my laptop, but I’m not typing up TPS reports at Starbucks all day. I’m mostly playing games, and accepting a substandard “serious computing” experience or packing some essentials or just using it for non-gaming in a few locations.
- Comment on What’s next for the Steam Deck? 1 year ago:
Pretty much. I went from a Commodore Vic-20 to a Tandy 1000TX in around a decade. I’m decommissioning a desktop that was cheap 10 years ago. It gets the job done, and you can play Minecraft on it. A game I played first about 13 years ago. I just got around to (mostly) finishing Fallout: New Vegas, a game over ten years old.
Even if the bleeding edge is improving, the quantitative improvement in the number of bits pushed through a graphic card is nothing like the qualitative change from CGA to EGA, or even to VGA. I remember around the time of SVGA and it’s Amiga quality graphics (16 million colours!) thinking that even if processing power was improving, it would mostly go towards frame rates, on the fly rendering, and miniaturization.
Add in the slowing down of Moore’s Law, you have to ask what would a Steam Deck 2 do that the existing Steam Deck doesn’t do? Marginally better screen resolution, marginally better battery life? I’m playing No Man’s Sky with the frame rate locked to 30fps. A hypothetical SD 2 that let me get 60 or even 120 fps might be nice, but that covers nowhere near being able to play NMS anywhere on the go.
Between the ROG Ally, the Legion, and Aya and GPD, I think there is lots of competition emerging in this form factor, but I think Steam is on the right track. Support the SD1 for a few years at least.
- Comment on Microsoft claims: Steam Deck Did Not Need Call Of Duty To Succeed 1 year ago:
Reminds me of Sony’s Rootkit. Except now it’s normal.
- Comment on Microsoft claims: Steam Deck Did Not Need Call Of Duty To Succeed 1 year ago:
Just like the
Mafioso“perfectly legitimate businessmen” who offer fire insurance and personal injury insurance door to door, after dark. Be a real shame if something were to happen.