Steam Deck, a perfect companion to your Steam Ant - The Bear and Badger

Kow

I wonder will there be some way to get the Epic store and GoG stuff working without having to install Windows?

GurtTractor

SteamOS and Proton are open source apparently, meaning that there could be versions with other stores integrated into it, and certainly I would imagine there's now going to be a little more impetus for GOG and Epic to get their stuff working on Linux.

The Valve engineers have talked about how other companies are free to add SteamOS to their devices, meaning we can expect plenty of competition from other handhelds that might have the same kind of GUI.

Yossarian

The issue will surely be if there are Linux versions of the games on GoG or Epic. If there are, then you should be able to install them through the browser.

GurtTractor

It seems that Epic and GOG could have their own version of Proton for playing Windows games on Linux if they put some development effort in that direction. Otherwise you can probably do stuff manually to get things working but that will be a faff that the majority of users won't want to bother with. At that point it will probably just be easier to get Windows on there.

Not sure if the Deck-oriented Steam GUI will be available when running Windows actually, it seems like a similar thing to their Big Picture Mode so I don't see why not.

b0r1s

They say in the developer vid that a lot of work is going on behind the scenes with Proton at the moment and they hope to have most games compatible by launch. This, I’m assuming, means Steam games. And that is the play. Bring in console gamers who have heard about all these great PC games at good prices but can’t be arsed with messing with a full PC OS and you increase your Steam user base.

GurtTractor

Yep, you have the benefit of a relatively foolproof interface to play games with, and you also get an actual proper little PC that you can use for emails, browsing etc if you get a dock and keyboard/mouse/monitor. This makes it pretty good value really if you think of it like an alternative to getting a Switch + a cheap laptop.

Kow

Will only games that run on Linux work out of the box?

GurtTractor

The idea with Proton is that it makes most Windows based games just work out of the box, it's still work in progress but a lot of stuff should work flawlessly.

b0r1s

Nope they are saying with Proton windows games too. Think the video I watched said it came out in 2018.

Some stuff on it here: https://www.tomsguide.com/uk/news/steam-deck-how-proton-will-make-your-steam-games-shine-on-valves-handheld

b0r1s

Oh and good news is scalpers are having their listings removed from eBay.

Blocks100

b0r1s wrote:

And that is the play. Bring in console gamers who have heard about all these great PC games at good prices but can’t be arsed with messing with a full PC OS and you increase your Steam user base.

I fit that profile!

b0r1s

With you brother and I own a PC.

RamSteelwood

I keep thinking this is deffo not for me - i've got a pc (though it's getting on a bit) and don't use it a lot for games anymore compared to the Series X.
but thinking about it in raw specs, this thing prob isn't far off (if not already better in CPU at least) than my PC. If it sticks around then in a couple of hardware revisions/spec raises, it could become a very valid dockable/portable PC option to replace the existing desktop.
The next upgrade for my PC would have to be CPU, which would need a new mobo, and last i checked that would be well north of £300 for something decent enough to last, so in that context the cost of this isn't too bad either.

JMW

I’ve got one reserved, the plan is that it’ll get me onto all the games in my library I’m not currently touching. Although I’ve got two vitas and four ds-variants in a drawer that demonstrate what bollocks that is.

Yossarian

I knew there was a 2DS and a 3DS, but the 4DS slipped by me entirely.

JMW

A 2DS, and I’d have to check but I’m pretty sure 3 3DS-types

Blue Swirl

GurtTractor wrote:

SteamOS and Proton are open source apparently...

Partly open source. The part of SteamOS that's basically Debian/Ubuntu/Arch* will be free** software, but the Steamy stuff on top will be as proprietary as fuck. Akin to MacOS and it's relationship with BSD.

*Or whatever flavour they end up choosing for the release version of the Deck.
** As in speech, yadda yadda yadda. I dunno how anal the Arch distro is about being fully RMS-approved, either.

AndCallMeCharlie

Blue Swirl wrote:

SteamOS and Proton are open source apparently...

Partly open source. The part of SteamOS that's basically Debian/Ubuntu/Arch* will be free** software, but the Steamy stuff on top will be as proprietary as fuck. Akin to MacOS and it's relationship with BSD. *Or whatever flavour they end up choosing for the release version of the Deck. ** As in speech, yadda yadda yadda. I dunno how anal the Arch distro is about being fully RMS-approved, either.

does that mean it can run pre-existing linux apps?

GurtTractor

You can back out of the SteamOS GUI and get to a KDE Plasma (Just one of many desktop UIs available for Linux distros) desktop, and it's Arch Linux running on AMD hardware so it should be straightforward to run Linux apps.

hunk

Omg, could the year of the Linux desktop finally be upon us?

Yossarian

I fucking hope not. As someone who works in tech support, clueless Linux users are the worst. You shouldn’t even be allowed to install Linux until you’ve passed a test to prove you can handle it without being a burden to others.

b0r1s

IGN guys reckoning Doom Eternal ran well on high settings.

Blue Swirl

AndCallMeCharlie wrote:

does that mean it can run pre-existing linux apps?

I would wager. Especially as Valve themselves are promoting it's use as a standard PC.

stellavista

b0r1s wrote:

IGN guys reckoning Doom Eternal ran well on high settings.

Where’s the link for that? Interesting, although Doom Eternal runs on Switch also of course. I’m interested to know if I could run e.g. Horizon Zero Dawn and Red Dead Redemption 2 on this - basically the power hungriest of the PS4 era. Because I missed out on that era (because kids, work, life) so would be nice to have a portable to play them on.

b0r1s

First half of this video they talk about their hands on experience.

Also, not sure if it’s in this vid, but apparently all the demos were loaded off an SD card. You can find videos kicking around where people are saying it’s not that bad in general just not probably what a lot of PC gamers are used to.

GurtTractor

Yeah it's a pretty decent lower end gaming PC really, especially for running games at just 800p. As long as the game is fairly well optimised and has good graphics settings adjustability, and isn't too reliant on top end CPU performance, it should run just fine.

id Software's games are legendarily well optimised, so Doom Eternal running well on high settings isn't a surprise.

Something like Red Dead Redemption 2 may struggle a bit, but 30 FPS low settings might be attainable. Dunno about Horizon Zero Dawn, but it seems like that should be quite playable too.

Blocks100

Can I watch porn on it?

Kow

You can watch porn on anything these days, so yes.

equinox_code

imagine using this thing one-handed. no thanks

DrewMerson

Howdy, Stranger!

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