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Valve Steam Deck

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Re: Valve Steam Deck

#361
post #166

Many people I know have bought more games on Steam than they could ever play (a behaviour encouraged by seasonal Steam sales). This strikes me as a great chance for people to discover and play titles that have sat in their collections for years.

Guilty. For various reasons, I just don't find gaming on my laptop or media computer an enjoyable experience. Too much dealing with thermals, audio/controller issues, random driver crashes and updates (thanks AMD), etc etc.

I know I can get it to work, but when I'm at the point in the day where I just want to play a game for an hour before bed, the PS4 can have me into it in 10 seconds or less with a very low likelihood of drama.

Anyway, I know this isn't universal, but it's enough of a thing for me that I've even re-bought Humble Bundle games on PSN just so I can enjoy playing them that way.

Maybe Steam Deck would be polished enough to change my mind?

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#362

Gotta admit, I never saw that coming. I thought SteamOS was dead after the failure of Steam Machines and Valve was only continuing with their Linux efforts because it's still a useful hedge against Microsoft locking everyone in the App Store. I totally did not expect them to copy the Switch use-case with it. I'm anxious to see how this turns out. Valve's history with hardware is not so great, so it could go nowhere l…

I love Valve but it seems like they create these hardware projects to occasionally remind platform owners like microsoft/playstation/nintendo that they can't completely abuse their users and software devs (Win10 store lock-in, etc) and retain all of them. Valve just wants to protect steam and credible hardware platform competition is how they do it. I don't think they have any real plans to produce and support hardwa…

Seems like the Google Fiber strategy - start deploying key products/services to influence the big players in the market to finally innovate or at least play nice for consumers.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#363
post #70

CPU: AMD APU Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32) GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz (up to 1.6 TFlops FP32) RAM: 16GB LPDDR5 Display: 7", 1280x800, 60Hz OS: SteamOS 3.0 (Arch-based), KDE Plasma desktop Storage: Onboard 64GB eMMC/256GB NVMe/512GB NVMe, microSD slot

Does this mean it's a next gen AMD APU, since it uses LPDDR5? I don't think Cezanne (current Zen 3-based APUs) support DDR5.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love Valve but it seems like they create these hardware projects to occasionally remind platform owners like microsoft/playstation/nintendo that they can't completely abuse their users and software devs (Win10 store lock-in, etc) and retain all of them. Valve just wants to protect steam and credible hardware platform competition is how they do it. I don't think they have any real plans to produce and support hardwa…

And yet it looks like you cannot use the Steam Deck without logging into a Steam account. Looks like we are trading in one lock-in for another.

You don't need a Steam account if you're not using the default Steam Deck install. Wipe it and install TempleOS.

> Do I need a Steam account to use Steam Deck?

> The default Steam Deck experience requires a Steam account (it's free!). Games are purchased and downloaded using the Steam Store. That said, Steam Deck is a PC so you can install third party software and operating systems.

https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#365
post #304

Arch linux really? Does not make much sense tbh Ubuntu would have been imo way better. Why would you want a rolling OS for some hardware.

Ubuntu would be bloated garbage for this use. I'm sure they're maintaining their own Arch repositories to ensure their OS is stable.

So why use Arch then? You're not going to use the main feature of it which is rolling release and constant updates.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#366
post #330

The one issue with this is going to be the storage space. 512GB isn't really enough for multiple AAA games. It will also be interesting to see what the battery life is going to be on this thing, and how well they've tuned the controller hardware. It could either be an amazing upgrade for mobile gaming or incredibly janky.

Looks at my 374Gb Ark install. Yah thats gonna be an issue. (I think about 50gb is mods but still.)

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#367
post #70

CPU: AMD APU Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32) GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz (up to 1.6 TFlops FP32) RAM: 16GB LPDDR5 Display: 7", 1280x800, 60Hz OS: SteamOS 3.0 (Arch-based), KDE Plasma desktop Storage: Onboard 64GB eMMC/256GB NVMe/512GB NVMe, microSD slot

so I imagine the games will be ran via stadia ?!

What makes you say that? That is quite beefy machine, very capable of running most modern games on reasonable settings (the resolution is a lot smaller than what people are used to which means lot fewer pixels to push). The only concern I would have is thermals and cooling but I'm sure they have it figured out.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#368
post #135

From the FAQ [0]: - What OS is Steam Deck running? SteamOS 3.0, a new version of SteamOS based on Arch Linux. - Will people be able to install Windows, or other 3rd party content? Yes. Steam Deck is a PC, and players will be able to install whatever they like, including other OSes. [0]: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/faq

Goddamn, take my money

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#369
post #304

Arch linux really? Does not make much sense tbh Ubuntu would have been imo way better. Why would you want a rolling OS for some hardware.

Ubuntu would be bloated garbage for this use. I'm sure they're maintaining their own Arch repositories to ensure their OS is stable.

Kubuntu is hardly bloated, and if you're really worried about size, Ubuntu has minimal and server images you can base a Plasma-powered desktop off of.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#370
post #44

There’s obviously a lot of people who like playing games in a more mobile format, as evidenced by the huge popularity of the Switch Lite / mobile gaming. Giving the PC games market access to that form factor seems, on its face, like an extremely good move. But we’ve seen products like this before — the NVIDIA Shield, for one. Pretty cool piece of tech, but didn’t exactly start a revolution. I guess the question becom…

>But we’ve seen products like this before — the NVIDIA Shield, for one. Pretty cool piece of tech, but didn’t exactly start a revolution. People forget that these devices without marketing and consistency they won't go far. Nintendo, Sony, even MS that came later to the party have hundreds (if not thousands) of millions poured to build their brands, over decades... Sega knew how to play this game and still didn't man…

> Sega knew how to play this game and still didn't manage to hang on...

I see what you did there :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hang-On

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