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Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

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Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#41

Post by Borealid »

nfriedly wrote: post #35
brundolf wrote: post #10

Wtf are those glasses

They have a pair of tiny screens that sit right in front of your eyes and act like a very portable monitor. (Both screens show the same picture - no 3d effects.) I assume they get power and video both over USB-C, so they can be connected to the Steam Deck's one USB port. Not my thing, but some people really love them.

Over the type-C port they receive video, receive audio, receive power (They're pretty great and I think the market segment will grow over the next few years.

One correction, the screens are actually located in the temple part of the glasses facing downwards, but they are reflected so they appear as if they are in front of your eyes.

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#42

Post by esperent »

Ekaros wrote: post #16

Are NUCs with batteries unserved market? Just thinking of them as concept. How popular would they be?

I've wanted this for ages, Laptop ergonomics are horrible. When traveling I use a portable monitor, keyboard, mouse. Yes it's annoying to travel with all that but worth it not to end my work days with neck pain and a migraine.

I need a somewhat powerful GPU for work, so I'm seriously considering buying one of the more powerful handhelds with removable controllers and just taking them off. The screen would be superfluous but it's probably the most powerful travel PC, at least for the price, that's available right now.

I don't even need the battery that much. But all the options I've seen for SFF PCs that would fit in a backpack look fragile and I wouldn't feel confident carrying them around often. Plus, they're either expensive (because it's a tiny market) or geared towards office work.

On the other hand, the Mac Mini exists and is exactly what I'd want in terms of hardware. Why don't us Linux/Windows folks have this option?

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#43

Post by thesuitonym »

ekimekim wrote: post #15

This isn't all that different to how I use my gaming PC - it's off in another room, with a monitor that is plugged in but almost always off (I don't think Windows will boot without at least something plugged in?), Steam set to start on boot, and then I entirely use it via Steam Remote Play from my main PC.

Windows will boot without a monitor, or at least, it used to, not sure about Windows 11. But Steam Link mirrors your display, and so doesn’t work without one.

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#45

Post by nlawalker »

andrewaylett wrote: post #6

This is brilliant. When I was in sixth-form, a friend built a portable case containing a micro-ATX motherboard. No battery, but he could sit down at any of the school computers, plug into the wall, and use its peripherals with his PC. That was more than 25 years ago, I feel old now.

I did this for a while in college ~20 years ago with the original Mac Mini, it worked pretty well. A little clunky given multiple things to plug in but it was nice to have your entire environment with you locally.

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#46

Post by plagiarist »

Ekaros wrote: post #16

Are NUCs with batteries unserved market? Just thinking of them as concept. How popular would they be?

For gaming, I'd also rather have the Steam Brick, I think. You have a large company with strong interest in the drivers for built-in hardware and external controllers all working smoothly. We also know video over USB will just work. And USB-C power so I don't need a barrel connector to travel, not sure where NUCs are at on that one.

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#47

Post by shepherdjerred »

reddalo wrote: post #34
daemoens wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could get a dummy HDMI plug for $3 on Amazon and free up that monitor if you need it. [1] [1] https://www.amazon.com/BKFK-HDMI-Dummy-Plug-3840x2160/dp/B0C...

I still don't understand why operating systems can't properly work without a screen. I have a Linux "home server" and I haven't found a way to boot up a graphical session with everything working (there were bugs in some applications, like menus not showing up, you couldn't change resolution, etc.). A dummy HDMI plug fixed it, but still. It's 2025, come on.

You can definitely run graphical environments without a screen in a virtual environment, e.g. https://github.com/selkies-project/docker-nvidia-egl-desktop which is even GPU accelerated

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#48

Post by gaudystead »

thesuitonym wrote: post #43
ekimekim wrote: post #15

This isn't all that different to how I use my gaming PC - it's off in another room, with a monitor that is plugged in but almost always off (I don't think Windows will boot without at least something plugged in?), Steam set to start on boot, and then I entirely use it via Steam Remote Play from my main PC.

Windows will boot without a monitor, or at least, it used to, not sure about Windows 11. But Steam Link mirrors your display, and so doesn’t work without one.

I built a NUC running Windows 11 into a tiny portable server for a project I was building and can confirm it boots and functions just fine without being plugged into a monitor.

I just plug it into a power source and it does what I need it to do, but I can plug a monitor and keyboard (and sometimes a mouse because keyboard-only navigation seems to be getting less and less supported/intuitive...) if I need to perform troubleshooting.

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#49

Post by kelnos »

boomskats wrote: post #11

> Because I was so preoccupied with whether or not I could that I didn’t stop to think if I should. Ha. I appreciate you OP. https://x.com/boomskats/status/1860300923773296693

I think you mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oNgyUAEv0Q

Re: Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port

#50

Post by spacemarine1 »

Interestingly, Steam’s first hardware product was a Steam Box: a little computer brick that could boot Steam on linux and let you play all your games on your TV (with a Steam controller or game controller of your choice). The cycle is now complete.
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