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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

#61

Post by nejsjsjsbsb »

calderwoodra wrote: post #58

These glasses are super interesting - if laptops didn't have displays, their form factors could change considerably. I'm imagining a rectangular shape with the track pad right aligned to the keyboard, rather than underneath.

I would love that. Happy for it to be a thin client type of thing too. Imagine a plane where you have room for a keyboard but that is it.

Makes me think: with this your phone is fine. You can run a Linux on your Android then have a thin client. Lots of options!

The laptop form factor makes a laptop fragile. To the point where a 2 yr old XPS has been serviced 20 times (pro tip: get all the top level service options for 3 yrs it was about 30% added to the cost). And I have a probably 12 year old Dell desktop with no issues at all.

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

#62

Post by carlbarrdahl »

nejsjsjsbsb wrote: post #61
calderwoodra wrote: post #58

These glasses are super interesting - if laptops didn't have displays, their form factors could change considerably. I'm imagining a rectangular shape with the track pad right aligned to the keyboard, rather than underneath.

I would love that. Happy for it to be a thin client type of thing too. Imagine a plane where you have room for a keyboard but that is it. Makes me think: with this your phone is fine. You can run a Linux on your Android then have a thin client. Lots of options! The laptop form factor makes a laptop fragile. To the point where a 2 yr old XPS has been serviced 20 times (pro tip: get all the top level service options fo…

I'm on my third xps across 8+ years. 2 cases of services, the first one was a faulty keyboard on delivery and the second was a 1 meter drop into concrete that busted the screen.

Still looking for alternatives for my next one and thinking the System76. Gotta say though, I'm really happy with the xps model so far.

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

#63

Post by geoffpado »

spacemarine1 wrote: post #50

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.

The history is a bit more complicated than that. Valve themselves never released a “Steam Box” that could run games on Linux. They partnered with a few different companies (Alienware, Gigabyte, etc.), who released co-branded “Steam Machines” which were just those companies’s normal hardware design, but with a common set of specs ideal for running SteamOS. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Machine_%28computer%29

You might instead be thinking of the Steam Link, which *was* produced by Valve, and *was* a tiny little brick that let you play games on your TV. But the Link wasn’t running the games itself, it was streaming them from a dedicated PC (which may itself have been a third-party Steam Machine) elsewhere in your home. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Link

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

#64

Post by NikkiA »

choult wrote: post #28
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.

For the non-Brits, "sixth-form" means years 12 and 13 of school - equivalent to junior and senior years of high school in the US. The first and second yearsof sixth form are referred to as "lower sixth" and "upper sixth" respectively. It's a hold-over term from when secondary education (ages 11 and up) started in "first form" and worked up.

And should be noted that 25 years ago, was still optional.

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

#65

Post by geoffpado »

calderwoodra wrote: post #58

These glasses are super interesting - if laptops didn't have displays, their form factors could change considerably. I'm imagining a rectangular shape with the track pad right aligned to the keyboard, rather than underneath.

There were some people doing something similar with the Vision Pro and detaching the monitor from a MacBook Air[0]. It looks really slick, but how well it actually works, especially given the drawbacks of the Vision Pro, is… up for interpretation.

0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUa_pPUbpGQ

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

#66

Post by jayd16 »

Aurornis wrote: post #32
Ekaros wrote: post #16

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

A NUC with USB-PD input could be powered from a USB-PD power bank. I’d much rather do that than purchase a NUC with a built-in battery. Keeping the two pieces separate makes them easier to repurpose later. Regardless, the market for such a device is relatively small.

Can they be? I'm not sure they make NUCs designed for mobile power draw without the battery.

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

#67

Post by kelvie »

blacksmith_tb wrote: post #21
Ekaros wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't know Mac Minis had good batteries in them. How many hours do they last on full load?

They don't, but they do idle as low a 4W for the whole system[1] so running one off a large portable battery would be possible (if not exactly elegant). 1: https://support.apple.com/en-us/103253

You'd need a battery with UPS-like functionality (and doesn't beep when it's taken off power), otherwise every time you plug and unplug it your mac would restart.

Which is surprisingly hard to find for a portable (usb-C) battery.

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

#68

Post by thatfrenchguy »

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.

macOS has no issues with no monitor fwiw

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

#69

Post by rendaw »

calderwoodra wrote: post #58

These glasses are super interesting - if laptops didn't have displays, their form factors could change considerably. I'm imagining a rectangular shape with the track pad right aligned to the keyboard, rather than underneath.

There was this "SpaceTop" startup making a laptop with no screen [https://www.pcworld.com/article/1919392/spacetop-is-the-firs...], just a built in case for XR glasses like this (except the case was built into the body). They gave up and pivoted into AI...

I was thinking I'd want to make my own. How hard could it be? Just a phone, keyboard, and usb hub fitted into some framing. I tried 3-4 demos of XReal glasses though and (when I found a pair that wasn't broken, cable damage?) the FOV was much smaller than they seemed to be claiming. I think the bridge of my nose sticks out so the glasses are significantly farther away.

I still like the idea.

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

#70

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

carlbarrdahl wrote: post #62
nejsjsjsbsb wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love that. Happy for it to be a thin client type of thing too. Imagine a plane where you have room for a keyboard but that is it. Makes me think: with this your phone is fine. You can run a Linux on your Android then have a thin client. Lots of options! The laptop form factor makes a laptop fragile. To the point where a 2 yr old XPS has been serviced 20 times (pro tip: get all the top level service options fo…

I'm on my third xps across 8+ years. 2 cases of services, the first one was a faulty keyboard on delivery and the second was a 1 meter drop into concrete that busted the screen. Still looking for alternatives for my next one and thinking the System76. Gotta say though, I'm really happy with the xps model so far.

I was spinning a ThinkPad diagonal corners between my palms, fumbled it, my catch attempt put more energy in to it, landed on front right corner on the kitchen floor, bounced.

Nothing wrong with it, nothing broke, everything worked.

This was back when IBM still ran the brand.

I wouldn’t encourage anyone to try that with my HP x360.

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