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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

#91

Post by kaladin-jasnah »

virtualwhys wrote: post #76
choult wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In the US, for schools that use this form of grading, it means your senior year; 3rd form is freshman year and so on. We tend not to have a 13th grade, and when that does exist, a PG (post grad) is generally there because they excel at a particular sport.

I guess some people in the US call someone beyond their 12th grade in high school, or fourth year in an undergraduate program a "super senior."

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

#92

Post by kelvie »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #81
kelvie wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Does it do that? Why?

Do you mean why a UPS beeps when it's disconnected from power? I imagine so the user knows it's disconnected.

Annoying during a power outage though.

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

#93

Post by esperent »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #80
esperent wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 superflu…

> 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. Have you considered dropping the portable monitor for an angled laptop stand that will elevate the screen to eye level? I've got one that collapses down small enough to fit in a reasonably de…

I do actually use the laptop as a second screen in this way most of the time. However, it's amazing how many hotels lack any table deep enough to place a 15" laptop on a stand with a keyboard in front of it.

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

#94

Post by dicknuckle »

gaudystead wrote: post #48
thesuitonym wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

The issue is usually with the graphics card itself in my experience.

This is easily "fixed" on a DVI port by plugging a resistor of the correct value into two of the tiny pin sockets. The diagram is very easy to find online and you don't have to open the computer. That's become a thing of the past as far as I know.

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

#95

Post by cletusw »

jayd16 wrote: post #66
Aurornis wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

There are a good amount of lower power ones (e.g. with an N100 CPU) that draw ~15W usually and not that much more at full bore, and some of them are starting to come with USB-PD power inputs (even if they come with a DC power adapter some will accept USB-PD on another port).

Look for "PD in" on this sheet for some examples (columns BW-BY): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SWqLJ6tGmYHzqGaa4RZs...

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

#96

Post by mgrandl »

daemoens wrote: post #24
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.

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...

There is also this: https://github.com/VirtualDisplay/Virtual-Display-Driver

Never used it, but I heard great things!

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

#97

Post by withinrafael »

dicknuckle wrote: post #94
gaudystead wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 t…

The issue is usually with the graphics card itself in my experience. This is easily "fixed" on a DVI port by plugging a resistor of the correct value into two of the tiny pin sockets. The diagram is very easy to find online and you don't have to open the computer. That's become a thing of the past as far as I know.

NVIDIA GPUs still require "dummy" HDMI plugs. They won't be fully usable without something plugged in; it's not clear why.

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

#98

Post by dynamite-ready »

geoffpado wrote: post #63
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…

I suppose the missing part of the story is why they held back on pursuing this market.

At the time, the console market was wide open, with little innovation in terms of hardware, until Nintendo released the Switch.

Even now, I'd be quite happy to own a Valve branded, small form PC that plugs into a TV.

The Steam Link was a kop out to me.

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

#100

Post by skykooler »

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.

They can do split-screen 3d, albeit at a lower refresh rate. When you put them into that mode they appear to the computer as one screen of double width.
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