Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

crastinator-pro.github.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

261–270 of 270 posts

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

#261

Post by jdiff »

pipes wrote: post #232
ok_dad wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> first gen of Steam controllers, which were created by Valve themselves The best goddamn controllers ever made, too, I still have one in a box somewhere around here and I won't use it because it's so awesome I don't want it to break. Pretty dumb eh? The two touchpads were the absolute best, I've never had control like that in an FPS and to this day I can't play any FPS with a stick because I was ruined on the Steam…

Do the steam deck pads achieve the same thing?

Close in a lot of ways, better in a few ways, like haptics. Steam Controller haptics are not great, and the physical click is loud and echoes within the controller. Deck haptics are fantastic, but there's something about the large circular trackpads that feels better. Maybe it's just the larger touch area.

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

#262

Post by dmonitor »

alias_neo wrote: post #210
Fnoord wrote: post #155

Before performing a mod like this (or generally opening up your device) put your device in battery safe mode [1] [1] https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+Enable+Steam+Deck+Batter...

I've disassembled LOTS of devices in my time, and never knew this was a feature that could be used after the initial purchase. For some years now I've known certain devices like laptops won't power on when bought until first plugged in, but I didn't realise that it could be enabled intentionally after the fact. Typically the first thing I do when I open a device is remove the battery, so accidental button presses (li…

Nintendo's Joycons also have this feature https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZxwVnLc83o

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

#263

Post by yellowapple »

qwytw wrote: post #216
dynamite-ready wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I guess Proton/Wine/Linux gaming wasn't mature enough back then. Also a handheld wasn't really an option because there weren't any powerful enough yet energy efficient and cheap x86 chips available either.

Proton didn't exist yet, IIRC. The Steam Boxen relied on devs/studios/publishers being able and willing to port their games to Linux natively. The result was a handful of AAA and indie games that put proper effort into ports that ran well, a modest but larger selection of AAA games sloppily ported (such that they often can't run on current distros without containerization or extensive library preloading shenanigans), and a deluge of indie shovelware / forever-in-early-access vaporware produced by clicking the "gib me Linux" button in Unity and calling it a day.

Unfortunately, while it was certainly a boom in the number of games Linux users could play (easily enough for me to ditch Windows entirely and game exclusively on Linux and consoles), it wasn't quite the critical mass needed for Steam Boxen to be a commercial success. Proton was the missing piece.

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

#264

Post by alias_neo »

genewitch wrote: post #235
alias_neo wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't take too much compute, the networking is the key. I've run Moonlight on a bunch of things from my TV, crappy old Android TV box, phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, ROG Ally; don't recall if I ever tried a Pi, but I might give it a go. My advice is, whatever you use, make sure it has wired ethernet for a consistent experience. That said, a more powerful device on the receiving end (Moonlight) with good high-sp…

thanks, i have fiber and copper at the TVs. not in a pretty, or impressive way, i just have a switch next to the sets is all. fiber is impervious to most lightning strikes. I got some hardware, someone else mentioned h264/265 hard requirements, but there were codecs before that for FHD that even a pi model B could handle (among them x264 i imagine). My main viewscreen is 720p60, DLP, it's real sensitive to artifacts…

I imagine it's related to what Sunshine/Moonlight is compatible with.

In terms of codecs, Pi4 is the best option (out of the Pi family) for hardware video decoders, Pi5 removed some hardware decoders which is unfortunate.

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

#265

Post by PotatoPancakes »

PotatoPancakes wrote: post #243
pipes wrote: post #159

I wish valve would do a steam laptop that's just steamdeck in a laptop. I'm surprised how good the steamdeck is. I'm considering replacing my pc with steamdeck + dock + external hard disc.

Thankfully, we can now do this ourselves. The Steam Deck hardware to compete with is: - A custom CPU with integrated GPU that's somewhere between an AMD 6600U and 6800U, underclocked for battery life and thermals - 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM (6400 MT/s) - 50 Wh battery So, to make your own Steam Deck-like laptop, you should buy a USB or wireless controller and install the Holo ISO distro (for a UI like the Steam Deck) on a…

Bazzite is a good distro alternative to Holo ISO, that might be better suited for a laptop or desktop.

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

#266

Post by Sugimot0 »

I've thought about building something like this as a laptop replacement (small compute for xreal style display) and making sure there's a new thunderbolt port etc for a GPU dock, but I think the simpler option (with some latency / network requirements) is to use an xreal display with the cell phone you already carry in your pocket and sunshine / moonlight enabled with your desktop setup at home.

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

#268

Post by pipes »

PotatoPancakes wrote: post #243
pipes wrote: post #159

I wish valve would do a steam laptop that's just steamdeck in a laptop. I'm surprised how good the steamdeck is. I'm considering replacing my pc with steamdeck + dock + external hard disc.

Thankfully, we can now do this ourselves. The Steam Deck hardware to compete with is: - A custom CPU with integrated GPU that's somewhere between an AMD 6600U and 6800U, underclocked for battery life and thermals - 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM (6400 MT/s) - 50 Wh battery So, to make your own Steam Deck-like laptop, you should buy a USB or wireless controller and install the Holo ISO distro (for a UI like the Steam Deck) on a…

Ha! Nice :)

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

#269

Post by thepunkoff »

brookst wrote: post #72
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.

Thanks for the explanation but it shattered the narrative by mind was building about an alien intelligence that slipped up and posted about its memories of its sixth physical form, the result of its fifth metamorphosis.

Yeah, like in Zelazny's Lord of Light xD
Post reply on HN