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Valve Steam Deck

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Re: Valve Steam Deck

#691
post #663
post #606

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arch Linux is amazing. The biggest surprise for me was that it's more stable than so-called stable distros, probably because the various packages don't end up drifting several months from each other when keeping up to date. Hopefully this eventually results in more user friendly Arch Linux installers. The learning curve is an absolute wall when installing, even after several years on Linux, but after that it's pretty…

I highly recommend staying away from Arch and NixOS if you're not ready to commit upwards of 30% of your work and free time fixing and tweaking your box. I've tried both, Arch Linux will routinely hose your entire install if you don't carefully read the update notes every time (even if most of the time there is no call to action for you). Unless it has changed, this is still the expectation of users. NixOS promises s…

> NixOS promises stability, you just walk back to a previous version! Alas, i've had NixOS hose _all_ of my previous versions because of X server issues.

I'd love to hear more detail about this, because `nixos-rebuild switch` is not capable of causing such a problem in a permanent way.

(It can arise temporarily, though, if you switch to a new configuration without rebooting, and that configuration requires a different kernel than you are currently running. Rebooting and choosing your old configuration at the bootloader menu fixes this.)

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#692
post #408

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…

What windows store lock-in?

For example Microsoft kept Forza Horizon 4 Microsoft Store exclusive for 4 years.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#693
post #593
post #38

First impressions: Really good hardware for the price. They fixed the worst thing about SteamOS: It's now got an Arch base. They're definitely overcharging for storage, but I imagine it'll be easy enough to modify one, so it probably doesn't matter much. Why is any company having more USB-2 slots than USB-3 these days? Going with a relatively low resolution compared to modern ones is actually a surprisingly smart mov…

> Why is any company having more USB-2 slots than USB-3 these days? I think it's not a case of "having more USB-2 slots than USB-3 slots", I think it's instead a case of "having precisely two USB-2 slots", no matter how many USB-3 slots there are. The reason for exactly two USB-2 slots is obvious: one of them is for the keyboard, the other one is for the mouse. Neither the keyboard nor the mouse need more than USB-2,…

I agree on the reasoning, but at the same time, they might as well have just gone with a single USB-2 port and had people buy a <$10 USB hub off Amazon or something (or offered it as a peripheral for $20). Although, you can buy a few port USB-c hub for almost the same price, and if they just had two USB-c ports it would all work just as well with the addition of a hub (since you only need to add a keyboard and mouse when stationary).

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#694
post #177
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One negative: With all that hardware it’s almost 3 times heavier than the Nintendo Switch, which is already near the upper limit for holding comfortable for longer play sessions. edit: On closer look that's comparing the Switch without controllers (297g) to the Steam Deck with controllers (669g). The Switch with controllers is 398g, so the Steam Deck is only ~1.7x times as heavy - though that's still a lot of extra w…

That’s almost a deal breaker. My hands get tingly after playing in hand held mode for too long. Not sure if it’s the weight or ergonomics.

Ergonomics for me. The buttons are far too close to the edge for my big hands, and it's so thin and flat I have to grip it more with my outer-most fingers than a random comfortable controller.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#696

Anyone else understand why the storage upgrades are described as "Faster" and "Fastest." At least for eMMC to NVMe, I can see how that can be described as "Faster," but how does increasing NVMe capacity get you "Fastest?"

A lot of times larger SSD have a faster throughput. If each flash module can do n mB/sec then 2n is twice as much. Obviously there’s overhead and how much the actual bus can manage, but plenty of 512gb SSDs are ~20% faster than their 256gb brethren.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#697
post #386

I'm going to buy this just to support Valve for their continued support in making Linux desktop a viable gaming platform. Their reasons may not be entirely altruistic, but there's no doubt that they had a tremendous impact on the Linux gaming ecosystem. And it's not just the Linux gamers that are benefiting from their work. They also seem to be doing good work on lower-level parts of the stack (e.g.: graphic drivers,…

Same. I already have $1,100 saved for a gaming PC, but since that might only buy a GPU right now I’ll just jump into this and hopefully wait out the GPU crunch.

Screen is 720p by default, but it can be used as a gaming laptop, which is really cool. I hope this will be new PSP

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#698
How long until Epic Games sues Valve because they're not a first-class store on Steam Deck?

Companies like Apple, Valve, and Microsoft build out ecosystems and take massive risks doing so, only to have someone who made millions if not billions of dollars off of these systems to come knocking.

Epic made millions if not billions off these platforms. Nintendo is locked to their store. So is Xbox and PS. Not sure why anyone else that designed it that way would be any different. If it's a closed ecosystem, it's just not for you.

If Ram pickup trucks sold door chimes on the dash's touchscreen, Epic Games would be suing for access for their alternative marketplace.

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#699
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.

The specs look good enough to smoothly run The Witcher 3 in 720p (screen size).

Re: Valve Steam Deck

#700
post #386

I'm going to buy this just to support Valve for their continued support in making Linux desktop a viable gaming platform. Their reasons may not be entirely altruistic, but there's no doubt that they had a tremendous impact on the Linux gaming ecosystem. And it's not just the Linux gamers that are benefiting from their work. They also seem to be doing good work on lower-level parts of the stack (e.g.: graphic drivers,…

Same. I already have $1,100 saved for a gaming PC, but since that might only buy a GPU right now I’ll just jump into this and hopefully wait out the GPU crunch.

This thing has GPU 2x weaker than 8 year old GTX 760. You might as well buy one used for $100.
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