Steam Deck - SteamOS, Zen2 4C/8T, RDNA2 1.0-1.6 TF, 16 GB LPDDR5 88 GB/s, starting at $399 [2021-12]

I'm fairly ignorant when come to Linux. How is SteamOS scarier than any other flavour?

You presumably have to exit Steam's Little? Picture Mode and expend some effort to leave Valve's ecosystem.

 

People will think of this more of a console/mobile than a PC. Installing some third party software and having it steal your steam login is not an expected failure mode of a console or mobile.

Gamescope combined with snapcraft could go a long way towards making use of third party software secure (a third party appstore could be a snap which installs software inside it's own container) . People who want more finegrained control of the Linux OS or install software not available as snaps could dual boot.

PS. it seems I have missed a lot of work Valve has been putting into Linux, I wasn't even aware of gamescope or Valve' s work on proton and DX compatibility layers before today.

PSS. on second thought maybe forget about snap ... way too Canonical and anti-user-control, the windowsapps of Linux.

 

I doubt any average user will try to install something else. They probably won't leave big picture mode at all

 

Am I the only one here who really doesn't care about SteamOS?

Why would I want to be stuck with a limited O.S. will get lower game compatibility, lower performance due to emulation, no support for Windows Store / GamePass or GoG or Origin, fewer driver updates, etc.?

I do get that some gamers will just keep themselves to the Plug&Play functionality, though, but I wonder how long it'll take before lots of people complain because many games they bought on the Steam platform don't work on the Steam handheld they purchased from the same Steam store as the aforementioned games.

 

I wonder if they all have eMMC and its just treated as OS space on the nvme ones

 

It's a PC. For Gamepass [Windows Store] games, Epic Games Store, Origin, UPlay, GOG, emulators and more, user will have to install Windows 10/11.

Well, their position did not change. There is a M.2 slot on the motherboard, but is not easily accessible. Who knows how much disassembly will be needed to access it.

Battery life?

But power users will surely sacrifice parts of the convenience and ease of use to customize this PC to their liking.

 

The improved compatibility they're going for with this version of SteamOS is crucial. A lot of the goodwill towards the Deck will vanish if it's not much better than the picture ProtonDB paints. It needs to be great for them to sell millions of these things.

I have wondered if having a fixed SOC to target is really going to help quite a lot?

 

Why is SteamOS better than Windows at managing power consumption?

 

There's also the cost of the Windows license to factor in.

 

I don't particularly want to use it, but I want it to succeed. I didn't have a huge problem with Microsoft Windows until windowsapps, but it exists and Microsoft is pushing it for games ... we absolutely need an alternative OS for PC gaming, quickly.

 

Not sure if anyone answered yet, but it works by installing Windows on it. This of course assumes AMD releases GPU drivers for it for Windows.

Also, if no-one said it yet, this is supposedly Van Gogh

 

Shame AMD doesn't have consumer multi-use GPU drivers like Intel, then you could run windows in a VM and seamlessly switch.

 

An open M.2 slot on the $399 one makes it tempting, but the thumbsticks should be below the pads and not the way they are.

Someone tell them to change it please, then I'll get one.

 

Why's that?

 

I prefer them that way.

 

If you simply swap the thumbsticks and pads position it wouldn't work because your finger when you want to use the pads will be obstructed by the sticks.

 

So do we know if the memory bus is 64 bit or 128 bit?

Traditionally AMD APUs have been 128bit.

 

Linux is used for mobile phones.

 

So is Wind...oh.