this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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Steam Deck
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A place to discuss and support all things Steam Deck.
Replacement for r/steamdeck_linux.
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Steam OS is a lot more powerful than big picture
In what way? Sure... If you compare just big picture mode to an entire OS, but that's hardly what was meant.
My desktop with endeavour OS and SteamDeck can do all the same things... In fact doing some things on the deck is more tricky because it's limited to installing flatpaks.
That's the advantage. A PC with a layer on top is a PC with a layer on top. It still wants you to have a mouse and keyboard. You still have to update it like a normal desktop PC.
Steam OS is controller and controller only. It's a no bullshit durable system designed to be put on a box and just leave it that way.
You can do the same things, but I'm not putting a norma lLinux box running steam under my TV.
Except SteamOS is also just "a linux box running steam"... A PC with a layer on top. The only differences I'm hearing you wanting is immutability, and discrete version updates instead of a bunch of package upgrades. There are several immutable distros, and updates can be made painless in a variety of ways.
The SteamOS UI is big picture mode now. Since some update or other, the old big picture mode from SteamOS 1.0 got updated to the SteamDeck UI for desktop as well.
You can basically count on this as a rule, whenever you're saying something reductive like this, You are probably missing something really critical.
In this case that critical thing you're missing is ease of use and support.
I'm not putting a Linux distro under my couch because I know that almost as a fact that computer will break in some strange way, and I will have to dig that stupid thing out from under my TV, plug it into some stupid monitor keyboard and mouse, and fix it by following a guide on Google, reinstall the operating system to whatever the hot flavor of the month that actually has developer support is, that sort of thing.
But I would happily install steam OS, because I know I would drop steam OS on that box and it would just work for however long valve has a successful hardware line, which at this point I think is going to be a decade given the success of the steam deck.
No, you don't. SteamOS on Deck is only so stable because everyone has the exact same hardware, a version that people can just install on anything they want would have the exact same post-install risks as any other distro.
And even then there have been problems with SteamOS on Deck big enough that it made some have to re-image the OS entirely. There was one version that would stop booting once it hit a certain number of files on system, and all you could do was just to occasionally re-install SteamOS until it was fixed.
The OS being bug-free on valves hardware absolutely does not mean it will be on whatever you're chucking beneath your TV.
But this defense doesn't even apply to the claim you made, or why I took issue. What you said, is that SteamOS is "more powerful". It's not, it's objectively less capable than most linux distros. What you meant, is that's is more convenient, and less likely to require occasional troubleshooting.
For the most part windows does it fine too.
You're going to see some issues when something ships hundreds of thousands of products, but the difference is when someone has a problem with the steam deck it's going to generally be an exception.
When someone has a problem with your custom Linux build? That's generally the rule.
I use Lenox all the time, so I can say this pretty confidently. A few weeks ago I tried to disable ipv6 on Ubuntu. After doing that the Wi-Fi program crashed every time I tried to make a connection and I had to go into the files and delete all of the configs.
You're not into just basic stuff like that all the time with any Linux build or stuff just breaks. Something like the steam deck that is so tightly controlled and managed by a third party company that is going to be way more rare in the system is going to be way more reliable.
Not necessarily, but it's going to be a lot more likely to with the reduced scope and the fact that you have valve, able to do real testing and validation and give you supported hardware.
At that point you're just nitpicking and confusing what exactly I meant by power.
When I said more powerful, I refer to the fact that the steamos is built from the ground up to be nothing but a controller based interface with absolutely no dependency on mouse or keyboard.
More powerful in the context of being an under the TV set box, and in the fact that it's a digital built from the ground up, supported by an actual company, it's far more useful and capable as an under the TV set box than any other Linux alternative.
If you're defining power as the ability to open up a shell and do whatever the heck you want, you're describing a trait that is entirely and fully negative when it comes to having a computer under your TV. You can't say a big buff guy is a powerful swimmer because he can lift weights.
SteamOS is Steam running Big Picture mode on a modified and limited Linux distribution based on Arch, with not much else going on. There is some weird shit with the compositor, but you can replicate that on any other Linux system.
It’s quite literally nothing special. The only reason to want it on Desktop is to save a few minutes of setup for a machine you intend to only run Steam games.
Right, and I never said it was only Big Picture. What can it do that Linux + Big Picture can't?
Its a fair take, but the "game mode" where the is is running gamescope allows valve to do some magic that's not super possible with the current big picture
Does it have more oomph? More chutzpah? More mileage? More HP? More pep in its step? More ability to go the distance? More firepower? More brass? More boldness? More flavor?
Yes
SteamOS is a less flexible distribution of Arch Linux. You can do the same and even more with other distributions. Even on the Steam Deck.
The lack of flexibility is power when it comes to use as a console. "You can do the same" isn't true when the desire is to have a no bullshit "just works" experience with minimal setup.
You can install Bazzite and you will have the same experience you would get with SteamOS. Don't use the extra features and you won't be able to tell the difference. It is a "just works" experience with minimal setup. The setup even includes emulators and launchers like the FFXIV one so it is even more minimal than SteamOS.
It may not work directly on a given PC or a specific device, but that would also happen if Valve released a generic SteamOS.
Edit: typo