That might be a reason to maybe consider some competitors of the Steam Deck that are a bit more powerful (but have their own tradeoffs, primarily that the wholistic experience just isnt going to be as good as the steam deck is right now), I don’t know the Steam Deck might run 4k fine but I’d be hesitant to recommend it, that is so many fucking pixels lol
Can you actually use steamdeck as a desktop PC though?
Depends on how many pixels you “need”. Running high resolution monitors, even for basic stuff can get costly performance wise pretty damn quick, but in my opinion that isn’t really asking the same question as whether the Steam Deck can be a good desktop.
You can absolutely use the Steam Deck as a desktop, I frequently use my Steam Deck in desktop mode… using the onboard controls. The only real limitation of the Steam Deck so long as you don’t expect it to be a top of the line gaming pc, is that most people who buy it are never truly going to be able to give anything else other than a mouse and keyboard an honest go, they are too impatient and won’t believe it can work but the sky is the limit for joystick+gyro input (our touchpad + gyro) for computers/gaming.
I would like to suggest a perhaps oddball steam deck utility here.
logseq!
logseq is a note taking, thinking and task tracking tool, it is open source and free and works superb on the steam deck when launched in gaming mode.
logseq has functionality for
-arbitrarily deep trees of headings
-easy linking between pages (think wikipedia)
-calendar and in depth task tracking and scheduling
-whiteboard simple visualization utility that can link back to notes
-ability to reference specific parts of a pdf or image from notes and link directly to it
You can then use the equally superb and also free and open source file sync software Syncthing to sync your logseq notes between different devices (say your phone and steam deck).
Using these two utilities you can easily build a cloud based task tracking and note taking system that has ZERO percent lock-in to any corporate silo or any subscriptions, you have complete agency over the whole thing and its pretty damn slick too!
Logseq notes are stored as plain text markdown which adds an extra layer of comfort in knowing if you take a bunch of notes on your games even if ALL development of logseq somehow went belly up those notes are stored in plain text markdown… so you arent going to lose them/have to rewrite them by hand.
(your notes being stored in plain text also means that even a comical amount of notes takes up only kbs of disk space)
Honestly I have really fallen in love with using normal programs fullscreened through steams gaming mode. It feels like a natural evolution of a window manager like i3, so much new stuff to learn and the exciting thing is this is all new for everybody!
Also in the realm of space games, Overload is a BLAST on the deck, especially in short bursts. It is a great way to quickly get locked into the Steam Deck for high intensity flying and fine aim control.
never heard of angry search!, I will have to try it
Discovering that the SD can be used as a computer too, with all the bells and whistles has been very fun.
A useful side note on that, the desktop app “store” is Flathub
I recommend Konqueror as a good file manager/web browser hybrid that you can run fullscreen in gaming mode on your Steam Deck if you add it to steam as a non-steam game.
https://apps.kde.org/konqueror/
I recommend CoreKeyboard as an alternate touchscreen keyboard to Steam’s for when you are in desktop mode or can’t use Steam’s keyboard for some reason.
https://flathub.org/apps/org.cubocore.CoreKeyboard
If you want file sync, try out Syncthing/Syncthingy, it is like DIY cloud file storage but it is actually really easy to set up.
https://flathub.org/apps/com.github.zocker_160.SyncThingy
Inkscape is a great vector image editor that runs really nice in fullscreen/gaming mode on the Steam Deck
https://flathub.org/apps/org.inkscape.Inkscape
Kdenlive is a fully featured video editor that runs really nice in fullscreen/gaming mode. You can record clips and then edit them right there on the deck which is really handy once you learn your way around Kdenlive.
https://flathub.org/apps/org.kde.kdenlive
One final recommendation, CoreHunt, this app doesn’t run well in fullscreen/gaming mode on the Deck but it is such a useful and quick file search utility (with good fuzzy search too) that I have to recommend it. If you are still getting used to the file structure of the Steam Deck and get lost/can’t find a particular file or folder location CoreHunt can save you a big headache just run it in desktop mode.
i havent tried it but you arent alone in feeling like it has staying power as a roguelike, people talk about it really highly even after long amounts of play time in my experience.
I have been playing a lot of games recently, but I think the one I want to highlight most is a game I have recommended in the past here.
Beyond All Reason is a free and open source RTS game inspired by Total Annihilation. It is based on the Spring RTS Engine and collectively BAR represents probably almost two decades of community development over the years and the game is at a really polished fun state at this point with a diverse variety of units and strategies.
The AI is good, it constantly probes your defenses, multiplayer is a blast with active lobbies, you can play PvP or PvE and there are a massive amount of maps. I know I am a weirdo but with gyro on I don’t find playing Beyond All Reason difficult at all. Am I going to out APM a mouse and keyboard player? Nope, but that isn’t really why I play RTS games anyways, and I can hold my own fine especially with the awesome action que system that BAR expanded on from Total Annihilation.
Honestly, I don’t think you are going to find a 3D RTS game with better performance on the Deck for the insane amount of units that get thrown around in a typical BAR match than the Spring RTS Engine/BAR, it is a fairly old 3d RTS engine that by today’s standards has extremely low system requirements but at the same time, everything is simulated. When a tank shoots at another tank in the Spring Engine, the tank aims and then launches a projectile… that projectile is modeled as a physical object and it may or may not hit its target. It is VERY impressive that there can be hundreds of units blasting it out on the battlefield in BAR, and the game just keeps chugging along somehow without melting my steam deck.
https://www.beyondallreason.info/
p.s. check out the new BAR trailer, can you believe this game is a free and open source game??!?
Playing Rounded right now, definitely have my eye on Peglin
Yeah I don’t necessarily disagree with the idea of making file paths case sensitive (i.e. usr/Folder/ is a different directory than usr/folder and same for files), but it is definitely a big mind fuck coming from an operating system where things aren’t really case sensitive in that way.
For big map vehicle and infantry shooters with vehicles that run decent on the Steam Deck I recommend
Easy Red 2 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1324780/Easy_Red_2/
^ I am as tired of ww2 shooters as everybody else, but this game is just damn fun, the maps are very varied, there are lots of quality of life details but the core gameplay is actually very realistic in terms of bullet/gun/vehicle mechanics, the AI can receive basic orders and there is a small but active multiplayer scene. The planes are a blast and the variety of realistically behaving armor is great. I appreciate that you can control the cannons on tanks from the driver seat or just focus on driving and let the AI shoot (or have a friend shoot of course). Performance is superb on the deck, especially for the amount of bots you can get on screen at any time.
For some reason Easy Red 2 is 9 bucks on steam??? Like why is it so cheap? I don’t know, but if you are upset at EA a great way to take out your anger is by buying this awesome game from an awesome indie dev who is the opposite of EA. Note this doesn’t play like Call Of Duty WW2, it plays like a realistic-ish shooter.
Operation Harsh Doorstop https://store.steampowered.com/app/736590/Operation_Harsh_Doorstop/
^ A free moddable realistic tactical shooter on the unreal engine, it is still fairly limited and the playerbase isn’t huge yet but honestly it is really promising and is already a blast if you like realistic modern warfare tactical games, gunplay and movement feels tight and locked in, weapons feel chunky and the foundation is there for a lot of great mods. Vehicles and helicopters are very early stages but are being worked on. I think this is going to be a GREAT platform for big team shooter mods of all kinds of genres and it is nice that it runs decent on the steam deck so long as you are willing to turn everything down so you are basically playing ghost recon 1 but lol… I don’t really care. Check out the Star Wars mod on the workshop as an example of what kinds of different stuff can be done with modding on OHD.
Both Easy Red 2 and Operation Harsh Doorstop are great games to keep your eye on even if the specific experience of either shooter doesn’t attract you right now, I could easily see a fan made spiritual successor to Battlefield 1 being made using Operation Harsh Doorstop as the basis for example so both games represent a lot more than Yet Another Boring WW2 shooter and Another Boring Modern Warfare shooter lol.
Halo Infinite also plays well on the Steam Deck, though I wish performance was better and it sometimes just crashes.
There is of course, always Xonotic available right on the linux distro app store a 30 second download away in desktop mode :P
When Jupiter or Saturn finally wins some competitions are they going to get their medals in the form of precious metals aersolized into a vapor and stuffed into a mason jar?
I know people are pretty dismissive of roblox (myself included), but it’s hugely popular and it’s always good to have the option.
Yeah I mean, to be honest the first time I saw this post I scrolled past and was like “meh, I’d rather just play Wobbly Life”…
…but then I saw this post again and thought… damn actually this is a pretty huge win for the Steam Deck and Linux gaming in general!!
Even if the person buying the Steam Deck doesn’t give a shit about being able to play Roblox… if they have a kid who likes to play video games… then there is a decent chance that kid plays Roblox with their friends which for the parent/family member adds a huge amount of value to the Steam Deck, and for a non-zero amount of kids who will now inevitably play Roblox on their parent’s/family’s Steam Deck because of this, Roblox will be their first introduction to Linux… and those kids will think of Linux as a no bullshit way to play Roblix …which is objectively cool!
Also, it is easy to dismiss Roblox and stereotype games built on its game engine platform as all being of a certain type… and fundamentally unpolished/amateur in design. There are some genuinely awesome games on Roblox though, he is a short list of some FPS games (because that is mostly what I look for in 3d games) but also I will include other types of games if I find any especially good ones:
Phantom Forces - a Call Of Duty Modern Warfare clone, check it out before you judge
https://www.roblox.com/games/292439477/Phantom-Forces
Project Delta - open world multiplayer survival shooter set in post apocalyptic wasteland
https://project-delta-a.fandom.com/wiki/Project_Delta_Roblox_Wiki
https://www.roblox.com/games/7336302630/Project-Delta
Do you know any good, mechanically polished games on the Roblox platform?
Also, make sure to post a modlist if you find a good mix you like!
need to get to trying it pronto
I loved windows phone, the UI was so clear (I still use square home on android to this day), the camera app was superb and it was a very efficient operating system for low end hardware.
It didn’t have a ton of apps but honestly I don’t know, sometimes that doesn’t feel like a bad thing for a thing I am always trying to make more into a tool than an addiction….
Sure windows phone wasn’t going to grow rapidly for years, but it was well situated to take advantage of an opportunity in the future when apple or google stumbled and created an opening. I think for a company as large as Microsoft just abandoning it entirely was a massively stupid move. Now Microsoft has a gigantic blind spot in mobile, and they are stuck in that position.
I have unfortunately not been able to figure out how to load controller configurations that I have shared to steam into games that weren’t the original game I made that controller config in. I click on the controller layout and it fails to load and reverting back to the layout I already had selected.
My recommendation for getting around this is adding the file manager Dolphin as a non-steam game to steam as well as “Corehunt” (which you have to download from Discover, it is made by the same people that made CoreKeyboard). Or you can just use Dolphin and Corehunt in desktop mode.
https://flathub.org/apps/org.cubocore.CoreHunt
Go to the game you want to copy a controller layout into. Edit one of the default controller layouts, just make a random change to it, rename the controller layout to a unique name like TARGET_game then export the file as a personal save (or a personal shareable save I can’t remember which).
In Corehunt, search for the file, Corehunt should find the file fairly quickly (it is muchhhh faster and more thorough than the other file search programs I have used on the Steam Deck so far). Note the file path.
If needed, also search the name of the controller layout you want to copy into the game (name that layout something you can search for easily too).
Navigate to the file path for your controller layout you want to copy, click split view in dolphin and then open up the controller layout for the game you want to copy the controller layout into (that contains your “Target_game” file) and… drag and drop copy!
Done!
Note… you can also look up your steam deck’s file path to controller layouts in a guide or documentation but the filepath is really annoying and one of the folder steps is your steam user-id… so I actually think this explanation is much more concise and easy to do. Just let Corehunt find the folder location for you and then pin it to Dolphin’s sidebar so you can quickly jump to it again.
Steam games should name themselves according to the name you have in Steam, but sometimes the folder name is just a number (the steam game’s id number or something).
Here is a guide to installing and using distrobox on the Steam Deck. The usefulness of using distrobox is that distrobox sets up little mini environment you can install programs too that is outside the context of the immutable SteamOS operating system. Thus, after updates, software or setups you install in a distrobox environment will remain the same. Distrobox is more than just a simple bifurcation between the main SteamOS and a virtual environment, it provides tools to set up the ability to connect programs between the two for advanced setups (though you can ignore this stuff and just use the defaults).
Simply put it’s a fancy wrapper around podman, docker or lilipod to create and start containers highly integrated with the hosts.
The distrobox environment is based on an OCI image. This image is used to create a container that seamlessly integrates with the rest of the operating system by providing access to the user’s home directory, the Wayland and X11 sockets, networking, removable devices (like USB sticks), systemd journal, SSH agent, D-Bus, ulimits, /dev and the udev database, etc…
It implements the same concepts introduced by https://github.com/containers/toolbox but in a simplified way using POSIX sh and aiming at broader compatibility.
All the props go to them as they had the great idea to implement this stuff.
It is divided into 12 commands:
distrobox-assemble - creates and destroy containers based on a config file
distrobox-create - creates the container
distrobox-enter - to enter the container
distrobox-ephemeral - create a temporal container, destroy it when exiting the shell
distrobox-list - to list containers created with distrobox
distrobox-rm - to delete a container created with distrobox
distrobox-stop - to stop a running container created with distrobox
distrobox-upgrade - to upgrade one or more running containers created with distrobox at once
distrobox-generate-entry - to create an entry of a created container in the applications list
distrobox-init - the entrypoint of the container (not meant to be used manually)
distrobox-export - it is meant to be used inside the container, useful to export apps and services from the container to the host
distrobox-host-exec - to run commands/programs from the host, while inside of the container
source: https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/blob/main/docs/README.md#what-it-does
Guide For Installing Distrobox On The Steam Deck
https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/blob/main/docs/posts/steamdeck_guide.md
Quckstart Guide
https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/blob/main/docs/README.md#quick-start
Distrobox Guide Homepage
https://github.com/89luca89/distrobox/tree/main/docs#readme
note because distrobox is a process that can be run by command line, you could presumably launch distrobox in a terminal window in Gaming Mode and keep everything for that session within that steam Big Picture window no problem. I am gonna have to keep experimenting with this, I will update with progress.
https://swethatanamala.substack.com/p/how-i-ran-llms-on-steam-deck-handheld
I am going to probably make a post/video about using the setup Swetha lays out in this article after I have fiddled around with this setup to have enough good advice to collect into a post, but it is worth linking to this awesome guide here as well on how to run a LLM/AI locally on your steam deck (meaning an internet connection is not needed and no data leaves your device period). There are a million ways to do this but what is so clever about Swetha’s is that because the whole setup is contained within a distrobox ubuntu instance that lives in your home directory, updates to your Steam Deck won’t break everything (Steam-os is an immutable operating system which can cause headaches with having to re-setup things after every update).
Also because this method relies on using a llama.cpp through a terminal, there is no reason this workflow couldn’t be done with a terminal program open in Gaming Mode on the Steam Deck (or through Decky Terminal, but I can’t figure out how to easily paste text in and out of it ughh).
Edit you can also just install jan from here as an app image https://jan.ai/ and load in .gguf files you download from huggingface.co
Swetha recommends getting a model that is less than 4 gigabytes and loading it into the GPU, but I haven’t found a >4 gig model that actually gives that useful information yet. I have had success with running these models on the CPU
https://huggingface.co/TheBloke/Mistral-7B-Instruct-v0.1-GGUF
In particular I found the sweet spot to be these specific models:
mistral-7b-instruct-v0.1.Q5_K_S.gguf Q5_K_S
mistral-7b-instruct-v0.1.Q5_K_M.gguf Q5_K_M
This one runs too slow on the CPU to be useful at least with the settings I am currently using:
mistral-7b-instruct-v0.1.Q6_K.gguf Q6_K
I like the handy chart that comes along with this release of mistral models as it gives you a good starting point from which to figure out generally what size model is practical and optimal for your computer.
This reddit thread had some good general information on how to download AI models from hugginface.co and run them
https://www.reddit.com/r/LocalLLaMA/comments/18hzun0/sharing_a_simple_local_llm_setup/
Specifically this quote from that reddit thread is useful
Steps:
Install llama.cpp, the steps are detailed in the repo.
Download an LLM from huggingface.
For those not familiar with this step, look for anything that has GGUFin its name. You will probably find that on TheBloke's page. If you are not sure which one to choose, start with one that has lots of likes or downloads, or browse this community for impressions and feedback. Once you find the model you like, go to its page, click on Files and versions` and then choose a file that ends with .gguf and download it. If you are not familiar with the sizes, go for Q4_K_M and make sure the size of the file seems to be something that can fit in your GPU or CPU memory.
If at first you crash and burn… well I mean it is Beam Ng so doesnt that mean you are actually playing the game right?