cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/1532769
If you own a Steam Deck (either OLED or LCD) or have used one in the past, what are your thoughts? Did you find it easy to use? What is your opinion on the "Desktop mode" with KDE? Do you think it helps or hurts Linux adoption? What are your opinions on Steam as a whole and Valve's business practices beyond the technical stuff like Proton.
I have the OLED 1TB version for a week now and I finished Miles Morales on it.
It looked and played wonderfully. The power of a HDR PS3+ in the palm of my hand. Playing HADES on it is good. Touch screen is very responsive. It's built so it keeps your hands away from the hot stuff so you aren't sweating on the grips. It feels suprisingly light.
The controls feel comfortable and responsive. It is versitile. Got a gaming rig in one room and want to just chill on the couch or bed - it can stream the game from your rig to the Deck and take a 4 hour session to 10 hours. They worked out a lot of problems with thier streaming games since their first attempts. I'm in a pretty crowded wifi area with my neighbors and controls felt (0 It charges up pretty fast too. Have yet to see how the dock and 4k screen do so I can't say to that yet.
Copy paste on the virtual keyboard I havent quite figured out. Bit of a PITA trying to bypass EA launcher but those are few. I'm having some difficulty trying to tether it to my phone net. Not sure if its a me thing or a Deck thing. So seek more info if you want to connect it to a cell for those "I need to beam home to the mothership to play a single player game....games."
It has the latest bluetooth and wifi capabilities.
RTS games...they're doable....but it's rough. Probably better with a bluetooth mouse.
Audio is ok. It's not Dolby Atmos virtual surround, but it's functional to do the job. Voices are clear. Music is good. The bluetooth option can be used to beam to external headphones or speakers. It has a USB C port and a dedicated old school headphone jack. You can connect an external keyboard if you want.
It has a linux desktop behind the scenes you can access to tinker with everything or run your own say...emulators. i don't know enough how to yet so I can't attest to them, but it's got enough under the hood to run most.
You can tweak this thing any which way you want. They let you have full control of the experience and are pro self repair. Either preset or customize the power, the display, the graphics. It's all open to you if you want. Haven't needed to use that and dont plan on it maybe except a larger nvme down the road,, but I think an SD expansion will do for now.
It's a great comanion to take my games library on the go with me. Especially on the off shifts or on trips away from home. There is an opt in user experience that would ask you if the game ran ok. Then there's a feedback option in the main deck menus for bugs and such.
While it's not perfect, I am happy with it for what it sells itself as and what it can do.
Yes I think this is a game changer for linux gaming. Granted its through Proton, but the games work.