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Latest Comments by CatKiller
The Valve Steam Deck, lots of excitement and plenty to think about for Linux gaming
17 Jul 2021 at 11:57 pm UTC Likes: 7

Quoting: Lofty
Quoting: CatKillerFWIW, you can't install Windows 11 on it; the screen's too small.
What do you mean by this, is there a minimum limitation on resolutions available to Windows 11 ? Or are you talking about physical screen size comfort ?
One of the minimum requirements for Windows 11 is a 9-inch screen.

The Valve Steam Deck, lots of excitement and plenty to think about for Linux gaming
17 Jul 2021 at 11:40 pm UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: sudoerInitially I was excited about the opening opportunities for Linux, but after reading... I'm a bit sceptical...

You're in the Trough of Disillusionment.

FWIW, you can't install Windows 11 on it; the screen's too small.

The Valve Steam Deck, lots of excitement and plenty to think about for Linux gaming
17 Jul 2021 at 11:35 pm UTC Likes: 5

Quoting: LoftyBut the biggest question i have is at what cost is EAC / Battle-eye being integrated ? AFAIK these are extremely invasive pieces of software that many consider to be basically spyware.
It's not going to be integrated into the kernel. There isn't time between now and December to get that done, even if were an uncontroversial thing that everyone agreed was a great idea. EAC already works on Linux, it's just that it erroneously detects Wine as a version of Windows that's been tampered with. It basically just needs to stop doing that. It might mean that it only ends up working in officially-from-Valve Proton using pressure vessel.

The Valve Steam Deck, lots of excitement and plenty to think about for Linux gaming
17 Jul 2021 at 11:29 pm UTC Likes: 5

Quoting: peta77It all sounds interesting but the pricing is a bit high, considering the display isn't even 2K...


It's already 215 DPI. Higher resolution doesn't make any sense unless you make the screen bigger.

But the ability to installing anything else on it makes it very charming. Like replacing KDE. That has become just a giant memory hog from v4 on. And a bit unstable (at least in a 24/7 scenario).
It seems you haven't tried KDE for a long time. KDE 4 had some severe growing pains, yes, but Plasma 5 is solid. And is one of the lighter desktop environments. It's also the best choice for this kind of device (unless they were rolling their own); it's very Windows-like by default, and is massively customisable just by poking around in the Settings menu.

What I want to know is whether they'll have Wobbly Windows turned on by default. Because I really really think they should. If you want a perfectly unobtrusive way of demonstrating the freedom to have fun, and blow the minds of all those jaded Windows users that are seeing it for the first time, that should do it.

The Valve Steam Deck, lots of excitement and plenty to think about for Linux gaming
17 Jul 2021 at 4:46 pm UTC Likes: 5

Quoting: denyasisOn a different note. I wonder how many reservations stream has gotten? Obviously it's not indicative of sales, but can at least show how much interest is there.
They had 110,000 reservations in the first 90 minutes before they plugged the information leak.

The Valve Steam Deck, lots of excitement and plenty to think about for Linux gaming
17 Jul 2021 at 3:57 pm UTC Likes: 8

Quoting: PublicNuisanceThe storage is soldered on and can't be replaced.
https://www.steamdeck.com/en/tech [External Link]
All models use socketed 2230 m.2 modules (not intended for end-user replacement)
All models include high-speed microSD card slot
Pierre-Loup Griffais has said that the socket is particularly fiddly to get to.

Quoting: PublicNuisanceThe battery isn't listed as removable so I will assume that can't be replaced either.
Batteries, as a blob that takes up most of the space in a mobile device that only need a single connection, are generally quite modular, and Valve haven't shown any inclination towards wanting to deliberately lock these down. Sony are quite control-freaky about their hardware, but I could still replace the batteries in my PS3 controllers.

Wait for the inevitable iFixit teardown.

Valve has formally announced the Steam Deck, a portable handheld console with SteamOS
17 Jul 2021 at 12:55 am UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: mylka
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: mylkai think they should make it more clear, that they do not sell a WINDOWS PC and you may not be able to play some games and you wont be able to install windows software like you do on windows
Nobody expects a thing like a Nintendo Switch to be a Windows PC. I don't think they need to sweat that a whole lot.
but switch owners expect to play their switch games
steam deck players wont be able to play all their steam games
I agree with you that it's something that needs to be addressed head on, but it seems clear that compatibility will be indicated in some fashion (that's how the rumours started in the first place). I think that Valve's aspiration to remove all barriers without specific game dev intervention is unrealistic.

However, the fact that not all PCs can play all PC games has been known to PC gamers for decades. My current desktop can play every game I can throw at it, but my ultrabook, my NUC and my now-retired Sandy Bridge machine simply can't. It is a pain that there are additional technical barriers if game devs don't make their products work on this machine, but the existence of titles that can't be run shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

The Valve Steam Deck, lots of excitement and plenty to think about for Linux gaming
17 Jul 2021 at 12:26 am UTC Likes: 3

Quoting: musojon74I've not heavily looked at Linux gaming for a couple of years. However I've a: already reserved the 256Gb one of these and b: as they are showing Jedi Fallen Order and other aaa games, I will be reinstalling Linux on a spare mini PC to see what the current status of Proton. Exciting times!
Welcome!

The Valve Steam Deck, lots of excitement and plenty to think about for Linux gaming
17 Jul 2021 at 12:24 am UTC Likes: 4

Quoting: alka.setzerBattery runtime also has me worried, 2h is what you will get playing games. So you will get a warm device which is not great.
That's going to depend on the game. Indies, which you say are a good match for this device, and which we have the most of available for Linux, should fare perfectly well.

IGN: Battery life? That's a big one in any handheld device. What are we looking at there?

Pierre-Loup Griffais: Well, there's a wide variety of experiences there. It's about 2-8 hours, depending on what you're doing. You can play Portal 2 for four hours on this thing. If you limit it to 30 FPS, you're going to be playing for 5-6 hours.
https://www.ign.com/articles/steam-deck-valve-faq-big-questions-answered [External Link]

The Valve Steam Deck, lots of excitement and plenty to think about for Linux gaming
16 Jul 2021 at 7:42 pm UTC Likes: 2

Quoting: MohandevirQ2 2022 for the top tier... They must have sold a lot of them.
Q2 2022 for the middle one, too, now.