Quoting: PikoloI'm confused. Why add Pluton to the same CPUs then? So you get open-source firmware with a backdoor?

From Wikipedia:

Pluton is a Microsoft-designed security subsystem that implements a hardware-based root of trust for Azure Sphere. It includes a security processor core, cryptographic engines, a hardware random number generator, public/private key generation, asymmetric and symmetric encryption, support for elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA) verification for secured boot, and measured boot in silicon to support remote attestation with a cloud service, and various tampering counter-measures.

I don't see anything that constitutes a backdoor here. It's more akin to a TPM. From what I'm reading above, this processor probably can't access system memory, spy or change anything on the main machine.
Measured boot is typically done "manually" by bootloader, IIRC, each stage providing a hash of the next stage before executing it.

One should maintain a healthy dose of skepticism against Microsoft-provided solutions, but this doesn't mean spreading FUD :)

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Quoting: Pengling

Quoting: MayeulCI started detailing the technicalities, then realized that is not what you were after... Well, if I can't use the Steam deck, I can plug the SSD into another computer to retrieve data. I can also boot it up on another computer, but the SD is better (my desktop randomly loses the USB controllers sometimes, which makes USB boot unreliable, and my other laptop only has 4GB of RAM).
I have priority though, as this is now my "work laptop" replacement (where the SSD originally comes from).

Thanks much for taking the time to reply. :smile: I'm most curious about using it in place of a laptop - do you use the dock (not necessarily connected to an external monitor) for this?

No worries, I always check my GoL notifications, even if I don't visit the website every day :)

I use the USB-C input (Display Port Alt mode plus PD charging) of my DELL monitor (Daisy chained to a second one via a DP->VGA adapter), and connect the SSD to one of its side ports via USB. The setup is pretty solid, though it's tempting to disconnect the Steam Deck or turn the screen off (either would interrupt the connection to the boot drive, which would be a bad idea). No issues so far though, and the Steam Deck, even with this complicated setup, has had one of the most robust suspend and resume implementation I've ever encountered on Linux. There were a few hiccups with Daisy Chaining due to an AMD regression on recent kernels, but it's getting quite stable these days.

I would be in the market for more esoteric USB-C adapters, such as a simple USB-C -> USB-C + USB-A hub (that retain PD and DP Alt). Or something that injects DP Alt signals from a separate video output. I might need to design these myself, though.

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Quoting: PenglingI find it interesting how Elden Ring, Stardew Valley, and Vampire Survivors are so often battling it out for the top spot in the monthly Steam Deck most-played charts - they're all so different, and on most platforms wouldn't be in such close "competition" like this, so I find it pretty interesting to see. :tongue:

Quoting: MayeulCIt's a pain to manage a single one, especially as I often use it as a computer, booting on an external SSD, docked.

Just curious, how well do you get along with it in this use-case? :smile:

I started detailing the technicalities, then realized that is not what you were after... Well, if I can't use the Steam deck, I can plug the SSD into another computer to retrieve data. I can also boot it up on another computer, but the SD is better (my desktop randomly loses the USB controllers sometimes, which makes USB boot unreliable, and my other laptop only has 4GB of RAM).
I have priority though, as this is now my "work laptop" replacement (where the SSD originally comes from).

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Quoting: KimyrielleGreat to see a game running on Linux that's certainly going to become a big hit. Personally, I am not going to get it. I don't own a single Blizzard game, so there is that. I just don't like that company and their business practices.

Seconded :)

How does Victor Vran compares with Diablo, BTW? I played a bit of both, and they felt pretty similar.

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Hades...When I can pry my Steam Deck from my SO's hands... (Hades too, but a second run). I guess I need to buy a second one at some point.

It's a pain to manage a single one, especially as I often use it as a computer, booting on an external SSD, docked.

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I hope the kernel update won't bring the AMD DisplayPort regression that happened in 6.1.

It's still occasionally a pain when booting my Steam Deck on vanilla Arch and plugging it in an external display, though it's been improving.

Maybe we'll finally see some HDR work land?

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Quoting: FurysparkRegardless of what this may or may not entail, there is nothing you can do or say to me that makes me believe patents and copyright aren't the love children of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao Zedong.

IDK. Copyright ils definitely way too long, and it's absurd that it outlasts patents.

Patents on the other hand, are quite interesting, though they have been subverted with time (as with anything when lawyers get involved). They offer companies to publish their trade secrets against time-limited exclusivity. Sounds like a good deal, as it avoids "well, that is something only company X knew how to do, but they went belly up 50 years ago" situations. Also, you need to pay (more and more with time) to extend them, up to 20 years.

I'm looking into patenting an electronics circuit myself (PhD results), which is quite innovative. If the patent sale or licensing could give me a few funds to pursue more research, I'd be happy with that. In this situation, I see the patent system as "outsourcing R&D".

I'm a bit sad that you need a lawyer to draft them up though, that makes patents expensive to do for individuals like me (yeah, patenting through my lab is... complicated, and I'm not employed anymore anyway).
Also, most companies take the approach of "describing as little as you can", which is against the spirit.

And then there's patent trolls and patents of little substance. You're not supposed to be able to patent an idea, and I believe patents to last way too long for software, where time-to-market is much, much shorter than, say, the 5-10 years it generally takes in electronics or other industrial domains (not even counting the time to obtain funding if you are starting a product from scratch as a startup).

I can't really judge for this situation, maybe their claims are legitimate? I'd have to read the patents :|

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Quoting: Klaas

Quoting: MayeulCLol, not yet unfortunately. I'll post an update here if you are curious :P

You can't leave something like that without a follow up.

Soo... the week turned into a month, partly because my advisor was very busy organizing a conference, and then took a holiday. Partly because I'm a perfectionist :P

But I sent it on Friday evening, and opened my Steam Deck on Sunday :woot:

To be honest, I'm still a bit too busy to play: I installed the updates, made a test for a proton compatibility report I was asked questions on, and... I've been working with it as my main computer since.

You see, I had computer issues about a year ago, where my laptop motherboard fried (probably the power supply). I extracted the SSD, and booted off it on my desktop PC (hail Linux). A few months ago, this setup started randomly acting up (SSD getting disconnected for a few seconds, which kills my session). Possibly due to a kernel update. So I switched to an old laptop (~2012 Macbook Air), but it was painful to only have 4GB of RAM and a measly CPU.

Fast forward now, I just boot my SSD off the Steam deck. After a few hiccups (I had to try desktop mode on SteamOS before both external screens worked after KMS, and it's horribly tempting to unplug the boot drive), the setup works extremely well, and suspend-to-RAM is the most reliable I've seen in years. Even though my setup is Steam Deck -> Screen via USB-C -> SSD via USB-A and second display via DP MST.

I'm impressed with the perf/cost of this "tiny PC with integrated screen and inputs". The fan is just a bit loud.

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Quoting: Marlock

Quoting: itscalledreality

Quoting: EikeFile transfer ist okish for me at the moment - device discovery is not even that. More like hot and miss. And it's still a favourite of mine. Looking forward for the improvements!

Device discovery has been a joke. When I had problems and asked why I had to readd my phone after each restart the IRC channel told me it must be how my network was configured, which was clearly just an opt out of knowing anything (typical IRC). Glad this will finally be fixed (ideally).

recent enough Android phones default to a randomized MAC address when connecting to WiFi

if KDE Connect uses MAC Addresses to identify the device,rebooting the phone (and maybe even disconnecting and reconnecting only after a while or after going to other connections) might rotate the address and make it appear as a new device

you can change this behaviour for specific memorized wifis on the phone, maybe worth trying for you home network

I don't think it has anything to do with MACs. Most likely there is a bridge or router on that network, filtering out broadcast packets. Could be the Wi-Fi access point, possibl with a "client isolation" feature if both devices are connected via Wi-Fi.

As a stable workaround, assign static IPs (either on each device, or from the router's DHCP options). Add these IPs in the Android app, so it will always try them out. The new mDNS implementation will probably help out with that issue.

--

A better solution would be to maintain a VPN between devices, like tailscale (and headscale) does. Similar to hamachi. It would be nice if such a feature would be integrated in KDE Connect.

They should also leverage UnifiedPush on both sides to deliver small packets of data, and help with discovery.

Finally, I wish KDE Connect would do more to support other local communication features. It could advertise via BLE to allow Wi-Fi P2P connections, for instance. Or use the newfangled Wi-Fi Aware (NAN), though not many devices support that yet.

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Quoting: ElectricPrismStay strong bruddah, someday (I just meant my post as a squeaky wheel for game-devs and the bigger world to realize that we Linux peeps are a legit thing and some of us do odd things like sling decks -- after 23 years of Halo and organizing Halo LAN parties I am going to be really tempted to do Deck Halo parties on MCC.)

Edit: On that last note @gamedevs -- I am starting to look to buy multiplayer games where say 4-8 Deck gamers can play a thing together that is really fun in-person. It's sort-of hard to navigate the Steam Store to find this kind of thing.

If only they could add splitscreen to Halo MCC, that would make it much better for LANs.

An awesome feature would be "family sharing" over P2P wifi for Steam decks: throw an impromptu LAN party, only one game copy needed. IIRC PSP (or was it DS? Game Boy?) used to work like that.

That wouldn't really be a huge loss for publishers, more people would likely discover the game and want to play it on their own this way.
And to avoid cheating... restrict it by latency, <4ms should prevent relaying over the Internet (though, is it that much of an issue?).

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