Comment by Telorand@reddthat.com on [News] SteamOS will be coming to other handhelds before you can install it on your PC 'because right now, it's very, very tuned for Steam Deck'

Honestly, what would you get out of SteamOS on PC anyway? Just install Linux, set up the drivers you need, launch Steam at startup, and default it to Big Picture Mode.

Boom, SteamOS.

I dunno but I tried that and it didn’t work at all. Had to go searching around online for how to even install a damn game. Then when I launched it, the game started running at like 2FPS.

The same game runs on the same PC on Windows at 144FPS.

And that’s the story of the time I tried to game on Linux.

Installing games is same as Windows, download and launch via Steam. As for lack of FPS, willing to bet you had an Nvidia card but didn’t install the drivers for it.

Installing games is same as Windows

So it sounds a lot like you’ve never actually done this before because that’s factually incorrect.

As for lack of FPS, willing to bet you had an Nvidia card but didn’t install the drivers for it.

Wrong again.

You click the game on Steam, click “install”. That’s the same on Windows or Linux, the client doesn’t change.

Going from 144fps to 2fps sounds like a graphics driver issue to me, what was the problem then?

You click the game on Steam, click “install”.

Incorrect again. If you try to do that on a non-Linux game, Steam just acts like it’s incompatible and the install button is greyed out without any indication of anything to do with Proton or how to make it work.

Going from 144fps to 2fps sounds like a graphics driver issue to me, what was the problem then?

I don’t know. The “that’s the story of the time I tried to play games on Linux” indicates that I, and most every other user, doesn’t care enough to spend all day burrowing through search engines and support threads to figure out how to just make the thing work.

That’s why the Steam Deck, and SteamOS, exists.

Incorrect again.

uh… ok. It really is that simple, I play games everyday on Linux and that is exactly how I’ve installed 100s of games, so I’m really not getting it… Are you talking about enabling Steam Play in the Steam settings or something?

I don’t know. The “that’s the story of the time I tried to play games on Linux” indicates that I, and most every other user, doesn’t care enough to spend all day burrowing through search engines and support threads to figure out how to just make the thing work.

I don’t know why you are telling me this, I’m not the King of Linux or anything. Just thought I might help you with your problem, I don’t know what I did for you to unload all this on me lol

Incorrect again. If you try to do that on a non-Linux game, Steam just acts like it’s incompatible and the install button is greyed out without any indication of anything to do with Proton or how to make it work.

Then you disabled Steam Play.

So it sounds a lot like you’ve never actually done this before because that’s factually incorrect.

As a long time openSUSE user I know for a fact that you’re wrong.

And as someone who has actually used Steam on Linux, I know that you’re wrong .

And as someone who has actually used Steam on Linux

And you’re the only one!

I dunno but I tried that and it didn’t work at all. Had to go searching around online for how to even install a damn game.

Just for shits and giggles I fired up a VM and did a clean Steam installation from Flathub. This is the default:

Steam Play (=Proton) is on for supported Windows games. For unsupported games it’s off.

Had to go searching around online for how to even install a damn game.

Wait, you had so much trouble to look if the “Enable Steam Play” checkbox was ticked? 🙄

Yet another person missing the point 🤦

Yet another person missing the point 🤦

Nah, we all get the point. You claim that Steam does not come with Proton on regular Linux distributions but you’re wrong which is an easily googlable fact you continue to deny. If your installation of Steam is somehow broken, that’s specific to you. At most the “Enable Steam Play” checkbox has to be ticked in Steam’s settings.

You claim that Steam does not come with Proton on regular Linux distributions but you’re wrong which is an easily googlable fact you continue to deny.

I continue to deny it because it’s wrong. I don’t know what Google says, I just know how it worked when I used it myself.

At most the “Enable Steam Play” checkbox has to be ticked in Steam’s settings.

Which is something it does not tell you and does not tell you how to do.

I continue to deny it because it’s wrong.

Yeah, the whole world is wrong. You’re the only one knowing the truth.

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.

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.

Except SteamOS is also just “a linux box running steam”

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.

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?

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

A place to discuss and support all things Steam Deck.

Replacement for r/steamdeck_linux.

As Lemmy doesn’t have flairs yet, you can use these prefixes to indicate what type of post you have made, eg:
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The following is a list of suggested flairs:
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Some more Steam Deck specific flairs:
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These are not enforced, but they are encouraged.

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Have fun.

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[News] SteamOS will be coming to other handhelds before you can install it on your PC 'because right now, it's very, very tuned for Steam Deck'(www.pcgamer.com)

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