One thing I am excited about when it comes to the Steam Deck is that it has a full desktop Linux mode, which is powered by KDE Plasma and I don't think that's getting the attention it deserves.
Sure, it is primarily a handheld Steam gaming machine. That comes with a lot of excitement due to the power, the form factor, Steam Play Proton being able to play a huge amount of Windows games and much more. Emulation is a big one too, it's likely going to be one of the absolute best portable emulation devices around.
For me though, perhaps just as exciting is the desktop mode. We know the Steam Deck is running a new version of SteamOS, which is based upon Arch Linux with a KDE Plasma desktop mode. Thanks to this, Valve can pull in updates quicker than we would have seen with their older Debian based SteamOS and so upgrades and fixes for the desktop mode can come whenever they're wanted or needed.
The KDE team are obviously keeping a close eye on it too, and the big thing we all know is that having FOSS used in such a huge way like this will end up being a big boon for Plasma. There's nothing like being available on possibly millions of devices to make work progress to make it an ever better experience - one that will ultimately benefit all "normal" desktop Linux users who choose Plasma as their desktop environment.
Pictured - the KDE Plasma desktop.
KDE developer Nate Graham often writes up blog posts going over work done in their "This week in KDE" series who stated in a recent post talking about stability:
This was a major bugfix week, with many important fixes to our core apps as well as the touchscreen experience. More of these are in the pipeline too! We are really trying to improve the stability of our software now that it’s starting to be used in more 3rd-party products like the Steam Deck. The idea is that this will become a virtuous circle of better more stable products leading to more use leading to even better more stable products!
It was a bit of a no-brainer for Valve to go with KDE Plasma too for a number of reasons but I think primarly it comes down to two major points:
- It looks and feels a lot more like Windows out of the box when compared with GNOME. This is a big point too! There's no argument that Windows is the most-used desktop operating system, anyone saying otherwise is deluded. Having a desktop mode that's closer to it makes sense to ensure users are comfortable and has a better chance of people actually enjoying using it right away. What happens if they enjoy it enough? They might try it out on their actual desktop or laptop.
- Customization. Valve has a lot more to play with here and a fair bit more control, which links in with them dumping Debian for Arch Linux. While GNOME can be tweaked with extensions, they break often and GNOME consider extensions a "niche" thing so it's not really a good fit for Valve if GNOME will just break them and not really care much.
The future for KDE Plasma is an incredibly bright one.
I'll leave you with a recent joke advert the KDE team recently came up with. On Twitter they said "What would advertisements for different KDE apps look like? KDE Gear ⚙️ 21.08, an update to many of KDE's applications, comes out on Thursday, and we decided to give it a go."
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Talking about desktop improvements, I'm genuinely surprised to see one specific functionality completely unaccounted for in all Linux desktop environments that is already the standard in both Windows and Android: the ability of checking the notification toolbox after the popup window expires, and being able to activate the corresponding app by clicking on it in the same way as on Windows or Android. As of now, GNOME, KDE and XFCE all have a notification log that does absolutely nothing when clicking on the items, with extremely few exceptions (namely, KDE's notifications for file transfers)
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Interesting! Maybe I should try Kubunto, or Manjaro..There's certainly no harm in trying. I think I probably had to use nomodeset for the installer (Pop having an installer with the Nvidia driver already installed is a great idea) but that was it. My (Intel) laptop had Cinnamon on (which I'd been using there for quite a while), but that got swapped out for KDE almost immediately after I'd tried KDE on my desktop.
Last edited by CatKiller on 10 August 2021 at 5:57 pm UTC
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Talking about desktop improvements, I'm genuinely surprised to see one specific functionality completely unaccounted for in all Linux desktop environments that is already the standard in both Windows and Android: the ability of checking the notification toolbox after the popup window expires, and being able to activate the corresponding app by clicking on itYes, yes, a thousand times yes. The times I have to use Windows, this is one of the few things I enjoy.
My understanding in Linux (and I could be wrong) is that the click to app functionality is actually up to the individual app developer, and not the DE, but I could be wrong...
Last edited by iiari on 10 August 2021 at 3:56 pm UTC
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You make a valid point about extensions constantly being broken on Gnome because of updates. It's the one thing I really hate about updating. I usually have a week or two either without some extensions, or I have to go find the github page to find a fix for the issue. It's part of the reason I don't update my Arch system as much as I used to.
I have briefly tried KDE in the past, but of all the main GUI's on Linux.. It's probably the one environment I've spent the least time in. I hope it's a really polished user experience by the time the Deck is released.
I have briefly tried KDE in the past, but of all the main GUI's on Linux.. It's probably the one environment I've spent the least time in. I hope it's a really polished user experience by the time the Deck is released.
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slaapliedje Aug 10, 2021
KDE Plasma is awesome, it was actually one of the reasons that I switch to Linux back in the day.Plasma isn't that old, is it? Hell, I remember the KDE 1.0 release and why Gnome was created in the first place (literally because Qt wasn't GPL).
I tend to think that the Steam Deck should be Plasma Mobile unless docked though. Or the Deck needs a stylus... using KDE on that small of a screen with how many options it has will be... not as great as if they used Gnome.
Say what you will about Gnome-shell, it does sort of succeed at being touch friendly and desktop friendly at the same time, where KDE has a separate shell for touch / small screen footprints.
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slaapliedje Aug 10, 2021
You make a valid point about extensions constantly being broken on Gnome because of updates. It's the one thing I really hate about updating. I usually have a week or two either without some extensions, or I have to go find the github page to find a fix for the issue. It's part of the reason I don't update my Arch system as much as I used to.My problems with KDE is that their mail client still is pretty terrible. I use Evolution and all of it's features, and it's great. And while you can use it in KDE... it just doesn't quite fit. KPIM needs a full on rewrite.
I have briefly tried KDE in the past, but of all the main GUI's on Linux.. It's probably the one environment I've spent the least time in. I hope it's a really polished user experience by the time the Deck is released.
But hey, since the Steam Deck is open, I plan on putting Debian on it and just use that over Arch. While I have Arch on a second hard drive in my main system, it's my 'play around' setup. Wouldn't look forward to compiling librefox on the Steam Deck. :P
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What i really need in linux since i have new wide color gamut monitor without sRGB mode (un-famous DELL S2721DGFA), is some kind of whole screen color management. I need to somehow apply ICC profile to entire desktop to prevent terrible over-saturation typical for WCG monitors.
Since this article is about KDE, maybe there is some KWin plugin to achieve that. Similar to old Compiz ICC color server. That alone would make me switch from prefered GNOME..
https://github.com/compiz-reloaded/compicc
EDIT: It seem there is Ubuntu 20.04 Unity Remix... Hmm.. I wonder if it's usable..
Since this article is about KDE, maybe there is some KWin plugin to achieve that. Similar to old Compiz ICC color server. That alone would make me switch from prefered GNOME..
https://github.com/compiz-reloaded/compicc
EDIT: It seem there is Ubuntu 20.04 Unity Remix... Hmm.. I wonder if it's usable..
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I have to point out that it is "powered by Arch Linux" in the sense that is only "Based" on it.
It is *not* running Arch, so any issue an user would have with the new Steamos will have no support at all by Arch Linux community,
It's running Arch as much as Manjaro is running Arch. The Arch wiki will be still extremely relevant. I don't expect Valve will deviate too far away from it's roots. Maybe it will have specific tested drivers and some bleeding edge kernel patches that benefit the Deck and haven't made into the mainline Kernel yet.
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It's running Arch as much as Manjaro is running Arch. The Arch wiki will be still extremely relevant. I don't expect Valve will deviate too far away from it's roots. Maybe it will have specific tested drivers and some bleeding edge kernel patches that benefit the Deck and haven't made into the mainline Kernel yet.Absolutely,but that does not mean that the deck will "pull the updates quicker", as stated by the article, because it will use different repos, (i hope) i think.
Also, pacman does not imply rolling release; Arch does.
And yes, the wiki would be useful as long as the packages are built by the same PKGBUILDs used on Arch, but this could not be true,the deps could be different, so that you can have packages compiled with different features and the wiki may be misleading.
The final user has to know that it will be 'based' on arch, not 'powered by', as previously wrote on the main article.
Just as Manjaro.
Last edited by kokoko3k on 10 August 2021 at 4:42 pm UTC
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KDE Plasma is awesome, it was actually one of the reasons that I switch to Linux back in the day.Plasma isn't that old, is it? Hell, I remember the KDE 1.0 release and why Gnome was created in the first place (literally because Qt wasn't GPL).
I tend to think that the Steam Deck should be Plasma Mobile unless docked though. Or the Deck needs a stylus... using KDE on that small of a screen with how many options it has will be... not as great as if they used Gnome.
Say what you will about Gnome-shell, it does sort of succeed at being touch friendly and desktop friendly at the same time, where KDE has a separate shell for touch / small screen footprints.
KDE will certainly improve in that regard, and not only the shell. KDE mobile goes way beyond the shell and making plasmashell touch friendly isn't really the problem.
Regarding Stylus: You realize the Deck comes with 2 quite advanced touchpads and a LOT of buttons? I'd be surprised if we couldn't get some quite comfortable mouse simulation/input that way.
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slaapliedje Aug 10, 2021
Touchpads are generally trash for cursor movement (yeah yeah, MacOS supposedly has great touchpads. I still prefer the little TrackPoints on Thinkpads). Zeroing on tiny options with the touchpads may be problematic. Guess we'll find out when they start shipping.KDE Plasma is awesome, it was actually one of the reasons that I switch to Linux back in the day.Plasma isn't that old, is it? Hell, I remember the KDE 1.0 release and why Gnome was created in the first place (literally because Qt wasn't GPL).
I tend to think that the Steam Deck should be Plasma Mobile unless docked though. Or the Deck needs a stylus... using KDE on that small of a screen with how many options it has will be... not as great as if they used Gnome.
Say what you will about Gnome-shell, it does sort of succeed at being touch friendly and desktop friendly at the same time, where KDE has a separate shell for touch / small screen footprints.
KDE will certainly improve in that regard, and not only the shell. KDE mobile goes way beyond the shell and making plasmashell touch friendly isn't really the problem.
Regarding Stylus: You realize the Deck comes with 2 quite advanced touchpads and a LOT of buttons? I'd be surprised if we couldn't get some quite comfortable mouse simulation/input that way.
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slaapliedje Aug 10, 2021
What i really need in linux since i have new wide color gamut monitor without sRGB mode (un-famous DELL S2721DGFA), is some kind of whole screen color management. I need to somehow apply ICC profile to entire desktop to prevent terrible over-saturation typical for WCG monitors.Uhm, Gnome uses ICC profiles... Is it just not working for some reason?
Since this article is about KDE, maybe there is some KWin plugin to achieve that. Similar to old Compiz ICC color server. That alone would make me switch from prefered GNOME..
https://github.com/compiz-reloaded/compicc
EDIT: It seem there is Ubuntu 20.04 Unity Remix... Hmm.. I wonder if it's usable..
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The big question for me is if SteamOS will even utilize pacman by default. In one of the videos, they showed of having OS updates in the Steam UI, as one package. That kind of shows the rumors from ?half a year ago? might be true and SteamOS updates will be snapshot diffs for a read-only fs. Advanced users will certainly be able to mount it rw and start using pacman, but who knows how much Valve will support that approach...I have to point out that it is "powered by Arch Linux" in the sense that is only "Based" on it.
It is *not* running Arch, so any issue an user would have with the new Steamos will have no support at all by Arch Linux community,
It's running Arch as much as Manjaro is running Arch. The Arch wiki will be still extremely relevant. I don't expect Valve will deviate too far away from it's roots. Maybe it will have specific tested drivers and some bleeding edge kernel patches that benefit the Deck and haven't made into the mainline Kernel yet.
For normal users, this could be very comfortable and containerized apps will make the system open enough for most users...
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Be hilarious if you end up using the gyros for fine cursor positioning.Touchpads are generally trash for cursor movement (yeah yeah, MacOS supposedly has great touchpads. I still prefer the little TrackPoints on Thinkpads). Zeroing on tiny options with the touchpads may be problematic. Guess we'll find out when they start shipping.KDE Plasma is awesome, it was actually one of the reasons that I switch to Linux back in the day.Plasma isn't that old, is it? Hell, I remember the KDE 1.0 release and why Gnome was created in the first place (literally because Qt wasn't GPL).
I tend to think that the Steam Deck should be Plasma Mobile unless docked though. Or the Deck needs a stylus... using KDE on that small of a screen with how many options it has will be... not as great as if they used Gnome.
Say what you will about Gnome-shell, it does sort of succeed at being touch friendly and desktop friendly at the same time, where KDE has a separate shell for touch / small screen footprints.
KDE will certainly improve in that regard, and not only the shell. KDE mobile goes way beyond the shell and making plasmashell touch friendly isn't really the problem.
Regarding Stylus: You realize the Deck comes with 2 quite advanced touchpads and a LOT of buttons? I'd be surprised if we couldn't get some quite comfortable mouse simulation/input that way.
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Be hilarious if you end up using the gyros for fine cursor positioning.'
I might actually prefer that to holding the device with one hand for using the touchscreen, but I don't really think gyros will be necessary to use touchpads on a desktop. It's quite different from fps gaming.
Last edited by const on 10 August 2021 at 6:47 pm UTC
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I'm not a kde user, but I am a fan of some of their software like Krita and Kdenlive, so I'm happy that their efforts are being recognized and hope that those improves include their wayland compositor too.
The biggest success story of KDE though (if we like it or not) is KHTML, which as base of Chrome took over browser world domination.
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junibegood Aug 11, 2021
Talking about desktop improvements, I'm genuinely surprised to see one specific functionality completely unaccounted for in all Linux desktop environments that is already the standard in both Windows and Android: the ability of checking the notification toolbox after the popup window expires, and being able to activate the corresponding app by clicking on it in the same way as on Windows or Android. As of now, GNOME, KDE and XFCE all have a notification log that does absolutely nothing when clicking on the items, with extremely few exceptions (namely, KDE's notifications for file transfers)
You might want to check Cinnamon, it does exactly that. But I'm sure you can find a way to achieve that on other DEs as well.
Last edited by junibegood on 11 August 2021 at 9:27 am UTC
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Philadelphus Aug 11, 2021
I was just going to post this but you beat me to it.Talking about desktop improvements, I'm genuinely surprised to see one specific functionality completely unaccounted for in all Linux desktop environments that is already the standard in both Windows and Android: the ability of checking the notification toolbox after the popup window expires, and being able to activate the corresponding app by clicking on it in the same way as on Windows or Android. As of now, GNOME, KDE and XFCE all have a notification log that does absolutely nothing when clicking on the items, with extremely few exceptions (namely, KDE's notifications for file transfers)
You might want to check Cinnamon, it does exactly that. But I'm sure you can find a way to achieve that on other DEs as well.
Also, hey Liam, how about in addition to the distro logos next to everyone's name we add DE logos?
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What i really need in linux since i have new wide color gamut monitor without sRGB mode (un-famous DELL S2721DGFA), is some kind of whole screen color management. I need to somehow apply ICC profile to entire desktop to prevent terrible over-saturation typical for WCG monitors.Uhm, Gnome uses ICC profiles... Is it just not working for some reason?
Since this article is about KDE, maybe there is some KWin plugin to achieve that. Similar to old Compiz ICC color server. That alone would make me switch from prefered GNOME..
https://github.com/compiz-reloaded/compicc
EDIT: It seem there is Ubuntu 20.04 Unity Remix... Hmm.. I wonder if it's usable..
Yes, it's working the same way like in Windows. Color managed apps are displaying colors properly when you instal ICC profile. but GNOME desktop user interface is not color managed like Windows, so everything is oversaturated on WCG monitors.
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