Recently a bunch of people from other sites went to Valve's offices for some hands-on time with the Steam Deck and it seems the overall impression was pretty positive.
Like a lot of others, we're in the waiting line for whenever our unit ships early next year so we're currently going by whatever info Valve give out and by what other lucky people think after testing. Obviously Valve are going with the top few PC gaming sites / video content creators to make as big a splash as possible, they're certainly doing massively better on pushing it this time compared with the Steam Machines. With that in mind, we do have a few videos to show from others.
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From what's been shown, I'm pretty glad our unit has been reserved at the top-end for the anti-glare etched glass which very clearly makes quite a noticeable difference.
Plenty of comparisons between the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch for obvious reasons, with the Deck being a good bit bigger. From the comments it seems it doesn't actually feel as heavy as expected and is pretty comfortable, so at least on the design Valve has done well. Multiple people noted how much nicer the thumbsticks are compared with the Nintendo Switch too, which is a good sign because those are pretty bad.
Nice to see the KDE Plasma desktop mode working well too , with Linus Tech Tips showing how smoothly it popped up when plugging it into a monitor. That is, I think, going to be very fun to see more users and developers interact with a proper Linux desktop and since it seems to "just work" that's another mark in its favour.
Good to see so much positivity around it! Although, each person only got a somewhat limited amount of time, the real test will be regular gamers spending days with it. It's also worth noting that these are still early units in testing so considering none of the software is final yet - it's all a good sign on how much people enjoyed using them.
There's a few more you can find around and it seems when PC Gamer spoke to Valve, they confirmed that there will be some new API that developers will be able to hook into that will tell games if they're being run on the Steam Deck. That sounds really good, as at least then developers can ensure their game will look good on the smaller screen, and gives developers a chance to set some automatic graphics settings for the best experience.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Valve keeps repeating that "it's a PC", and it will run anything that a PC can run. And I guess that is technically correct, but is it sending the wrong message, and unintentionally promising more than it can deliver?
I really believe that the idea is that most Steam Decks will run SteamOS and not Windows. It would just not make sense to put so much effort into Linux if you would expect otherwise. But it is also going to be picked up by a lot of Windows gamers, who don't know or care about Linux.
Proton is a great piece of software, but it is not perfect. Even taking into account that they are working on support for popular anti-cheat schemes, and rumored to be working on the video codec problem, there are still games that simply do not work, be it due to esoteric DRM schemes, or something else.
Also there are quite a few Linux ports that perform badly, or are not compatible with Windows save games, or offer no cross-platform multiplayer. All of that would be very hard to navigate for somebody never exposed to Linux gaming before, and I am afraid it can backfire if expectations are not set properly.
So Windows only developers will be able make sure it runs on the SteamDeck with Proton properly but they ignore the Linux desktop or won't recognize problems with it..... Well, this statement is at least a big concern from my side that it might work well for the SteamDeck but may actually be a drawback for Linux desktop gaming.
Quoting: F.UltraThere is no "/etc/os-release" on Windows. Not even "/etc".Quoting: Alm888New API? I wonder, what will it be?
In my impression developers just need to target WIN32 API releasing for Windows and Valve will do the "magic". Well, that and Vulkan is preferable. At least Valve has said as much…
Well to be honest in order to fulfil "that will tell games if they're being run on the Steam Deck" that API could be just /etc/os-release :-)
But I guess, a new function in Steam API returning 0 or 1 on whether it is a Steam Deck will suffice.
I also am very curious, will a Steam game purchase from within the Steam Deck continue to be recorded to the developers as a Linux purchase? I remember the discussion around this when Proton first debuted, and we learned that Windows purchases from Steam on Linux and played via Proton are recorded as Linux purchases. I always want to make sure the developer knows that I'm running under Linux for what that might be worth.
Quoting: g000hI was actually thinking - If Steam Deck becomes a mega-success, and Valve remains reasonable with respect to privacy and respecting their customers, then maybe they could diversify in the future and produce a SteamOS mobile phone. There are so few choices for phones nowadays that aren't glorified spying devices for their Big Tech masters. I would *jump* on a non-invasive, open-technology smartphone *so fast*.
Maybe something like this? https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/
I don't think Valve should go in that direction, it would distract them from better-suited niches.
Quoting: peta77 ... they confirmed that there will be some new API that developers will be able to hook into that will tell games if they're being run on the Steam Deck ...
So Windows only developers will be able make sure it runs on the SteamDeck with Proton properly but they ignore the Linux desktop or won't recognize problems with it..... Well, this statement is at least a big concern from my side that it might work well for the SteamDeck but may actually be a drawback for Linux desktop gaming.
This API is not for "Oh, I'm running on Steam Deck, run the code which fixes all those Linux-specific bugs." It is more for developers to understand that there's less power, and a smaller screen in use. Valve's insistence that Proton will support 100% of Steam's library when the Steam Deck arrives is the alleviation of your Linux desktop gaming concerns.
If worse comes to worst, I would be greatly surprised if a game which works well on the Steam Deck and not on the Linux desktop couldn't be fooled into thinking it was running on a Steam Deck on your desktop.
Quoting: F.UltraI don't think that windows game runing under proton can access linux filesystem.Quoting: Alm888New API? I wonder, what will it be?
In my impression developers just need to target WIN32 API releasing for Windows and Valve will do the "magic". Well, that and Vulkan is preferable. At least Valve has said as much…
Well to be honest in order to fulfil "that will tell games if they're being run on the Steam Deck" that API could be just /etc/os-release :-)
Quoting: whizseWrong!Quoting: F.UltraWell to be honest in order to fulfil "that will tell games if they're being run on the Steam Deck" that API could be just /etc/os-release :-)Z:\\etc\os-release
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\Version
Quoting: ArtenI don't think that windows game runing under proton can access linux filesystem.It can (by default root directory is mounted as Z: drive). So a Linux-aware Windows virus can access ones "host" filesystem and, let's say, encrypt all the files it can grab.
WINE developers warn everybody: WINE is NOT a sandbox!
Last edited by Alm888 on 7 August 2021 at 9:08 pm UTC
Quoting: michaAnother one: https://youtu.be/QRlDEnhJHL0These guys seem downright enthusiastic.
kellerkindt Aug 7, 2021
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