Want to transfer files to and from your PC to a Steam Deck? It's easy and here's how you can do it in a few minutes.
Something I've seen asked a lot directly to me, and across numerous posts on Reddit so hopefully this will help. This way requires no extra hardware, you just need to ensure your devices are on the same network and that's all.
First up, a video guide and below the text guide steps.
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Text guide:
- Download Warpinator (a tool by the Linux Mint team)
- Load up Warpinator on both systems, and each will list the other device.
- Select the device to transfer onto, then select "Send files" and just pick your files.
- On the receiving device, it will have a pop-up noting an incoming file, just hit the tick next to it in the list.
- Done
To get some questions out of the way:
- KDE Connect does not come pre-installed, and a developer told me it's not going to be possible yet to put it on Flathub.
- Yes, there's other ways to do it including sftp/ftp but this is a simple way anyone can follow.
- There are browser-based solutions but they're much slower.
However, if you're not afraid of the terminal and Python (you can do this on Windows too): make a folder where you want stuff to be ready to transfer, then run this command inside that folder (Python 3): python -m http.server 5555 then on your Steam Deck open a browser to your host machine local IP (http://x.x.x.x:5555) and you can then see and grab files that way too. Credit to x_wing and g000h in our comments.
There's other ways too, this is just an example. You can also try out Syncthing and Filezilla!
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: LachuMaybe Windows users can use python solution, but is python installed in Windows by default? Is not it?It would require a little setup on the Windows side.
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CyborgZeta Mar 7, 2022
Quoting: Liam DaweSo I can drag-and-drop files to an SD card? I hope that is the case. I was already let down by the inability to use the Steam Deck as a controller through USB.Quoting: CyborgZetaSD Cards have a standard ext4 format, you can do whatever you want with them.Quoting: Purple Library GuyI'm not a Windows user. My concern is that SteamOS formats the microSD card to its immutable filesystem and I become unable to drag-and-drop files from my PC onto the card.Quoting: CyborgZetaIt's not like no files can be added or changed. I mean, you can download games, flatpaks etc., and presumably there are save game files and so on.Quoting: Liam DaweThat's really strange, but I guess it's because of the immutable filesystem. Since SteamOS would have to format microSD cards, I imagine you can't just put files on your card either.Quoting: CyborgZetaCan't you just connect the Deck to a PC using USB and transfer files that way?Tried that, no dice.
Does SteamOS have to format the SD cards? Well, if you were a Windows user I guess for practical purposes because SteamOS wants them to be ext4, and I doubt Windows will format something to ext4. Presumably you could plug in an SD card, have SteamOS format it, then put it in your other computer and add things . . . can Windows work with ext4 if it's already there? You'd think, since Linux is so big in the server space and Windows still does server stuff, but I don't know. If you're a Linux user you'd be fine though, right?
Also, if SteamOS formats the card into ext4, would it even have write permissions for another user (in this case, my PC)?
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Quoting: EhvisQuoting: kokoko3kQuoting: Liam DaweIt's a repeating problem. What's one of the main things people outside the Linux bubble are afraid of and turn their nose up at learning and using? The terminal. It's about knowing the audience in regards to the Steam Deck, it is *mostly* people coming from Windows and traditional consoles, and largely (in the nicest way) a large pool of tech illiterate people who prefer pressing buttons. You hook 'em in with an easy app, then you can start the terminal talk.Yes, I understand that and I 100% agree!
Indeed, I was not objecting the use of warpinator per se (I've specified that I understand how it is useful for cross-platform use cases; using python in Windows is not a simple task at all), but the fact that you justified it through the statement: "The point is to avoid the terminal for simple guides.", that's all.
A simple guide should be useful for all people. Since most people have a system crash when they see a terminal pop up, it is not possible to make a guide for all people that has terminal usage in it. So I would have to agree with Liam, a simple guide must avoid the terminal. And "our" definition of "simple" is irrelevant there.
Well, I myself have an earth attack when I hear "flatpak".
I don't think I never used one, and if i did it, it means I deleted that experience from my memory, so when i read something like:
"Linux / Steam Deck: install Warpinator from Flathub. Available in the Discover software centre for plasma.", the bold text represents a black box/hole to me, because i don't know well what is flathub, and I'm even lucky because i use Plasma! But unfortunately, i've really never used Discover.
So, how much simple is that statement to understand to someone like me who doesn't know about those tools?
It is still NOT for everyone, and certainly not more than the other side of the story; not counting that i think that there are more Linux users who are familiar with the terminal than ones familiar with plasma,discover and flathub, but I might be wrong.
But as everyone can click on the icon of discover and write keys on his keyboard to search for the software, and then click to install the software, and then click to launch the software and then use the software, everyone can... well, click on a black icon and paste into a black window.
Objectively, what requires minor efforts to someone who have to understand from scratch:
* Understand how to copy/paste a string into a black window which opens after you clicked an icon named "terminal"
or
* follow the guide in the article?
Biased opinion here, but still I bet the former wins.
That's why, while I agree in that kind of tutorials for cross platform uses, I object the choice of "Avoiding" the terminal even for Linux only audience.
-EDIT-
(The article with the already included terminal command expresses certainly the best of both worlds, so I'm here writing just for the fun of it
)Last edited by kokoko3k on 7 March 2022 at 3:09 pm UTC
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Quoting: kokoko3kI can understand that warpinator is cross platform, but not the answer that the point is to avoid the terminal for simple guides.So as long as you're explaining to me about the command line, let me explain to you something about rhetoric: An insult doesn't actually stop being one just from saying "no offense" after.
Why?
Terminal can simplify complex and simple tasks, and this is an excellent example.
The sooner the people will understand that, the sooner we can progress instead of involve into dumbness (no offense).
There are certainly cases where the command line is the quickest and simplest way to accomplish a complex task. But you sound like one of those people who gets hot under the collar about nobody understanding how to do simple maintenance on their cars, failing to understand that lots of people don't bloody want to do simple maintenance on their cars.
The thing is that for many things, the command line is only quicker and simpler if you already are familiar and comfortable with it. Not because it is difficult to copy/paste a command, but because if you don't know the command line well, after you've done that you aren't sure if it worked, or what to do next. And because for any given problem, there are often various different command-line solutions proposed, and if you don't already know the command line you don't know what the difference is. The command line is occasionally useful for almost anyone, but frequently useful only if you're willing to spend a bunch of time and effort up front becoming a person for which it is useful. And if you are not someone who uses a computer for a lot of advanced stuff, this is not an effective investment of time.
So, you're simply wrong. It would not be a good thing or represent "progress" if everyone used the command line all the time. It would be a net drain on most people's time, with a heavy investment at the front end that was never fully paid off later. You don't understand that because you aren't thinking past your personal use-case, in which the up-front investment is paid off. But this is not true of most people, and it is short-sighted to try to impose what's optimum for you onto others without bothering to think about whether their situation might be different.
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furaxhornyx Mar 8, 2022
Quoting: Purple Library GuyQuoting: kokoko3kI can understand that warpinator is cross platform, but not the answer that the point is to avoid the terminal for simple guides.So as long as you're explaining to me about the command line, let me explain to you something about rhetoric: An insult doesn't actually stop being one just from saying "no offense" after.
Why?
Terminal can simplify complex and simple tasks, and this is an excellent example.
The sooner the people will understand that, the sooner we can progress instead of involve into dumbness (no offense).
There are certainly cases where the command line is the quickest and simplest way to accomplish a complex task. But you sound like one of those people who gets hot under the collar about nobody understanding how to do simple maintenance on their cars, failing to understand that lots of people don't bloody want to do simple maintenance on their cars.
The thing is that for many things, the command line is only quicker and simpler if you already are familiar and comfortable with it. Not because it is difficult to copy/paste a command, but because if you don't know the command line well, after you've done that you aren't sure if it worked, or what to do next. And because for any given problem, there are often various different command-line solutions proposed, and if you don't already know the command line you don't know what the difference is. The command line is occasionally useful for almost anyone, but frequently useful only if you're willing to spend a bunch of time and effort up front becoming a person for which it is useful. And if you are not someone who uses a computer for a lot of advanced stuff, this is not an effective investment of time.
So, you're simply wrong. It would not be a good thing or represent "progress" if everyone used the command line all the time. It would be a net drain on most people's time, with a heavy investment at the front end that was never fully paid off later. You don't understand that because you aren't thinking past your personal use-case, in which the up-front investment is paid off. But this is not true of most people, and it is short-sighted to try to impose what's optimum for you onto others without bothering to think about whether their situation might be different.
In addition to this excellent comment, I would like to add that there would be way less people using smartphones, consoles, cars, and whatnot, if they had to resort to command line to use them (and this comes from someone who launched a lot of games as run"mygame" on an Amstrad CPC as a young kid)
When it comes to command line usage in a standard consumer environment, Linux IS the exception ; everything else has a nice GUI to guide the user.
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Quoting: furaxhornyxWhen it comes to command line usage in a standard consumer environment, Linux IS the exception ; everything else has a nice GUI to guide the user.Your Linux doesn't have a nice GUI? Mine does. Or is the availability of the CLI a problem in itself? Because I sure as hell remember having to resort to running commands on an extremely awkward command line interface to fix stuff back in my Windows days, 20+ years ago. If you do any advanced tinkering or troubleshooting (or software development), you're going to be typing commands into some sort of a CLI at some point, regardless of operating system.
All that said, I agree with Purple Library Guy in that being comfortable in the terminal is not a sign of intelligence. The terminal is a powerful tool that doesn't limit the ways you can mess with your system, or that you can mess up your system, and hardly a day goes by that a professional nerd like me doesn't do something using a handy CLI tool simply because it's faster or more comfortable (for me) than messing about in a graphical UI of some sort. Learning it is definitely useful if you want or need to get the most out of your computer, but I'm sure most people have better things to do with their time.
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Quoting: Purple Library GuyAn insult doesn't actually stop being one just from saying "no offense" after.Writing "no offense" literally means "i don't want to offend", so if you feel offended, probably you're getting it wrong.
And yes, an insult is made to offend, but since i didn't mean to, the premise of it being an insult is wrong.
If you felt offended because you think i was insulting someone, i apologize; probably i expressed myself bad, so you got it wrong.
Quoting: kokoko3kThe sooner the people will understand that, the sooner we can progress instead of involve into dumbnessSee the use of "we" instead of "you"? I mean everyone, "me" included, but mostly.. "we".
See the use of the verb "to involve"? I'm not an english native speaker, but i think it can be used to express the process of involution; indeed, the writing was addressed mostly to the ones that already are able to use the terminal today;
So let me rephrase:
If I am able to use the terminal, but no one write interesting articles that stimulate that skill because he thinks that it is better to not use it, because there are users unable to use it, then my skill will vanish with the time and my unavoidable involution into dumbness (referred to the act of loosing a skill) will be faster.
QuoteBut you sound like one of those people who gets hot under the collar about nobody understanding how to do simple maintenance on their cars, failing to understand that lots of people don't bloody want to do simple maintenance on their cars.Nope, people can do whatever they want with their cars, but if my car is powered by -insert a particular fuel here-, i'd like to find it so that i can continue to use my car, or my car would become a dumb/useless car and i'll need to change the whole thing or at least its fueling devices.
To not repeat myself, I beg you to read my other answers in this thread from the beginning to better understand, instead of just decontextualize them, thank you very much.
Last edited by kokoko3k on 8 March 2022 at 12:48 pm UTC
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Quoting: furaxhornyxIn addition to this excellent comment, I would like to add that there would be way less people using smartphones, consoles, cars, and whatnot, if they had to resort to command line to use them (and this comes from someone who launched a lot of games as run"mygame" on an Amstrad CPC as a young kid)What you seem to miss here, is that the command line is not only something that can save your ass when you exhausted other UI solutions,, but a resource per se that can be used to do certain tasks much better than a gui would ever do.
When it comes to command line usage in a standard consumer environment, Linux IS the exception ; everything else has a nice GUI to guide the user.
And expressly avoiding even to name it because some people fear it is not something that meet my approval.
That said, nobody thinks that a shell prompt can do anything; fact is that for every task there is a tool better than another, and how is it easy to use is something that depends on the experience and competence already in place, not on the presence of a gui instead of a text.
Last edited by kokoko3k on 8 March 2022 at 12:57 pm UTC
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furaxhornyx Mar 8, 2022
Quoting: tuubiQuoting: furaxhornyxWhen it comes to command line usage in a standard consumer environment, Linux IS the exception ; everything else has a nice GUI to guide the user.Your Linux doesn't have a nice GUI? Mine does.
Yes, it does. Not for everything though: I had to install a GUI separately for quite a number of programs though, and I still have to resort to CLI, because either the online tutorials use this, or there is no GUI for a particular program
Quoting: tuubiOr is the availability of the CLI a problem in itself? Because I sure as hell remember having to resort to running commands on an extremely awkward command line interface to fix stuff back in my Windows days, 20+ years ago.I discovered PC with Windows 98, and even back at the time, no CLI was required. The only command line that sometimes saved me was
sfc /scannow (which is also quite easy to remember)Quoting: tuubiIf you do any advanced tinkering or troubleshooting (or software development), you're going to be typing commands into some sort of a CLI at some point, regardless of operating system.
What if you don't, like most end users ?
Quoting: tuubiAll that said, I agree with Purple Library Guy in that being comfortable in the terminal is not a sign of intelligence. The terminal is a powerful tool that doesn't limit the ways you can mess with your system, or that you can mess up your system, and hardly a day goes by that a professional nerd like me doesn't do something using a handy CLI tool simply because it's faster or more comfortable (for me) than messing about in a graphical UI of some sort. Learning it is definitely useful if you want or need to get the most out of your computer, but I'm sure most people have better things to do with their time.
Emphasis mine. Yep, this was the point
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furaxhornyx Mar 8, 2022
Quoting: kokoko3kQuoting: furaxhornyxIn addition to this excellent comment, I would like to add that there would be way less people using smartphones, consoles, cars, and whatnot, if they had to resort to command line to use them (and this comes from someone who launched a lot of games as run"mygame" on an Amstrad CPC as a young kid)What you seem to miss here, is that the command line is not only something that can save your ass when you exhausted other UI solutions,, but a resource per se that can be used to do certain tasks much better than a gui would ever do.
When it comes to command line usage in a standard consumer environment, Linux IS the exception ; everything else has a nice GUI to guide the user.
And expressly avoiding even to name it because some people fear it is not something that meet my approval.
[...].
It's not a question of "avoiding to name it" (Liam even added the command line way to the article), it is a question of "appealing to most people", which usually favor the GUI way, such as Warpinator
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