this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2025

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Steam Deck

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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:
[Flair] My post title

The following is a list of suggested flairs:
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[News] - News about the deck.
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Some more Steam Deck specific flairs:
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Follow the rules of Sopuli
Posts must be related to the Steam Deck in an obvious way.
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Have fun.

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My SO got a steamdeck today, and it's a lot better than I imagined it to be (programming.dev)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Especially since one of the best features is basically unmentioned. Turn on your steam deck and before you sign in for the first time, you can boot straight to the desktop. Just wish there was a toggle in Plasma to boot to desktop by default.

For all intents and purposes, you don’t need to log into steam to play games on the steam deck which is honestly shocking where most new hardware basically requires you to agree to sign in to begin using your device.

Looking at you Windows 11

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Steam deck is great. It seemingly connects the arcane nerdy and streamlined casual. Whatever is your jam and mood in the moment there is always plethora of things you can play. Almost infinite possibilities. Modded. Portable.

It’s one of the only purchases that I never really regretted. Somehow it has the wow factor each day as when it was new.

I tried to see if I like kenshi game. I don’t but it is crazy that it is comfortable on deck and rimworld, dwarf fortress and sims too. I could use a MacBook Pro smh smh ultra hyper but it is clunky and annoying cold slab of business efficiency.

Any day now and I may actually attempt to run x4 with Star Wars mod though I think that may be actually a single exception but I swear I am going to do this crazy thing. Anything to play next to your loved ones in the living room or elsewhere

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago

I bought my Steam Deck simply to support Linux gaming and Valve's contribution to more open hardware and software. I wasn't actually interested in handheld gaming.

Roughly a year later, I game about 75% on my Steam Deck vs my very expensive Linux gaming desktop. I love it so much, the convenience of pausing a game, going from my couch to my bed and resuming flawlessly is awesome.

My spouse wanted one too, so now we both can game together easily anywhere.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Looking at you Windows 11

Yeah, I got a new laptop recently with no intention of using the pre-installed OS, but I wanted to boot it up once just to make sure all the hardware was working.

It may have actually taken longer to figure out how to create a local account on W11 than to wipe it and install Linux.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Fun trick for this: you don't actually have to have your PC to hunt down an install image -- if you have a spare USB-C drive you can also use EtchDroid. It's saved my ass a couple of times.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

For anyone wondering how to do this - on the first setup screen asking you to pick a language after you turn the laptop on, hit Shift + F10, which will bring up the console. Click on it and type:

oobe/bypassnro

This will restart the computer, and setup will appear unchanged. When you get to the step asking you to connect to a network, select "I don't have Internet." This will prompt the creation of a local account. Enjoy your Microsoft account free computer!

If you've already connected to the Internet but haven't created the account, open the console and type:

ipconfig /release

Which will force the computer to disconnect from the internet. From there you can use the oobe command from before to reset and set up without a Microsoft account.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I needed this info a while back. I didn't think it was even possible!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Live ISO FTW

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

I got mine a couple of months ago and I wasn’t even a Steam user. I love it.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Make sure to check out "Nested Desktop mode", it's a great way to have faster access while in the default Game mode

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Wait what? How?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

Go into desktop mode, open the menu and use the search function to look for "Nested Desktop". Now right click and add that to Steam. When you boot into Game mode, you'll see a new item added called Nested Desktop, which you can open to access desktop mode while still in game mode. I found out about this a week ago and so far I use it most for referencing my digital game guides or searching NMS portal codes while still gaming.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago

Would be cool if it had a hotkey you could hold while powering on that tells it to boot into desktop mode.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It is still just another Linux distro which doesn't seem that locked down. I don't own a steam deck but I imagine it should be possible to set it boot to desktop with some simple tinkering. In worst case scenario, you might be able to install another distro and get all the tweaks and apps yourself. The toggle can be done with some widgets and script ig.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

You can I just wish it was accessible on the GUI.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but you can add Nested Desktop as a non-Steam game and access it from Gaming Mode. Makes it so you can switch between games and Desktop without having to exit the game too. You might have to tinker with controls and the dim/sleep power settings.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Just to make sure you noticed, when you're in "gaming mode", you can switch to desktop mode easily by going to power menu (either by pressing the power button, or gui power button) and it'll offer you to switch.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago

Sounds like OP discovered the joys of linux.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 month ago

Linux has never required you to sign up with an online account, you can always just make a local account.

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