From: Joann Mõndresku Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2022 16:47:33 +0000 (+0300) Subject: DeckPC - Day one X-Git-Url: https://git.based.quest/%7B%7B.Site.BaseURL%7D%7D?a=commitdiff_plain;h=0bff0567aa3494249cb09ed543f3c0bcee0a4708;p=web-old.git DeckPC - Day one --- diff --git a/articles/deckpc-day-one-experience.md b/articles/deckpc-day-one-experience.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cbb1bcd --- /dev/null +++ b/articles/deckpc-day-one-experience.md @@ -0,0 +1,61 @@ +DeckPC - Day one experience + +This series of blogposts will be about documenting my experience with using Valve's Steam Deck +as a regular Linux desktop with its preinstalled SteamOS environment. + +## The dock +I admit I didn't pick the most *quality* dock for this use case and cheaped out a bit and rushed +to purchase without much more investigation than amount of ports. The dock I ended up purchasing +was from China and bought from AliExpress. It features a single 4K@30Hz HDMI port, an USB-C power +delivery port and 3x USB 3.0 ports. The first hurdle I faced from lack of research was the inability +to support my PC monitor's native refresh rate of 144Hz, but instead be capped to 1080p@120Hz. + +Regardless of this setback, it still feels as smooth to my eyes, so it isn't going to be a dealbreaker +or a dispute, return, refund type of deal. + +## Peripherals +My original premise in the idea blogpost was that I would be using a KVM switch for my peripherals. +That idea is scrapped, all of the peripherals are now connected to the dock instead and PC is currently +in an idle state until the electricity prices become sane in Estonia - they recently put vast majority +of people on hourly billing cycle based on the current exchange pricing, so it is in my best interests +to save electricity where possible to avoid having to see an outrageous bill. I may revisit this once the +prices are sane again. + +What I ended up connecting was nothing spectacular, really, just an USB keyboard, mouse and a microphone. +I also connected my speakers through my display to a spare 3.5mm slot, if necessary I can also get up to 4x +USB ports there for use. + +## Out of the box hurdles +The first hurdle I had when entering desktop mode with the dock was that the display was without any taskbar +or icons - that was a relatively easy fix of going to the settings on Deck's built-in display and marking my +PC's display as the primary, not a huge deal, but something to keep in mind for anyone reading who happens to +be unfamiliar with Linux. + +The next hurdle I had was applications from Discover (so flatpaks) being unable to open any browser links at all. +This one was a lot harder to get to the bottom of with combined help of based.quest matrix chat, it took about 50 +minutes to reach a workaround which was documented in a [SteamOS issue](https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/issues/775#issuecomment-1129427573). + +## The unresolved +I make no secret that I use an offline password manager [KeePassXC](https://keepassxc.org/) and one of its features +is the browser integration. Unfortunately, the browser integration currently does not work between flatpak versions +of Firefox and KeePassXC. There is some movement on Mozilla's end, but KeePassXC has raised their hands on their end. + +Despite this setback, it is still possible to use the password manager - just not without browser integration detecting +login fields and prompting you to fill relevant credentials for you, that now needs to be done manually. + +## How do I like it +I often forget that I even use Steam Deck instead of my PC. It only makes me realize when I am putting some load on +the machine or try to play a game and find performance to be noticably worse than my PC. That should not discredit +Deck's performance, though. It is amazing what this device can do in just 15W and I am extremely happy this experiment +hit off mostly clean without many issues. I feel confident in being able to just leave my PC on hibernation for the +winter ahead where electricity prices are merciless as I know the Steam Deck will be able to deliver on my expectations +for daily tasks. + +I will be making follow-up posts on this experiment going forward, documenting new hurdles and workarounds to anyone +else with a Steam Deck looking to use it as a premiere desktop experience. + +Thanks for reading, +- Cernodile + +;tags:steam steamdeck handheld linux deckpc +;description:This series of blogposts will be about documenting my experience with using Valve's Steam Deck as a regular Linux desktop with its preinstalled SteamOS environment.