Answering ALL your Steam Deck questions.

[@everywan]

Chapters: 0:30 - display server 1:08 - SD card 2:57 - External controllers 5:18 - Locking Steam Deck 6:00 - What non-Steam things can you do with it? 8:10 - Developer mode 9:40 - VR 9:55 - Emulation 10:30 - Cooling 11:50 - Worth it? 13:45 - Can you get work done?

[@dominant2576]

Goddamn hero

[@novh4ck]

It makes sense that X11 is used in Desktop mode. I use KDE Plasma on my desktop and the Wayland experience is not yet ready to be called "finished". Flickering, freezing, even crashing still occurs.

[@seguramlk]

Yeah. I don't know the current state of Wayland. Do you use Nvidia? Because they seem to be releasing so many updates for their driver regarding Wayland in the recent months

[@johnbuscher]

Huh. I have a Wayland session in KDE Plasma on an old Chromebook, and I haven’t seen that yet (though it’s only been a few days). Does it usually happen when playing games?

[@novh4ck]

@@johnbuscher No. Games usually take over the whole screen. In my case a crash would happen when I tried to detach a tab to a separate window in Firefox. Crazy flickering happens when my desktop locks up after it hasn't been used and I log back in. It stops when I focus a few windows. When I drop a video over VLC window the whole app freezes. Copy/Paste from some windows to other just straight up doesn't work or glitches. This is why I consider KDE Plasma Wayland unfinished so far.

[@C4103]

I run Ubuntu on my work laptop and switched it over to Wayland to fix an issue with Gnome improperly grouping child tasks in the taskbar... I eventually switched back to X11 because of terrible freezing / crashing.

[@venykrid]

5.24 has made it a lot better for me

[@claudiu7909]

If you have a spare android phone, you could put the card in it and use ADB to push the game folder directly on the card. (ADB is much faster than MTP in my experience)

[@namename2040]

ADB? Is this an application? MTP from what I remember is a mode of file transfer

[@donaldbaird7849]

@@namename2040 adb stands for android debug bridge

[@claudiu7909]

@@namename2040 It's a command line tool (available on windows/linux/(I think) mac ) used for debugging android devices, but has a lot of useful features. In this case, it allows you to push/pull/sync files and folders. Since android supports ext4, I thought this might be a workaround for windows users.

[@Schlumpsha]

I'd be so down to use the Konami Code for locking/unlocking the handheld! That would be both nostalgic and hilarious.

[@johnbuscher]

@TheRealBandito Because it’s usually used as a fun easter egg, so if you tell someone new about it, they’d also get a kick out of how used the code is.

[@christophersullivan7273]

Pfft, Mortal Kombat blood code for me 😎

[@aw1lt]

What about using the Konami code to unlock a dev menu

[@ryanb6503]

it would be steam deck's version of using"password" as your password

[@bluepill8077]

⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️⬅️➡️⬅️➡️🅰️🅱️🅱️🅰️▶️

[@voxelfusion9894]

I'd bet a good way to transer files (like roms) to the Deck would be to put them on an ordinary usb stick and then plug that into the Deck via a usb hub or other type C adapter. In desktop mode you can then move them to the sd card yourself.

[@Mr.Riojas]

Gotta "love" how MS plays so nicely with non-native file formats from competitive operating systems.

[@obake6290]

Other operating systems don't do any better really. Not even the open source ones.

[@BetaMaster2]

@@obake6290 tell me one format that linux doesnt support, ill wait

[@chaos.corner]

I remember mounting ext3 on Windows a couple of versions back. I believe the API is available in windows for non-MS filesystems to be implemented but Microsoft only likes supporting its own formats to help push its monopoly. So it relies on third party efforts.

[@obake6290]

@@BetaMaster2 It's entirely possible I got something wrong, but here's what I have from like 10 minutes of searching. For Linux: HAMMER/HAMMER2 (Dragonfly BSD) UFS/FFS (BSD again. From what I see, reading is okay but writing is sketchy like the former NTFS driver). Depending on whether you count out-of-tree kernel modules or FUSE filesystems, there's plenty more. For BSD, since I said "open source" not necessarily "Linux": You get ext2/3/4. Looks like that might be about it for Linux filesystems.

[@FunFreakeyy]

I would be interested how easy it is to boot another Linux distro on the SD-card. Would love to switch the SD-card on the go with a dedicated Linux distro, where I can bork things so the internal SteamOS stays clean.

[@obaidfaraz5735]

Really good job on the coverage. Can’t believe valve sent it to you. Keep up the good work. Love from India!!

[@notmn743]

Well.. No-one knows when valve will start shipping to us people in India 🥲

[@rudranilghosh2713]

It'll sell like hotcakes in India, I don't think they have enough stock to ship in India.

[@arvindhmani06]

@@rudranilghosh2713 Yeah especially because at INR 30k for the base version it's at the price of a solid mid-tier smartphone.

[@GS-et3mi]

@@arvindhmani06 Where did you get the price for India?

[@Rich2799]

I plan to only load a game at a time and finally finish all those games I impulsively bought during a steam sale. I think the 256gb model should be fine for me.

[@michaelhuss0]

It's a shame that only the 512GB version has the anti-glare screen etching. That kindof made up my mind to preorder the top-end model.

[@karstux]

Hey Gardiner. I think you're a guitar player, and I'd be interested in the Steam Deck for audio stuff. Have you perchance tested the following, or could test it? * Reaper DAW. Does it run? * does JACK work? Which sound system is the Deck using by default? * have you tried Guitarix for amp simulation? Would love to hear your findings on these issues!

[@czkoi7107]

I'm also really interested in the audio, daw stuff. Is there enough Power for 16 Tracks and Plug ins?

[@C4103]

I would imagine you can get Reaper running, but I'd be more worried about running any kind of audio interface through a type C dongle. You can run into weird clock sync issues doing that with any operating system, but my experience is that it's particularly bad on Linux. If you can install PipeWire that would probably help, but I'd still be very skeptical about that working well.

[@ToastedSynapseGaming]

Some notes and questions: 2:20 - Can you copy files from your PC to the SD Card? -> I say Yes, you just have to load up a Live session of Linux. I've tried and tested the Manjaro version that is advertised for people that want a similar experience to the Steam Deck. You don't even have to install Manjaro on your PC, just having the installation USB will boot you up into a Live environment that has a Partition manager (that can format the SD card) and a File manager. And the sweet thing is that although Windows can't really read EXT4, Manjaro CAN read NTFS and will see stuff on your hard drive so you can start copying. I think it can't WRITE to NTFS, but it can definitely READ. And that's all you need. 14:30 - Fun fact about travelling and going to Air B&B or Hotels -> They usually have a TV, and that TV has HDMI, so at least you have a screen :P (not really for editing), but to watch your favorite shows, KZbin or something else, yeah. And all you need is a dock and an HDMI cable. There are also remotes (like Unified Remote) that can link your Steam Deck and your phone, where you'll have play, pause, volume, rewind, forward, keyboard and mouse etc. So you don't even need a long HDMI cable if you want to stay in bed. Leave the Steam Deck under the TV :) My Notes and Question Regarding dual Boot on the Deck and SD Cards: - From what I've heard, having any OS on your SD card (especially Windows) is kind of a bad idea. An OS is constantly reading and writing and it may ruin your card not to mention performance drops. - Therefore, if you have the 256 or 512 GB model, you could in theory partition the internal memory (SSD) to have Windows (Even like 32-40GB would work I believe. You can always extend it later. You could go 50%-50%). I would actually love to hear your thoughts on this (and maybe a video showcasing how we dual-boot). - Which leaves us with the external storage. Now that we have a dual-boot device that relies solely on it's internal SSD, we could be doing one of two things: 1. Split your SD budget in two: Instead of getting a 1TB card, get two 512GB SDs and label them Win and Lin, having the appropriate NTFS and EXT4 formats of course. 2. (this is more interesting) Buy that 1TB card like you planned all along and SPLIT Partition it to your liking. You won't be using Windows that much? Sure! Go for 800GB EXT4 and only 200GB NTFS. By having one card, you could always move the borders (extend, shrink) afterwards, whenever it's needed, instead of physically getting stuck with 2 cards (not to mention it would be nice not to fiddle with cards and lose them. I would love to hear your thoughts on this too, because for me, what I've described at point (2) above would be the ideal situation, I'm just wandering if it works. It should do in theory, I've had USB sticks and SD cards with multiple partitions in the past. And the software should be straightforward letting you access the drive that was meant for that OS.

[@ToastedSynapseGaming]

@Bolivian-Lament I see. Probably was the case, but if you just want to copy some files over, like I said, there would be no hassle. Grab your Manjaro USB, grab your microSD, restart the PC and hit F12 (or whatever key), boot into Manjaro, copy paste your stuff, restart and disconnect devices. You're good to go. A total of like 2 minutes of "work" time and however many minutes of wait time for the copying to occur in the background depending on how much you copy. I don't really think people would want to transfer stuff the other way around (from the Deck to the PC), since what's there to get? Maybe some save files or some other small files. That's easy: FAT32 USB with 2 heads (USB-A and USB-C). Stick it into the Deck, copy-paste your files in a split second and then take that to your PC. - But indeed, good to know that about Linux and NTFS in case people indeed need it. EDIT: I don't know if we're still talking "Good Accessories for the Deck" on this channel, but I would see one of those USB sticks that has 2 heads a good purchase to have. Even if you don't use it between your PC and you're deck it's good to have. Maybe use it with your phone or any other application. A good acquisition nevertheless.

[@Camper_Samu]

There's a good Windows EXT4 driver that can be used with the Steam Deck's SD card

[@kuttispielt7801]

I haven’t tried it but I imagine that just using a live usb might be a lot easier than messing around with windows

[@hacked2123]

For using ext4 on Windows, just install wsl2 or wsl2g and it will mount in in //wsl$/ some where

[@johnknight9150]

Wayland for gaming and X for the desktop is a really smart compromise. Very excited to hear the support thrown behind Flatpaks and AppImages. I'll be fully behind Flatpaks when they can be launched from the terminal like a normal Linux programme.

[@johnknight9150]

@doctor Dzen I know. That's unacceptable. If I want to run something, like Steam for instance, it should work by entering: $ steam not: $ flatpak run something.something.something That's absolutely awful.

[@Brixster]

@@johnknight9150 Why don't you just make a shell alias in your bin directory? Good compromise until they officially support shortcuts

[@johnknight9150]

@@Brixster Yes, I would do that if needed, and I was thinking that may be a possible workaround, but *they* need to be doing that, not the user. And will that even accept command line switches? I don't know.

[@johnknight9150]

@doctor Dzen Why not have a separate bin folder, like /usr/local/bin, which is used when compiling from source? (And in this scenario, why isn't compiling from source a serious conflict with native packages?) Not being referred to as pathed binary already causes problems for Flatpaks. For instance, it is not recommended you install Steam via Flatpak because external software that provides cool add-ons cannot work with it, so Flatpak via Steam is slightly crippled. I'm not necessarily an advocate of Snaps over Flatpaks, but Snaps *do* let you run pathed binaries.

[@johnknight9150]

@doctor Dzen In addition to that, I don't know if you've ever compiled something from source (particularly the same programme that's already installed on the system via package), but it doesn't break the system. The system simply prioritises one path over another. I can't remember if it priorities /usr or /usr/local first, but both the file system and package manager are already built for this.

[@zeikjt]

You should be able to use programs to read/write ext4 in windows without going through drivers. It'll be slower and clunkier, but it should work. Ext2Read might work, it says it supports usb devices.

[@gamerking64]

The reason why they choose wayland for gamemode and not X11 is because wayland gives better performance/FPS in games.

[@adliikhwan280]

Too bad it still doesn't seem to use Wayland. It needs the DISPLAY environment variable set, the new Deck UI wouldn't even run without it.

[@cnr_0778]

is this an amdgpu thing? Because i get worse performance on Wayland. (nVidia 510.54)

[@gamerking64]

@@cnr_0778 wayland and nvidia are enemies just use X11

[@cnr_0778]

@@gamerking64 Nope. I will stick with Wayland until it gets good enough. It doesn't bother me THAT much.

[@gamerking64]

@@cnr_0778 I love your patience, good point, stay on what you are using even if there is obstacles!

[@aTron0018]

What you said about the amount of gaming you've done on the Steam Deck this past week has me so excited. I havie a laptop I recently had to spend time troubleshooting and repairing after my boot drive failed, and I have a family with a toddler and full-time job. That said, I can't tell you how difficult it is to get my laptop top set up so I can play games uninterrupted by something! I rarely have time to play games, so having a Steam Deck will make picking up a game on the fly when I have a free moment so much more easier! Can't wait for my email to come in for Q2!

[@quincingonjon1381]

Do you think that the steam deck can become a more efficient gaming device using proton and vulkan than any future version of windows can ever achieve?

[@kendarr]

I'm not him but, Windows is the native, why would it work better on linux on the future?

[@RandomGuyWithAccount]

you wondered why some people are interested in its VR capabilities, its probably because it sounds cool to have a leightweight PC you can just strap it to yourself, and then have "fully" wireless VR experience i guess thats not really feasible due to the immense power draw needed to render 90+ FPS on a headset that has two seperate screens, atleast not for very long. thanks for the video, Gardiner :)

[@gardiner_bryant]

Not too mention you'd need a battery pack for the headset, too

[@qt31415]

@@gardiner_bryant gonna slap the oculus 2 to it so it has its own battery XD

[@benw7616]

I remember there being a wireless thing you could get for VR headsets, i cant remeber what it was called but i think it is a thing.

[@ZeroB4NG]

@@benw7616 Those exist, but they are still pretty expensive... and usually not first party devices. Still way off from being an option for the mass market. Very much early adopter Enthusiast with too much money level stuff.

[@qt31415]

@@benw7616 oculus has it for experimental. airlink but you need a beefy wifi network for it to be usable, so having a tiny powerhouse of a computer would be nice while its tethered to you.

[@bland9876]

My friend wants to know if he got a dock and used it as a deck top so not carrying the accessories around with him would that work for basic tasks like writing an essay or watching Netflix on a monitor?

[@owns3]

love your steam deck coverage - subscribed!

[@Monody512]

My biggest question is about video recording. Obviously in desktop mode you should be able to run a program like OBS, but is there any in-built feature for this in game mode, and if not do you know if there's a workaround? I feel uncomfortable gaming without my replay buffer anymore, always worried I'll miss the opportunity to capture a cool moment.

[@BUDA20]

pretty sure a utility to copy to ext4 will be released soon by the community (not necessarily to truly mount the drive, just a window to copy to and from ext4), like many forensics / recovery tools

[@wolfpox]

Glad to see this becoming a SteamOS 3.0 channel... Best Linux Distro for gamers? I bet it is!

[@mskiptr]

From Valve's statements re SteamOS it seemed to me that after enabling the developer mode you will be able to perform regular `pacman -Syu` updates How does it work? Not at all? Do things break? Or do FS flashing updates still happen automatically, without user's control? I guess `-Syu` updates won't automatically install some of the new packages, but that's the only obvious thing I can think of tbh

[@Belgarathe]

Really love your channel. Covering all that we need to know about steam deck. The above ideas were generated as ideas for your channel to cover

[@Littlefighter1911]

If you're a really enthusiast Windows user you can also just use a VM like Hyper-V.

[@SuperMario.]

What's a mirror book? I search it and can't find any results.

[@gardiner_bryant]

Mirabook

[@AndreVandal]

On a mac you can get around reading EXT4 by using a temporary VM with linux then share the drive to the mac portion. There was a way to get it working directly through some home-brew installs but due to changes in licensing VM remains your best bet for now.

[@jamie9419]

I'm pretty sure that you should be able to copy stuff from the windows drive as long as the linux box/steamdeck is driving the transfer, but that means you need to either set up some kind of shared network storage on the windows PC that the Linux box/streamdeck can access. This could be SSH/SCP which would allow you to use Filezilla, Rsync, or SCP to get the files, or you could set up a Samba share or something else that can be accessed over the network from the deck. You just can't pop the SD into windows then write to it as a portable drive.

[@RFTL]

Abaut BT Audio. The amount of Delay is heavily dependent on the used Audio Codec. With "pactl list sinks" you should check which codec is currently used with your Headphones. The Jabra Elite range seams to support AAC and SBC. You want AAC.

[@gearsofinspiration8528]

Hello gardiner wondered if got round to testing the headphones with a converter jack? Also I think there's some Bluetooth software for Linux that does good Bluetooth audio. Also wondered if you tried using pipewire for audio?

[@hanro50]

Android _is_ compatible with ext4, the Kernel still does file management, it's just a question if your device maker stripped out the FS driver for it or allows SD cards to be in ext4

[@atanasi]

Android devices don't usually support ext4 for external media, even if they use ext4 for their internal storage. This is partly for security reasons: ext4 is a complicated filesystem and cannot be hardened against untrusted media while keeping high performance. Filesystem driver bugs could be exploited to take over the system. On the other hand, high performance is necessary for internal media. FAT is simpler, and is not expected to have high performance, so it is easier to implement it securely for untrusted media.

[@Bushidounohana]

Great perspective and info, thank you!

[@alexismarie2652]

excellent video, thanks so much for answering questions.

[@JanJanJanJanJanJanJanJanJan2]

How about streaming to twitch? Not games or anything. Just HDMI capture from a few sources and desktop capture. Is the CPU fast enough for h264 encoding? I'm looking for a device to do my soldering streams from my local Hackerspace where we have monitors and other peripherals setup ready to go.

[@MobileDecay]

Also, thanks for all the coverage! 🥳🥳🥳

[@BUDA20]

you can boot into KDE (by switching the greeter permanently, but I don't recommend it)... it will make the icon to switch to gamescope/deck mode not working, and it will require another script to switch to that mode again

[@GothicDragonX]

On the subject of transferring data to Micro SD card from Windows to Steam Deck, can you connect the steam deck to the PC like an external device, similar fashion like a smartphone and transfer file that way or that still limited by the ext4 format? Also, can transfer via Bluetooth or WiFi? without ejecting the Micro SD card from the Steam Deck. Just curious.

[@mini_bomba]

Last time I tried using an Ext4 formatted SD card on my android phone, it asked me to reformat it to FAT... maybe things are different on android tablets, since those usually support extending your storage with an SD card (which I think it formats to some kind of encrypted Ext4 file system)

[@chaos.corner]

I think android should be able to handle ext4 but the media detection routines may not be very sophisticated. You might need to get be root to mount.

[@endykun]

it depends on the version of Android if it does this or not.

[@atanasi]

Android devices don't usually support ext4 for external media, even if they use ext4 for their internal storage. This is partly for security reasons: ext4 is a complicated filesystem and cannot be hardened against untrusted media while keeping high performance. Filesystem driver bugs could be exploited to take over the system. On the other hand, high performance is necessary for internal media. FAT is simpler, and is not expected to have high performance, so it is easier to implement it securely for untrusted media.

[@chaos.corner]

@@atanasi I wonder if it can still be mounted from the command line as root. I believe ext4 can also be mounted as ext3 or ext4 as well (or maybe that was just ext3->ext2)

[@atanasi]

@@chaos.corner I suppose it is possible to mount ext4 as root.

[@Belgarathe]

Multiplayer experience? Playing with other steam decks and cross compatibility play

[@progxdt]

I really like how this guy is very neutral on everything about this product. His approach is fantastic on the Deck, rather than how other KZbinrs keep trying to bend it to their desires. While I’m waiting for my 64GB version, I’m coming to you for Deck information. Too many “Deck exclusive” channels just keeping pitching false information and it’s bothersome. Thank you for answering the question on daily driving on this device, it’s one of the big reasons I’m getting it. I want to get hands on with Steam OS and get to know it. My plan is to build a new Ryzen 7 6000 machine, then move my current Ryzen 5 over to my TV with Steam OS as the main operating system for entertainment. Anyhow, seriously, this guy is the best for Steam Deck information, don’t waste your time with “Deck exclusive” channels, they’re just thirst trapping for free stuff from Valve.

[@toogr84u]

Can someone use Godot and Krita with the Steam Deck to develop games targeted specifically for the Steam Deck? Can the itch.io launcher be run inside of the steam os as an external app?

[@natedogg7376]

So if I have an external 4TB drive, using a dock with USB's will I be able to run games from that? And if so will they have to be downloaded through the DECK to the drive for correct format? Seems like the answer would be yes but hands on confirmation would be great.

[@johnbuscher]

Should be OK with ntfs, so if you have a Windows computer to download them initially to, it shouldn’t be too painful to get the Deck to recognize it.

[@WaCrex]

Now I don't have a Steam Deck, but I wonder if it's possible to completely replace KDE and keeping the changes after SteamOS updates.. if so I would have tried installing Gnome and my usual extensions: Dash to Panel, ArcMenu, GSConnect, AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support, No overview at start-up, Desktop Icons: Neo, Arch Linux Updates Indicator, Panel OSD, Window Is Ready - Notification Remover, Coverflow Alt-Tab, Autohide Battery... I don't think using a live wallpaper would be a good idea due to the battery though, so I guess I would have used a static version of my usual one instead.

[@catchnkill]

I also do not have SteamDeck. Just read info for the Net. Yes. You can. You can enter desktop mode. In desktop mode you can get root access. Then you can do whatever you like to do. When SteamDeck gets a software update, your changes will be in another partition and not available until you figure out how to load your "modified" system partition. The SteamDeck software update is like ChimeraOS. There is two system partition A and B. Say you are running the partition A. The software update will update your partition B. And switch to boot from B. Next time update partition A and switch to boot from A etc

[@michaelhuss0]

There are some Linux distros which are optimized for a live environment (Damn Small Linux, Pentoo, etc.) which implement some form of persistence to emulate permanent changes like installing programs. Does the new SteamOS do anything like that? I suppose I could install a lot of things in the home directory as long as that is in the device's PATH. I'm especially curious how hard it would be to install an alternave WM/DE, such as LXDE or Enlightenment. @14:22 Spoken like someone who doesn't have a small keyboard/mouse for their phone already. I use mine a lot.

[@steveandrade3477]

I'm curious to know what your moral and ethical reasons for not using Xcloud are.

[@endykun]

He's one of them "old school" Linux nerds, who think they're still "sticking it to the man". That kinda thinking's been dead for about 20 years now, what's hillarious is he still uses GoG, but if he actually looked into them, he'd be opposed to them as well. Also I won't point out the irony of using Steam, and then opposing ANYONE ELSE (save Epic) for "moral" reasons. Oh wait, yes I will...

[@komali2]

Though the steam deck chooses to format an SD card in ext4, there's no reason it *can't* read NTFS or whatever, if it doesn't out of the box you can likely install a package to do so.

[@eezyville1704]

In my experience it has always been tricky to work with NTFS on Linux. You can read it but writing...

[@eezyville1704]

@doctor Dzen I've had problems working with the ntfs-3g module in Ubuntu a few years ago. I think around 2018. Couldn't write to the NTFS drive without problems.

[@Belgarathe]

Ability to control things like phiiip hues light and nest thermostats. This way you can control from your finger tips

[@KCKingcollin]

If you dual boot a Linux distro on the PC you want to transfer your games from you can, Linux can read and write to ntfs, so you just need to access the sd card on the Linux dual booted PC with the drive that have your games on it

[@Globalnet626]

To be more specific, gamemode is using Gamescope which is a microcompositor. You can also run Gamescope in x11, funilly enough.

[@igorgiuseppe1862]

can you create an ad-hoc network to play with an pc disconnected from the internet? be it an standard pc or another steam deck? it would be nice to have something comparable to an link cable or ds download n play

[@Mr.Riojas]

Great stuff, thank you!

[@pessoaanonima6345]

Are you able to use an external HD to store the games?

[@Kinkajou1015]

I'd like to know if you can stream a game directly off the Deck using OBS either in Game Mode or Desktop Mode and if you can run Desktop Steam in Desktop Mode and play the games you installed in Game Mode from there.

[@lpcamargo]

The handles may feel cooler than you'd expect, but "subambient" would break the laws of Physics.

[@ZeroB4NG]

The handles are mostly empty aside from some PCB for the controls. Battery and APU, everything that creates heat, is nowhere near the handles. Airflow sucking heat away from your hands... sounds ... a bit weird.

[@quincingonjon1381]

What hardware upgrade will make you spend more then $649 for a steam deck? more vivid display? better APU? Color options? additional usb-c port? better haptic controllers?

[@battleseekerrex354]

You can lock steam for family mode... With pin number maybe it might allow you to do that in deck??

[@SeekerofYab]

I really hope this makes laptop-style usb-c docks more popular and hence less expensive. That would make Steam Deck a viable laptop alternative the way it makes phones a viable Chromebook alternative. Unfortunately they're currently as expensive as a full basic laptop.

[@hydrophobicwalrus749]

Does anyone know how the ext4 filesystem on the SD cards is configured? Completely default? Noatime? Disabled or external journaling? Doubt that these factors would speed up the SD card THAT much, but I'm just curious.

[@tato-chip7612]

I recommend disk internal's linux reader for the sd card

[@WedgeStratos]

The question about VR is not a hardware concern, it's a software issue. We already have a number of headsets that connect only via USB-C, and ALVR exists for wireless VR. As it is, the most popular headset, the Oculus Quest 2 (refusing to call it Meta), just lacks any implementation on Linux, and OpenHMD is not there yet for supporting it. I will be fascinated to try this with my LG 360 VR glasses though.

[@chaos.corner]

What do people think of the value level of the three options available on the store? With the NVME being upgradable, it seems like the cheapest option might be best but the anti-glare screen seems like it would be good to have.

[@MrDOMTHEGOD]

I just hope it gets pushed out faster , we need like real time scale on deliveries for when we ordered etc.....

[@narufan987]

I think once the Q2 units start shipping we'll have a clearer picture of how fast they'll be able to meet the demand

[@Dracossaint]

They did clarify a bit saying that they'll ship units/send order emails out every 7 days. Tomorrow is the second wave of emails for q1 reserves

[@ciren___]

By the way, it formats the SD card and /home in ext4 but with case-folding on to support Windows games that expect game.exe and Game.exe to be the same

[@chaos.corner]

Good old Micros~1

[@theeox]

So sd card gets formatted but what about usb thumb drives

[@ZeroB4NG]

How long does it take to charge on a regular USB3 port if you don't have that 40 Watt charger with you. Like, when i'm in the Car and plug it into the cigarette lighter outlet that has a USB 3 port for charging my phone and running the dash cam. Is it even charging from that while playing or is it just delaying the inevitable shut down? Same question with battery packs / what kind of battery pack would make sense for it? This will decide if i have to plug it in the moment i start playing or if i can wait until it is down to 20% and only then plug it in. (i got tops 3 hours of downtime between my tours, i'm sure the battery will hold fine on its own, but maybe i forget to charge it one day before work) Hmm, will my car still turn on after having it plugged in for 3 hours? yeah... i probably should get a battery pack instead... When you are mobile and use your Phone as a mobile WiFi hot spot, so you got internet, is there something like a low traffic option in Steam OS? So it doesn't decide to start a 20GB download in the background without asking on your 2GB per month data plan? Do you predict or see any problems with DRM when playing OFFLINE with the Deck? Like Denuvo has these Tokens where you need to start the game every 2 weeks or it will throw up an error message, nothing you ever notice on your Desktop but you may have games on the Deck that you didn't touch in a month, don't know they got DRM, take it with you and then the game tells you to log in first. (hence the WiFi hotspot question, i'm sure there can be situations where you need to log in to start a game even when mobile). I don't think Always Online or DRM are considered when it comes to the ratings for how well it runs on Steam Deck, so that is something everyone needs to pay attention to who actually wants to use it mobile without Internet. (and it is not like you just need to start Steam to get those Denuvo Tokens, you need to start the actual game with Denvuo to get that token... i think there are a lot of completely oblivious people that will suddenly notice how invasive DRM can be), especially the people that want this to play semi modern AAA games, those are almost all Denuvo infested.

[@BowserN64]

Top tier 512 model hands-down best choice. Never a bad decision to get as much storage as you can. AND a hard-to-scratch screen without screen protectors. Anything less than that would a bit fat regret, to me.

[@flyingaviator8158]

What is mirror book?

[@alainakids1497]

Thanks for keeping us informed 👍 😀. You rock !°

[@grgamer8470]

Which is the game that steam deck can't run well because the game needs a powerful pc or gaming console to run well?

[@DodasJJ]

Waiting for mine. Please do you know how origin games running comparation same game on steam? If i install for example mass effect andromeda trought origin luncher will perform same like from steam?

[@Earlesstag]

Don't know if you would test it now (maybe if you have another SSD lying around) but what's the process like to get steam os on a new SSD if I wanted to increase my internal storage?

[@neomothdev2]

Question: are you able to access root in any way? or has valve locked down root access entirely?

[@catchnkill]

No locked down of the root. Valve has promised that. Since I do not have a SteamDeck, I cannot check it out. I read it somewhere in the Internet. Not difficult.

[@jameskoehler-killeen6164]

For copying files from an external PC to Steam Deck are any of these options available? SSH, Samba, USB-C to PC?

[@TimothyKist]

Great! Thanks for sharing those questions. Would love one though with my Android phone, a Steam Controller and a desktop PC plugged to the TV, using Wake on Lan, I've had a semi-portable gaming PC for a while, so long as I'm in the house!

[@danielwilliams3161]

That's great the Android worked with ext4 because I have some PSP emulator games on on my phone and I can add that to is ready on my SD card so I could basically add it to to the SD card

[@retroprogamer7009]

Can i connect the Deck directly to my Windows PC to Copy files?

[@eructationlyrique]

There's actually not necessarily any problems running linux applications from exFAT. The problem is that Proton relies on being able to make softlinks, which exFAT doesn't support

[@amineabdz]

I think the fact that you can use EXT4 on windows using 3rd party software should have been mentioned., but other than that great video.

[@notuxnobux]

I guess so in this case but not in general. You cant use drives that are 4tb or larger for example. You can only read files from such large devices and only by first copying the files to another drive

[@C4103]

Valve noted that it would be unwise to just upgrade the Steam Deck's SSD with any off the shelf M.2 SSD because of EMI interference. I have a couple questions on this, not sure if you'll have answers though: - Is there an M.2 slot in the cheapest model? - How bad is the EMI issue? Are we talking like I put in an off the shelf SSD and wifi straight if stops working? Even so, I think a lot of people wouldn't really have a huge issue with this if they play a lot of games offline...

[@chaos.corner]

I suspect it's just a CYA issue. Will be interesting to see what shakes out though as people are definitely going to try it.

[@cirion66]

Will any othef FS than ext4 and a realtime compression work? Btrfs? (I use ntfs compression via compactor and some games go down as low as to 40% of Its original size... Ext4 does not have realtime compression afaik)

[@ehenyor]

That last question is AWESOME! Before COVID, I completely ditched my laptop for business travel and stuck with my phone since I could get a full Linux desktop on it.

[@samleonard3909]

I have a ton of back up ISOs on my windows PC how the hell am I gonna put on my micro SD card in the Deck ?

[@Joreel]

So I'm curious what your ethical issue with EGS is??? Thanks for a really good Q&A video 😋

[@WedgeStratos]

Simply put, Tim Sweeney is a prude who has some vested interest in undermining Linux as a gaming platform, doesn't find open-source initiatives to be a positive, and Epic has major shareholders from Tencent and the CCP. In general, just not a good company, and made worse now that they own Bandcamp.

[@gardiner_bryant]

EGS is partly owned by the Chinese Communist Party and I'll have nothing to do with them.

[@mohandl3g]

How well does it work on external network storage? Like using SMB from Winodws to play games? Also I think this is a good way of copying games is to transfer them through network to your SD Card

[@Globalnet626]

I am not certain of KDE has support out of the box, but usually dolphin (the file manager) has a samba plugin for SMB support.

[@shawarden]

Surely you can install samba on the deck and have a network drive?

[@gardiner_bryant]

No. You can't. The Deck has an immutable Filesystem, so system level packages cannot be installed unless you want to keep installing and configuring the samba service after every system update.

[@shawarden]

​@@gardiner_bryant Can you do it the other way around then? Dolphin should be able to browse smb shares from windows so long as you're willing to put up with Dolphin being, well, Dolphin. Hopefully by the time my side of the planet gets access to them, someone will have hacked together an optware or termux style option for installing system packages outside of the immutable area.

[@diegon7781]

Is it possible to have multiple Steam accounts logged into your Deck? I have two accounts that I use everyday. What about family library share?

[@thesullylife8219]

Does it play total war warhammer 3? Does it run RTS games efficiently?

[@1TexasGamer]

I'm wondering how good PS4PS5 remote play Works on the steam deck. I use my GPD win 3 at work and I will be doing the same thing on the Steam deck.

[@mick2d2]

What about connecting my external Steam HDD to the Steam Deck using a hub, then copying the files across to the Steam Deck? Surely Linux will see my external Windows HDD? Thanks!

[@Fender178]

I had very good luck with ExFat but I only use it for certain things such as my PS4 and stuff under Windows and my Android Phone. My 8TB HDD that I just bought was formatted as exFAT for some reason but I just formatted it as NTFS for better compatibility under Linux and Windows since I wasn't sure if exFAT is even readable under Linux that isn't a PS4 (even though the PS4 is based of of Free BSD) There is 3rd party software that allows you to read and write to EXT4 formatted drives under Windows made by Paragon. Yeah I figured that the Steam Deck would use Ext4 as its file system because that is what most Linux systems use now a days. With a USB C hub you can connect a NTFS formatted drive with Steam games to copy to your SD on the Deck so you don't have to worry about the Deck wanting to format the SD card to use with it.

[@landinobin4835]

There are ways to run games in NTFS system also. I would love to see a video on how to do it

[@Belgarathe]

Laptops CPU can be undervolt. Is this possible with the stream deck? Why? To get longer battery life without as much performance loss

[@gamerking64]

Everything is possible in desktop mode if you unlock the emmutable system, Gamemode will maybe ovewrite it though.

[@Belgarathe]

@@gamerking64 what I am curious about is how much more we can gain from undervolting.

[@gamerking64]

@@Belgarathe i dont think you will gain much from undervolying, just find your sweet spot of brightness so that its enough for seing the screen and also for the battery, but im sure there is more to do...The Steam deck is still in development, and also videos on youtube will rain about what you can change and optimize with it with alot of tips and tricks to improve battery life, performance, accessibility, and usability...Im pretty sure the steam deck will be a big thing, the key is to wait and be patient!

[@Globalnet626]

On the developer mode question : partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/faq In the Steamdeck FAQ on the Partner page for Steam, you can see that it makes not that any user can enable deceloper mode to disable the immutable file system

[@nopenope1]

to the first one, would USB-C OTG be possible to use to transfer data when you have a dual boot? or in general, would a USB-C OTG work with windows compatible format work with the steam OS? :)

[@koichihirose5773]

I'd love to see this hardware in different form factors- a NUC-like mini-pc and/or a thin and light laptop.

[@ryanb6503]

maybe minis forum will do an updated Manjaro mini pc, but I bet steam has it in the works

[@masoodreyhani4769]

pls! They already can't keep up with the demand for the steam deck! They can't even do different colors because the demand is so high and you want a laptop deck LOL

[@kuhpunkt]

Gardiner, does VR work on the Deck?

[@milesseawind]

Does steam correctly recognize non steam games after swapping sd cards? Like steam rom manager game shortcuts?

[@aaronchamberlain4698]

Thanks for answering my question. Been meaning to reserve a steam deck to support Valve/Linux but gotta admit I don’t game that much. Maybe 1-3 times a month and some of those are with my kids. Which is where splitscreen comes in. I don’t think the deck is small enough for my daughter but maybe if I dock that and make it a Switch replacement 🤷‍♂️. Don’t know. What I do know is I’m going to be stupid and probably just use Ansible to provision my Deck after every update ha.

[@roqeyt3566]

Why not try remote play with a phone? One of y'all uses the deck, the other plays along with "split screen" on a phone Most phones support bluetooth controllers