Outside of gaming, how do you guys use your Steam Deck?
I love my deck because
- it can play Steam games fairly well
- it can play emulated game really well
- but most importantly it's a linux computer, I can browse the web, watch a movie, even be productive on it, and I sometimes don't even need to plug in a mouse and keyboard or an external screen !
But I was wondering what kind of uses other people have with it, as a non gaming machine?
You can use the box to collect cats in.
Steam Cat
I have mine plugged into my TV, with a wireless controller and Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. I spend most of my time in the desktop mode
I use it to:
It works great as an all in one device. I don't really use the smart features on my TV or my Fire stick anymore - I don't need to see all the shitty advertising or use their compromised UIs that try to sell me shit.
Honestly, the Steam Deck is one of the best devices I've bought in years.
Which makes it all the more sad that 4% is the current peak of Linux Desktop usage. Now with Proton we could all be living so much better digital lives. I recently set up Nobara and it's an absolute marvel. I was never a Fedora guy, but I think I'll come around to this out-of-the-box fully gaming-capable experience.
Someone is going to say porn, and for that person I want to know how the hell you hold that thing one handed (for long enough).
You don't have the fleshlight mount for SteamDeck ? Amateur.
They should really include that as standard.
I imagine someone would either connect it to a Monitor/TV or have it held up with a dock or something lol 🤷🏻♀️
I've got much better devices for porn, but it's pretty easy to use one-handed. Sit up with it on your lap. Lay down with your hand under it and the other side in the air, or with your hand on the top side and the other side resting the weight on your couch or bed.
If you couldn't do that you'd need a 3rd hand to use the touch screen.
Hmmm... I wonder if there's any porn games that support simultaneous controller and touch screen import.
You can plug it into a monitor or TV. Or you can use a stand.
Honestly just for gaming. I have a Framework laptop running Linux that I use for anything else.
Same here, just for gaming. Have multiple other computers for actual computer needs. Though admittedly, none of them are running Linux as the primary OS yet.
Hoping to get one soon.
I have the AMD 13 and it's fantastic. It's even solid for gaming as well and can handle some things the Deck can't.
Is that the AMD dedicated graphics card? I’m getting the graphics card. Hoping to be able to run ML stuff on there such as Stable Diffusion.
How long does it take to arrive usually? Is there a calendar or timeline for each batch?
No, my Framework 13 is integrated only but it is still significantly more powerful than the Steam Deck. I haven't really done any ML stuff so couldn't tell you.
Mine was quoted as Q4 2023 when I ordered it and shipped by the end of November.
It's amazing for traveling with. I've found that streaming devices like a Chromecast or Roku are hit or miss at most hotels/motels, but the Steam Deck in desktop mode with a USB hub and HDMI cable works basically anywhere.
I also keep some movies and shows downloaded just in case the Wi-Fi particularly sucks wherever I am.
I once saw a video of soldiers in Ukraine using it to control some drones. Truly a versatile machine.
I travel a lot for work with a not very big weight allowance so it has replaced my laptop as my daily machine.
I game on it, use it for discord and dndbeyond to play dnd at work, have jellyfin on it to stream media to my phone+ar glasses, and use it to access my home server to deal with downloads and my main jellyfin server.
It's an awesome tool.
Renoise music tracker DAW.
I'd be interested to know if you use any bindings/plugins for Renoise with steamdeck controls.
I use a headless M8 and run https://derkyjadex.github.io/M8WebDisplay/ in Edge (with launch options for game mode). But I didn't really put in the effort to try and make Renoise work without a keyboard/mouse.
I literally just started the work this week so I'm still trying to figure out what bindings work best for me.
Love a tracker! I saw people running dirtywave M8 headless on a steam deck. Needs a teensy connected and some packages/config, nearly tried it myself but got a preorder for a M8 instead.
Same! I've been slowly building a pretty solid custom controller setup for it too. Oh, and found a tiny M-Audio USB keyboard from a flea market, also great with the Deck.
Did you ever make the custom mapping available on Steam?
Once it's really qood I will. Still some way to go, should get back to it.
Thanks for a brilliant idea! Jamming sessions with deck would be awesome !
Got the deck dock on the living room TV and use it to both chill-game and have the kids Skype with grandma and grandpa.
I have it plugged into my TV via dock and use it to watch illegal video streams from sketchy websites that don't have apps. Most often they are live sports streams.
Could you point me in the direction of these sketchy websites? My wife watches a lot of sports and I am looking for a way to stop paying for cable. Most things I have found are very unreliable though.
Sportsurge.net is what I've been using for a long time. Goes without saying, but use an adblocker.
I sold my laptop and used my Steam Deck as my main PC for a couple of months (till the parts for my new PC arrived). Worked out great. Convinced me to install Arch Linux on my new PC.
The Deck works well as an HTPC too. Works great with Plex, etc.
I've dual run Linux and Windows for ages on my main PC but the Steam Deck is what moved me over to Linux as my daily driver and started me using KDE. Since switching from Mint to OpenSuSE on my PC I now very rarely use windows - I basically use it for occasional games that don't run on Proton well yet.
And agree on the HTPC use - I use my deck mostly plugged into my TV.
What's OpenSUSE like?
I know nothing about dealing with issues in terminal and it takes a lot of internet searching to solve problems. The Steam Deck uses Arch and KDE so that made me try EndeavourOS on the PC, but it's too complicated and too dependant on terminal and giving trouble with flatpak apps. Do you find OpenSUSE simple to use? If that's complicated too I might go to Kubuntu or back to Linux Mint.
I used it a while ago to record audio with a X32 mixing console in our rehearsal room.
What did you use to input a signal?
...mics into the X32, via USB into the deck? Or what did you mean with "input"?
That's what I meant. I always forget that the USB port can be used for lots of things.
I use a focusrite and a MXL V67G microphone to record audiobooks
I use my Steam Deck for producing audiobooks, set up a little closet space and soundtreated it, set up a mic with a Focusrite and I use Reaper on the Steam Deck.
Works great, bit small but I'm not doing music production so I don't need a larger screen for the moment.
Best part is, it's all via USB-C Anker Dock, so I just unplug it and the whole set up is perfectly in place still. Sans Deck :D
I use it as a tablet to watch F1 on my couch / armchair. It has better sound, screen and battery life than my laptop, while not burning my laps.
Other than that I mostly play games on my Deck.
I've recently started to find its really nice to use kde connect on the desktop to watch videos on my TV though the browser. It's not the most amazing experience but nice in pinch and better than hooking up my Chromebooks to the TV
If you're using YouTube then install the FreeTube client - it's a better experience I find although you need to manually import your watch lists. But avoids advertising and is much more private.
You can also install software like Jellyfin to stream from your own video library. You can also install Kodi to access your own library or streaming services with a nice big screen interface (Kodi is perfectly fine for accessing services you pay for - it's not a piracy tool unless you make it one. I'm in the UK and use it to login and watch BBC Iplayer).
Honestly, it's a full PC so with a bit of tinkering you can get it to do what you want in desktop mode and slickly.
I recently started trying run stable diffusion on my deck CPU. It’s slow, but probably my fastest option as I’m very new to PC gaming and the deck is probably my most powerful computer for now.
Check my recent post history lol.
That's actually kinda amazing..
With a Dock and my Steam Controller it’s a fantastic media PC.
Sadly it sucked last time I tried it to run Jellyfin Media Player :(
Weird, it works flawlessly for me. But I've only tried it in desktop mode. I find gamescope mode isn't great for non games, even Firefox scales wierdly in gamescope mode.
I have a needlessly complicated but high quality signal path (USB-C to A dongle -> some extension cable -> Edirol UA-1D -> looong Toslink optical cable -> active speakers) to play music off Spotify and MPD on the Deck to entertain the family and guests.
Sometimes my wife likes to steamlink my desktop on the tv. In that case I hit my kvm button to switch over to my deck and use it as a backup desktop.
it's my daily device. I watch youtube and anime in desktop mode. I even have some music on it.
I have used it a couple times to use Plex and watch movies/TV. Weirdly though it seems it requires an internet connection. I went on a trip and was hoping to watch 2 episodes on a flight and they were downloaded, showed as downloaded and when I clicked play it just spun and failed to play. Later when I had WiFi I clicked play and it was showing small amounts of network activity. Would much rather watch movies on that compared to my phone
I've used mine sometimes for watching stuff that doesn't support Chromecast or any other easy way of playing it on my TV.
I plan to get a second dock for it, and use it in place of a stream deck for when I stream.
Then it will be serve these purposes for me
(replacing the tired old barely adequate first gen raspberry pi+touchscreen I was using until a few months ago)
Be careful if you have an OLED Steam Deck. Static images will burn in pretty quickly if the software you use does not have burn in protection built in.
Good point, I might have to check that.
That's mostly it for me. Handheld gaming. I used it for a "retro" LAN party 3 times. I also watched a movie on it with some friends with a very scuffed setup consisting of the Steam Deck + dock + external display + old car radio with speakers, lol.
Sure I used it as a desktop (with monitor, mouse and keyboard) browsing the web and stuff just to see how well it does, but I prefer my full-size PC for desktop use and a notebook for the couch to be honest.
I have a desktop and a laptop but I don't use my laptop at all anymore. I plugged my deck into my TV and use it as a home theatre PC, using wireless game controller and keyboard and mouse.
It's honestly great - the big screen is so much more comfortable compared to a laptop, desktop mode let's you do anything you want and you can sink into the couch and relax.
You could obviously plug youe laptop in the exact same way, although the decks gamescope mode gives it that but more versatility I think.
Updating? Charging?
For stremio.
To watch YouTube on my"smart tv" and to watch pirated TV shows and movies.
How to watch YouTube on Steam Deck? Via Desktop Mode?
Go into desktop mode and add Firefox as a non steam game. Then you can access it from gaming mode.
I use an app called FreeTube, I believe it uses Piped in some way and integrates SponsorBlock and DeArrow. You can install it through Discover and then add it to your Steam Library and use it in game mode (works best with the Web browser Steam Input config).
HTPC
It's actually my main travel computer. I bring it to work with a Bluetooth keyboard and a little nreal glasses display if I need it. I find that the form factor reduces back and neck strain by allowing me to use different muscle groups. I changed the desktopofe controls to map to a bunch of keyboard shortcuts to make it so that I rarely need the keyboard. I mostly do coding and research on it.
At home, I continue my work on my hammock.
I've been meaning to install ROS (Robot Operating System) on it, but haven't gotten around to it yet.