Linux as my daily driver via Steam Deck docked to my 65" tv at 1440p 120hz. The Steam Deck isnt only a handheld gaming console. It’s a full Linux machine.
Chrome, Discord and Youtube (premium)? The council does not approve /j
Forgive me, please!
Firefox, Armcord, Freetube. The council awaits.
I too am a trackball enthusiast! I have the same mouse even. (Not that there’s that many to choose from) I never seem to spot our kind in the wild!
Nice setup!
We exist! This trackball is one of the most comfortable input devices I’ve ever used. I love it.
Absolutely agree! It’s especially great for small spaces and I can even use it while walking around if I need to!
What model is it, if I may?
MX Ergo
My partner thought I was crazy until hw hit 30 and his hand / wrist started showing wear and tear. Now he uses one too!
Glad you could convert your partner to “the way”! I’ve always wondered if it’s less wear and tear or not. I’ve been using mine for decades now (daily…) and I’ve yet to have any problems.
Ploopy have given trackball enthusiasts a lot more choice at least!
First time I’ve heard of ploopy! I’m due to replace my current trackball and this is extremely tempting!
Is that…Google Chrome and Discord‽ Blasphemy.
You get an upvote for the tasteful interrobang, friend. 👍
Do you run SteamOS? Or a different os?
This is SteamOS which runs
onKDE.An OS can’t run on a desktop environment bud. SteamOS is the operating system, and kde is a desktop environment that’s installed on top of the OS
you know what they meant, stop being condescending
Thanks, pal.
I’m no expert, but that looks like windows 10 on a steam deck.
Wrong.
This is KDE Plasma, look at the bottom left corner.
The “start button” is the kde plasma logo. So this would be Linux of some sort (makes sense given the community and what OP has said) and not windows
The question is just whether OP is using steamOS that comes on the deck (and uses KDE plasma for desktop mode) or if they have installed a different distro that fits the desktop use case a bit better.
Tbh it also fooled me initially, KDE Plasma does look very similar to win10. I had to read the community and look at the Plasma icon rather than Windows icon to see.
To nitpick, Win10 looks like KDE :). Kde has been pretty consistent for a while
Only one monitor? Trash
Touché
Not sure if you’re serious just forgot a /s but in case the former I just would like to point out that many people—me being one of them—would absolutely love a second monitor but can’t afford it. Hell, I can’t afford a first monitor. The only reason I have one is because I bought it back when I had a job that actually paid me a living wage. If it broke down now, I would have issues.
Start making rounds at companies near you. I haven’t paid for a laptop, desktop, server, monitors or ssds in nearly a decade. I pop in, ask if they have any hardware that they need to get rid of. Most companies have to pay to get rid of techology, most of the time their IT department is happy to offload tech for free. You just have to be fine accepting things 5+ years old.
After enough time and making friends with the c-suite, I have a couple companies that just ring me when they have stuff they want to clear out to give me a chance to grab stuff before they recycle. It reduces their cost to recycle, so they are more than happy.
Monitors are cheap as hell right now. For the price of 9 Five Guys burgers you can get a pretty good one at Walmart.
Is that the Logitech MX Ergo? Love that mouse
Sure is! Best trackball!
Hard agree. As someone who used to use a regular wired trackball but had to switch because laptop, I absolutely love it, despite it being a battery operated mouse.
Can you tell me more about that TV?
It’s nothing fancy. 4K/120hz hisense tv from Costco. It does have micro led, Dolby Vision, HDR 10, and ANDROID TV though, so it’s capable.
Was going to say that it must have a low refresh rate, but I was wrong
Where’s runescape?
Fair.
Tbh, Steam Deck as PC becomes annoying pretty fast. Once you try doing something serious and run into Valve’s (rightfully placed) limitations, it stops being viable/fun. As an example, I can’t make it output 4K@60 in Desktop mode, stuck in 4K@30. Recently, my pacman broke after an update.
I suppose it’s great if you dualboot with a proper Linux distro.
Huh. Works great for me. I browse the web, play games, watch some streaming stuff, word processing, etc… 1440p 120hz is perfect.
How’s your FPS on that huge TV? My 2089 TI doesnt like it when I try to play newer games on big TVs, but its fine on the ultrawide.
I run the games in 1080p so it handles most things I play just fine. FFXIV, for example, runs really well on the “laptop high” preset.
Unfortunately the SD has a weird gimped version of Arch that doesn’t come with build tools (like
make
), otherwise I’d be using it as a hobby dev machine too.Its just a machine though, you can flash it with any distro you like.
You can even keep the original OS and just install dev tools via distrobox. That’s what I do. It even comes pre-installed.
Distrobox is so good!
I have not actually tried it, bit Bazzite looks like it would be a perfect replacement for steamOS for those who want more out of their deck.
The tabs hurt my eyes but how is the mouse. Is it good for gaming
It’s pretty decent. You’re not going to get the precision of a mouse in fps but other than that it works great. Keep in mind I’ve used these for decades so I’m well trained.
That’s Hella cool. I need a steam deck
I bump the font size way up on my media TV as small text at distance tends to lead to eye strain, but you might have better eyes than me.