The Steam Deck is a handheld gaming computer that runs a Linux-based operating system called SteamOS. The machine comes with SteamOS 3 (code name “holo”), which is in turn based on Arch Linux.
Although there is no SteamOS 3 installer for a generic PC (yet), it is very easy to install on a virtual machine using QEMU. This post explains how to do it.
Exactly what it says.
But there IS a very serviceable third party installer for generic PCs: https://github.com/theVakhovskeIsTaken/holoiso
devloop,
Thank you for the link.
Going to say this: Linux is finally on the desktop*.
I have been playing around with Steam Deck for a while, and the experience is now “acceptable”. Of course some menu glitches every now and then, and the audio occasionally starts static noise. However I had not once had to fall to command line to fix anything.
That would be a high bar for acceptance for otherwise non-Linux-native users.
* (There is also Chrome OS + Crostini, which also works great, but will not play your latest games)
@sukru
It’s been a long time since I’ve ‘had to’ drop to command line to do something, but then it is still faster in many ways. I did find it amusing to watch a friend try to use Gnome, as he kept whining that there was no desktop.. specifically expected icons to be there (this was a more or less default Fedora install). It was on a convertible Yoga tablet, Then again he also couldn’t figure out how to use the touchpad, as it’s been many years since he’d used a laptop… and his ‘fingers are too fat’ for touch screen, so he ended up using the stylus.
Some people’s brains are too stuck on doing things a certain way… I also think he still runs Windows 7 at home.
leech,
I agree. Some people decry the terminal as a weakness but sometimes it can be preferable. I have some gripes with linux, but honestly the terminal isn’t one of them and personally I’d rather do system administration from the terminal. For a very long time the windows command line was extremely deficient and I think this is one of the reasons unix largely dominated windows for internet services.
Everyone’s different and I don’t judge people’s individual choices, whatever they prefer is fine.
I actually prefer windows 7 too. Although in truth I set windows 7 theme and control panel to use classic mode, which has it’s roots from win2k. I felt the removal of classic on windows alienating. the replacements were worse for me.
I agree, there are major advantages to having a good command line. (That is why MS has pushed PowerShell for their server management stacks).
Still, seeing something work “out of the box”, and support modern games is very powerful. Especially after 20 years of struggle with trickle ports (remember Tux Games?)
Speaking of remembering, I think Raspberry PI, especially RPi 400 can also be considered a “success”. At $70 (+an SD card) it offers a pretty useful desktop.