There is no current game I want to play that doesn’t run on Linux. Valve really has done an amazing job with proton and getting games to work as well or better on Linux.
Now, that said, I am not big into competitive multiplayer, so take that into account. Anti cheat is still a problem since most of the current ones need permissions that are not normally given on Linux.
I am trying to think of things that are difficult for using something like Linux mint vs my last Windows install. If we are taking about doing a full, clean install of both, I think my last Windows install was way worse.
Mint installed and just detected everything I was using without a problem. I had to tweak some minor things to get it to display on the 4K TV I am using in my living room, and there are still some games that don’t play nicely with Linux.
The Windows install, on the other hand, required me to get drivers for the video card, WIFI, and a few other things to get all the hardware to work right. Then getting it how I like it took longer than I like and I had to visit multiple sites to get all my preferred software.
That doesn’t explain why already established products are ditching things like plainly visible scroll bars in products like Microsoft word and other content viewers.
Fuck around. Find out.
It kinda depends on what you want it to do. Personally, I am enjoying the official valve dock. It does all the things I want it to do and I do not need any additional functionality out of it. I have heard that it is finicky with certain types of tvs though, so you might want to search for your tv model(s) and see if anyone has had issues with that before.
That said, if you want extra features like storage or whatever, then you need to look for those.
I feel like that is the common trend for me. Linux is the superior experience to Windows in every situation that it works at all.
That includes when an issue arises. I would much prefer to troubleshoot a Linux install than Windows.
Personally, I don’t really mess with battlenet games at all, but my understanding is that you can open Lutris and install battlenet pretty easily. Then just like on Windows, you install Diablo via their installer, and for most people, it works out of the box.
You can also download battlenet directly and add it as a non steam game to steam and then run it using their Proton compatibility option. This also works on the steam deck.
Look, I’ll be the first one to say that gaming on Linux is not as easy as it can be on Windows. But it is definitely not a bad experience, and hard core gaming is not the majority use case for computers. We have billions of PC users in the world. Under 3 million play Diablo 4. That is a fraction of a fraction of a percent.
Given that you need to install non-native hi rez textures to play Diablo 4 in 4k on Windows, that is not a good test for the “general crowd”.
The moment you get into any kind of high end gaming PCs, you’ve already left “general crowd” territory for most computer users.
In addition to what is mentioned here, you could also grab a steam controller. It is not quite as refined as the deck’s controller setup, but it works very similarly with two track pads for mouse emulation.
As a Linux user, the Steam Deck is an amazing system to work with. I kinda dropped off with gaming in the last few years and the SD really rekindled my desire to game both solo and doing cozy co-op with my partner.
Truly a game changer and I’m so happy it’s supporting Linux while doing it
Currently paying Outer Wilds in my steam deck while docked to a tv. It’s been very engaging and fun for my wife and I to sit down and try and solve an interstellar mystery while winding down for the night.
Interesting game with good art style and interesting mechanics.
Awesome. That might have to be the work around if I don’t get the normal steam streaming to work.
Yeah, I am wondering about that as well. It sadly sounds like it might be a bit much for the deck, but we’ll see!
Just checking, but you are running this on the deck while docked to a TV, right? I can stream just fine to the deck while undocked. It is while it is docked to the TV that is the problem.
I do have experience with using the moonlight/sunshine combo though, so if I have to go that route I can, I would just prefer a native steam solution.
You can kinda make it bend a bit to your whim. While it is technically immutable if you don’t mess with it, it does have everything necessary for using pacman. It just all reverts next time steamos updates. Anything you install directly through the discover portal is permanent, but it does technically have access to anything in the pacman repos as well.
I unlocked mine long enough to download neofetch and take the screenshot for this. It’ll revert back soon, but I only needed it temporarily for imaginary internet points. :)
Anyone here on Steamdeck?
Yeah, I have put in a lot of time in some of the communities over there and would be sad to leave, but I refuse to continue to drive conversation and generate the content for a site that has such low regard for their users.
We’ll see how it develops, but I am sad to say that it looks like the writing is on the wall.
My understanding is that it is working much better now than a few months ago. I haven’t actually put it to the test yet, but it is on my list of things to try once I have time to set up my index again.