To be clear, while the article says this is “official support”, this is only drivers provided by valve.
Per valve:
We are providing these resources as is and are unfortunately unable to offer ‘Windows on Deck’ support.
I for one welcome the ability to:
- play flash games,
- Games without launchers or not on steam
- Run vortex, wemod, obscure mod installers without winetricks that are more hassle than they’re worth (if they work at all)
- Literally just not have to find workarounds for everything I want to do that isn’t through steam that adds another hour of research and installation to the process.
You may now begin the downvotes. (Even if you’re wrong I respect your opinions)
play flash games,
I don’t think there’s currently any supported software running flash files that’s Windows exclusive, is there? Adobe ended support and the most mature solution is ruffle, which is open source and runs on Linux as well.
Games without launchers or not on steam
??? When has this not been possible?
Why would you hate yourself that much?
Anecdotally: I worked from home today, my primary laptop is Linux mint. Helldivers 2 wouldn’t start, seems an update broke the settings I had. I tried a couple generic fixes through terminal and started getting huffy because everything would be easier if I just used windows. Non of this would be happening if I just took the blue pill…about 30 minutes in I turned off steam sync for saved games and suddenly it all worked again.
Moral of the story: sometimes Linux isn’t this complicated beast, and it’s as simple as something that even windows would have a problem with. It’s only difficult until you figure out the problem. Windows is a necessary evil some of the time but never all of the time.
Just keep swimming. You’ll figure it out. Not trying is being lazy and complacent.
Also though, you have to consider not all gamers are tech savvy, and your “generic fixes” through terminal would immediately make some of them have a quit moment.
I think Linux users forget the amount of base knowledge that they had to learn in order to simply use their software proficiently sometimes.
No thanks 🤮
I’m actually shocked and disappointed by this. Why valve? You made a sick operating system. Dedicated countless hours to development on Linux. All this to get away from the Microsoft monopoly. Now, you’re dedicating more hours to the support of Windows? Will this be installed on the Steam Decks by default? What is your plan?
It’s literally just drivers that enable user choice. Steam OS is great and nobody reasonable is switching, but for those that do it’s good that they have support for the hardware.
