I’ve been considering getting a mini PC for my living room, basically only to watch online videos without ads or watch locally stored videos.
Since I have a Steam deck available that I already often dock to my screen for gaming, could I use it instead of buying a new computer?
My main concern is the impact this would have on the battery if it’s plugged in for long periods of time, does it bypass the battery when it’s plugged in and the battery is full ? Will other components be impacted?
I would say it’s great but would strongly recommend using Bazzite over steam OS even on the deck.
My biggest gripe with the steam deck is that it’s not well equipped to handle user packages in the same way OSTree is. Bazzite solves this while still mostly adhering to the design principles of steam os, so I feel it’s actually better than the stock operating system.
it’s not well equipped to handle user packages in the same way OSTree is
Can you elaborate?
Sure.
Valve’s operating system is read only and, when steam decides to update, any root level file changes will be lost between updates. This is partly good because the system will always be recoverable and update reliably, but comes with the downside that users have to take extra steps to install some base level packages (things like tailscale, syncthing etc. There’s always work arounds, but it’s not a guarantee that these work arounds will continue to work on new updates.)
OSTree is also a read only file system utility that allows packages to be layered, so users can install their own packages. When the operating system updates, these packages are rebased and preserved on the next update so user level changes can be preserved.
There’s more to this than that, but basically steam os is dependent on valve updating packages and generally leave all extensions either hand off or need to work around root filesystem. Ostree/silverblue/bazzite allow user modification by having a slightly more sophisticated updating process.
Wait a few days for CES and see what other vendors will ship with SteamOS. Asus and Lenovo usually allow to limit battery charging. Steam Deck doesn’t.
After my PCs motherboad gave up two years ago, I never bought a new one. I tested how long I’m happy with just the Steam Deck.
Well to be honest I bought a Raspberry PI 400, but that’s for personal and bank stuff. This way the kernel level bullshit that various companies want to install with your games doesn’t really matter.
Otherwise it’s 100% Steam Deck.
You’ll have no issues whatsoever.
The Deck has been my daily driver for a while now. I had an old laptop that bit the dust about a week before my LCD Deck arrived during launch a couple of years ago. I never bothered to replace it, instead I picked up a reasonably priced display and just moved over to the Deck. About 90% of my use has been docked as my main PC, and I absolutely love that it comes with me with built in display and controller when I’m traveling the other 10% of the time.
You can use it for absolutely anything. That’s the beauty of Linux. Will it be good for it, as is? No, not really.
A lot of streaming services will limit you to 720p unless you use their first-party apps, which they don’t make for Linux.
Also the interface is not ideal for that sort of thing.
Leaving it plugged in permanently is not really good for the battery, but not a huge deal either. There’s probably some way to enable a “kiosk mode” to keep the battery @ 50%, which would be ideal.
leaving it plugged in is perfectly fine, once the battery fills up, it is bypassed and the deck is powered directly off of the wire
That’s how all chargers work. The problem is that it’s simply not great to have your battery at 100% all of the time.
no, it isn’t. A lot of systems still run power through the battery even after it’s charged. The battery ends up in a state of constant trickle charging.
In the deck, once the battery is charged, and the power cable is connected, the battery is bypassed and effectively disconnected.
And the deck only charges to 100% if it was below 90 to begin with.
