All Linux installations use Proton, DXVK and Wine to play Windows games. That is the biggest power of the Steam Deck. The rest is just bonus.

You can launch Big Picture mode on any pc with Steam installed for ease of use with a controller…

Software-wise, if you are using a Linux installation with KDE interface, on an AMD CPU and AMD GPU, and are using a wayland session with gamescope to play games, it is very VERY close to the Steam Deck and you are benefiting from all the optimizations that were made for Steam Deck. Bonus points if the hardware is Ryzen 3000 series and Radeon RX 6000 series.

You probably saw this, but Nexus Mods are asking feedback from Linux users, not just Steam Deck. Because, you know, apart from the sticks, size and touch pads, Steam Deck is just another Linux machine.

Just install Linux on your laptop or desktop.

If you want a hassle-free setup, get Linux Mint, or if you use Nvidia, Pop!_OS.

To get as close to the Steam Deck setup as reasonable, get EndeavourOS with KDE. It is Arch-based and may require maintenance though.

Kubuntu is a good middle ground, with the same desktop interface as SteamOS (KDE) but also pretty hassle-free setup.

Thanks for pointing that out! I made it into a shitty meme over at !linuxmemes@lemmy.world

I think gamescope needs a Wayland session, as it renders games in their own Xwayland “screen”. Mint does not use the Wayland session by default, but the old X11 one. I think Mint added an “experimental” Wayland session recently, so you could try to enable that.

No, I think I have the library rocm smi lib (or something like that) (on Endeavour/Arch btw) installed and it is used by btop to display GPU stats. EDIT: The Arch package is extra/rocm-smi-lib

Don’t use proprietary drivers and don’t install amdvlk or whatever it’s called, just use mesa if the Steam install asks you to choose.

The open source drivers for AMD have great performance, they power the Steam Deck and have great compatibility.

It is really running on a router. This particular router unit had a specific weird architecture that includes PCIE and thus makes it possible to plug in a graphics card. But the game is running on the actual router CPU, RAM and storage.

Thanks for sharing your experience! I don’t have a strong opinion about distributions, but just wanted to give some pointers to distros that come with a recent Linux kernel (6.5 or greater) for people who aren’t familiar.

Pop!_OS and Linux Mint seem to be the most recommended for beginners, probably because the net is filled with “how to do X on Ubuntu”. I recognize that Nobara, Fedora and OpenSUSE have an enthusiastic following too and I really think all of the distros I mentioned are good in their own way.

Am running EndeavourOS Sway Community Edition myself, but I definitely wouldn’t recommend that particular variant to people who don’t know what they’re getting into. Have tried to contribute a fix to it but it’s unmaintained currently.

Great! It’s good to see they are also contributing upstream!

If you’re not rich or willing enough to contribute to this, the ASUS TUF Advantage (2023) is a very similar all-AMD gaming laptop, a good fit for Linux, at roughly half the price on sale. I’ve been using it for a few months now. Zen3+ cores instead of Zen4 but 32GB RAM and an RX7600S, but with only 1920x1200 pixels at 165 Hz, instead of 1440p.

Just make sure to install a distro with a recent kernel version:

• Pop!_OS (best “just works” distro with recent kernel)
• Fedora 39+ or derivative (such as Nobara)
• Archlinux or a derivative like EndeavourOS or Garuda

Linux Mint will not work out of the box so if you insist on Linux Mint, you will have to install a newer kernel yourself.

It’s good but not strictly necessary to install asusctl and supergfxctl on it for stuff like limiting battery charge to 80% and turning off the dGPU when working away from wall power.

Thank you for commenting and asking the questions! You’re never the only one wondering about these things but someone needs to actually dare to ask instead of just scrolling past!

https://privacyguides.org is an amazing resource, often with links to further explanations of concepts.

There’s not a lot to track in a single browser session. The privacy violation of tracking cookies is that they track what you’re doing. If you set the privacyguides.org recommended settings in Firefox, Mullvad or Brave, the cross-site tracking should be blocked, but deleting them completely means the site will even have to do some advanced fingerprinting to even know “it’s you” on the same site (if not using the same public IP, for example by using VPN, otherwise the IP will be recognised)

Firefox has a setting to automatically delete all cookies on shutdown. You can keep a whitelist of sites that are excluded from this (the ones where you want to stay logged in). Works great, and no more worrying about cookies, as long as you shut down your browser now and then