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this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2024
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Steam Deck
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A place to discuss and support all things Steam Deck.
Replacement for r/steamdeck_linux.
As Lemmy doesn't have flairs yet, you can use these prefixes to indicate what type of post you have made, eg:
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Well I was talking specifically about the ease of setting up emulation on in particular SteamOS vs Windows.
Its complex on both compared to say installing a game from Steam on either Windows or SteamOS, but installing Emus is more user friendly on SteamOS than on Windows.
Also its fairly easy to see if a game will work on SteamOS. You look for the little SteamDeck verified icon.
How is it any harder to install an emulator on windows versus linux?
For the latter, most people will just use emudeck and/or retroarch (which is run by a transphobic piece of shit). For Windows it is retroarch and, funny enough, emudeck.
You could make the argument that the various package managers might give linux an edge. But windows has chocolatey (that probably has emulators) and the sort of official windows package manager (that probably does not). But also? You probably don't want to use the version of duckstation or whatever that is in an apt repository because it is going to be out of date. Which gets back to either learning how a flatpak/appimage works or downloading standalones on both sides that will periodically tell you to go back to the site and get an updated version.
Yes I would make the argument that using package managers is vastly more simple than hunting down exes on the internet, yes.
And I do not think that asking someone to learn how package managers work, while using a Linux system, is unreasonable.
Its not very complicated once the basics are learned. And its a fundamental step to understanding how basically any Linux OS works. And once youve got the basics down, its generally far simpler and more convenient to use than the Windows alternative, in many cases.
Handles all the needed libraries, no need to hunt for additional dependencies elsewhere on the internet.
Unless you go hog wild with it and install a bunch of experimental garbage that some random guy told you is really cool and way better for blah blah reasons that blows up and then that same gug goes oh thats because -insanely specific procedure or insanely specific dependency or insanely specific compatibility problem because /actually/ that guy is a maniac who has no idea how to develop qualitt software-, leaving you in dependency conflict hell...
...Unless you do that.
And this is a trap that many Windows power users fall into that many non Windows power users /do not/ fall into, myself included as originally falling into that trap.
The Windows Power User /will almost always/ overestimate both the need to, and their ability to customize and trick out a Linux install, precisely because they are so very used to needing to try every little weird thing to get Windows to do what they want, but they do not usually realize until it is too late that the ways they learned to do this more or less do not really apply to Linux.
Its the whole thing I mentioned earlier.
MSFT PC Gamers, who often by necessity are also Windows Power Users, get frustrated that their expertise of customizing Windows is nearly useless and often counter productive on Linux.
Then they have a bad experience, get mad about it, meanwhile people who come from different backgrounds rarely have this problem.
Finally, on SteamOS, on a SteamDeck, well youve got a matched and static OS and Hardware configuration. So... your emus either will or wont work, just gotta find one solution for one problem, or wait for the emu devs to patch a bug.
No need to figure out a million potential issues caused by a million potential different hardware configs on a Windows DesktopPC.
Kind of sidestepped why you generally don't want to use package managers for a lot of emulators but... okay.
Aside from that: it sounds like I have been speaking to linux as a whole whereas you are very specifically targeting SteamOS as on the Steam Deck. And... I fundamentally disagree with that approach. I love my Steam Deck.
But I very much do not like that we are potentially seeing exactly the same path that is Android on Google Phones. A fixed SKU and a fairly locked down "immutable" OS is user friendly, but it also gives the vendor immense levels of control over your device. And while it might start out nice with "Just install whatever you want on top of the official stuff", we can just look at Google/Android and how there has been an ever increasing push to "strongly discourage" people from using anything but the play store. And, as more and more security concerns arise, there will be an excuse to lock down even more of that.
Or, for that matter, remember when everyone and their mother touted Chrome as the solution to all the problems of Internet Explorer and Netscape (hmm) and so forth? And... yeah.
Because everything else in your post: All of those apply tenfold with Linux. Hell, I am likely going to set aside some time this weekend to fully purge and reinstall everything nvidia related on my desktop because I have had strange behaviors regarding wayland and gaming.
If your answer is that SteamOS specifically is more user friendly than Windows then sure, I'll give you that. But there are a LOT of implications of that. And, as we can see with the handheld that kicked this all off, we are actually looking at a fork of SteamOS that suddenly adds back in all of the "single hardware SKU" related issues. And... looks a lot like the start of the mess that is Android.
Sorry I am unable to reply again in exhaustive detail, but:
I have never had any significant problems using Linux native emulators on debian, set up to use sources and just be updated via sudo apt get update && sudo apt get uprade.
As to your troubles with Nvidia hardware, thats not surprising, they are far more black box with their code than AMD is, which is why Valve partnered with them for the SteamDeck.
As to an Android like situation, well, one, I meant fixed OS as in only one OS on the SteamDeck as opposed to multiple possible OSs, not as in immutable. SteamOS is not immutable. Its largely derived from Arch for Christs sake haha.
But all that aside, yes your Android style situation is possible, but uh to me that seems like a good argument to stick with a SteamDeck?
So, to summarize:
Also "immutable" is generally used to refer to how SteamOS handles package/library versions. Its an increasing push among many "user friendly" distros that I generally like. But it is also why we basically all said "Uhm... da fuq?" when ayaneo talked about running steamos. And is why they are actually running holoos (?).
Also, it predates the vast majority of us but it is worth looking at the actual rise of Windows. A lot of the arguments you are making have direct parallels to why people should use ms-dos and later windows over a lot of the older dos OSes. Or, again, look at the rise of Google Chrome and Android. A company can start off "awesome" but end up becoming the bogeyman we all hate.
Ok so youre being ludicrous now.
Would more accurately be stated as 'there are no problems if you can follow basic instructions and not wildly do things you dont fully understand'
This simply assumes as matter of indisputable fact that Valve having more marketshare is... bad? For... some reason? Is there some inherent reason why an extremely niche handheld basically gaming device with additional capabilities, a thing they pioneered not too long ago, is there some reason this is not entirely to be expected by a manufacturer pioneering a totally new kind of product?
Seriously, what?
Ok so very quickly, yes SteamOS is immutable amd I was unaware of that as I do not have literally all the free time in the world, but thats all irrelevant to the point I was making there?
I am not equipped with enough knowledge or foresight to perfectly predict the evolution of new products markets and technology and never claimed to, and you have suddenly shifted into that frame of reference to respond to me.
If Valve ever reverses course on being, you know, the most effective FOSS advocate in terms of getting members of the general public maybe likely to switch to FOSS to actually do so, then I will be pretty shocked and surprised.
If they suddenly come out with some kind of obvious policy that would be very bad for FOSS in general, then I'd be critical of it.
Companies shittifying is obviously a thing that happens in the tech industry, and I guess you see Valve laying some kind of groundwork for this. I currently disagree, but if it does happen, then everyone in FOSS will do what everyone in FOSS has always done and adapt.
I am sorry, I would think it would make way more sense to be critical of things like what Canonical has been doing for a while now if you want to be worried about the FOSS scene.
And Canonical also used to be everyone's poster child for how to support open source development at an enterprise-ish level... since Red Hat had already passed off the baton on that. Which has led to the hilarity of people arguing in favor of rocky as an alternative to the shitshow that ubuntu is becoming?
This is a cycle that happens time and time again. This is WHY people need to avoid deciding that one company is their friends and another company isn't. Instead, look at what the company is doing but be wary of how everything has repeatedly gone pear shaped in the past.
Because... Microsoft (especially since buying github...) actually do a LOT of really good work for the open source community as a side effect of supporting Windows (and WSL). I can say "Good job Microsfot" while still wanting nothing to do with win 10/11.
Similarly, Valve have and still are doing a LOT of really good stuff for "gaming on linux". I am not going to pretend that is not in their own self interest and largely a way to fend off Microsoft slowly starting to make inroads to PC gaming again. I am also not going to forget the years of stagnation that more or less lasted from the death of Desura up until GoG and EGS started becoming a thing.
Because, again, look at Google. Chrome was an amazing product and the monetary investment google pumped into Chromium made "life" a lot better both for developers and users. And it forced Mozilla to get their shit together. And now Chrome may actively be killing the internet as we know it if not enough people migrate away.
Again, I like Valve. I have since I read interviews with them about Half-Life 1 in various magazines. I had (and still have) concerns over what it meant for Steam to win "the DRM wars" (I think we would all be better off if Brad Wardell got hit by a bus and his successor at Stardock won because GOO was shockingly nice) but I can't at all argue that PC gaming is more alive as a result than it ever had been even before. But that doesn't mean that Valve will always be "good guys". Maybe GabeN dies underneath a collapsing cabinet full of his knife collection. Maybe he decides he wants to own a country and needs more cash.
But I am very cognizant of what can happen if the company that owns a de facto monopoly on an industry goes to the dark side. We have already seen exactly that happen with Microsoft and Google and others. Which is why I will advocate for Linux as a gaming alternative but keep "SteamOS" at arm's reach. Same as I advocate for Linux as a consumer desktop but don't overly recommend Fedora or Mint or whatever else. The beauty of Linux and open source (true FOSS or otherwise) is that it provides alternatives in the event a company or vendor shit the bed. And SteamOS... is very much a step toward a walled garden.