• 13 Posts
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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 1st, 2023

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  • The Steam Deck can behave like a Switch; if you want to stick to just Steam games with a big ✅ verified icon then it will probably be a similar experience, just with a different library of games (and better sales).

    The Steam Deck can also be a full PC; you can plug in keyboard, mouse, screens, whatever, and use it to replace your laptop/desktop if you really want.

    The middle ground is that the Steam Deck can be an incredibly versatile gaming machine. I can play the verified Steam games, I can usually play the non-verified games, I can install Heroic/Lutris and install all my free Epic/GOG/Amazon games with minimal tinkering, I can install emulators and run all my old Nintendo games at better resolutions and frame rates, and if I really feel like tinkering then I can install whatever else I want and try to get it working, but I always have all the reliable games to fall back on if I can’t!











  • I’ve got a different model but as others have said the linux-surface kernel is key, and their GitHub page has detailed compatibility info and installation instructions. I picked Fedora having never used it before because it was well-supported and I’ve got no complaints.

    More critical than distro is desktop environment. A few people were recommending Gnome but they must be a bit out of date now as I didn’t have a great experience; incompatible extensions, missing gestures, and generally a worse feel than Windows! I’ve just installed KDE Plasma Mobile and it’s great, feels more like Android and has way more features.

    The linux-surface installation instructions will walk you through this, but I’d just download the Fedora Plasma Mobile spin, put it on a USB drive, boot it to check you like it (though expect that a few things might not work properly until you install the linux-surface kernel), install it (you can dual-boot with Windows if you think you might need it or just replace the whole OS if you’re concerned about space), and then install the kernel.

    Happy to try and answer any more questions about installing!