this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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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.
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No, you don't. SteamOS on Deck is only so stable because everyone has the exact same hardware, a version that people can just install on anything they want would have the exact same post-install risks as any other distro.
And even then there have been problems with SteamOS on Deck big enough that it made some have to re-image the OS entirely. There was one version that would stop booting once it hit a certain number of files on system, and all you could do was just to occasionally re-install SteamOS until it was fixed.
The OS being bug-free on valves hardware absolutely does not mean it will be on whatever you're chucking beneath your TV.
But this defense doesn't even apply to the claim you made, or why I took issue. What you said, is that SteamOS is "more powerful". It's not, it's objectively less capable than most linux distros. What you meant, is that's is more convenient, and less likely to require occasional troubleshooting.
For the most part windows does it fine too.
You're going to see some issues when something ships hundreds of thousands of products, but the difference is when someone has a problem with the steam deck it's going to generally be an exception.
When someone has a problem with your custom Linux build? That's generally the rule.
I use Lenox all the time, so I can say this pretty confidently. A few weeks ago I tried to disable ipv6 on Ubuntu. After doing that the Wi-Fi program crashed every time I tried to make a connection and I had to go into the files and delete all of the configs.
You're not into just basic stuff like that all the time with any Linux build or stuff just breaks. Something like the steam deck that is so tightly controlled and managed by a third party company that is going to be way more rare in the system is going to be way more reliable.
Not necessarily, but it's going to be a lot more likely to with the reduced scope and the fact that you have valve, able to do real testing and validation and give you supported hardware.
At that point you're just nitpicking and confusing what exactly I meant by power.
When I said more powerful, I refer to the fact that the steamos is built from the ground up to be nothing but a controller based interface with absolutely no dependency on mouse or keyboard.
More powerful in the context of being an under the TV set box, and in the fact that it's a digital built from the ground up, supported by an actual company, it's far more useful and capable as an under the TV set box than any other Linux alternative.
If you're defining power as the ability to open up a shell and do whatever the heck you want, you're describing a trait that is entirely and fully negative when it comes to having a computer under your TV. You can't say a big buff guy is a powerful swimmer because he can lift weights.