I'd say SteamOS is a viable emergency laptop replacement as is. You can already use most office software in desktop mode.
this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2024
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Steam Deck
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The only problem that I had is that Steam OS doesn't offer any full disk encryption. But I think I could just solve that with a cryptomator container. Even if an attacker gets access to the deck then they should not be able to decrypt the container.
Yeah, trouble with Bazzite at the moment is that you need a keyboard to decrypt it on boot for now. I'm waiting for the ability to enter my passphrase with the touchscreen.
Yeah, that would be a little problematic for something that is necessary on the go. Can you not just use a hardware key to prompt the paraphrase every time you boot ?
No idea. But I would even be too lazy to pop in a hardware key. And too paranoid about getting the key stolen along with the Deck.
That later I understand hahahaha. I just keep mine around for unlocking encrypted external hard drive that have been encrypted with a password and the hardware key that is just hidden in a place that only I know about. But then I would need to wait for that or just use Tails OS for the time being.
Doesn't yubikey have an HID mode where it acts like a keyboard and types a static phrase? You could do something like that for boot. Or possibly more complicated. Idk if modern bootloaders support cooler modes where the key resides on the yubikey.
Edit: according to the arch wiki, there are quite a few potential options there if you have a yubikey. Wiki
I have Bazzite running on a desktop PC, and I love it. It's pretty solid so I can only assume it'd be just as good on the Steam Deck.
However, I have been using the Steam Deck for work purposes for a while. I mostly have HTML5 web apps I access through Firefox, but there's a few office type apps I've installed via Flatpak that work great too. Remote desktop apps as well. I have a USB-C dock, so I just plug the deck in and have dual monitor, mouse, keyboard, and wired Ethernet for working in Desktop mode.
The only sticky thing I've had is I had to install my VPN software via AUR and had to setup an install script to clean up/reinstall it every time the deck updates. A minor inconvenience and I just forgo updates if they pop up at a bad time until I know I won't need the VPN right away.
My next trial for the Deck as a work device is to get a lapdock and see how it works with that, too.
Do you know if they every fixed the issues with M&K controls on games in Desktop mode? There are a few games I play a lot that just don't work well with a controller for me, so this was a killer for my use case.
I never really had issues with m&k so they probably did! What were the issues? The main game I played was New World and GW2, and that worked pretty awesome. I was even able to add some gamescope arguments to the startup to get FSR working for New World and have the performance be surprisingly good. I also had little issues with Pillars of Eternity once it was set up to play via M&K.
Not abad option. I'm thinking on just replacing Steam OS with Bazzite and use the deck as my primary gaming device en backup workstation. But I would need to see if it is viable. If not maybe just using tails and booting every time I want to do something work related would be better.
FWIW, I use Bazzite on a laptop and my Deck. On the Deck, it feels basically like the original SteamOS for gaming. I had to choose the "basic graphics install" version, but it was incredibly easy to set up (I recommend a dock with M+Kb). Plus, I don't have to worry about a bad update; if something breaks, rpm-ostree rollback fixes it. You're never without a functional device because of the OS.
Bazzite isn't without some compatibility issues, though. Some of the Decky plugins don't work correctly or at all: Free Loader doesn't send toast alerts automatically, for example, and Terminal Emulator doesn't work at all. My guess is they're looking for a different file structure or can't access/modify certain things they normally would, since the OS is immutable. But some work perfectly, like the SteamGridDB plugin, and the core gaming capability feels identical.
Additionally, since it's a community project, there's sometimes bugs not found in SteamOS, but since the core of the OS is based on the official Fedora Kinoite (or Silverblue for Gnome), the main functions are pretty solid. Also, the devs are often very quick about fixing things and are very active.
Where it's at in development, it feels mature but it will probably feel like a perfect 1:1 replacement in a couple more years.
ETA: As a replacement "laptop," desktop mode feels like any other Linux Distro and identical to if you installed Bazzite on a laptop.
Oh. This is good to hear. To be honest SteamOS is not bad as a distro, but I would really like that added PC experience that I have with fedora gnome on my laptop. I think I'm going to do this. It seems the most good option right now and I get also a distro that is pretty similar for what I already use as my daily driver. Keeping Tails OS for other things then. Thanks bro.
Also, I followed the official installation video, including creating the deck user without a password. I'm not concerned about extra users and requiring password access, but if that's something you are concerned about, do some extra research to make sure it will work the way you'd want.
I moved to Bazzite (mostly because I distro hop like a maniac) about 2 weeks ago. As you mentioned, some Dechy plugins just won't work, but that's not a deal breaker for me. What is getting in my nerves is having to re-pair my Stadia controllers every time they disconnect (time out, restart, wake up from sleep), so I think I'm going back to SteamOS until this bug is squashed. I haven't decided yet.
Yeah, there's a few annoying bugs for sure. The one that currently bugs me the most is when switching from Desktop back to Game Mode, the sound service often crashes, and you have to restart to fix it (I believe it's specific to OLED devices).
Another is installing certain VPN clients doesn't work at all, so you have to rely on being able to generate config files from the provider. In my case, that means I can't use WireGuard, since my VPN only offers that via their client, and that's an issue inherent to the design of the immutable OS.
Most of everything else feels like it's working correctly, but it's those few little snags that keep me waffling on whether I want to go back to Steam OS.
I feel you. I'm currently reinstalling SteamOS for those exact reasons. Don't get me wrong, I love Bazzite (because I'm a huge Fedora fan), but I'll always prioritize "it works" before anything else 😁
I'm still getting used to the layered/atomic nature, so maybe this is a silly question, but couldn't you just use a toolbox or distrobox to maintain a containerized version of your VPN across upgrades?
Ther s probably a good chance at that, yup. But I'm so still new to the atomic nature of these distros. This is something I'm hoping to tinker with on the PC Bazzite install, and I'm curious how doable it is in the stock SteamOS.
FWIW I've been daily driving Bazzite on the deck for several months and it's been smooth sailing, no complaints here. You'd think it's stock if I just handed it to you with no context. I did it mostly because I could tbh, but I love the extra functionality!
That all said, last I checked it wasn't fully functional on the OLED model. Not sure that's changed.
Yeah. That hasn't changed. So I would need to wait till the problems with the oled model are resolved. In the main time I'm just going to use Tails OS for work related things.