I have been subbed to your channel for a while now but it's so refreshing to see somebody doing more than emulation and video games running on the steam deck it's so much more than that and nobody at all on RUclips does anything about the desktop apps like you speak of so I hope that you keep that up
I use my Steam deck as a desktop for about 60% of the time. Truth be told, I bought it for the steam games, and that it runs some form of Linux desktop is a bonus. I noticed the flatpacks too, but I just got it almost two weeks. Of course I upgraded it and re-installed, it is so easy to do.
Chris, did you sign the new RUclips TOS ? With this new TOS they can now charge you money for possible violations against their new TOS in your old videos. This is simply a new way of a money grab from content creators.
Certainly would not do that to my SteamDeck since it's good enough as is but I have to admit, it's pretty cool what Valve allows us to do with their machine.
@@WokCorner it has everything to do with Valve. Valve decided to leave this OS open. If Valve wanted, they could have locked it and make it proprietary.
My solution was to automate your tutorial for setting up pacman and yay with a script. It also automatically reinstalls any packages I put into it, so whenever there's an update, I can just run a singe command that restores my custom setup. It takes a few minutes, but I think it's a decent solution. I also manually update the Deck's Linux kernel to the newest version available, (6.0.6-valve1-2-neptune-60, at the time of writing).
Awesome device now that we can use it as a desktop replacement. I have mentioned this on other channel pages using the Steam OS as a desktop and people just make fun of me saying that Steam OS is just a gaming device and can not be used as a Desktop Environment. =D Guess they were wrong....
This is really cool, I've been looking for a way to install things on the Steam Deck that won't get wiped every update. I've tried just installing CUPS via Nix and while it installs, I don't see any way of setting up a printer or adding one, is there a way to use this to install printing onto the Steam Deck with this? it seems like that's a major thing for the desktop environment that is mysteriously missing on this device and it would be really nice to have it.
the easiest thing would to be maybe link the application folder and icon folder to the deck users .local if nix also has a icon folder. that would prob fix the icons not showing
I wonder how much compromise would happen if a standard Linux distro, such as Fedora was on the Deck, but with Steam being autoran as "steam -gamepadui" to go into the steamdeck UI. I wonder how much functionality would be missing?
This is awesome. Vivaldi is my go to web browser on Windows machines and it's not available via the Steam Deck's Discover store. How do I install Vivaldi on Steam Deck to get around the lack of Flatpak support?
To be honest, the desktop experience for me has been abysmal. Lots of bugs, glitches, stuff not working right, settings not saving, etc. I pretty much just stopped using desktop mode altogether. It's a real shame too, because that would have made this worth way more than I paid for it.
if you use nix on a non-nixos system you should be warned that opengl and vulkan will not work in nix packages by default. nixgl is a fix, but not a perfect one
interesting.... i may try this one when i have time😄 currently i am running distrobox + ubuntu (may change to fedora) to install my development stack (vscode / yarn etc.)
Hi, I'm really struggling to install goverlay on my steam deck and/or edit mangohud as the osd level 2 layout (the one in a single row) to add other variables. Do you have any advice or are you planning to make a video about that? Thanks and keep up the good work
Hmmm, so, new files won't be overwritten, but afaik SteamOS uses an A/B partition update method, where updates will happen on the unused B partition, and then that will be the one it boots into.when there are updates.
I don’t think I’ll use mine as a desktop replacement just because my desktop can be upgraded with no hassle at all or fear of breaking something. But I will sure use it as a laptop replacement. Nowadays plugs are everywhere so I can’t imagine the battery being much of a problem
If you are taking a poll per your comments in the beginning, I would be interested in a script if you ever got around to it. I'm linux dumb, but learning all the time.
Nix is specifically designed to be able to do this, using the AUR or pacman repositories is not possible. However, almost all packages that are in the Arch-repo are in the Nix repo to
hey, I also am running into some confusion around what Chris does when he says "write that out." I understand this may be a place for more competent people, so any help would be appreciated
As for using the actual Steam Deck device from Valve as a desktop... why? WHY? The hardware is crap, it's slow, a used $150 computer from Amazon is 1000% better desktop experience than a Steam Deck. Meh, I could give two farts about the desktop.... I built my "Steam Machine" for SteamOS3 in December of last year (2022).... SFS Dan Case, Ryzen 2700X, 32GB DDR4 4000, 8GB Radeon 5700XT, 2TB NVME.... Sat it behind the TV in December, it's been back there every since, kids play the ever loving crap out of it.... (only new parts in this build were the PSU and the motherboard, everything else is from eBay second hand). This setup plays everything, it just works... yeah a few older games struggle, but I'd say 95% of our three steam libraries play all the games fine.... Throw in two cheap-azz Xbox clone controllers from amazone, I don't know why anyone would buy a console ever again. When do we use the desktop? Never. Legit maybe once or twice have I used the desktop, that's not what this is for IMO... it's so you can build your own "steam console", set it behind your TV and forget it exists, and just play games.
Chris add this command in your .profile file export XDG_DATA_DIRS="$HOME/.nix-profile/share:$XDG_DATA_DIRS" On reboot you shuld see all instaled packeges via nix.
~~can you suggest an alternate file to append this too? .profile doesn't initially exist on SD. I created .profile and added this line but there was no change after reboot~~ The correct file to append the command to is .bash_profile
I have been subbed to your channel for a while now but it's so refreshing to see somebody doing more than emulation and video games running on the steam deck it's so much more than that and nobody at all on RUclips does anything about the desktop apps like you speak of so I hope that you keep that up
I use my Steam deck as a desktop for about 60% of the time. Truth be told, I bought it for the steam games, and that it runs some form of Linux desktop is a bonus. I noticed the flatpacks too, but I just got it almost two weeks. Of course I upgraded it and re-installed, it is so easy to do.
Chris, did you sign the new RUclips TOS ? With this new TOS they can now charge you money for possible violations against their new TOS in your old videos. This is simply a new way of a money grab from content creators.
Yea they suck pretty bad
@Zendermind loophole
Certainly would not do that to my SteamDeck since it's good enough as is but I have to admit, it's pretty cool what Valve allows us to do with their machine.
thats nothing to do with valve. thats linux and opensource community what really drives this
@@WokCorner it has everything to do with Valve. Valve decided to leave this OS open. If Valve wanted, they could have locked it and make it proprietary.
Can we get an update to this
I use homebrew and pacman to install packages, like vscode, node.
nix looks similar to brew and it doesn't affect by steam updates as well. Cool.
My solution was to automate your tutorial for setting up pacman and yay with a script. It also automatically reinstalls any packages I put into it, so whenever there's an update, I can just run a singe command that restores my custom setup. It takes a few minutes, but I think it's a decent solution. I also manually update the Deck's Linux kernel to the newest version available, (6.0.6-valve1-2-neptune-60, at the time of writing).
Awesome device now that we can use it as a desktop replacement. I have mentioned this on other channel pages using the Steam OS as a desktop and people just make fun of me saying that Steam OS is just a gaming device and can not be used as a Desktop Environment. =D Guess they were wrong....
This is really cool, I've been looking for a way to install things on the Steam Deck that won't get wiped every update. I've tried just installing CUPS via Nix and while it installs, I don't see any way of setting up a printer or adding one, is there a way to use this to install printing onto the Steam Deck with this? it seems like that's a major thing for the desktop environment that is mysteriously missing on this device and it would be really nice to have it.
the easiest thing would to be maybe link the application folder and icon folder to the deck users .local if nix also has a icon folder. that would prob fix the icons not showing
What about dual booting two distros. I guess this way will keep things in check.
Did Chris say "over wrotten?"
I wonder how much compromise would happen if a standard Linux distro, such as Fedora was on the Deck, but with Steam being autoran as "steam -gamepadui" to go into the steamdeck UI. I wonder how much functionality would be missing?
I've been looking forward to this video since you NIX video. This is what came into my mind immediately when I learned about NIX
nix as addition to Arch instead of using the AUR, great solution. Also great for Debian-based when you need newer software (kernel, drivers).
kernel? how do you boot kernel on non-NixOS system?
This is awesome. Vivaldi is my go to web browser on Windows machines and it's not available via the Steam Deck's Discover store. How do I install Vivaldi on Steam Deck to get around the lack of Flatpak support?
To be honest, the desktop experience for me has been abysmal. Lots of bugs, glitches, stuff not working right, settings not saving, etc. I pretty much just stopped using desktop mode altogether. It's a real shame too, because that would have made this worth way more than I paid for it.
if you use nix on a non-nixos system you should be warned that opengl and vulkan will not work in nix packages by default. nixgl is a fix, but not a perfect one
When is your next window manager rice video coming?
Jan. 23rd
Admire your work friend !!
Have you ever tried NixOS?
You're awesome. Great clear instructions
interesting.... i may try this one when i have time😄
currently i am running distrobox + ubuntu (may change to fedora) to install my development stack (vscode / yarn etc.)
Hi, I'm really struggling to install goverlay on my steam deck and/or edit mangohud as the osd level 2 layout (the one in a single row) to add other variables. Do you have any advice or are you planning to make a video about that? Thanks and keep up the good work
great stuff. I saw you also installed Gnome. Could you make a video on that?
Chris's face font and center here :) I need this video on IMAX!
Hmmm, so, new files won't be overwritten, but afaik SteamOS uses an A/B partition update method, where updates will happen on the unused B partition, and then that will be the one it boots into.when there are updates.
I don’t think I’ll use mine as a desktop replacement just because my desktop can be upgraded with no hassle at all or fear of breaking something. But I will sure use it as a laptop replacement. Nowadays plugs are everywhere so I can’t imagine the battery being much of a problem
Finally more people I use Arch BTW
If you are taking a poll per your comments in the beginning, I would be interested in a script if you ever got around to it. I'm linux dumb, but learning all the time.
Great sir.
I don't know if using Home-Manager for Nix would help or not, but maybe it would?
My problem with the read-only system is, that I can't install the KDE language packs for German. I don't think those are available in nix or flatpak
Idk why but when I'm changing around icons and widgets in desktop mode it won't save the changes.
Is there a benefit to using this over rwfus? As far as I'm aware, rwfus achieves a similar goal and lets me use pacman to install programs.
Would love to see more videos like this as my SD is headed to replace my desktop/laptop but I don't quite have the knowledge myself. Keep it coming!
Steep learning curve for me, including first use of vim, but great content very helpful thank you!
You can use nano instead, way easier without learning
that's really cool! can you do this on holo os too?
That's neat.
Does this only work for NIX? Is it possible to modify the Arch pacman (or other) to also work like NIX?
Nix is specifically designed to be able to do this, using the AUR or pacman repositories is not possible. However, almost all packages that are in the Arch-repo are in the Nix repo to
@@CouldBeMathijs Ohh thats cool. Might tried it... whenever the steamdeck gonna be available in my county :'
Can you do a new update video?
Chris what is the best emulator for Android?
My bad ... I thought this was about: Steamdeck as a Desktop ... not NIX.
Cool camera tho.
Please make a follow up to this video
Been using my steamdeck as a desktop with my displaylink enabled dock.
If Nix has the Steamdeck-evdi this would save my bacon.
This video aged well, Valve added Nix by default on SteamOS!
have you tried using distrobox as an alternative?
Distrobox is slow, unfortunately!
how to install SteamOS on PC ?
3:14 "not gets over wrotten" New word?
I'm known for making new words... 😂
FIRST!
I always wanted to do that...🤣🤣🤣🤣
"I think Valve will save desktop Linux" - Linus Torvalds
New word in the comments. 😆 👍🤣🤪
No
these videos are an absolute nightmare for people new to linux, i had a nightmare of a time trying to follow this video
hey, I also am running into some confusion around what Chris does when he says "write that out." I understand this may be a place for more competent people, so any help would be appreciated
figured it out!
Just use Discover with flatpak. I really do not see any benefit of using nix on Steam Deck...
The Waffle House has found it's new host.
overwroten? german? lol
As for using the actual Steam Deck device from Valve as a desktop... why? WHY? The hardware is crap, it's slow, a used $150 computer from Amazon is 1000% better desktop experience than a Steam Deck.
Meh, I could give two farts about the desktop....
I built my "Steam Machine" for SteamOS3 in December of last year (2022).... SFS Dan Case, Ryzen 2700X, 32GB DDR4 4000, 8GB Radeon 5700XT, 2TB NVME.... Sat it behind the TV in December, it's been back there every since, kids play the ever loving crap out of it.... (only new parts in this build were the PSU and the motherboard, everything else is from eBay second hand). This setup plays everything, it just works... yeah a few older games struggle, but I'd say 95% of our three steam libraries play all the games fine.... Throw in two cheap-azz Xbox clone controllers from amazone, I don't know why anyone would buy a console ever again.
When do we use the desktop? Never. Legit maybe once or twice have I used the desktop, that's not what this is for IMO... it's so you can build your own "steam console", set it behind your TV and forget it exists, and just play games.
Chris add this command in your .profile file export XDG_DATA_DIRS="$HOME/.nix-profile/share:$XDG_DATA_DIRS"
On reboot you shuld see all instaled packeges via nix.
uhhh not working for me?
~~can you suggest an alternate file to append this too? .profile doesn't initially exist on SD. I created .profile and added this line but there was no change after reboot~~ The correct file to append the command to is .bash_profile
Do you possibly know why, I can’t copy files or change download destination. Dolphin is constantly crashing.