5 ms·

EmuDeck 2.1: Steam Deck emulation installer

120 points by brandrick 3y ago

iLoveOncall 3y ago
From the title I thought it was a way to emulate a Steam deck on a computer and was a bit confuse at what the use case would be.
- shhsshs 3y ago
  You can emulate a Steam Deck easily on any computer. Just boot up the ISO: https://store.steampowered.com/steamos/download/?ver=custom https://store.steampowered.com/steamos/download/?ver=custom
  - oaththrowaway 3y ago
    AKAIK, SteamOS 3 hasn't been released publicly, and this is SteamOS 2 which is Debian based instead of Arch
    - circuit10 3y ago
      You can use https://github.com/HoloISO/holoiso https://github.com/HoloISO/holoiso though Or just launch Steam with the command line argument that gives it the Steam Deck UI
    - nindalf 3y ago
      Wouldn’t the GPL require them to publish SteamOS 3? At least the source code, if not the ISO.
      - ThatPlayer 3y ago
        Like with Android, I think only parts of the software that's GPL licensed, like the Linux kernel. It looks like this repo keeps a list of the license violations: https://gitlab.com/evlaV/holo-PKGBUILD#third-party-packagesrepositories-valve-are-in-violation-of-license https://gitlab.com/evlaV/holo-PKGBUILD#third-party-packagesr...
        Karliss 3y ago
        Anyone knows what evlaV are labelling as "obfuscated"? I doubt valve released actually obfuscated source code. Are they complaining that the source is available as src.tar.gz containing patches+original source (more or less like Arch manages it) instead of git repository with history?
    - josefx 3y ago
      You can find the packages here with at least some of the sources here https://steamdeck-packages.steamos.cloud/archlinux-mirror/ https://steamdeck-packages.steamos.cloud/archlinux-mirror/
- dang 3y ago
  (Submitted title was "Steam Deck emulation installer EmuDeck 2.1 launched")
- jeroenhd 3y ago
  The current dev instructions for the Deck could use some improvements: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/testing https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/testing Then again, emulating the performance may be very tough because a lot of it depends on setting the right TDP on a very specific chip. I like the recommendation to make sure it runs well on a slightly slower CPU, that should help with battery life on the actual Deck.
dang 3y ago
I've changed the URL above from https://overkill.wtf/emudeck-2-1-update/ https://overkill.wtf/emudeck-2-1-update/ to the project home page, since the project doesn't appear to have been discussed on HN before.
mayli 3y ago
Too many choices on the initial setup.
- colordrops 3y ago
  It feels like it's meant for hardcore retro gamers. I spent way too much time on it and didn't get anywhere.
  - 10729287 3y ago
    Emulation is most of the time a perpetual WIP. I guess you did it right.
LeoPanthera 3y ago
I've had my Steam Deck for a year, and what I've done since I got it is simply install the RetroArch flatpak (via the Discover app), and use that as a front end for all my emulation. It doesn't add emulated games to the menu, but frankly, I think I prefer it that way, and I don't have to worry about things contaminating future SteamOS updates - everything is silo'd away. It works great, I recommend it.
- sphars 3y ago
  A similar option is doing this via RetroDeck[0] which is a flatpak wrapper around EmulationStation, which includes RetroArch, and includes several more emulators not included in the RA flatpak. [0]: https://github.com/XargonWan/RetroDECK https://github.com/XargonWan/RetroDECK
- darkteflon 3y ago
  I’ve spent a fair bit of time with EmuDeck and as far as I can tell, it doesn’t pollute your system install at all. It’s very lightweight. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it’s basically just a bunch of bash scripts that configure everything with sane defaults, plus a lightweight GUI.
- jeroenhd 3y ago
  Going through the game UI has some advantages, like the Steam native controller rebinding for individual games. All this tool is doing is adding a bunch of .desktop files in the right place and setting up the folders necessary for the emulator. It's not touching the root partition that gets updated with the rest of SteamOS.
- goosedragons 3y ago
  Retroarch is also on Steam itself.
  - aceazzameen 3y ago
    I think there's more cores/plugins via the flatpak than there are via Steam. However, I think the Steam version gets steam cloud saves.
nextaccountic 3y ago
> EmuDeck Compressor > Compress your games using the EmuDeck Compressor tool, saving up to 70% disk space! Is this better than using btrfs with compression? Maybe on some critical directories (chattr +c) https://gitlab.com/popsulfr/steamos-btrfs https://gitlab.com/popsulfr/steamos-btrfs
- vanchor3 3y ago
  I think the EmuDeck compressor is for compressing to emulator supported formats, like the RVZ format used in Dolphin for example. I'm not sure how it compares to btrfs, but RVZ is supposed to keep good performance while compressing garbage data in a way that maintains compatibility.
- anaisbetts 3y ago
  EmuDeck compressor is not simply compressing games, it is converting them to more efficient formats (i.e. instead of a raw disk image, it removes the sectors of the images that are effectively unused)
snvzz 3y ago
FAQ is missing a very important Q/A. Q: Is EmuDeck Open Source? A: Yes, it is GPL-3 Licensed[0]. 0. https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck

120 points by brandrick 3y ago

From the title I thought it was a way to emulate a Steam deck on a computer and was a bit confuse at what the use case would be.

shhsshs 3y ago
You can emulate a Steam Deck easily on any computer. Just boot up the ISO: https://store.steampowered.com/steamos/download/?ver=custom https://store.steampowered.com/steamos/download/?ver=custom
- oaththrowaway 3y ago
  AKAIK, SteamOS 3 hasn't been released publicly, and this is SteamOS 2 which is Debian based instead of Arch
  - circuit10 3y ago
    You can use https://github.com/HoloISO/holoiso https://github.com/HoloISO/holoiso though Or just launch Steam with the command line argument that gives it the Steam Deck UI
  - nindalf 3y ago
    Wouldn’t the GPL require them to publish SteamOS 3? At least the source code, if not the ISO.
    - ThatPlayer 3y ago
      Like with Android, I think only parts of the software that's GPL licensed, like the Linux kernel. It looks like this repo keeps a list of the license violations: https://gitlab.com/evlaV/holo-PKGBUILD#third-party-packagesrepositories-valve-are-in-violation-of-license https://gitlab.com/evlaV/holo-PKGBUILD#third-party-packagesr...
      - Karliss 3y ago
        Anyone knows what evlaV are labelling as "obfuscated"? I doubt valve released actually obfuscated source code. Are they complaining that the source is available as src.tar.gz containing patches+original source (more or less like Arch manages it) instead of git repository with history?
  - josefx 3y ago
    You can find the packages here with at least some of the sources here https://steamdeck-packages.steamos.cloud/archlinux-mirror/ https://steamdeck-packages.steamos.cloud/archlinux-mirror/
dang 3y ago
(Submitted title was "Steam Deck emulation installer EmuDeck 2.1 launched")
jeroenhd 3y ago
The current dev instructions for the Deck could use some improvements: https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/testing https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck/testing Then again, emulating the performance may be very tough because a lot of it depends on setting the right TDP on a very specific chip. I like the recommendation to make sure it runs well on a slightly slower CPU, that should help with battery life on the actual Deck.

dang 3y ago

I've changed the URL above from https://overkill.wtf/emudeck-2-1-update/ https://overkill.wtf/emudeck-2-1-update/ to the project home page, since the project doesn't appear to have been discussed on HN before.

mayli 3y ago

Too many choices on the initial setup.

colordrops 3y ago
It feels like it's meant for hardcore retro gamers. I spent way too much time on it and didn't get anywhere.
- 10729287 3y ago
  Emulation is most of the time a perpetual WIP. I guess you did it right.

LeoPanthera 3y ago

I've had my Steam Deck for a year, and what I've done since I got it is simply install the RetroArch flatpak (via the Discover app), and use that as a front end for all my emulation. It doesn't add emulated games to the menu, but frankly, I think I prefer it that way, and I don't have to worry about things contaminating future SteamOS updates - everything is silo'd away. It works great, I recommend it.

sphars 3y ago
A similar option is doing this via RetroDeck[0] which is a flatpak wrapper around EmulationStation, which includes RetroArch, and includes several more emulators not included in the RA flatpak. [0]: https://github.com/XargonWan/RetroDECK https://github.com/XargonWan/RetroDECK
darkteflon 3y ago
I’ve spent a fair bit of time with EmuDeck and as far as I can tell, it doesn’t pollute your system install at all. It’s very lightweight. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it’s basically just a bunch of bash scripts that configure everything with sane defaults, plus a lightweight GUI.
jeroenhd 3y ago
Going through the game UI has some advantages, like the Steam native controller rebinding for individual games. All this tool is doing is adding a bunch of .desktop files in the right place and setting up the folders necessary for the emulator. It's not touching the root partition that gets updated with the rest of SteamOS.
goosedragons 3y ago
Retroarch is also on Steam itself.
- aceazzameen 3y ago
  I think there's more cores/plugins via the flatpak than there are via Steam. However, I think the Steam version gets steam cloud saves.

nextaccountic 3y ago

> EmuDeck Compressor > Compress your games using the EmuDeck Compressor tool, saving up to 70% disk space! Is this better than using btrfs with compression? Maybe on some critical directories (chattr +c) https://gitlab.com/popsulfr/steamos-btrfs https://gitlab.com/popsulfr/steamos-btrfs

vanchor3 3y ago
I think the EmuDeck compressor is for compressing to emulator supported formats, like the RVZ format used in Dolphin for example. I'm not sure how it compares to btrfs, but RVZ is supposed to keep good performance while compressing garbage data in a way that maintains compatibility.
anaisbetts 3y ago
EmuDeck compressor is not simply compressing games, it is converting them to more efficient formats (i.e. instead of a raw disk image, it removes the sectors of the images that are effectively unused)

snvzz 3y ago

FAQ is missing a very important Q/A. Q: Is EmuDeck Open Source? A: Yes, it is GPL-3 Licensed[0]. 0. https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck https://github.com/dragoonDorise/EmuDeck