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Why the Steam Deck Is the Perfect Mini PC for Hackers

13 points by jethronethro 2y ago

dlcarrier 2y ago
I'm writing this on a docked Steam Deck in desktop mode. It works pretty well, and at $400 for a perfectly serviceable computer that you can undock and use as gaming console, it's quite a deal. There's one major downside though, and that's package management. Flatpaks still take a bit too many resources to run quickly, and using native Arch packages relies heavily on the AUR repository, which can be hit and miss.
- LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago
  CachyOS Handheld Edition? https://cachyos.org/download/ https://cachyos.org/download/ https://wiki.cachyos.org/installation/installation_handheld/ https://wiki.cachyos.org/installation/installation_handheld/
- whateveracct 2y ago
  There's always nixpkgs :)
- akimbostrawman 2y ago
  >Flatpaks still take a bit too many resources to run quickly Please elaborate. There should be no performance difference to "native" apps.
  - f33d5173 2y ago
    Yes there should. Native apps use system libraries, flatpaks bring their own. Computers have limited amouns of ram. When we run programs that use the same libraries, they stay in cache in ram and don't need to be reloaded from disk. This makes running the program originally faster, and makes context switching faster. The latter is only true if we've run out of ram and some things need to be evicted from cache, but the former is true regardless. All of this will vary depending on disk speed; those still on spinning rust will notice it more severely.
    - akimbostrawman 2y ago
      The steam deck only has flash storage tho.... Until I see actual benchmarks I remain sceptical.
      - hulitu 2y ago
        > The steam deck only has flash storage tho.... > Until I see actual benchmarks I remain sceptical. AFAIK flash storage speed is inverse proportional with free space.
        akimbostrawman 2y ago
        Which would be relevant for all application not just flatpak.
  - dlcarrier 2y ago
    The first flatpack I installed after buying my Steam Deck was Aisleriot solitaire. It took minutes to load, the first time I ran it after each restart, and tens of seconds if I hadn't restarted. The Pacman-installed version is instantaneous.
not_your_vase 2y ago
It sounds like that it is a perfectly serviceable machine for its price (which isn't exactly a big surprise in the industry). But what makes it perfect for hackers? What makes it better than anything else for hackers? If it had at least a couple of accessible GPIOs, than I would understand it, but based on this article, TBH I don't see any hacker specific selling points.
- karmakaze 2y ago
  Having a built-in keyboard would make it a lot more suitable for use on the go, like one of the GPD models.

13 points by jethronethro 2y ago

I'm writing this on a docked Steam Deck in desktop mode. It works pretty well, and at $400 for a perfectly serviceable computer that you can undock and use as gaming console, it's quite a deal. There's one major downside though, and that's package management. Flatpaks still take a bit too many resources to run quickly, and using native Arch packages relies heavily on the AUR repository, which can be hit and miss.

LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago
CachyOS Handheld Edition? https://cachyos.org/download/ https://cachyos.org/download/ https://wiki.cachyos.org/installation/installation_handheld/ https://wiki.cachyos.org/installation/installation_handheld/
whateveracct 2y ago
There's always nixpkgs :)
akimbostrawman 2y ago
>Flatpaks still take a bit too many resources to run quickly Please elaborate. There should be no performance difference to "native" apps.
- f33d5173 2y ago
  Yes there should. Native apps use system libraries, flatpaks bring their own. Computers have limited amouns of ram. When we run programs that use the same libraries, they stay in cache in ram and don't need to be reloaded from disk. This makes running the program originally faster, and makes context switching faster. The latter is only true if we've run out of ram and some things need to be evicted from cache, but the former is true regardless. All of this will vary depending on disk speed; those still on spinning rust will notice it more severely.
  - akimbostrawman 2y ago
    The steam deck only has flash storage tho.... Until I see actual benchmarks I remain sceptical.
    - hulitu 2y ago
      > The steam deck only has flash storage tho.... > Until I see actual benchmarks I remain sceptical. AFAIK flash storage speed is inverse proportional with free space.
      - akimbostrawman 2y ago
        Which would be relevant for all application not just flatpak.
- dlcarrier 2y ago
  The first flatpack I installed after buying my Steam Deck was Aisleriot solitaire. It took minutes to load, the first time I ran it after each restart, and tens of seconds if I hadn't restarted. The Pacman-installed version is instantaneous.

not_your_vase 2y ago

It sounds like that it is a perfectly serviceable machine for its price (which isn't exactly a big surprise in the industry). But what makes it perfect for hackers? What makes it better than anything else for hackers? If it had at least a couple of accessible GPIOs, than I would understand it, but based on this article, TBH I don't see any hacker specific selling points.

karmakaze 2y ago
Having a built-in keyboard would make it a lot more suitable for use on the go, like one of the GPD models.