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Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a USB port
- atum47 2y agoSide question: are those glasses any good? I almost got myself a pair
- baq 2y agoThey’re good enough for gaming, don’t expect to do much coding. They are very good for your neck, though.
- VTimofeenko 2y ago> don’t expect to do much coding. Is it because of the way they render small font?
- SkyPuncher 2y agoIt’s basically like working on a projector. Everything is just a bit too hard to read.
- jauntywundrkind 2y agoFonts render at whatever size you tell them to. That doesn't change. I have the Viture not the Xreals, but anyways... my experience: I do find that there's significant optical aberration that makes text more blurry towards the edges. I also have astigmatism; not a deal-breaker but it means the built-in myopia adjustment only partially corrects my vision. I basically got contacts again just so I can use these a bit better. But it still feels less clear than a regular screen with glasses or contacts. Doable but not great for text.
- regularfry 2y agoI don't know about Viture, but the XReals come with a prescription lens attachment clip. I've got a set. It would be unusable without it, but even then the screen is only really great towards the middle of the field. In theory the hardware has a motion tracker that lets you freeze the screen in space and pan around it by moving your head, which would be a huge win, but the current iteration needs an external dongle to do that which I don't have. I'm going to upgrade to the next version purely because that's going to be built in (along with some other niceties). This Steam Brick is right up my alley, although I'm wondering if you could do something just as slick with Framework guts. I haven't fired up Steam in a while.
- VTimofeenko 2y agoFrame.work has a cooler master case: https://frame.work/products/cooler-master-mainboard-case https://frame.work/products/cooler-master-mainboard-case I have my old mainboard chugging along in one of those, works alright. Wish the fan was less whiney though.
- HellsMaddy 2y agoAre there any glasses/headsets out there that are good for coding yet? The idea of working on the go with VR glasses is very appealing to me.
- canuckintime 2y agoShort answer: no Long answer: Vision Pro (if you are comfortable with the weight/price). Immersed Visor and Play for Dream Mr headsets are likely the first available coding VR headsets at reasonable prices but this will all be commodities very soon. Your best bet is to resist being at the cutting edge for this year and pick up the winner after the next 11 months
- baq 2y ago> Immersed Visor and Play for Dream Mr Googled both and consensus is both are vaporware? I’m in the market for something like this but your timeline sounds optimistic unfortunately :/
- canuckintime 2y agoImmersed and PFD are smaller companies releasing their first hardware; yes they've missed their initial estimated ship dates but they have actual working prototypes that have been tried by users (e.g. PFD had a booth at CES). The only question is if they can ramp up manufacturing. I expect them to have shipped their preorders by March and then we'll find out if they can scale. HOWEVER my timeline suggests that you wait until the end of the year. The 4K per eye panel is now a commodity [1] and I expect a lot of VR glasses to show up in the next few months. Don't be tempted by the first few unless you have the budget for the cutting edge. Immersed is pushing their subscription software and requires a companion app on the host device. PFD is offering an Android Vision Pro clone. There are a couple PCVR (gaming) headsets coming. For coding though, the ideal is probably a simple headset with plug-and-play video input (i.e. like a high-res Slamglass [2] or GOOVIS art [3]). It's worth waiting in my opinion to see if anyone uses the panel for that. [1] https://youtu.be/OpVI6JeH2uA?si=UsScC1yPTRptcFAM&t=795 https://youtu.be/OpVI6JeH2uA?si=UsScC1yPTRptcFAM&t=795 [2] https://en.slamglass.com/list_22/ https://en.slamglass.com/list_22/ [3] https://goovis.net/products/a1black https://goovis.net/products/a1black
- MatthewCampbell 2y agoI code a lot on these. They're amazing on planes and trains as advertised, but I also spend a lot more time coding outside because they don't have the glare issues of a laptop screen.
- kelvie 2y agoDepends on how you do your coding, and your expectations. The glasses claim a 1080p screen, but realistically with text, you gotta scale it up to be more like a 720p screen. If 1280x720 is good enough to code on for you, then you're fine, and it's certainly fine for some (e.g. I think some of my co-workers have vision problems so they set the font to be mega large, but code just fine).
- marci 2y agoIf your head is on the smaller to medium size. And avoid v1 of xreal, even if you find a good deal. Their hinges are super weak. They said they fixed it in subsequent models.
- panja 2y agoI got a big ol noggin, any other AR goggles for bigger headed folks?
- petesergeant 2y agoI watch movies on planes with them and it’s perfect for that. Coding I haven’t made work, and MarioKart is too full-on for me in them.
- regularfry 2y agoI've got coding to work, but you do need to change how you manage your windows. They've got the resolution but the virtual screen is too far away, so you need to magnify the text and keep what you're working on centred.
- anaisbetts 2y agoI think they're quite good. Great for movies / games, I could use them for text but I'd probably zoom the editor a bit - a full work day in them would probably be Too Much. Really convenient for being able to plug into headless machines, or when traveling.
- TheCleric 2y agoI am so confused why you’d trade the OLED screen for the XReal glasses which seem like an extra complication for no upside.
- dylan604 2y ago"This project was not approved or endorsed in any way by Valve and is generally a very bad idea. " why are you confused when from the first words on the page, it is acknowledged this is nothing more than "hold my beer" project. the confusion is how you would pose a question as if this were a serious project
- andrewaylett 2y ago> generally a very bad idea I have to disagree with the author on that one. I'm not going to do it myself, but it's a great idea :).
- boomskats 2y agoYou should try gaming on the XReal glasses - or any of the recent XR glasses for that matter (the Viture XR Pro being my favourite). In terms of both ergonomics and experience, it's next level.
- malnourish 2y agoWhat makes the Viture XR Pros better (to you) than XReal glasses? I'm open to trying a pair for my steam deck.
- skavi 2y agofrom the faq at the end: > Why remove the screen? It wouldn’t have made the build larger! > Keeping the screen would have significantly complicated the build, as you’d need something to keep in in place. More importantly – the brick was built to be tossed in a bag as-is. No case, no screen protector, just throw it in a backpack or suitcase and don’t worry about it!
- Philpax 2y ago
- andrewaylett 2y agoThis is brilliant. When I was in sixth-form, a friend built a portable case containing a micro-ATX motherboard. No battery, but he could sit down at any of the school computers, plug into the wall, and use its peripherals with his PC. That was more than 25 years ago, I feel old now.
- choult 2y agoFor the non-Brits, "sixth-form" means years 12 and 13 of school - equivalent to junior and senior years of high school in the US. The first and second yearsof sixth form are referred to as "lower sixth" and "upper sixth" respectively. It's a hold-over term from when secondary education (ages 11 and up) started in "first form" and worked up.
- NikkiA 2y agoAnd should be noted that 25 years ago, was still optional.
- imoreno 2y agoForm of what?
- swarnie 2y agoAm educational form, an antiquated word for a bench.
- brookst 2y agoThanks for the explanation but it shattered the narrative by mind was building about an alien intelligence that slipped up and posted about its memories of its sixth physical form, the result of its fifth metamorphosis.
- xvector 2y agoThis is pretty much exactly what was going through my mind as well. I was excited the aliens had started reading HN. Now I'm just sad.
- brundolf 2y agoWtf are those glasses
- nfriedly 2y agoThey have a pair of tiny screens that sit right in front of your eyes and act like a very portable monitor. (Both screens show the same picture - no 3d effects.) I assume they get power and video both over USB-C, so they can be connected to the Steam Deck's one USB port. Not my thing, but some people really love them.
- Borealid 2y agoOver the type-C port they receive video, receive audio, receive power (<5W), transmit sensor data (accelerometers, orientation, etc), and receive commands such as switching to a 3-D display mode. They're pretty great and I think the market segment will grow over the next few years. One correction, the screens are actually located in the temple part of the glasses facing downwards, but they are reflected so they appear as if they are in front of your eyes.
- skykooler 2y agoThey can do split-screen 3d, albeit at a lower refresh rate. When you put them into that mode they appear to the computer as one screen of double width.
- brundolf 2y agoI'm having trouble understanding the difference between this tech and the leading-edge AR tech like Meta's Orion glasses, which supposedly cost $10,000 to make Why are these $500 and high-res enough to play games on? What's so much harder and costlier about the other AR glasses?
- nfriedly 2y agoWell, AR glasses have cameras. Other than that I'm not really sure. I didn't even realize these had a 3D mode or other sensors, I thought they were just a pair of mirrored screens
- boomskats 2y ago> Because I was so preoccupied with whether or not I could that I didn’t stop to think if I should. Ha. I appreciate you OP. https://x.com/boomskats/status/1860300923773296693 https://x.com/boomskats/status/1860300923773296693
- ekimekim 2y agoThis isn't all that different to how I use my gaming PC - it's off in another room, with a monitor that is plugged in but almost always off (I don't think Windows will boot without at least something plugged in?), Steam set to start on boot, and then I entirely use it via Steam Remote Play from my main PC.
- daemoens 2y agoYou could get a dummy HDMI plug for $3 on Amazon and free up that monitor if you need it. [1] [1] https://www.amazon.com/BKFK-HDMI-Dummy-Plug-3840x2160/dp/B0CJZFKQLR https://www.amazon.com/BKFK-HDMI-Dummy-Plug-3840x2160/dp/B0C...
- reddalo 2y agoI still don't understand why operating systems can't properly work without a screen. I have a Linux "home server" and I haven't found a way to boot up a graphical session with everything working (there were bugs in some applications, like menus not showing up, you couldn't change resolution, etc.). A dummy HDMI plug fixed it, but still. It's 2025, come on.
- shepherdjerred 2y agoYou can definitely run graphical environments without a screen in a virtual environment, e.g. https://github.com/selkies-project/docker-nvidia-egl-desktop https://github.com/selkies-project/docker-nvidia-egl-desktop which is even GPU accelerated
- Rohansi 2y agoParsec has a driver which adds virtual monitors so you should be able to use that instead of a dummy HDMI plug. Another issue is not having a mouse plugged in will mean you have no mouse cursor when remoting in.
- packtreefly 2y ago> not having a mouse plugged in will mean you have no mouse cursor when remoting in. Parsec has a setting to fix that too. Look in the host options.
- Ekaros 2y agoAre NUCs with batteries unserved market? Just thinking of them as concept. How popular would they be?
- marxisttemp 2y agoLinus Tech Tips editors spoke briefly on how they’re bringing Mac minis with them to events to edit on the go.
- Ekaros 2y agoI didn't know Mac Minis had good batteries in them. How many hours do they last on full load?
- blacksmith_tb 2y agoThey don't, but they do idle as low a 4W for the whole system[1] so running one off a large portable battery would be possible (if not exactly elegant). 1: https://support.apple.com/en-us/103253 https://support.apple.com/en-us/103253
- kelvie 2y agoYou'd need a battery with UPS-like functionality (and doesn't beep when it's taken off power), otherwise every time you plug and unplug it your mac would restart. Which is surprisingly hard to find for a portable (usb-C) battery.
- PhasmaFelis 2y agoDoes it do that? Why?
- kelvie 2y agoDo you mean why a UPS beeps when it's disconnected from power? I imagine so the user knows it's disconnected. Annoying during a power outage though.
- Karsteski 2y agoYo this is sick
- ch_123 2y ago> TL;DR Well, the Steam Deck didn’t fit in my backpack… I'm not sure if this is meant to be taken literally, but I would have just bought a bigger backpack. In some ways, I think this makes me respect the author more.
- 2muchcoffeeman 2y agoWell, if you’re travelling by air, space is a premium. And to a small degree, I will also, attempt to be hyper efficient with space. RIP GameBoy, I hope Nintendo releases an ultra small switch.
- DrillShopper 2y agoI have never had trouble carrying my Steam Deck in my relatively small and cheap travel backpack, but I usually also check a bag. If I was trying to carry EVERYTHING on then I probably would find that more difficult.
- wink 2y agoI'm not saying i's a problem but compare SteamDeck+case with a GameBoy Advance - especially as the latter is protected enough by any tight fitting cloth bag, it's nearly indestructible.
- PhasmaFelis 2y agoI used to fly with a 13" MacBook and a frankly excessive amount of random stuff in my backpack, and it still fit under the seat without too much trouble. If you're trying to keep your daily carry bag super slim on principle, I guess it mgith be harder.
- thih9 2y ago> I hope Nintendo releases an ultra small switch. No plans like that at the moment, the opposite is true though: “The Nintendo Switch 2 is an upcoming hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo. (…) The unit maintains a similar form factor as the Switch“[1] [1]: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Switch_2 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Switch_2
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y ago> Because I was so preoccupied with whether or not I could that I didn’t stop to think if I should. Thanks, Malcolm!
- fHr 2y agoNice one, cool project wow.
- cafed00d 2y agoI so want Valve to make this
- 1W6MIC49CYX9GAP 2y agoAccording to leaks they will soon
- spacemarine1 2y agoInterestingly, Steam’s first hardware product was a Steam Box: a little computer brick that could boot Steam on linux and let you play all your games on your TV (with a Steam controller or game controller of your choice). The cycle is now complete.
- SteveNuts 2y agoThey really did a good job slowly experimenting with hardware working their way up to the Deck. First the steam box then the controller, I’m sure they learned a lot from both of those before they released the deck.
- Jolter 2y agoThere were many years between the Steam Controller (2015) and the Deck(2022). I’m not sure how much of those learnings could still be applied, considering changing technology as well as staff changes. Maybe Valve has such excellent staff retention that this would be a non-issue. At my previous employers, two years would have been enough to have to start over from 0.
- geoffpado 2y agoThe history is a bit more complicated than that. Valve themselves never released a “Steam Box” that could run games on Linux. They partnered with a few different companies (Alienware, Gigabyte, etc.), who released co-branded “Steam Machines” which were just those companies’s normal hardware design, but with a common set of specs ideal for running SteamOS. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Machine_%28computer%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Machine_%28computer%29 You might instead be thinking of the Steam Link, which *was* produced by Valve, and *was* a tiny little brick that let you play games on your TV. But the Link wasn’t running the games itself, it was streaming them from a dedicated PC (which may itself have been a third-party Steam Machine) elsewhere in your home. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Link
- swores 2y ago> "which were just those companies’s normal hardware design" For Alienware (not sure about the others, but AW was Valve's lead partner on it anyway) you're right in that it was a computer designed by Alienware not Valve, however it was a) very different to other Alienware PCs, and b) Valve were genuinely part of the development process, they didn't just say "hey make a small computer". They also shipped with the first gen of Steam controllers, which were created by Valve themselves. (Unfortunately, due to delays with SteamOS, the first version of the AW "Steam Machine" actually launched running Windows only, but with the Steam Controller, because Alienware weren't willing to delay their launch further and instead developed their own controller-based UI for Windows in a rush job...) (Source: me, I was in the loop on those goings on at the time.) To this day, I think the Alienware Alpha (as the Windows version got called) was one of the nicest machines Dell ever made and one of the best small PCs I've ever seen.
- robertclaus 2y agoI've always been curious to buy a headset display when traveling, but was never sure what I would actually use it for. This is pretty cool and might inspire some use case's I hadn't considered.
- koinedad 2y agoAwesome mod
- kellysutton 2y ago> Why did you do this again? > Because I was so preoccupied with whether or not I could that I didn’t stop to think if I should. A+. A great hack.
- calderwoodra 2y agoThese glasses are super interesting - if laptops didn't have displays, their form factors could change considerably. I'm imagining a rectangular shape with the track pad right aligned to the keyboard, rather than underneath.
- nejsjsjsbsb 2y agoI would love that. Happy for it to be a thin client type of thing too. Imagine a plane where you have room for a keyboard but that is it. Makes me think: with this your phone is fine. You can run a Linux on your Android then have a thin client. Lots of options! The laptop form factor makes a laptop fragile. To the point where a 2 yr old XPS has been serviced 20 times (pro tip: get all the top level service options for 3 yrs it was about 30% added to the cost). And I have a probably 12 year old Dell desktop with no issues at all.
- carlbarrdahl 2y agoI'm on my third xps across 8+ years. 2 cases of services, the first one was a faulty keyboard on delivery and the second was a 1 meter drop into concrete that busted the screen. Still looking for alternatives for my next one and thinking the System76. Gotta say though, I'm really happy with the xps model so far.
- TheSpiceIsLife 2y agoI was spinning a ThinkPad diagonal corners between my palms, fumbled it, my catch attempt put more energy in to it, landed on front right corner on the kitchen floor, bounced. Nothing wrong with it, nothing broke, everything worked. This was back when IBM still ran the brand. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to try that with my HP x360.
- geoffpado 2y agoThere were some people doing something similar with the Vision Pro and detaching the monitor from a MacBook Air[0]. It looks really slick, but how well it actually works, especially given the drawbacks of the Vision Pro, is… up for interpretation. 0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUa_pPUbpGQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUa_pPUbpGQ
- VikingCoder 2y agoHells freaking yes. XReal should totally make these, in partnership with Valve. It just makes so much sense.
- linotype 2y agoWhy not just buy a minisforum and install popos and steam?
- xandrius 2y agoHe had that already, why buy more stuff? Also, buyers buy, hackers hack.
- WithinReason 2y agoI'm surprised Valve didn't do exactly this, it makes too much sense. Just make a case for the motherboard.
- masklinn 2y agoThey essentially did: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Machine_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Machine_(computer)
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- freetanga 2y agoI love it, but not 100% sure you can keep it in your bag, as ventilation would restrict cooling. So, if you have to pull everything out of the bag to play and wire it up, is this form factor practical for travel? PS: I spend lots of time in Hotels, these would be cool to play in the room, even use Desktop mode on the go. But the plane/coffeeshop scenario feels a bit far fetched.
- 01272738076 2y ago[flagged]
- jagermo 2y agothat's horrible! I love it.
- chasing0entropy 2y agoThis is a great mod by a non-technical (programming wise, the machining skills are on point) user.
- focusedmofo 2y agoHow do you game without a controller? I must be missing something since nobody else asked..
- dmbche 2y agoController seems wireless and usb port used for glasses. This compared to the deck which has a screen and controller integrated.
- focusedmofo 2y agoIf he has to carry a controller as well, I don't see the benefit. Together with the controller the setup will be bigger than the steam deck.
- heckelson 2y agoGreat project! Off-topic question: What is the controller in the final image? Edit: Found it, it's the 8bitdo Pro 2
- thastings 2y agoIf you need to enter the BIOS: bring up the terminal, and write `systemctl reboot --firmware-setup` This reboots systemd-powered systems to the UEFI menu. May not work on other init systems, but SteamOS is based on Arch with systemd.
- jethro_tell 2y agoSystemd systems can still have grub as a boot loader. In that case, you can usually set the boot order with bootctl and reboot.
- jdiff 2y agoShouldn't matter what you have as a bootloader, by my understanding it should be communicating with the UEFI directly to pull it off and going over any bootloader's head.
- sedatk 2y agoYou can do the same on Windows with the command `shutdown /r /t 0 /fw`.
- Fnoord 2y agoBefore performing a mod like this (or generally opening up your device) put your device in battery safe mode [1] [1] https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+Enable+Steam+Deck+Battery+Storage+Mode/149962 https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/How+to+Enable+Steam+Deck+Batter...
- SharpestBulb 2y ago[flagged]
- alias_neo 2y agoI've disassembled LOTS of devices in my time, and never knew this was a feature that could be used after the initial purchase. For some years now I've known certain devices like laptops won't power on when bought until first plugged in, but I didn't realise that it could be enabled intentionally after the fact. Typically the first thing I do when I open a device is remove the battery, so accidental button presses (like i-fixit lists) as the reason for it are a non-issue.
- dmonitor 2y agoNintendo's Joycons also have this feature https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZxwVnLc83o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZxwVnLc83o
- pipes 2y agoI wish valve would do a steam laptop that's just steamdeck in a laptop. I'm surprised how good the steamdeck is. I'm considering replacing my pc with steamdeck + dock + external hard disc.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- PotatoPancakes 2y agoThankfully, we can now do this ourselves. The Steam Deck hardware to compete with is: - A custom CPU with integrated GPU that's somewhere between an AMD 6600U and 6800U, underclocked for battery life and thermals - 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM (6400 MT/s) - 50 Wh battery So, to make your own Steam Deck-like laptop, you should buy a USB or wireless controller and install the Holo ISO distro (for a UI like the Steam Deck) on a laptop with the following specs: - 50+ Wh battery - 16+ GB of RAM (preferably LPDDR5 for thermals) - A sufficiently powerful CPU+GPU (most new 15W ones will do, especially if you set it to underclock when on battery power) - A USB-C port with USB 3 Gen 2 speeds and DisplayPort support - A sufficiently nice screen, speaker, trackpad, cooling fan
- PotatoPancakes 2y agoBazzite is a good distro alternative to Holo ISO, that might be better suited for a laptop or desktop.
- pipes 2y agoHa! Nice :)
- brainzap 2y agoA lot of monitors deliver 60 watt over usb-c. I wonder if a no battery build is possible that only relies on 60w.
- morsch 2y agoSeems like it should be possible, the steam deck draws less than 45W and it can run with a disconnected battery: https://youtu.be/L5ma_d9cGpo https://youtu.be/L5ma_d9cGpo
- larusso 2y agoI love it. Respect to “brick” your actual steam deck OLED no less. I think I would have gone and ordered a broken one from eBay (don’t know prices availability etc since it seems to be repairable).
- mistyvales 2y agoI was hoping Nintendo would make a Switch without a screen at one point.. but then it wouldn't be a switch anymore I guess
- hinkley 2y ago> Because I was so preoccupied with whether or not I could that I didn’t stop to think if I should. You did it. The crazy son of a bitch. You did it.
- robertlagrant 2y agoThere are two types of technical blog post. One explains to you from a great towering height of immense knowledge how good it felt to use to use npm install and here's why that's exciting, and this is the other type. Written with many apologies for barely being able to do anything while doing everything better than I ever could.
- Lucasoato 2y ago> Why did you do this again? > Because I was so preoccupied with whether or not I could that I didn’t stop to think if I should. Great quote there :)
- Aissen 2y agoI expected the author to cut the motherboard, not leave it as is (like in many console "trimmings"). It's even better!
- Sugimot0 2y agoI've thought about building something like this as a laptop replacement (small compute for xreal style display) and making sure there's a new thunderbolt port etc for a GPU dock, but I think the simpler option (with some latency / network requirements) is to use an xreal display with the cell phone you already carry in your pocket and sunshine / moonlight enabled with your desktop setup at home.
- spacemarine1 2y agoRumor: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/1iheqzg/valve_is_building_a_steam_console_to_rival_ps5/ https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/1iheqzg/valve_is_...