5 ms·

Homekit-steam-user-switcher: A way to remotely switch Steam users using HomeKit

54 points by rcarmo 1y ago

wlesieutre 1y ago
What a bizarre tool, I love it.
rafaqueque 1y ago
Love the hack.
ellisv 1y ago
This is beautiful.
pimlottc 1y ago
What does this actually look like in use?
- wlesieutre 1y ago
  This input switcher UI: https://9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2019/01/smart-tv.jpg https://9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2019/01/smart... I don't have a TV with that feature but I assume you can also tell Siri to do it, or assign it to a "scene" to have quicker access to change to a particular user.
  - bsimpson 1y ago
    So you could have a TV widget on your phone that lists Alice, Bob, and Charlie, and when you pick Bob, his account is signed in on the gaming PC?
    - rcarmo 1y ago
      Yes
vineyardmike 1y ago
I’m convinced that Smart Home tech is the biggest missed opportunity in tech. For most people, it’s the closest they’ve come to programming (automation) or customizing technology. As seen here, it’s also the closest thing many people have to an at-home server.
- thorncorona 1y ago
  It’s coming. GLMs are the best thing to happen to automation.
ethersteeds 1y ago
Can someone outline the kind of headless setup this would be used with? Best I can figure, a TV with a Moonlight client connected to a basement computer running Sunshine, (or similar client/server system) then a homekit command with open steam with the desired account?
- BoredPositron 1y ago
  I use a setup like this via moonlight on a appletv when I want to play on the living room tv. The tv of the kids is a Samsung with steam link installed so it's really easy to use for them. I prefer it over classic VMs because you don't have to shuffle around gpus from docker to VMs if you want to play a bit. You can even run multiple headless steam dockers on one gpu for lower requirement games. With a setup like this you can still use the gpus for encoding/decoding tasks in jellyfin while playing. https://github.com/Steam-Headless/docker-steam-headless https://github.com/Steam-Headless/docker-steam-headless
c-hendricks 1y ago
Interesting, I wrote something similar to switch my computer between the display in the office and the TV, and also switch the audio and disable / enable controllers in the rooms. But just went with a basic API over HTTP, which allowed me to just create shortcuts, and those are available on all my speakers / Apple devices so I can just say "hey siri, tv switcher tv" and it switches over. It's neat because then everyone with access to your Apple Home can't login to your steam account and run up your credit card with purchases.
- rcarmo 1y ago
  You can’t just buy stuff on any Steam PC.
  - c-hendricks 1y ago
    Not sure what you mean? If you log into a Steam account with saved credit card information, you can most likely buy something.
    - rcarmo 1y ago
      You can’t purchase over Steam Link, for sure. And I just checked I need to confirm login on desktop mode (can’t even get to payment in big picture mode).
      - c-hendricks 1y ago
        That's a good point I hadn't considered, Apple forced Valve to disable the Steam Store on their devices running Steam Link.

54 points by rcarmo 1y ago

wlesieutre 1y ago

What a bizarre tool, I love it.

rafaqueque 1y ago

Love the hack.

ellisv 1y ago

This is beautiful.

pimlottc 1y ago

What does this actually look like in use?

wlesieutre 1y ago
This input switcher UI: https://9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2019/01/smart-tv.jpg https://9to5mac.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2019/01/smart... I don't have a TV with that feature but I assume you can also tell Siri to do it, or assign it to a "scene" to have quicker access to change to a particular user.
- bsimpson 1y ago
  So you could have a TV widget on your phone that lists Alice, Bob, and Charlie, and when you pick Bob, his account is signed in on the gaming PC?
  - rcarmo 1y ago
    Yes

vineyardmike 1y ago

I’m convinced that Smart Home tech is the biggest missed opportunity in tech. For most people, it’s the closest they’ve come to programming (automation) or customizing technology. As seen here, it’s also the closest thing many people have to an at-home server.

thorncorona 1y ago
It’s coming. GLMs are the best thing to happen to automation.

ethersteeds 1y ago

Can someone outline the kind of headless setup this would be used with? Best I can figure, a TV with a Moonlight client connected to a basement computer running Sunshine, (or similar client/server system) then a homekit command with open steam with the desired account?

BoredPositron 1y ago
I use a setup like this via moonlight on a appletv when I want to play on the living room tv. The tv of the kids is a Samsung with steam link installed so it's really easy to use for them. I prefer it over classic VMs because you don't have to shuffle around gpus from docker to VMs if you want to play a bit. You can even run multiple headless steam dockers on one gpu for lower requirement games. With a setup like this you can still use the gpus for encoding/decoding tasks in jellyfin while playing. https://github.com/Steam-Headless/docker-steam-headless https://github.com/Steam-Headless/docker-steam-headless

c-hendricks 1y ago

Interesting, I wrote something similar to switch my computer between the display in the office and the TV, and also switch the audio and disable / enable controllers in the rooms. But just went with a basic API over HTTP, which allowed me to just create shortcuts, and those are available on all my speakers / Apple devices so I can just say "hey siri, tv switcher tv" and it switches over. It's neat because then everyone with access to your Apple Home can't login to your steam account and run up your credit card with purchases.

rcarmo 1y ago
You can’t just buy stuff on any Steam PC.
- c-hendricks 1y ago
  Not sure what you mean? If you log into a Steam account with saved credit card information, you can most likely buy something.
  - rcarmo 1y ago
    You can’t purchase over Steam Link, for sure. And I just checked I need to confirm login on desktop mode (can’t even get to payment in big picture mode).
    - c-hendricks 1y ago
      That's a good point I hadn't considered, Apple forced Valve to disable the Steam Store on their devices running Steam Link.