That might be a reason to maybe consider some competitors of the Steam Deck that are a bit more powerful (but have their own tradeoffs, primarily that the wholistic experience just isnt going to be as good as the steam deck is right now), I don’t know the Steam Deck might run 4k fine but I’d be hesitant to recommend it, that is so many fucking pixels lol
Agreed, did you know the NYC subway system moves about the same order of magnitude per day as the entire continental US air travel networks does. All those planes flying back and forth between countless different airports… the subway beneath NYC moves more people.
I think this statistic both puts into context the incredible order of magnitude power of subways for mass transit, and also helps put in perspective how dangerous they really are based on scary content uploading that is happening within a single subway car… you gotta zoom your brain out to see the sea of perfectly boring subway cars transporting people to work and back every single day.
Ahh… I see you have met my dad, who decided only after I called him after having failed my suicide attempt to offer to take me back in after having kicked me out promptly at 18 and then only housed me for 2 months before driving me out to a random street corner and dropping me off saying he had lifted me back up enough for me to handle my own live because I was ruining his “vibe” while having a 3 bedroom house and a job that makes more than half a million a year.
A man who wouldn’t let me get a drivers license because I wasn’t allowed to touch one of his cars and needed to buy one on my own and figure out how to do it by 16 despite his first 3 cars being bought for him by his parents after he wrecked each previous one.
Seriously, when people say it is a distraction to blame generations and focus hatred on boomers I think it is a good reminder to keep the eye on the ball of extreme wealth inequality, but I think there is a really weird nut of truth in that generational hate in that wealthy, successful US boomers of a certain type really did completely abandon the “social contract” so to speak of passing the world on to their kids. Which wouldn’t be that weird if society was always like it, and I am sure the “upper middle class kids” of every generation has felt this way to a certain extent, but it really feels like wealthy boomers just foreclosed the future of… literally everybody and when you meet boomers like your dad or one of my parents or countless other wealthy boomers I have met it really becomes far more “comic book” evil than it is reasonable to assume with some of these sad losers. There is no reason for the cruelty, and for the severance of resources and support other than a bunch of cynical political ideologies that amounted to barely anything more than lobotimizing a father’s capacity to actually empathize with their child about basic life needs. It is like the condescending judgement of some wealthy boomer parents cancerously grew into a deep seated belief that their kids don’t belong to be in the same economic class as they do, whether those wealthy boomers will consciously acknowledge it or not. I mean… not the worst problem to have, I am just pointing out how pathetic and sad US culture really is among superficially “successful” families.
Americans are the worst culture. Truly fucking despicable what they think is sane. You only get to buy how you want to be treated and the threshold for the floor of basic human dignity is more than most of us can afford.
As someone from the US I wholeheartedly agree but I also want to qualify this a bit.
US culture is the worst culture given how rich it is. You might go to another culture with a HELL of a lot less money in the society/less GDP (…because it has been extracted by countries like the US but different conversation) and be able to find aspects of that culture that are way worse… but more than any other country on earth the US has been able to choose the world it wants to exist in instead of being existentially forced to accept the terms set out by more powerful countries, and holy shit what the US has done with that is not only dumb it is catastrophic.
The US is the richest country on earth, we could be treating each other like royalty, we could be saying “it is unamerican to let homeless americans starve!!” and just start giving people housing and food for free, we could do whatever the fuck we want with all of our incredible amount of power and just ignore the consequences for the rest of the world… but instead not only do we ignore the consequences of our life style on the rest of the world (again, utterly catastrophic in terms of carbon footprint, ecological impact and just plain wastefulness) we ignore the consequences of our life style on our own damn selves, our family, our kids, our parents, our neighbors and our friends.
Like yeah I know I am not saying anything original but damn I just feel like it needs to be said over and over again, the US is a very shameful place in the sense that the amount of unnecessary suffering here is quite extreme (again, not making claims about absolute suffering… not that it is ever helpful too beyond pointing out big disparities of privilege).
Most americans believe the entire point of transit is to sort people who can afford it from people who cant.
If mass transit is affordable for all it is literally considered a threat to these pathetic people who would means test their own kids before they gave them food and shelter if it was socially acceptable.
I was in NYC recently and the amount of wealthier people who just ubered everywhere (or actually just demanded to own a car and drive themselves in the least car friendly place IN THE US) with no consideration for ever using the subway underneath their feet was pretty disgusting and appalling especially coming from somewhere without magic train tunnels underneath my feet that run 24/7…
Notice all of these narratives run essentially in parallel with a nebulous fear of the subway being stoked by Eric Adams and centrists, they provide a convenient impulse to rationalize taking the easy way out and clogging the streets with another useless car. Kind of like convincing yourself as a kid not to do a chore in the basement because the basement is scaryyyy, I mean look at this video from somebody in another basement experiencing a freak scary incident that would likely never ever happen to me!!!
I live somewhere with free bus transit in the US, and it is shocking how different it feels and yet also how many successful people around me with working cars just categorically ignore the use or possibility of using busses. The US is really really deeply fucked on this point and it makes me feel awful for the rest of the planet having to deal with our horrendous carbon footprints.
New York City has so much potential, but it is utterly ruined by rich conservative money suffocating the city in a chokehold.
I hate the US so much sigh
LogSeq notes: https://github.com/logseq/logseq A different approach to note taking & journal. Very nice looking, rich plugin ecosystem, could use some performance boost but I think they are working on it
My true love is Org Mode and Emacs, but honestly LogSeq feels similar in a weird way with its extreme simplicity but also confusingly powerful and open ended design.
I am EXTREMELY impressed with LogSeq, I showed it to someone recently and they straight up told me “this is the best software I have ever tried in my life!”… admittedly they didn’t know about PKMs, external brains, obscure powerful note taking, thinking and tasktracking software but also that is kind of the point… they could immediately see the power of these type of tools even though they didn’t know anything about them because Logseq is so straightforward and powerful.
Logseq + Syncthing (my favorite software period) is an INCREDIBLY powerful combination and honestly shits on 99.99% of office/task tracking/productivity/filesharing software from boutique productivity companies and multi-billion dollar tech companies alike. Like yeah… Syncthing isn’t a file backup utility, and Logseq has no built in simultaneous editing capacity in its current version but when you are talking about syncing edits of tiny markdown plain text files you can just basically forget all of that crap and just pretend you and the person you are sharing Logseq notes with are magically the same user making edits on a single device… and so long as you are reasonable with your editing pace and approach you can forget the nightmare of the cloud/corporate silos/subscription/surveillance-capitalism… COMPLETELY in the realm of notes and note sharing.
Crank the simple file versioning up to like 40 on your Syncthing share folder for Logseq, deal with the extremely rare file sync whenever it pops up through Syncthing’s GUI, preferably have one of the devices in the share network be a phone or raspberry pi that is online most of the time and never look back!
That is great to hear, definitely seemed like FreeCAD was REALLY basic in the past, but there is such a big gap for a really fully featured FOSS Cad software!
Well we can’t live without a modern game that acknowledges how awesome Total Annihilation is as an idea so effectively that means we can’t live without Beyond All Reason/The Spring Engine right?
I mean Forged Alliance Forever is amazing and I am zero percent bashing it… and ok I guess we would still have Planetary Annihilation, and that game looks pretty awesome too…so I suppose technically we could live without Beyond All Reason but I doubt even the Planetary Annihilation devs would be happy about that world, I know the FAF community wouldnt be happy lol.
Can you actually use steamdeck as a desktop PC though?
Depends on how many pixels you “need”. Running high resolution monitors, even for basic stuff can get costly performance wise pretty damn quick, but in my opinion that isn’t really asking the same question as whether the Steam Deck can be a good desktop.
You can absolutely use the Steam Deck as a desktop, I frequently use my Steam Deck in desktop mode… using the onboard controls. The only real limitation of the Steam Deck so long as you don’t expect it to be a top of the line gaming pc, is that most people who buy it are never truly going to be able to give anything else other than a mouse and keyboard an honest go, they are too impatient and won’t believe it can work but the sky is the limit for joystick+gyro input (our touchpad + gyro) for computers/gaming.
I would like to suggest a perhaps oddball steam deck utility here.
logseq!
logseq is a note taking, thinking and task tracking tool, it is open source and free and works superb on the steam deck when launched in gaming mode.
logseq has functionality for
-arbitrarily deep trees of headings
-easy linking between pages (think wikipedia)
-calendar and in depth task tracking and scheduling
-whiteboard simple visualization utility that can link back to notes
-ability to reference specific parts of a pdf or image from notes and link directly to it
You can then use the equally superb and also free and open source file sync software Syncthing to sync your logseq notes between different devices (say your phone and steam deck).
Using these two utilities you can easily build a cloud based task tracking and note taking system that has ZERO percent lock-in to any corporate silo or any subscriptions, you have complete agency over the whole thing and its pretty damn slick too!
Logseq notes are stored as plain text markdown which adds an extra layer of comfort in knowing if you take a bunch of notes on your games even if ALL development of logseq somehow went belly up those notes are stored in plain text markdown… so you arent going to lose them/have to rewrite them by hand.
(your notes being stored in plain text also means that even a comical amount of notes takes up only kbs of disk space)
Get nice headphones, I dont know good in ear headphone models to recommend off the top of my head but for over the ear headphones a used/refurbished sony XM3 or XM4 is a FANTASTIC way to spend $80-$160 on your love of music listening and nice comfy all day wear bluetooth headphones like these will pay for themselves after only a couple miserable airplane flights or travel trips involving loud public spaces you have to take.
As much as I just shit on “boutique” DACs for being all the same basically, there definitely very real differences in headphones between the bottom of the headphone market, branded “cool” headphones like beats and ACTUAL music enthusiast headphones like headphones from Audiotechnica or nicer Sonys or gestures at overwhelming number of options.
Just make sure the headphones you get are “efficient”, as in the decibels in volume they put out vs how much energy is put into them by the DAC/amplifier is a big ratio, that means your run of the mill DAC will be able to amplify your headphones to as loud as you want with audiophile quality :) .
If you want just that little bit more of audio quality in your bluetooth headphones (with not quite as good noise cancelling as Sonys) go for the Shure Aonic 50s. Damn they reallly really sound wonderful are very comfortable to wear for hours and hours.
Both models of headphones I mentioned have 1/8th inch headphone jacks and can be used without bluetooth, which in my opinion is a baselevel requirement for nice bluetooth headphones if JUST for the fact that it demonstrates more than anything else that the headphone manufacturer actually gives a shit about audio quality. I also dont trust bluetooth not to randomly shit the bed too lol (also like come on, how much does it cost to put a freakin headphone jack in a device these days, they are a literal commodity, it is always worth the couple extra cents in my opinion).
Look I am not trying to rain on your parade but I really really reallyyyyy dont want other people to get lost or confused by this misinformation. I really am not trying to be antagonistic here I just feel very strongly about how science is being misrepresented in the realm of audio engineering.
DACs are a solved problem in terms of amplifying music to normal listening levels for a normal pair of headphones.
let me repeat that in a different way
DACs are a commodity, they are like bic pens, pens used to be this difficult thing to produce quality versions of for cheap at a mass scale… and then someone invented the bic pen and now it is trivial… we are at that point with DACs and a lot of people are weirdly uncomfortable with that and want there to be different flavors of DACs and shit… but it is a lie people tell themselves because the reality in 2024 is boring with DACs… but also inspiring because hey basically any DAC you get your hands on is going to be of arbitrary quality.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/high-end-pc-audio,3733-19.html
Yes if you get a fancy pair of headphones with really high impedance that needs to be driven by an extra powerful DAC ok… but that is NOT the overwhelming majority of headphones. Crucially it isn’t that nicer DACs have “more warmth” or other nonsense, it is a question of HOW MUCH amplification a DAC can do before distortion begins, which means a less powerful DAC driving normal headphones at a normal level is never going to encounter conditions where it would differ in performance from a $3000 DAC hooked up to the same headphones.
To put as many nails into this coffin as possible let me also be clear, there are plenty of audiophile level headphones with very reasonable impedance values that can be driven by any random DAC in any random computer or phone in a fashion that is indistinguishable in blind A/B listening tests even with experts from the way an expensive DAC would drive those headphones.
Please stop pushing pseudosicence that is effectively trying to make listening to music into this exclusive thing where you are only getting the “real” listening experience if you have a signal chain full of psuedo scientific gear that costs hundreds if not thousands of extra dollars and yet doesnt make a difference that can actually be sensed by the human ear because the difference is imperceptible or not even perceivable by the human ear at a basic level in the first place.
People are broke as shit right now, they are struggling hard, please don’t encourage people to spend the precious little spending money they actually have on DACs that are marketed on effectively psuedosciencific differences (again in terms of what YOU can actually perceive as a human).
Spend money on nice headphones, on a nice neck pillow for your head while you listen, whatever just spend your money on anything else about the music listening experience other than an expensive DAC, PLEASE as an audio engineer I beg you.
If you really feel the need to buy a DAC, hell just buy the base level audio interface from Native Instruments or another trusted brand, those are DESIGNED for musicians and yes you are getting a bunch of hardware you dont need in that box too (like audio recording hardware and inputs) but even still it is going to run you far less than some of these “boutique audiophile DACs”.
Honestly I have really fallen in love with using normal programs fullscreened through steams gaming mode. It feels like a natural evolution of a window manager like i3, so much new stuff to learn and the exciting thing is this is all new for everybody!
Also in the realm of space games, Overload is a BLAST on the deck, especially in short bursts. It is a great way to quickly get locked into the Steam Deck for high intensity flying and fine aim control.
never heard of angry search!, I will have to try it
Discovering that the SD can be used as a computer too, with all the bells and whistles has been very fun.
A useful side note on that, the desktop app “store” is Flathub
I recommend Konqueror as a good file manager/web browser hybrid that you can run fullscreen in gaming mode on your Steam Deck if you add it to steam as a non-steam game.
https://apps.kde.org/konqueror/
I recommend CoreKeyboard as an alternate touchscreen keyboard to Steam’s for when you are in desktop mode or can’t use Steam’s keyboard for some reason.
https://flathub.org/apps/org.cubocore.CoreKeyboard
If you want file sync, try out Syncthing/Syncthingy, it is like DIY cloud file storage but it is actually really easy to set up.
https://flathub.org/apps/com.github.zocker_160.SyncThingy
Inkscape is a great vector image editor that runs really nice in fullscreen/gaming mode on the Steam Deck
https://flathub.org/apps/org.inkscape.Inkscape
Kdenlive is a fully featured video editor that runs really nice in fullscreen/gaming mode. You can record clips and then edit them right there on the deck which is really handy once you learn your way around Kdenlive.
https://flathub.org/apps/org.kde.kdenlive
One final recommendation, CoreHunt, this app doesn’t run well in fullscreen/gaming mode on the Deck but it is such a useful and quick file search utility (with good fuzzy search too) that I have to recommend it. If you are still getting used to the file structure of the Steam Deck and get lost/can’t find a particular file or folder location CoreHunt can save you a big headache just run it in desktop mode.
i havent tried it but you arent alone in feeling like it has staying power as a roguelike, people talk about it really highly even after long amounts of play time in my experience.
I have been playing a lot of games recently, but I think the one I want to highlight most is a game I have recommended in the past here.
Beyond All Reason is a free and open source RTS game inspired by Total Annihilation. It is based on the Spring RTS Engine and collectively BAR represents probably almost two decades of community development over the years and the game is at a really polished fun state at this point with a diverse variety of units and strategies.
The AI is good, it constantly probes your defenses, multiplayer is a blast with active lobbies, you can play PvP or PvE and there are a massive amount of maps. I know I am a weirdo but with gyro on I don’t find playing Beyond All Reason difficult at all. Am I going to out APM a mouse and keyboard player? Nope, but that isn’t really why I play RTS games anyways, and I can hold my own fine especially with the awesome action que system that BAR expanded on from Total Annihilation.
Honestly, I don’t think you are going to find a 3D RTS game with better performance on the Deck for the insane amount of units that get thrown around in a typical BAR match than the Spring RTS Engine/BAR, it is a fairly old 3d RTS engine that by today’s standards has extremely low system requirements but at the same time, everything is simulated. When a tank shoots at another tank in the Spring Engine, the tank aims and then launches a projectile… that projectile is modeled as a physical object and it may or may not hit its target. It is VERY impressive that there can be hundreds of units blasting it out on the battlefield in BAR, and the game just keeps chugging along somehow without melting my steam deck.
https://www.beyondallreason.info/
p.s. check out the new BAR trailer, can you believe this game is a free and open source game??!?
Playing Rounded right now, definitely have my eye on Peglin
Yeah I don’t necessarily disagree with the idea of making file paths case sensitive (i.e. usr/Folder/ is a different directory than usr/folder and same for files), but it is definitely a big mind fuck coming from an operating system where things aren’t really case sensitive in that way.
For big map vehicle and infantry shooters with vehicles that run decent on the Steam Deck I recommend
Easy Red 2 https://store.steampowered.com/app/1324780/Easy_Red_2/
^ I am as tired of ww2 shooters as everybody else, but this game is just damn fun, the maps are very varied, there are lots of quality of life details but the core gameplay is actually very realistic in terms of bullet/gun/vehicle mechanics, the AI can receive basic orders and there is a small but active multiplayer scene. The planes are a blast and the variety of realistically behaving armor is great. I appreciate that you can control the cannons on tanks from the driver seat or just focus on driving and let the AI shoot (or have a friend shoot of course). Performance is superb on the deck, especially for the amount of bots you can get on screen at any time.
For some reason Easy Red 2 is 9 bucks on steam??? Like why is it so cheap? I don’t know, but if you are upset at EA a great way to take out your anger is by buying this awesome game from an awesome indie dev who is the opposite of EA. Note this doesn’t play like Call Of Duty WW2, it plays like a realistic-ish shooter.
Operation Harsh Doorstop https://store.steampowered.com/app/736590/Operation_Harsh_Doorstop/
^ A free moddable realistic tactical shooter on the unreal engine, it is still fairly limited and the playerbase isn’t huge yet but honestly it is really promising and is already a blast if you like realistic modern warfare tactical games, gunplay and movement feels tight and locked in, weapons feel chunky and the foundation is there for a lot of great mods. Vehicles and helicopters are very early stages but are being worked on. I think this is going to be a GREAT platform for big team shooter mods of all kinds of genres and it is nice that it runs decent on the steam deck so long as you are willing to turn everything down so you are basically playing ghost recon 1 but lol… I don’t really care. Check out the Star Wars mod on the workshop as an example of what kinds of different stuff can be done with modding on OHD.
Both Easy Red 2 and Operation Harsh Doorstop are great games to keep your eye on even if the specific experience of either shooter doesn’t attract you right now, I could easily see a fan made spiritual successor to Battlefield 1 being made using Operation Harsh Doorstop as the basis for example so both games represent a lot more than Yet Another Boring WW2 shooter and Another Boring Modern Warfare shooter lol.
Halo Infinite also plays well on the Steam Deck, though I wish performance was better and it sometimes just crashes.
There is of course, always Xonotic available right on the linux distro app store a 30 second download away in desktop mode :P
If at first you crash and burn… well I mean it is Beam Ng so doesnt that mean you are actually playing the game right?