Steam Hardware

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Any desktop-mode tips for a new Steam Deck owner? (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) by NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de to c/steamdeck@sopuli.xyz

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I recently bought a Steam Deck and I have a lapdock on the way, intending to use the Deck as a dual-purpose gaming handheld and laptop replacement. So on that front, I was wondering what more experienced users could tell me about using it.

I did read through the official FAQ, and a few questions pop up. In no particular order:

Is there a way to boot the Steam Deck directly into desktop mode, without going through the Steam environment first? (Strictly as a time saver)
In practice, how well does sudo steamos-readonly disable and installing things from pacman work out for you? In particular, I want to use PWAs For Firefox and it requires this package in order to work. Do packages actually get wiped with SteamOS updates, as the FAQ warns?
Is it possible to re-enable the read-only filesystem after installing a package, to safeguard it from accidental changes?
Any other tips, tricks or warnings you'd like to share.

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[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 12 hours ago

When docked, the Deck works great as a desktop PC. But not as a laptop. It's too much to carry (lapdock + deck). The lapdock would be more suitable for your phone.

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to find out for myself either way though.

I have a large backpack and I'm used to carrying a lot of weight. I often carry a laptop + Nintendo Switch + battery pack and a bunch of misc stuff. So size and weight will be fine.

And part of the plan is that on days where I don't need a full Linux OS, I would only take the lapdock and indeed use it with my phone. Thus my portable computing options are a lot more modular.