[HN Gopher] Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power ...
___________________________________________________________________
Steam Brick: No screen, no controller, just a power button and a
USB port
Author : sbarre
Score : 790 points
Date : 2025-01-25 22:15 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (crastinator-pro.github.io)
(TXT) w3m dump (crastinator-pro.github.io)
| TheCleric wrote:
| I am so confused why you'd trade the OLED screen for the XReal
| glasses which seem like an extra complication for no upside.
| dylan604 wrote:
| "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 wrote:
| > 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 :).
| skavi wrote:
| from 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!
| boomskats wrote:
| You 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 wrote:
| What makes the Viture XR Pros better (to you) than XReal
| glasses? I'm open to trying a pair for my steam deck.
| Philpax wrote:
| You have to bend to face the Deck's screen or hold it at eye
| height, neither of which are ergonomically ideal. AR glasses
| allow you to use it in any posture you like, including sitting
| fully upright or lying down.
| maxglute wrote:
| Handheld fatigue.
| atum47 wrote:
| Side question: are those glasses any good? I almost got myself a
| pair
| baq wrote:
| They're good enough for gaming, don't expect to do much coding.
|
| They are very good for your neck, though.
| VTimofeenko wrote:
| > don't expect to do much coding.
|
| Is it because of the way they render small font?
| SkyPuncher wrote:
| It's basically like working on a projector. Everything is
| just a bit too hard to read.
| jauntywundrkind wrote:
| Fonts 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 wrote:
| I 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.
| HellsMaddy wrote:
| Are 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 wrote:
| Short 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 wrote:
| > 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 wrote:
| Immersed 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
|
| [2] https://en.slamglass.com/list_22/
|
| [3] https://goovis.net/products/a1black
| baq wrote:
| Setting a reminder for Jan'26 then, thanks!
| MatthewCampbell wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| Depends 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 wrote:
| If 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 wrote:
| I got a big ol noggin, any other AR goggles for bigger headed
| folks?
| petesergeant wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| I'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 wrote:
| I 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.
| andrewaylett wrote:
| This 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 wrote:
| For 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 wrote:
| And should be noted that 25 years ago, was still optional.
| imoreno wrote:
| Form of what?
| swarnie wrote:
| Am educational form, an antiquated word for a bench.
| brookst wrote:
| Thanks 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 wrote:
| This 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.
| tommica wrote:
| I was thinking the poster was a JRPG boss
| schwartzworld wrote:
| Op is a Pak Protector
| genewitch wrote:
| Is that like a pocket protrctor or a trapper keeper?
| virtualwhys wrote:
| In the US, for schools that use this form of grading, it
| means your senior year; 3rd form is freshman year and so on.
|
| We tend not to have a 13th grade, and when that does exist, a
| PG (post grad) is generally there because they excel at a
| particular sport.
| kaladin-jasnah wrote:
| I guess some people in the US call someone beyond their
| 12th grade in high school, or fourth year in an
| undergraduate program a "super senior."
| TylerE wrote:
| I've literally never heard or read that. So I would say
| no.
| carb wrote:
| It's certainly a real term. The context is often student
| athletes that intentionally didn't play their sport for a
| season (called redshirting) to maintain their 4-year
| eligibility so that they can stay for a fifth year and
| compete in their sport.
| viciousvoxel wrote:
| I'm American and I have heard "super senior" and seen it
| used in print. Go figure.
| kisonecat wrote:
| I'm a college prof in the US and know that term.
| jonp888 wrote:
| In Britain the first high school graduation happens after
| 11th grade; attending sixth form is optional and is
| primarily done by students intending to study at
| University. In these years you specialise in a couple of
| subjects relevant to your intended course of study, and for
| university you apply and are accepted for and study
| exclusively one subject from day 1.
|
| So arguably the US equalivalent is the freshman year of
| college.
| billyoyo wrote:
| Just to clarify this as well, while sixth form (17~18
| years old) is optional in the UK, education is still
| compulsory until you're 18. you have the option to do
| this at an apprenticeship or skills based school but lots
| of people do just default to a levels.
| abanana wrote:
| > in the UK, education is still compulsory until you're
| 18
|
| I've just looked it up because I hadn't heard this - it
| was only compulsory until 16 "in my day"! Turns out it
| still is, here in Wales, and also Scotland and NI. Only
| England changed it to 18. Our devolved governments love
| to make things confusing.
|
| https://www.gov.uk/know-when-you-can-leave-school
| https://wcpp.org.uk/publication/raising-the-age-of-
| participa...
| mgaunard wrote:
| Interestingly enough, the French do it the other way around,
| and start counting from the final year (they also start at 0
| so it's offset by one).
|
| That's arguably a better system since you can keep adding
| earlier and earlier years (mandatory school starting age has
| drifted from 11 to 6 to 3 over the years) while keeping
| everything consistent.
|
| Unfortunately they messed it up in 1959 by renaming 12th to
| 7th and giving matching names to the new 13th/14th.
| olivierduval wrote:
| Actually, it's more complex than this in France. There is 5
| systems:
|
| - depending of the Ministry of Eduction :
| - for toddlers : maternelle (3-6 yo) - Primary
| : CP (6 yo, primary), CE1 (elementary 1), CE2, CM1 (middle
| 1), CM2 - Secondary : - College
| (not the US one!) : 6th (~11 yo), 5th, 4th, 3th (with exam
| at the end) - Lycee : 2nd (~15 yo), 1st,
| Terminal (with 'Baccalaureat' exam at the end)
|
| then depending of Ministry of Research : University or Post
| BAC schools
|
| However, I think that in some other french-talking
| countries (Belgium, Swissland) they did it simpler
| mgaunard wrote:
| Maternelle years also have names: PSM, MSM, GSM.
|
| GSM, PS, CE1, CE2, CM1, CM2 used to be called 12th to
| 7th, as I said.
|
| Your primary classification is incorrect -- maternelle is
| part of primary. Non-maternelle primary is called
| elementary.
| eloisant wrote:
| The P in CP doesn't stand for "primary" but for
| "preparatory"
| makapuf wrote:
| That's for classic education (General, when you want to
| make longer studies), there are also professional or
| technical Lycee)
| Fnoord wrote:
| French and Brits do a lot of things the other way around,
| like imperial system, ATON/NATO, driving on the other side
| of the road.
|
| Just mentioned the age bracket. Kids who are younger or
| older are outliers.
| fhars wrote:
| Nothing compared to the order I went through in Germany: 1,
| 2, 3, 4 (elementary school until here), then VI (read in
| Latin, _sexta_ ), V ( _quinta_ ), IV ( _quarta_ ), lower
| III ( _tertia_ ), upper III, lower II ( _secunda_ ), 11,
| 1st semester, 2nd semester, 3rd semester, 4th semester.
| ajmurmann wrote:
| Does anyone still use these Latin terms? When I went to
| school in the 90s and early 00s we just counted from 1st
| to 12 and university just was it's own thing and how many
| semesters you were in didn't matter that much because
| there was no class structure.
| smorrow wrote:
| What do you mean "hold-over"? In NI we still say "first year"
| through "fifth year". Is that not done in Britain?
| esskay wrote:
| Typically no. In secondary school its just said as "Year
| 7", "Year 8" etc to 11, then Sixth Form.
| Eavolution wrote:
| I'm also from NI, our school officially used year 8 to year
| 14, but everyone knew both ways around and just switched
| between them.
|
| Edit: I should clarify I'm currently in uni so this was
| fairly recent.
| madaxe_again wrote:
| Sixth form is hardly the oddest name for a year, though.
| Shell, remove, fifth, 6b, 6a at my school, and quite a few
| others.
| nlawalker wrote:
| I did this for a while in college ~20 years ago with the
| original Mac Mini, it worked pretty well. A little clunky given
| multiple things to plug in but it was nice to have your entire
| environment with you locally.
| brundolf wrote:
| Wtf are those glasses
| nfriedly wrote:
| They 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 wrote:
| Over 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 wrote:
| They 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.
| boomskats wrote:
| > 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
| kelnos wrote:
| I think you mean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oNgyUAEv0Q
| boomskats wrote:
| Yes, it's the same reference.
| ekimekim wrote:
| This 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 wrote:
| You 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/B0C...
| reddalo wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| You can definitely run graphical environments without a
| screen in a virtual environment, e.g.
| https://github.com/selkies-project/docker-nvidia-egl-
| desktop which is even GPU accelerated
| Rohansi wrote:
| Parsec 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 wrote:
| > 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.
| thatfrenchguy wrote:
| macOS has no issues with no monitor fwiw
| kevin_thibedeau wrote:
| Headless X11 machines were a thing then it was all
| abandoned.
| washadjeffmad wrote:
| Wayland. Solving the problems of yesterday, tomorrow.
| genewitch wrote:
| You can run Windows server headless too, and run
| individual applications over the RDP protocol, exactly
| like using an X server on a machine with a screen to run
| Xeyes on a headless machine.
| alchemist1e9 wrote:
| Anyone have a good tutorial or reference for doing that
| on a modern windows system? It would be very useful
| alternative to VM seamless style and allow Linux X11
| system as the hypervisor with windows VM.
| genewitch wrote:
| Well, i buried the lede. you need windows server to do it
| _easily_ ; once you have windows server set up, you need
| terminal services to be enabled and installed for that
| server. Then you can set up "single application mode"
| application. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-
| us/troubleshoot/windows-serve...
|
| I didn't really need a guide, it's pretty
| straightforward; we ran firefox on a windows server VM in
| AWS and watched youtube videos, in 2009, just to prove it
| could be done. We offered thin client conversions to
| companies. never had any clients, too early, i guess, and
| everything went to cellphones instead. When i say we
| watched youtube videos, i mean on our test computer in
| front of us there was a firefox icon on the windows
| desktop local, and double clicking it, after a few
| seconds, would launch a firefox window, but instead of
| the firefox icon it would be the mstsc.exe icon, and you
| were not looking at an executable's output on your
| screen, you were looking at the output of the executable
| in the cloud.
|
| anyhow the windows server software takes care of
| bundling/packaging/deploying of the the little "scripts"
| that let you have a desktop icon and everything else. I
| think there's a wizard.
|
| edit: i buried another lede. The video quality of youtube
| over terminal services in 2009 with our crappy dsl was...
| "talking head" - or as i like to call it "peak apple
| quicktime video circa 1996" - approx. 15fps
| alchemist1e9 wrote:
| Thank you for these details.
|
| When I looked into doing it once on a modern system and
| stopped when window server entered the story. I've been
| hoping there might be a simple solution but that had me
| stumble upon Parallels RAS which I've been considering
| doing an evaluation of.
|
| https://www.parallels.com/products/ras/remote-
| application-se...
|
| My primary battlestation system (not gaming but for
| business) is 8X4k monitors on a custom Linux system
| driven by 2 high end GPUs. What I'd ideally like to have
| is many Win11 pro application windows managed by my X11
| windows manager.
| Fnoord wrote:
| Back in days (around twenty years ago) I used NoMachine on
| Debian/SPARC to do exactly this: run GNOME remotely.
|
| Waypipe nowadays allows the same, but I don't think it has
| resuming support.
| mgrandl wrote:
| There is also this:
| https://github.com/VirtualDisplay/Virtual-Display-Driver
|
| Never used it, but I heard great things!
| RockRobotRock wrote:
| Ran into problems, but that's probably because of the
| proxmox pcie passthrough nvidia gpu torture chamber I went
| through, and not the driver.
| ekimekim wrote:
| I do use it occasionally - mostly when Windows has thrown up
| some issue stopping Steam from working properly.
|
| eg. I need to dismiss a dialog that is invisible over remote
| play, or it won't finish logging in until I close a "finish
| setting up your windows install" screen.
| genewitch wrote:
| Go to the gaming machine and upgrade it to > home or edu
| version if needed. Enable remote desktop with auth on your
| network for that machine. As long as Windows is booted and
| able to be logged in to on the gaming machine you can go on
| your other machine:
|
| Win+R mstsc.exe and put in the gaming machine's name or IP
| and follow the instructions, checking all "remember this"
| boxes (there's 2, three if you count the certificate).
|
| RDP won't let you play games but it is functionally
| identical to sitting at the machine itself.
| distantsounds wrote:
| consider a different remote access option i.e. sunshine +
| moonlight instead of using steam remote play
| alias_neo wrote:
| Can confirm, Sunshine + Moonlight are a killer
| combination.
|
| I run a Windows VM on one of my servers for some gaming
| because I don't run Window's otherwise, and with Sunshine
| on the VM, I can play with moonlight from my TV, laptop,
| desktop, phone, ROG Ally (Bazzite), tablet, basically
| anything that can support Moonlight.
| thesuitonym wrote:
| Windows will boot without a monitor, or at least, it used to,
| not sure about Windows 11. But Steam Link mirrors your display,
| and so doesn't work without one.
| gaudystead wrote:
| I built a NUC running Windows 11 into a tiny portable server
| for a project I was building and can confirm it boots and
| functions just fine without being plugged into a monitor.
|
| I just plug it into a power source and it does what I need it
| to do, but I can plug a monitor and keyboard (and sometimes a
| mouse because keyboard-only navigation seems to be getting
| less and less supported/intuitive...) if I need to perform
| troubleshooting.
| dicknuckle wrote:
| The issue is usually with the graphics card itself in my
| experience.
|
| This is easily "fixed" on a DVI port by plugging a resistor
| of the correct value into two of the tiny pin sockets. The
| diagram is very easy to find online and you don't have to
| open the computer. That's become a thing of the past as far
| as I know.
| withinrafael wrote:
| NVIDIA GPUs still require "dummy" HDMI plugs. They won't
| be fully usable without something plugged in; it's not
| clear why.
| rincebrain wrote:
| This always seemed to be a very deliberate design choice
| by them to avoid you being able to use their consumer
| cards headless versus paying them a large amount on the
| Quadro or DG cards, since the big problem we saw at
| $OLDJOB was always that you couldn't use CUDA on them
| headless.
|
| At said $OLDJOB, we ended up soldering dummy VGA plugs
| that had resistors across the right pins when we wanted
| to experiment with building a low-power cluster of NVIDIA
| Ion boards and seeing how it competed with big cards. Ah,
| memories.
| alias_neo wrote:
| Would bet that this is exactly why. I run Tesla GPUs in
| my server rack which don't even have display ports, but
| they run any OS just fine with the vGPU drivers, which
| Nvidia make an absolute pain to obtain.
| rincebrain wrote:
| The _very_ first gen of Tesla cards did have those
| headers on them, IIRC, and then successive ones had the
| headers on the board but not connected for another
| generation or so, IIRC.
|
| You also used to be able to edit the PCI IDs for the
| drivers to get the Tesla ones to attach to consumer GPUs,
| but that stopped working at some point.
| TiredOfLife wrote:
| https://github.com/timminator/Enhanced-GPU-PV
| wongarsu wrote:
| Can confirm. I boot Windows 11 without screen, then connect
| via RDP without issue
| TiredOfLife wrote:
| https://github.com/timminator/Enhanced-GPU-PV or
| https://github.com/ClassicOldSong/Apollo (sunshine fork with
| auto virtual display)
|
| note that RDP works without plugs/virtual displays.
| bhaney wrote:
| This is one of many reasons why I just don't let Windows touch
| bare metal. My old gaming rig was a Linux machine that would
| boot a Windows VM with GPU passthrough, and the control I had
| over the virtual hardware that Windows thought it was attached
| to was really helpful for working around a lot of Windows
| bullshit. Won't boot without a screen? Virtually attach a fake
| one. Recognizes a device and tries to auto-install the garbage
| manufacturer-provided driver? Run the better Linux driver (if
| one exists) and have qemu present Windows with a generic
| version of the device. Want to debug some issue that requires
| disconnecting a piece of hardware? Just take it out of the qemu
| command instead of needing to go physically disconnect it. Want
| some remote peripheral attached that Windows has no idea how to
| talk to? Proxy it over the network in Linux and just present it
| to the Windows VM as a USB device. Having full control over the
| world that Windows lives in makes it much more manageable.
| jokethrowaway wrote:
| Since a few years, I just play on Linux
|
| Almost anything works with proton - unless you're playing
| competitive online games with anti cheats software
| genewitch wrote:
| Same. I only stopped because managing storage became a
| problem - three huge games came out that I wanted to play.
|
| Were I to do this again I wouldn't do ryzen I'd do at minimum
| a threadripper, so that the guest can get a USB pcie card and
| a GPU, so literally every device windows sees and talks to is
| virtualized. Usb keyboard, mouse, soundcard, etc.
|
| I think LTT did an epyc build where 1 epyc ran 3 full
| "Desktops" with GPUs, nvme, for each virtual machine
| dedicated. I just need the one!
| soyiuz wrote:
| I did that for while, but recently switched to Bazzite. It's a
| much smoother experience.
| S--M wrote:
| Have you tried sunshine + moonlight? I've heard it has lower
| latency and better streaming quality.
| nottorp wrote:
| Can confirm that. Using both to connect to the same windows
| box and sunshine+moonlight is better latency wise for fast
| paced games. And for games bought from GoG unless you want to
| configure Steam to launch them :)
|
| Steam streaming is more convenient if the game is on steam
| and it's turn based or something like that. Also if the (mac)
| box you're streaming to has multiple monitors, Steam will
| continue to show the game if you cmd-tab out of it, while
| moonlight will minimize from the start.
| papichulo2023 wrote:
| A then you can use lossless scaling on moonlight for a real
| amazing distrubed gaming experience.
| genewitch wrote:
| Okay this all sounds great, what specs do I need on the
| machine connected to the TV? Will a Raspberry Pi 3 work?
| Pine64? Atomic Pi? (That's x86_64, intel Celeron)
|
| Anything more than that and the value proposition goes way
| down. For every 50 grams lighter I am willing to lose 1fps.
| For every fan removed I will drop an entire resolution (4k
| -> 2k -> FHD...) Change "lighter" to heavier if it makes
| sense. My comfort and aesthetic matters more than
| competition quality, pixel perfect yadda
|
| I keep starring these remote display projects but none have
| convinced me to provision a client machine for the purpose
| yet.
| alias_neo wrote:
| It doesn't take too much compute, the networking is the
| key.
|
| I've run Moonlight on a bunch of things from my TV,
| crappy old Android TV box, phone, tablet, laptop,
| desktop, ROG Ally; don't recall if I ever tried a Pi, but
| I might give it a go.
|
| My advice is, whatever you use, make sure it has wired
| ethernet for a consistent experience. That said, a more
| powerful device on the receiving end (Moonlight) with
| good high-speed wifi should also work fine, but almost
| always try to keep the PC end (Sunshine) hard-wired.
| papichulo2023 wrote:
| Lossless scaling requires some horsepower though
| genewitch wrote:
| the gaming machine can handle all that, as i currently
| use it with a steam link (mentioned elsewhere) which
| means it's scaled from 4k/2k to 1080p or 720p depending
| on what TV i'm on. I'm sure i can run 4k (with a dummy
| hdmi dongle as i don't have a 4k plugged in to this pc
| anymore) with moonlight/sunlight/etc because i can do it
| with remote desktop!
| genewitch wrote:
| thanks, i have fiber and copper at the TVs. not in a
| pretty, or impressive way, i just have a switch next to
| the sets is all. fiber is impervious to most lightning
| strikes.
|
| I got some hardware, someone else mentioned h264/265 hard
| requirements, but there were codecs before that for FHD
| that even a pi model B could handle (among them x264 i
| imagine). My main viewscreen is 720p60, DLP, it's real
| sensitive to artifacts in the visual output being
| literally glaring. doesn't take much horsepower to move
| 720p60 relative to fhd or 4k, imo; but here i am, hands
| out, begging for solutions!
| nullify88 wrote:
| At a minimum anything with h264 hardware decoding. H265,
| and VC1 hardware decoding supported but optional. It
| depends on what your output is. Networking wise, cabled
| is the best latency and bandwidth wise but wireless also
| works but can be unpredictable depending on usage and
| environment.
| moffkalast wrote:
| I prefer indoor lighting myself.
| izacus wrote:
| Yep, I found that combination to be better when it comes to
| lag, stability and quality as well.
|
| Especially now that they added a 4:4:4 chroma subsampling
| option which fixes things like text edges in some cases.
| maxglute wrote:
| Ditto I grabbed a few clearance steamlinks and have all the TVs
| remote play to my single high power desktop and use a normal
| browser for media.
|
| I had it running on ASTER at one point, a multiseat windows
| software so I can be on main computer and others can use
| steamlink on alternate windows profile and few issues.
|
| Performance was rarely issue, especially even on wireless, and
| it's nice to have everything happening in 1 box.
| Ekaros wrote:
| Are NUCs with batteries unserved market? Just thinking of them as
| concept. How popular would they be?
| marxisttemp wrote:
| Linus Tech Tips editors spoke briefly on how they're bringing
| Mac minis with them to events to edit on the go.
| Ekaros wrote:
| I didn't know Mac Minis had good batteries in them. How many
| hours do they last on full load?
| blacksmith_tb wrote:
| They 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
| kelvie wrote:
| You'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 wrote:
| Does it do that? Why?
| kelvie wrote:
| Do 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.
| rincebrain wrote:
| I assume they meant why is the power interrupted if it
| switches from charging to not, and I believe the answer
| is "it's cutting from just vampire tapping the incoming
| power to feed outgoing, and it would need either chunky
| capacitors or to be constantly wearing on the battery to
| not do that".
| quesera wrote:
| You might be able to hush the beep by holding down the
| UPS ON button.
|
| Works on all APC UPSes that I've tried, at least.
| TheRealSteel wrote:
| What's the advantage over a MacBook? Supports more external
| displays or something?
| argsnd wrote:
| For their CES coverage they said they used MacBooks. They
| just also brought a Mac mini along that they hooked up to
| fast internet in a nearby e-sports venue that they used as
| a backup option to remote into and edit videos from.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYXh0AdBw-I
| deadbabe wrote:
| You can probably bring Mac Minis onto a business class
| airplane seat, plug it in to the HDMI port and edit while you
| fly.
| snailmailstare wrote:
| It's hard to tell with a lot of NUC style devices whether they
| support USB PD as the device being charged but I would much
| rather have one or two USB power banks as my battery/UPS for
| the NUC, phone and laptops than anything more specific or
| inverted up to mains, etc.
| bombcar wrote:
| Not terribly; as for many use cases buying a whole laptop is
| cheaper.
| Aurornis wrote:
| A NUC with USB-PD input could be powered from a USB-PD power
| bank.
|
| I'd much rather do that than purchase a NUC with a built-in
| battery. Keeping the two pieces separate makes them easier to
| repurpose later.
|
| Regardless, the market for such a device is relatively small.
| jayd16 wrote:
| Can they be? I'm not sure they make NUCs designed for mobile
| power draw without the battery.
| cletusw wrote:
| There are a good amount of lower power ones (e.g. with an
| N100 CPU) that draw ~15W usually and not that much more at
| full bore, and some of them are starting to come with USB-
| PD power inputs (even if they come with a DC power adapter
| some will accept USB-PD on another port).
|
| Look for "PD in" on this sheet for some examples (columns
| BW-BY): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SWqLJ6tGmYH
| zqGaa4RZs...
| leeoniya wrote:
| i have a passively cooled Quieter 4C [1] with N100 and a
| 4TB [dram-less] nvme [2] and it draws 4.5W _total_ at
| idle running EndeavourOS w / KDE Plasma. at full load
| (Handbrake 1440p transcode) it draws ~10W.
|
| i left it at stock bios settings and did not put it into
| higher TDP mode though, since i use it as an htpc and it
| mostly idles, i'd rather it stay at more comfortable
| operating temps.
|
| the nvme cost me more than the pc, which for $207
| includes 16GB ram, 512GB nvme, and a Win11 Pro license.
| insane.
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/MeLE-Mini-
| Quieter-4C-Astrophotography...
|
| [2] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLDJCBPG/
| javier2 wrote:
| N100 is ok for video transcoding?
| leeoniya wrote:
| i'm mostly converting 4k from a phone to 1440p and
| cutting [backup] storage by 6x. most of these vids are <
| 3min, and i can do quite a few in a batch job overnight.
| im in no rush. it does about 4fps with the 1080p30 HQ
| preset with the only additional change to up the res to
| 1440p. i would not use it for batching feature length
| films, but you can do one in a pinch :D
| theshrike79 wrote:
| I run a N97 based MiniPC off a power bank when I'm
| travelling, works fine along with my mobile hotspot.
| scotty79 wrote:
| This is cool. But now I want a power bank with hot swappable
| batteries/modules. Or better yet a connector that you can
| attach multiple power banks to and it gives power if at least
| one non-empty powerbank is connected.
| notpushkin wrote:
| > But now I want a power bank with hot swappable
| batteries/modules
|
| I think it's possible to build one. Get a bunch of 18650
| cells from a reputable brand (or just an old laptop
| battery, if you're brave enough), then look for a 18650
| powerbank kit on AliExpress - some of these would be with
| slots you can just plug the cells into, without
| welding/soldering.
| TheSpiceIsLife wrote:
| Can you already do this just by daisy chaining them?
| genewitch wrote:
| You'd lose a lot in efficiency. A power bank designed for
| this would have 2 cables and 1 or 2 wires, power transfer
| cables and sense/control wires. My engineering brain says
| "don't do this it's stupid and I think OP was making a
| joke I don't get"
| RainyDayTmrw wrote:
| Depending on your exact requirements, Raspberry Pi 5 + case +
| battery is a configuration that already exists.
| Ekaros wrote:
| I could accept Pi, with case, storage and battery in single
| enclosure. That is singular unit with relevant ports open to
| use and it being usable while charging.
| esperent wrote:
| I've wanted this for ages, Laptop ergonomics are horrible. When
| traveling I use a portable monitor, keyboard, mouse. Yes it's
| annoying to travel with all that but worth it not to end my
| work days with neck pain and a migraine.
|
| I need a somewhat powerful GPU for work, so I'm seriously
| considering buying one of the more powerful handhelds with
| removable controllers and just taking them off. The screen
| would be superfluous but it's probably the most powerful travel
| PC, at least for the price, that's available right now.
|
| I don't even need the battery that much. But all the options
| I've seen for SFF PCs that would fit in a backpack look fragile
| and I wouldn't feel confident carrying them around often. Plus,
| they're either expensive (because it's a tiny market) or geared
| towards office work.
|
| On the other hand, the Mac Mini exists and is exactly what I'd
| want in terms of hardware. Why don't us Linux/Windows folks
| have this option?
| nine_k wrote:
| There is a bunch of AMD-based tiny boxes for under $1k, and
| fancier boxes from HP or Zotac with discrete NVidia GPUs for
| $3-4k. They are somehow larger than a Mac Mini, but still
| very much the form factor of a small box to push into a
| backpack.
| esperent wrote:
| > Zotac with discrete NVidia GPUs for $3-4k
|
| Crazy expensive.
| nine_k wrote:
| A 32 GB Mac Mini with substantial SSD is also around $1k.
|
| Less highly specced AMD-based NUC-lookalikes are like
| $600, comparable to low-specced mac minis.
| vel0city wrote:
| Plenty of NUC hardware is pretty beefy, most more tough than
| most of those gaming handhelds. I've dropped a couple of
| Intel NUCs down concrete stairs and they only got a few
| scratches. They've also had really good Linux support for
| ages, and had Intel's Iris Pro GPUs for a while. Unsure
| they'd really fit your needs though. AMD sells a number of
| APU boards though, they've got modern GPUs. Still not
| breaking any benchmarks though.
|
| Also, those gaming handhelds are pretty power and temperature
| limited. They're often a good bit less powerful than a
| halfway decent gaming laptop, just a more convenient form
| factor for portable gaming.
| esperent wrote:
| NUCs are basically office machines though, I don't think
| any of them have the kind of graphics capabilities of a
| Legion Go, for example.
|
| There are SFF PCs a little bigger than NUCs that do have
| strong graphics but they're crazy expensive.
| wishfish wrote:
| What you'd want is a NUC with AMD. With an iGPU of 780M
| or higher, you'd equal or beat a Legion Go. You'll find
| plenty of NUCs like this from Beelink, Minisforum, etc.
| Usually at $400-800. Depending on sales.
|
| Intel's Lunar Lake is another option. The iGPU on that
| line will match or exceed a Legion Go too. Right now,
| it's mostly in laptops but some NUC models have been
| announced.
| PhasmaFelis wrote:
| > I've wanted this for ages, Laptop ergonomics are horrible.
| When traveling I use a portable monitor, keyboard, mouse. Yes
| it's annoying to travel with all that but worth it not to end
| my work days with neck pain and a migraine.
|
| Have you considered dropping the portable monitor for an
| angled laptop stand that will elevate the screen to eye
| level? I've got one that collapses down small enough to fit
| in a reasonably deep pocket.
| esperent wrote:
| I do actually use the laptop as a second screen in this way
| most of the time. However, it's amazing how many hotels
| lack any table deep enough to place a 15" laptop on a stand
| with a keyboard in front of it.
| PhasmaFelis wrote:
| Wow, that's obnoxious. You may be able to call down and
| ask for a folding table of some kind. But yeah, you
| shouldn't have to.
| mncharity wrote:
| Fwiw, with my 15", unfolding flat and standing vertical,
| with keyboard etc in front, gave a plausible screen
| position. So I just kludged vertical-ish stands (and
| fretted over an eventual tip and crash). I considered
| hanging a portable monitor off the side (brick of a
| thinkpad, accustomed to gaff taped extensions), but
| didn't get to it.
| soyiuz wrote:
| Minisforum machines are excellent in that regard. Sturdy
| little bricks with price and performance.
| esperent wrote:
| Yeah they look good. Unfortunately from what I've seen they
| have limited availability outside of the US and EU. I could
| probably get hold of one but not sure if they'd cover the
| warranty outside of their sales area.
| Fnoord wrote:
| Not very power efficient, and warranty is meh.
|
| Had to do a repaste to get proper cooling.
| n144q wrote:
| "not very power efficient" -- definitely some of the most
| power efficient x86 machines you can find today. Until
| the latest generation, Ryzen APUs provide better
| performance with lower power consumption than Intel ones.
| And you can lower CPU frequency if you want -- even at
| base frequency, they run fast enough for everyday tasks
| with fan almost completely quiet. Of course this is
| oversimplifying things a bit.
| Fnoord wrote:
| i9 power efficient, OK lol. If you want power efficient,
| get a Kontron. Below 3W idle we can talk. My MS-01 does
| 16W idle.
| ikurei wrote:
| I have one and my main gripe with it is how large the power
| brick is. It's practically like carrying a second mini pc;
| I didn't take this into account when I got it, lesson
| learned.
| fransje26 wrote:
| I've seen some newer models pop-up recently with inbuilt
| power supplies.
| plagiarist wrote:
| For gaming, I'd also rather have the Steam Brick, I think. You
| have a large company with strong interest in the drivers for
| built-in hardware and external controllers all working
| smoothly. We also know video over USB will just work. And USB-C
| power so I don't need a barrel connector to travel, not sure
| where NUCs are at on that one.
| bredren wrote:
| Sort of niche but some Vision Pro folks are carrying SSDs w
| travel routers setting them as an SMB and powering the setup
| with a travel battery.
|
| It provides streaming access to from large libraries of HDR
| content on the go.
| petemir wrote:
| SimulaVR will do this (NUC+battery), but on a VR headset.
| Karsteski wrote:
| Yo this is sick
| ch_123 wrote:
| > 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 wrote:
| Well, 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 wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| I'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 wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| > 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
| TeMPOraL wrote:
| Yeah, I got confused by that too. Steam Deck is a handheld,
| right? It should fit in your _pocket_ , right?
| Ekaros wrote:
| It is more like Switch. With grips like your average
| controller. So it is not a small device as such.
| TeMPOraL wrote:
| Okay then I guess I must've gotten that one wrong too,
| since I always imagined Switch is slightly larger than
| GameBoy Advance or PSP.
|
| (They really need to start adding bananas for scale for to
| ads for those devices. Or I need to watch more ads; the few
| photos I saw gave me the mental picture of a PSP-sized
| handheld.)
| eieio wrote:
| It's larger than the switch! And the _case_ for the
| Steamdeck is notably thicker than the Steamdeck, while the
| case for the switch is not. I think this is because the
| switch is almost flat, whereas the joysticks on the front
| of the Steamdeck and the handholds on the back stick out a
| lot farther, and the Steamdeck case doesn 't conform to the
| Steamdeck; it's just as large as the largest dimension in
| any direction.
|
| My experience is that chucking the Steamdeck in my backpack
| for a flight is doable if I don't put it in the case, but
| if I put it in the case it takes up enough space that it's
| annoying to fit my laptop / other stuff too.
|
| I normally deal with this by either not using the case or
| just taking my switch instead. But I respect the author's
| choice here a whole lot :)
| ch_123 wrote:
| It's about as wide as my 14" MBP
| einsteinx2 wrote:
| Really should have just bought a slim case for the Steam Deck.
| The stock case is like twice as thick as it needs to be and
| does really take up a ton of space in a backpack.
|
| The irony though is that this box + glasses + controller combo
| for sure takes more space than the original Steam Deck even in
| the oversized stock case...
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| _> Because I was so preoccupied with whether or not I could that
| I didn't stop to think if I should._
|
| Thanks, Malcolm!
| fHr wrote:
| Nice one, cool project wow.
| cafed00d wrote:
| I so want Valve to make this
| 1W6MIC49CYX9GAP wrote:
| According to leaks they will soon
| spacemarine1 wrote:
| Interestingly, 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 wrote:
| They 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 wrote:
| There 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 wrote:
| The 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
|
| 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
| swores wrote:
| > " _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.
| ok_dad wrote:
| > first gen of Steam controllers, which were created by
| Valve themselves
|
| The best goddamn controllers ever made, too, I still have
| one in a box somewhere around here and I won't use it
| because it's so awesome I don't want it to break. Pretty
| dumb eh? The two touchpads were the absolute best, I've
| never had control like that in an FPS and to this day I
| can't play any FPS with a stick because I was ruined on the
| Steam Controller.
| swores wrote:
| 100% agree. I still can't believe it didn't become a long
| running product that everyone uses.
|
| I've never been a console/controller gamer, but I
| remember the first time I saw it - it was an early fake,
| that looked and felt very similar to the end product but
| inside it just had a metal weight and no actual
| electronics, and it seemed like such an exciting product,
| it was genuinely hard to keep that secret...
|
| (And come to think of it, I think I misremembered when
| writing my last comment - I might be wrong, but I think
| the Alienware Alpha that launched with Windows actually
| shipped with an Xbox controller, and the steam controller
| was only available once the proper Steam Machine version
| was out. Not 100% sure, maybe we just needed the Xbox
| controllers for the press sessions before launch...)
| alias_neo wrote:
| Funny how people differ in that regard.
|
| It's the absolute worst controller I've ever used (Joy-
| Cons are a close second).
|
| I didn't use it because I hated it so much, put it
| straight back in the box after a few days of trying to
| use it and eventually I sold it for as much as I paid,
| and I was glad to see the back of it.
|
| The size/shape of the controller as a whole was fantastic
| but I just really hated only having touchpads instead of
| sticks, and that made it unusable.
| ok_dad wrote:
| You had to get used to it, it was weird but once you
| figured it out it was great!
| pipes wrote:
| Do the steam deck pads achieve the same thing?
| geoffpado wrote:
| Perhaps I am unfairly lumping Alienware in with some of the
| other Steam Machines, which very much did look almost
| identical to their manufacturer's other PCs at the time.
|
| As someone who at the time was VERY into buying the
| "console-like" PC gaming experience that Valve was
| seemingly selling, I remember being pretty disappointed not
| just by the SteamOS delays, but also how much most of the
| Steam Machines still basically looked, to me as an
| uninformed buyer, at least, to basically just be a
| different SKU of their regular lines rather than the true
| "Steam experience" that I was hoping for (and which the
| Steam Deck eventually delivered).
| dynamite-ready wrote:
| I suppose the missing part of the story is why they held back
| on pursuing this market.
|
| At the time, the console market was wide open, with little
| innovation in terms of hardware, until Nintendo released the
| Switch.
|
| Even now, I'd be quite happy to own a Valve branded, small
| form PC that plugs into a TV.
|
| The Steam Link was a kop out to me.
| genewitch wrote:
| I still use my steam link all the time. I have it fiber
| back hauled to the computer that it runs off of. I'm
| thinking of buying a couple more. Give one to my kid and
| one put on a projector so I don't have to keep moving it
| back and forth.
|
| Also, I think the device you're looking for is a deck
| because you can plug that into a television and use a
| wireless remote with it.
|
| The steam link is the best remote display device I've ever
| used. No frame drops or artifacting, even on scenes that
| make the 3090 chug. It forwards controllers to the PC.
|
| Now, the software, "big picture mode" and otherwise using a
| controller for PC input aren't the greatest, but you gotta
| figure it's me and like 2 other people still using this.
|
| BTW airscreen/miracaat/screen mirroring/"wireless display"
| all suck. If your TV has smart bullt in that supports
| miracast, that in my limited experience is the second
| lowest latency, then firetv devices, and then roku and
| everything else. Roku only usable for presentation or
| digital signage, unless first party built in.
|
| No idea why.
| catlikesshrimp wrote:
| I have used an old sony bravia tv to cast COD from an
| android phone. Every time I connected, latency varied
| from 100 - 200 ms to 10 seconds. I had to reconnect
| several times until the latency was satisfactory.
|
| Conclusion: it has been technically possible to cast to a
| tv for some years.
| genewitch wrote:
| yes, miracast/screencast whatever was a thing prior to
| the Steam Link being released in November of 2015 (9
| years and some change ago). some of the current devices
| can actually do sub-100ms of input latency, but you can't
| be in the same room as the source device or you'll go
| crazy. The roku stand-alone have the worst network _and_
| input latency, they 're unusable for anything other than
| presentations.
|
| firestick was <100ms network and barely noticeable input
| latency (on the order of ~20ms so interframe lag at
| 60fps). steam link is link latency + some small constant
| - whatever the "frameserver" processing takes, call it
| 3ms but definitely <10ms - and that's both network and
| input.
|
| when i said network i meant both the network and the
| actual refresh of the screen. watching a movie is one
| thing, but pushing "Y" and your character jumping should
| be "as instant as practicable" and steam link is the only
| one that is that that i've used, so far.
| qwytw wrote:
| I guess Proton/Wine/Linux gaming wasn't mature enough back
| then. Also a handheld wasn't really an option because there
| weren't any powerful enough yet energy efficient and cheap
| x86 chips available either.
| hinkley wrote:
| I'm using the controller I got with my Steam link for the
| Steam deck.
|
| Had to find a friend with a Windows box to run a firmware
| update to make it entirely Bluetooth compatible. But it
| works.
| robertclaus wrote:
| I'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 wrote:
| Awesome mod
| kellysutton wrote:
| > 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 wrote:
| These 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 wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| I'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 wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| There 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
| rendaw wrote:
| There was this "SpaceTop" startup making a laptop with no
| screen [https://www.pcworld.com/article/1919392/spacetop-is-
| the-firs...], just a built in case for XR glasses like this
| (except the case was built into the body). They gave up and
| pivoted into AI...
|
| I was thinking I'd want to make my own. How hard could it be?
| Just a phone, keyboard, and usb hub fitted into some framing. I
| tried 3-4 demos of XReal glasses though and (when I found a
| pair that wasn't broken, cable damage?) the FOV was much
| smaller than they seemed to be claiming. I think the bridge of
| my nose sticks out so the glasses are significantly farther
| away.
|
| I still like the idea.
| freetanga wrote:
| There a a number of people removing their screens from Mac Airs
| and others, some of them using these glasses too.
|
| I think I saw in here. In the meantime
|
| https://www.notebookcheck.net/Screenless-MacBooks-masqueradi...
|
| Actually tempted to buy one with a broken screen and ply
| around.
| maxglute wrote:
| Amazing. Someone ran similar setup with a thinkpad
| workstation with deadscreen in studio, they fucked up screen
| replacement but ended up just using bottom chasis hooked up
| to a externaml monitor for the rest of school.
| VikingCoder wrote:
| Hells freaking yes.
|
| XReal should totally make these, in partnership with Valve. It
| just makes so much sense.
| linotype wrote:
| Why not just buy a minisforum and install popos and steam?
| xandrius wrote:
| He had that already, why buy more stuff?
|
| Also, buyers buy, hackers hack.
| WithinReason wrote:
| I'm surprised Valve didn't do exactly this, it makes too much
| sense. Just make a case for the motherboard.
| masklinn wrote:
| They essentially did:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Machine_(computer)
| freetanga wrote:
| I 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.
| jagermo wrote:
| that's horrible! I love it.
| chasing0entropy wrote:
| This is a great mod by a non-technical (programming wise, the
| machining skills are on point) user.
| focusedmofo wrote:
| How do you game without a controller? I must be missing something
| since nobody else asked..
| dmbche wrote:
| Controller seems wireless and usb port used for glasses.
|
| This compared to the deck which has a screen and controller
| integrated.
| focusedmofo wrote:
| If 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.
| maxglute wrote:
| Looks like more ergonomic setup, and maybe convenient - you
| can chuck controller into bag, but fuss around with
| carrying case with steamdeck.
| dmbche wrote:
| Smaller, lighter, arguably "tougher" - but the author
| starts by saying this is a bad idea too! It mostly seemed
| to be a passtime.
| heckelson wrote:
| Great project! Off-topic question: What is the controller in the
| final image?
|
| Edit: Found it, it's the 8bitdo Pro 2
| thastings wrote:
| If 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 wrote:
| Systemd systems can still have grub as a boot loader.
|
| In that case, you can usually set the boot order with bootctl
| and reboot.
| sedatk wrote:
| You can do the same on Windows with the command `shutdown /r /t
| 0 /fw`.
| Fnoord wrote:
| Before 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+Batter...
| alias_neo wrote:
| I'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.
| pipes wrote:
| I 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.
| brainzap wrote:
| A lot of monitors deliver 60 watt over usb-c. I wonder if a no
| battery build is possible that only relies on 60w.
| morsch wrote:
| Seems 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
| larusso wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| > 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 wrote:
| There 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 wrote:
| > 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 :)
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